Read Online Desolation Point by Cari Hunter - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Cari Hunter
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the lake roiled. The Australian seemed the steadier of the two, raising his hand in reluctant farewell.
“Her name’s Sarah. Tell her that Johnno and Zach said hi. Get her to ring us, will you?” he called.
“No problem.” Alex slipped the knot free from its mooring post and threw the rope for Johnno to catch.
“Oh, hey,” she shouted as the boat’s engine coughed and then fired up. “Why’d you hide your truck?”
“Our what?”
“Your truck, back at the highway.”
Both men looked completely mystified. “We don’t own a truck,” Johnno yelled back, the wind tearing at his words. “Neither of us can drive…”
*
A full hour had passed, but the storm showed no signs of abating. Her eyes fixed on the sky, Sarah listened to the wind clatter and howl around the shelter, and gradually realized that this wasn’t one of those flash in the pan weather fronts that washed humidity from the air and left everything fresh and sweet smelling. Thick cloud had descended on the mountain, rain continued to fall heavily, and visibility had narrowed to less than half a yard. Her phone sat silent and useless in her hand, her fingers numb with cold as she gripped it like a lifeline that she wasn’t yet ready to give up on. She knew she had to try to descend, try to find the right trail and lose enough height to drop beneath the cloud cover. She also knew that finding the right trail might well prove to be impossible; it had tapered out just below the summit, and there were no landmarks left for her to fix upon. Unwilling to wander blindly, she fumbled for her compass and used the only thing she could see—the shelter—as a reference point. Her calculations and her memory were leaden with cold and panic, but they both urged her in a vaguely westerly direction. She kicked her way out of the survival bag and then wrestled with the slick plastic until she had managed to fold it and stuff it back into her pack.
“You can do this and you’ll be fine,” she whispered as she stood to her full height and the wind immediately knocked her sideways. “And you’ll laugh about it in the morning.”
Her bottom lip was trembling, so she bit it. Bowing her head against the rain, she took a deep breath and set off walking.
*
“This is stupid,” Alex muttered, “really, seriously stupid.” She splashed through yet another in an endless series of puddles, mud and cold water sinking through the long-defeated waterproofing on her boots and soaking into her socks. On the bright side, she could no longer feel her feet, which was definitely a blessing. Ahead of her, smoke billowed from the blackened stump of an ancient pine. A bolt of lightning had cleaved the trunk in two, shattering hundreds of years of painstaking growth and neatly blocking Alex’s path. Back at the camp, she had decided to leave the heaviest items of her gear and switch to carrying a day pack, and she was glad of that now as she hefted the smaller bag over the tree before climbing over it herself. The forest surrounding her creaked ominously as she dropped back down onto the trail. She already knew the storm had been severe enough to cause real damage. Before setting off, she had spoken to Walt on the radio, the reception fading in and out as he told her that several of the access roads into the park were blocked by debris or flash flooding. He had advised her to sit tight at the campsite and wait for a rescue party to reach her, although when pressed, he had admitted that the storm was forecast to last for several days and that any evacuation attempts would be delayed until the conditions improved. At that point, she had changed her mind about telling him of her slightly less than sensible plan to find the missing hiker. She didn’t intend to go very far, he couldn’t do anything to help, and she really didn’t want him to worry.
For a second, she allowed herself to rest. She leaned forward to grip her knees with her hands and pulled in a
“Her name’s Sarah. Tell her that Johnno and Zach said hi. Get her to ring us, will you?” he called.
“No problem.” Alex slipped the knot free from its mooring post and threw the rope for Johnno to catch.
“Oh, hey,” she shouted as the boat’s engine coughed and then fired up. “Why’d you hide your truck?”
“Our what?”
“Your truck, back at the highway.”
Both men looked completely mystified. “We don’t own a truck,” Johnno yelled back, the wind tearing at his words. “Neither of us can drive…”
*
A full hour had passed, but the storm showed no signs of abating. Her eyes fixed on the sky, Sarah listened to the wind clatter and howl around the shelter, and gradually realized that this wasn’t one of those flash in the pan weather fronts that washed humidity from the air and left everything fresh and sweet smelling. Thick cloud had descended on the mountain, rain continued to fall heavily, and visibility had narrowed to less than half a yard. Her phone sat silent and useless in her hand, her fingers numb with cold as she gripped it like a lifeline that she wasn’t yet ready to give up on. She knew she had to try to descend, try to find the right trail and lose enough height to drop beneath the cloud cover. She also knew that finding the right trail might well prove to be impossible; it had tapered out just below the summit, and there were no landmarks left for her to fix upon. Unwilling to wander blindly, she fumbled for her compass and used the only thing she could see—the shelter—as a reference point. Her calculations and her memory were leaden with cold and panic, but they both urged her in a vaguely westerly direction. She kicked her way out of the survival bag and then wrestled with the slick plastic until she had managed to fold it and stuff it back into her pack.
“You can do this and you’ll be fine,” she whispered as she stood to her full height and the wind immediately knocked her sideways. “And you’ll laugh about it in the morning.”
Her bottom lip was trembling, so she bit it. Bowing her head against the rain, she took a deep breath and set off walking.
*
“This is stupid,” Alex muttered, “really, seriously stupid.” She splashed through yet another in an endless series of puddles, mud and cold water sinking through the long-defeated waterproofing on her boots and soaking into her socks. On the bright side, she could no longer feel her feet, which was definitely a blessing. Ahead of her, smoke billowed from the blackened stump of an ancient pine. A bolt of lightning had cleaved the trunk in two, shattering hundreds of years of painstaking growth and neatly blocking Alex’s path. Back at the camp, she had decided to leave the heaviest items of her gear and switch to carrying a day pack, and she was glad of that now as she hefted the smaller bag over the tree before climbing over it herself. The forest surrounding her creaked ominously as she dropped back down onto the trail. She already knew the storm had been severe enough to cause real damage. Before setting off, she had spoken to Walt on the radio, the reception fading in and out as he told her that several of the access roads into the park were blocked by debris or flash flooding. He had advised her to sit tight at the campsite and wait for a rescue party to reach her, although when pressed, he had admitted that the storm was forecast to last for several days and that any evacuation attempts would be delayed until the conditions improved. At that point, she had changed her mind about telling him of her slightly less than sensible plan to find the missing hiker. She didn’t intend to go very far, he couldn’t do anything to help, and she really didn’t want him to worry.
For a second, she allowed herself to rest. She leaned forward to grip her knees with her hands and pulled in a
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