Ancient Echoes

CHAPTER 27



RACHEL NOTICED A CLEFT in the cliff face. It sloped in a way that, being careful and using muscles they didn’t know they had, the university group managed to descend and not need to backtrack to the area with the frightening beasts.

They reached a flat clearing and were congratulating themselves when Rempart decided to make camp. As the oldest and least fit of the group, he felt ready to drop. He didn’t even help gather firewood, but lay down and soon snored almost as loud as the beastly howls from the forest.

The others built a fire as Devlin and Melisse began to carve wood into sharp fishhooks. The others joined them, and soon began braiding grass to form fishing lines and weaving thicker grass strands into nets. Their empty stomachs and the chill in the air focused them on their predicament. Once the snows came, how long could they last?

Constantly sorrow over Brian, a nagging fear for Ted, and worry over the strange creatures and dangerous landscape they would encounter plagued them.

“I think it's time for a new plan,” Vince said, pushing up his glasses. “We’ve got a long way to go. The weather is turning cold. I say we stay put and build ourselves shelter, find food, and store it to get us through the winter. It could snow any day. We've already woken up to frost. If it snows, and we aren't prepared, we'll die.”

“Don't say that!” Brandi pressed clenched hands to her temples, memories of the creature that attacked her far too fresh. She began to cry.

The students turned quiet, fighting their own tears.

“We don’t have time,” Devlin said, “to find or prepare enough food to make it through the long winter. Once heavy snows hit, the mountain passes won't open until late March or April. That means we’ll be struck here five or six months. I’m not ready for that. We need to keep moving, to hurry.”

“No way!” Vince clenched his fists. “Don’t you know the dangers out there? Am I the only one who's ever heard stories of this area? About ghosts and old Indian tales of bad things and of people simply disappearing? That’s what happened to us. It’s time you faced it.”

Rempart, awakened by the bickering, turned to Vince. “You've heard that?”

“It's a wilderness,” Devlin ranted, exasperated. “People get lost in the wilderness. What else is new?”

“There's something seriously wrong, and we need to stay put until we figure out just what's going on,” Vince countered. “We can make it safe to stay here. We'll survive this if we all work together.”

“I'm not staying, Vince,” Devlin announced. “Who wants to travel with me?” He glanced at Rachel and she nodded.

“That's crazy!” Vince shouted. “You'll get yourselves killed!”

“Stop it!” Rempart ordered as he rubbed his eyes. “I've listened to both arguments. It's not likely we'll be rescued if we remain in this god-forsaken nothingness. The only prudent thing to do is to head south right now. Surely, we'll find a major roadway before long. There, we'll find help.”

“What if you don’t?” Vince cried. “What if there’s nothing out there?”

“You’re being silly. We must all concentrate on making this work. Be positive, and get a good sleep,” Rempart stated, lying back down and turning his back on them. “We'll start out fresh tomorrow morning.”

“Who made you king?” Vince shouted. He stood, hands on hips, and faced the others. “What's wrong with you people?”

“Don’t be so stubborn,” Melisse snapped. “Trying to save ourselves is well worth any potential risk.”

The others agreed with her.

Vince's face flamed at his idol's rebuke. “Like hell! You'll see.” He stomped away from the camp, angry and embarrassed.

“I guess I should go get him,” Devlin offered.

“Leave him alone,” Melisse said. “He can't rush off simply because he doesn't get his way. I suspect he'll realize it soon enough.”

o0o

Vince was furious that the others didn't know better than to take chances with winter weather. He'd once been stranded in it as a child. His uncle thought it would be fun to drive out to Silver City, an old mining town south of Boise deep in the Owyhee Mountains. People were warned not to try to reach it in winter, but the interesting and colorful town was worth the trip.

The sun shone that day, the snow bright, white, and beautiful. They were high in the mountains, the frost-covered dirt road a narrow ribbon whose flatness and width were the only things that distinguished it from the rest of the sparkling white landscape. About five miles from their destination, the weather changed. Out of nowhere, ominous dark clouds gathered and the wind kicked up, harsh and loud. They hadn't thought it would snow that day, but they were wrong. Thick, wet globules of snow and hail pelted the car and made it impossible to tell what was road, and what was not.

The car went into a slide. Fortunately, it slid toward the hillside and not the drop-off since guardrails were unknown in most of rural Idaho. The car hit a snow bank. Every attempt to get it out caused the wheels to spin, wedging the car even deeper.

Vince, his uncle, and two cousins walked back toward the paved road some fifteen miles away. Since no one inhabited Silver City in winter, no help would be found there.

They were pretty sure they would see a car coming their way before long. But they didn't. No other fools were on that road.

Even as a child Vince was small and somewhat weak, and soon he was exhausted. His mom had dressed him warmly, but he'd forgotten to take the mittens she'd put out for him, and even keeping his hands in his pockets, his fingers were soon numb.

One of his cousins wore light sneakers, and his toes became frostbitten.

By nightfall, Vince's mother had grown worried and called the sheriff's office. A deputy found the nearly frozen foursome about seven miles from the paved road.

Vince never forgot how cold and scared he'd been as the sun had sunk lower on the horizon, and he knew that night would be colder and lonelier than anything he'd ever experienced. He'd had nightmares for weeks thereafter.

He didn't know what was...

A sound, something indefinable, all but beyond hearing...

He jumped to his feet and turned in a complete circle.

Nothing was there. At least, nothing he could see in the darkness.

Vince was no fool. He hadn't wandered so far away he couldn't see the glow of the campfire through the firs. Mrs. Norton hadn't raised her son to be an idiot, even though she had raised him alone when his father took off with another woman when Vince was only six years old.

He thought of a wolf, a bear, or mountain lion, or whatever had carried off Brian, or the monster Brandi swore attacked her and Melisse.

Vince assured himself he was simply nervous. Perhaps a tiny night creature made the sound. A jackrabbit. Maybe a badger or a beaver. Nothing dangerous would venture close to a campfire.

In fact, maybe he should return to camp.

But once there, how could he convince the others not to try to walk back to civilization? If they got caught in a blizzard, it would all be over.

Silence settled around him. Maybe he should simply tell them about his Silver City experience and remind them how quickly weather in the mountains could change. They all knew it. Well, maybe not Rempart who didn't seem to know anything except what he read in books. But perhaps none had actually experienced it.

Melisse was the smartest, the most experienced of the lot. She would listen to him. She had to.

Just then, two shapes moved toward him in the darkness of the pines. The moonlight behind them gave him an idea of their outlines, upright, like great hulking gorillas, or Sasquatch, or men.

They stopped, held perfectly still, and stared at him.