“Up the mountain, to the left, follow the river. Brett’s cabin is facing the sunrise. If we get separated, go there. If I get hurt, go there. Do not wait for me. Go,” I said, pushing her lightly in the back. I didn’t want an argument. I didn’t want some big show of resistance. I wanted her safe.
Suddenly, footsteps were coming up one side of us, and I yanked her with me behind a bush. The daylight was just beginning to peek over part of the mountain, and I pulled her down below me, sliding a little down a small hill as I kept my eyes in the middle of the bush, watching.
Desiree had her hand over her mouth, breathing into her gloves. Thankfully, the dim light would make it harder to see the breath in the air. I tried to slow my breathing, pulling my shirt over my nose so I could breathe into it and make less visual noise. Footsteps fell away, and I relaxed a little, thinking we were safe. I looked behind me, already motioning for Desiree to come with me when an arm wrapped around her stomach and another over her lips.
“No!” I shouted and lunged at the body of the person pulling her away.
The revolver was holstered, so I didn’t have time to get it out, opting instead for fists. The guy holding her didn’t have time to drop her and defend himself, and I caught him across the jaw. He stumbled back, and I pounced, slamming two more punches into his jaw. The second hit him right in the sweet spot, and I saw the lights go out in his eyes. He crumpled to the ground in a heap, and I crouched, looking around to see if his friends were nearby.
“Are you okay?” I asked when I realized that he seemed to be alone.
Desiree nodded, but the tears in the corners of her eyes told a different story. I reached out and grabbed her arm, and a flash of a memory struck me.
Ten years before. The desert. A pregnant woman, staring horrified at her shattered home. Bricks and dust were everywhere, bullets zipping through the sky. The ambush had happened in the middle of the night, and we arrived just after dawn. She must have been standing there for a while but had miraculously not been hit. I grabbed her arm and pulled. She resisted at first, and then her eyes wandered to mine and seemed to wake up. She ran with me for miles. She ran until I knew she was safe, and then I deposited her in a tent and ran back. I never saw her again.
Now, the same grip on the same arm. The same recognition that I was going to lead, and she was going to follow. Only this time it was Desiree, and the sand was snow. And I had no one to provide cover fire.
We took off running toward the upper part of the mountain, keeping the river to the left and continuously climbing. It would be better to go too high and have to climb down to Brett’s cabin rather than go too low and have to climb up. As it was, I remembered the path through the woods well, even in the darkness that swallowed us in the pines that stood above the snow. Eventually there was no sound behind us, and I realized we had lost them. Thankfully the snow was melted in a lot of spots under the tall pines, so we didn’t leave an exact trail right to us.
“Do you think we lost them?” Desiree whispered.
I nodded.
“For now,” I said. “They don’t know the woods. But they probably think we will come back because they don’t know about Brett. If we can make it to him before they find him, he can hide us. It’s a bit of a walk from here, though.”
“Then let’s go,” she said, and I admired her strength. My military training provided me with the stamina and fortitude for this trek, but she was running on terror and determination alone.
When we arrived at Brett’s cabin an hour or so later, I banged on the door, checking over my shoulder. The sun was above the mountain, flooding the land with light. If they showed up, they would see us easily. Brett opened the door, the smell of coffee wafting out and the warmth of his fire beckoning.
“Aiden, what’s up?”
“They found us,” I said. “Can you hide us?”
Brett’s face dropped, and a grim determination set on his lips.
“Get in,” he said.
We shuffled inside, and I explained what happened as Brett locked the doors and made us both mugs of coffee.
“Alright,” he said, clearly freaking out and trying not to act like it. “Okay, so here’s what we do. I’ll protect you. You can stay here as long as you need to. I have ways of keeping you out of sight here, and if they show up, they won’t know you’re here.”