Haven Hill: Chapter 16

by the Author of The Widow in the Woods

Here’s where the story left off last time.

Kate and Ariel walked without a word for at least ten minutes. The slippers they wore protected their feet some, but they were careful to avoid the sharp rocks they saw. The path was steep, and they needed all their concentration to navigate it in fuzzy house shoes.

Finally, the path leveled off a little. They sat down, side by side, on a fallen branch, to catch their breath. They spoke in whispers.

“Why are we going up, Mom?” asked Ariel. “Why aren’t we going straight to Mr. Slocum’s?”

“I have a cache just a little further ahead, and it has things we might need. Plus,” Kate paused, then continued. “We don’t want to do what is expected. Logan may not wake up until morning, but if he realizes we’re gone sooner, the first place he’s going to look for us is the trail to the Slocum place.”

Ariel nodded. “So we’re going to hang out on the mountain for a while?”

While they talked, Kate pulled a small bundle from each backpack. As she unfolded the trekking poles, they made a snap as the pieces joined together. She cringed each time. It sounded like the crack of a gunshot in the quiet, midnight forest. But they’d be needed to safely navigate the next part of the trail in their bedroom slippers.

“Yes, but just until midday tomorrow. He’ll have looked for us early, but I don’t think he’d ever imagine we’d go further up into the woods. Are you ready to go a little bit further?”

Ariel hopped up and flexed her muscles. “Let’s blow this popsicle stand.”

Kate handed her the purple pair of trekking poles. “Let’s make like a tree and leaf.”

“We’re going to make like a rock and roll.”

“Let’s be like a ball and bounce.”

“We’re out like a trout.”

With a couple of quiet giggles, the two returned to the trail.

Soon, the path narrowed until it was hardly noticeable. The hiking became more difficult as it steepened. Even though they were both accomplished hikers, doing this in the dark, without the proper footwear, was a lot more treacherous than their usual outings. “Go slowly,” Kate cautioned Ariel, who was clambering up ahead of her. “We’re not in any rush. We’re not being followed here.”

“Okay, slowpoke,” teased Ariel. “I’ll let you catch up.”

The trekking poles helped a lot, Kate thought, as she felt her foot slip and land on something sharp. Finally, they reached the point where the ground leveled off again. Kate veered to the right with Ariel close behind her.

They walked another ten minutes or so, struggling through the thick brush. Ariel walked right past the entrance to the cave, which Kate saw as a good sign. “Psst,” she whispered. “Back here.”

She pulled aside the ever-present kudzu that hid the mouth of the cave and shone her flashlight into the darkness just to make sure no creature of the forest had taken up residence in her cache. When she confirmed it was vacant, she slipped in, her daughter close behind her.

Once inside, she took a lighter out of her pocket and lit the tea light candle in the glass lantern stuffed into a ledge near the entrance to the cave. It looked totally empty, even with the light of the lantern. Ariel sat down gratefully, glad for the respite from the arduous hike.

Kate headed straight to the back of the shallow cave. Holding her LED flashlight between her teeth, she moved a gray camouflage tarp that blended with the well so well it was practically invisible. Ariel watched with great interest as her mother revealed a stack of yellow, 4-gallon Tidy Cats litter buckets. She’d be willing to bet that her mom had not secretly dragged up 35-pound buckets of kitty litter, and she was curious to see what treasures her mother had hidden away.

Kate opened the first bucket and tossed Ariel a full water bottle and a little yellow bag. Ariel gasped in delight when she saw it was a bag of peanut M&Ms. Kate sat down with her own snack and guzzled the water. She wasn’t worried about conserving – there were more filled bottles, and she knew of a mountain creek nearby. She pulled another water bottle out of the bin and drank it more slowly.

With a weary sigh, Kate pushed herself up from the floor. “I don’t know about you,” she said to Ariel, “but I’m beat.”

“Same. I -” Ariel interrupted herself with a huge yawn, and they both giggled.

Kate dug into another bucket, frowned, and opened a third bucket. “Yes!” she rejoiced. She pulled out two tightly wrapped sleeping bags and a couple of other mysterious, lumpy bundles.  While Ariel was spreading out the sleeping bags, Kate opened the bucket at the back. She pulled out a gun box holding a Glock 19, two boxes of ammunition, and some magazines for the pistol. This should even the playing field, she thought with satisfaction.

In the final bucket, Kate pulled out two pairs of hiking boots – the ones she and Ariel had retired when they got new ones, but they still had life in them, and Ariel’s feet hadn’t changed sizes in a couple of years. She also retrieved socks and a cozy sweatshirt for each of them.

The lumpy things were vacuum-packed pillows. Ariel fluffed them up while her mother put the lids back on the kitty litter containers. “Where did you get all those buckets?” Ariel asked. “We don’t even have a cat.”

“A lady two floors up in our building is always putting her empty buckets into the recycling bin. I just grabbed a few,” Kate replied, muffling her own yawn.

Ariel settled into her sleeping bag. She put on her headlamp and pulled her book out of her backpack.

Kate put on her own headlamp and proceeded to load her magazines with ammo. Once she was done, she saw that Ariel had fallen fast asleep midpage. She gently removed the book from her daughter’s hands and folded down the corner of the page she had been on. She gazed at the girl, filling up on how much she loved her. Then, she switched off Ariel’s headlamp and got into her own sleeping bag.

She didn’t think she’d get a wink of sleep out there in a cave on the side of the mountain, but she didn’t even remember turning off her own headlamp.

When she awoke, it was to the music of the forest birds. She listened carefully, then smiled. She could hear no evidence of other human beings.

They’d made it. At least for now.

She pulled her own novel out of her backpack. It would be several hours before they could make the second part of their journey. She yearned for coffee, and she had the equipment and supplies to make it, but she couldn’t risk the smell wafting down the mountain. Instead, she grabbed a shelf-stable cappuccino drink in a glass bottle from the bucket with the food and water. It wasn’t great at room temperature, but it would help prevent a lack-of-caffeine headache and was better than no coffee at all.

She knew that the day could end in freedom or it could end in their own captivity…or worse. She was determined that it would end in their escape. She had prepared for this fight, and that gave her the advantage. The only one who’d be losing freedom today would be Logan.

She settled back to read, trying not to think too much about the trip ahead.

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.

 

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