Haven Hill: Chapter 20

Kate held her breath, certain that the sound of her exhale would draw him nearer. She gripped her pistol in both hands, fully prepared to open fire if he found them. Ariel had pulled out her taser and hung onto it like her life depended on it.

Ariel’s eyes were wide as they locked on Kate’s.

Kate mouthed, Stay still.

The crunching stopped. The hair on the back of Kate’s neck rose. He was searching, moving along the trail, maybe trying to guess their route. She pictured him, enraged, pacing in the dark, his obsession propelling him through the dark forest.

Ariell’s hand found Kate’s arm in the dark.

Kate gave her hand a comforting squeeze, then gently removed her hand from the embrace. She clutched her pistol with both hands again, aiming outward, fully prepared to end this entire situation if he found their hiding place. She couldn’t risk anything that might affect her shot.

They sat, frozen, as Logan’s footsteps crunched again, agonizingly close, then paused. Kate’s muscles felt like they were about to stage a rebellion as she remained frozen in the tiny space. She could feel a charley horse building up in her left hamstring. She diverted her thoughts from that and focused on being as still as possible.

A beam of light flickered through the trees. Kate’s stomach turned as she realized he was sweeping the area with a flashlight, looking for where they might be hiding.. Kate pressed herself back into the nook, pulling Ariel with her, the ferns barely concealing them. The light passed over their shelter.

Her leg began to quiver with the agony of the muscle cramp. Kate clenched her teeth together as she forced herself not to respond to the urgent pain.

The flashlight beam missed the overhang by mere inches.

Kate thought her heart would completely stop before the light moved on.

She didn’t dare breathe. She was afraid to even think, certain that he’d somehow pick up on it. Her hamstring was now a tight, aching mass of torment.  Tears began to roll down her cheeks as more and more of her leg became engulfed in the cramp.

She focused on silently controlling her breathing.  Her only remaining option was a fight to the death if he were to find them. He wouldn’t have taken kindly to their escape.

Logan’s muttering grew faint, his steps retreating.

He was moving toward Mr. Slocum’s, she realized, her stomach twisting. He was betting they’d show up there. For now, they’d bought time, but they couldn’t stay here forever. It was cold, they were exhausted, and the risk of another bear loomed. The hiding place was too small for them to spend the night and still be functional tomorrow.

Finally, he seemed far enough away for Kate to risk stretching her leg.  The entire back of her thigh was contracted, rock hard, and she rubbed it, trying to relieve the pain without leaving their hiding place. She flexed her foot and moved her leg back and forth.

Mercifully, the cramp began to ease, but it left behind a dull, throbbing ache that Kate knew she’d feel for days to come.

“We’ll wait a little bit longer,” Kate whispered directly into her daughter’s ear, her voice steady for Ariel’s sake. “Then we’ll figure out what to do next. Maybe we circle around and head for the old logging road instead. Maybe we…I just don’t know.”

Ariel squeezed her hand. “We’re gonna be out like trout,” she whispered back.

“Toodledoo, kangaroo.”

“Catch you later, exterminator.”

“Gotta skadoodle, wild pink poodle.”

Kate giggled softly, her heart swelling with love. She fought off a new round of tears. She was officially scared. Terrified was more like it, and she didn’t know what to do.

She truly didn’t want to harm Logan or anyone else, but if it came down to him or them, it was definitely going to be him.

Kate’s mind was racing, looking for solutions that just weren’t there. What should she do? Dawn was still many hours away. The nook was hidden, but was it hidden enough? Was anywhere on this mountain safe with Logan prowling around?

“He’s not going to give up, is he?” Ariel broke into Kate’s Ozzy-Official Crazy Train of Thought.

“No,” Kate replied bluntly, her voice low. “But neither are we.”

She squeezed Ariel in a tight, one-armed hug and kissed the top of her head.

Logan haunted her like a ghost. Even though he wasn’t there right now, he loomed over them like a cloud covering the moon. She shook it off. That kind of thinking was not going to help them one bit.

She listened carefully and didn’t hear anything that sounded human. She awkwardly crawled out and stood up, stretching her leg painfully to relieve the muscles that had cramped so agonizingly. It brought on a new spate of pain that left her holding on to a young sapling for support as she stretched through it. Ariel watched without interrupting.

Finally, the intense pain subsided again. Kate bent from side to side, loosening up her back, then stretched her arms toward the heavens. She always felt better after a good stretch.

What should they do? She hated to be indecisive, but fleeing from a crazy, violent ex-boyfriend through the forest was a new experience.

Run TO safety. The words echoed in her head again.

The safest place for them would be with Mr. Slocum. It didn’t matter if Logan was expecting them to go there.  They could hike around and approach the cabin from the other side. They couldn’t just run aimlessly around the forest forever, hoping to avoid him.

Once they joined forces with their neighbor, she felt certain that they would be safe. They’d call the police from his landline, and he’d make them what he called his “world famous cocoa,” which was really just an envelope of Swiss Miss with a Hershey’s square melting in the bottom. Suddenly, nothing sounded better than being in Mr. Slocum’s small, cozy kitchen, sipping that hot beverage from one of his many random mugs.

“What do you say we head to Mr. Slocum’s now?” she asked her daughter softly.

“Let’s do it,” agreed Ariel, her voice still shaky from the near miss with Logan.

She paused to orient them, the North Star faint through the clouds but steady, and somehow, comforting.

“We’re going north to get around to the other side of the cabin.”

Kate pointed to Polaris. “Remember what I showed you?”

Ariel nodded, scanning the sky.

“You can never be lost if you can read the stars,” Kate reminded the girl, summoning up her dwindling energy for the hike.

Reluctantly, she picked up her backpack and put it on. Ariel followed suit. The Glock went back in the holster, and she picked up her hiking poles. She was ready for this entire situation to be over.

They moved as silently as they could through the dark forest.

To avoid noise, Kate guided them to patches of moss or pine needles, testing each step with her toes for anything that might make a noise when she put her foot down.

Kate used the forest’s ambient sounds, such as the creek’s trickle, to gauge distance and direction, a trick called sound navigation. “If the creek gets louder, we’re off course,” she whispered to Ariel. “Keep it faint behind us.”

Those sounds could also be used when it wasn’t possible to mask their steps. They opted to go parallel to the trail, sticking to the shadows.

They’d hiked for about 20 minutes when Kate froze, her hand gripping Ariel’s arm. A glint had caught her eye from the trail – something shiny that didn’t belong here. “Stay here,” she hissed in a whisper.

As Ariel remained where she was, Kate approached the shiny thing as cautiously as she would have if it were a live cobra that had gotten misplaced in North Carolina.

A thin wire stretched across the trail, nearly invisible in the dark. If the moonlight hadn’t exposed the metallic thread, they’d have never known it was there.

The tripwire was crude but deliberate, tied to a beer can that was probably rigged to fall and make noise. It had to be Logan’s work, a trap to alert him if they passed.

And if that was the case, he was probably very close.

Her stomach twisted. He was playing games with them, turning the forest into his hunting ground. Worse still, a piece of paper was pinned to the tree with a pocketknife. Kate looked at it with apprehension.

She risked a couple of silent steps closer to see what was on the paper. Her heart sank as she recognized it.

It was a photo of her, Logan, and Ariel that had been taken years ago when they’d gone on a carefree boating trip. They were laughing, the wind tousling their hair, arms around each other. They looked just like a happy little family. Now, the photo was suspended there, crumpled and stained.

“He’s been here,” Ariel whispered, her voice cracking.

“He’s trying to scare us,” she whispered in reply. “It means he’s guessing, not tracking. We’re smarter.” She left the photo and the tripwire where they were. There was no point in making it obvious that they had been there.

“We keep going,” she whispered, her mouth against Ariel’s ear. “We just avoid getting directly onto the trail, and we watch for more booby traps.”

They headed down the steep hillside, Kate reminding Ariel to use the “handrails” with her free hand – natural features like vines, branches, and rock overhangs. “Be gentle,” she clarified. “Just for balance – don’t put all your weight on them.”

They picked their way down the precarious hillside carefully, avoiding the loose shale and heavy roots that obstructed their path. Every rustle – a squirrel, an owl asking its eternal question, a branch cracking in the distance – made her heart race.

It seemed like hours before they reached a small glen surrounded by dense vines and shrubs. They stopped for a water break, and Kate finally buried the thrice-damned M&M wrapper.

“We’re invisible here,” she whispered, pulling Ariel close for warmth. “Have a drink and something to eat.”

Ariel nodded, her eyes distant. Kate recognized that look. “You okay, Ari?” she asked softly.

Ariel swallowed, her voice small. “That picture… It’s like he’s still thinks he is part of us, that we’re his family.”

“He isn’t,” Kate told her fiercely. “You’re mine, and I’m yours, and we are a complete family, just us. This is not his mountain. It’s ours.”

She compulsively checked the Glock – there was definitely one in the chamber.

A distant snap echoed through the ravine, too heavy for a deer. Kate’s grip on the firearm tightened. There were no more alarming noises, and their breathing slowed.

“Let’s go,” she said to Ariel with a cheer she didn’t feel. “We’re burning moonlight.”

Ariel got up and stiffened her shoulders.

Mother and daughter marched through the forest like they owned it.

They had a major advantage. Logan thought he’d disarmed them back at the cabin. He had no idea about the cache.

Kate knew that this wouldn’t end until he was back in prison.

Or until she was forced to use her gun.

Whichever came first was okay with her. Either way, this was going to be finished.

About Daisy

She is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and X.