The Color of Love (The Color of Heaven Series) (6 page)

Aaron began to shiver uncontrollably and I was worried about him. I’d seen severe cases of hypothermia before and I prayed we wouldn’t reach that point.

I thought about lighting a fire inside the shelter but I was concerned about ventilation and carbon monoxide poisoning and basically burning the whole tree down around us.

Although a blaze like that would make a great signal fire. I just wasn’t sure there would be anyone to see it. I felt like we might as well be on the moon.

So I just kept sitting there. Listening to the wind. Listening for the lynx.

Thinking.

My hands got really cold. Numb and stiff. I could barely hold the pen. I didn’t think I could write any more.

I inspected my handwriting. It was pretty bad, and I knew I should try to conserve the flashlight battery.

I decided to continue writing after we got back to camp.

God willing.

I said another prayer
.

Aaron

Chapter Seventeen

After Seth and I got lost chasing the hare and spent the night under the tree in the storm, he couldn’t write anymore, but he asked me to continue telling the story where he left off.

He said it helped pass the time, and I get that. Keeping a journal is a good distraction. It keeps the mind limber—so to speak.

o0o

That night, the snow continued to fall for hours, and the wind blew without mercy. It was freezing in our so-called “shelter,” which dumped snow all over us every time the branches gave way to the weight. I shivered so badly I barely slept. All I could do was curl up in a tight ball to conserve my core body heat and pray for morning to come quickly.

I have no idea what time it was when those quiet hours of darkness exploded into total panic and chaos. I hadn’t exactly been sleeping, but I must have been dozing because I don’t remember any warning signs, no buildup to the moment when I woke to the sound of Seth screaming.

Suddenly, before I could think straight, I was wrestling with a growling, fanged creature with sharp claws—a monster that seemed to have the strength of ten men.

It all happened in a blur. The lynx must have been waiting for hours, crouched outside in the blizzard, primed to pounce, which he did with lightning speed and astonishing force. He shot through our flimsy wall of pine branches and leaped onto Seth, clawed at his face, then punctured his shoulder and arm with his teeth.

I’m not sure how long the attack lasted. It must have been only a few seconds, otherwise Seth’s injuries would have been far worse.

All I remember is the blinding shock and natural instinct that drove me to grab hold of the cat and swing an ax through the air.

I must have clubbed it in the head because it screeched like the devil and flew out of the shelter.

o0o

“Aaron…are you okay?”

It was Seth asking me the question.

Strangely…as I became aware that he was speaking to me, I realized I was standing outside in the blizzard, barely conscious of the ice pellets striking my face.

I have no memory of leaving the shelter. When I looked down, I was gripping the yellow ax handle tightly in my hand. There was some blood on the tip.

It all sounds very heroic, I suppose, but in fact, I was paralyzed with fear. Terror burned through my bloodstream and rushed to my head. It’s a wonder I didn’t pass out.

“He’s gone,” Seth said, wiping a glove across his cheek. “We scared him away.”

I turned to look at Seth but it was dark. I couldn’t see the scratches on his face or the puncture wounds and rips on his jacket. I didn’t see any of that until the next morning.

Even then, I was in another place. I barely remember noticing. At least not until much later.

o0o

A strange, low hum woke me at dawn. At first I thought I was dreaming. I remember the sensation of floating. I wanted to float all the way to the sky.

Then the sound grew louder in my ears until my mind latched onto reality and I remembered where I was—lying on a bed of pine boughs under a snow-covered tree.

Lost.

Somewhere in the Canadian wilderness.

Almost certainly hypothermic.

My eyes flew open. “Seth. Do you hear that?”

I shook him awake and tried to crawl out of the shelter. As I pushed my way sluggishly through the evergreen branches, more snow fell on me and I felt the icy shock of it slide down the back of my neck. “It’s a plane.”

I rose heavily to my feet and looked to the sky, but the treetops obscured my view. I could only hear it… The distant, low drone of an engine and propellers somewhere above us, growing closer.

Seth emerged from the shelter. “Which way?” he asked.

“I don’t know. But they’ll never see us here. We have to find a clearing.”

Without waiting to discuss it, I took off in a desperate, stumbling push through the forest, my movements slow and labored.

My body was unbelievably numb.

It wouldn’t do what I wanted it to do.

Seth followed. He called my name, but I couldn’t stop, not when a search plane had finally come for us. I had to find a way out of the woods to catch it. To signal it, somehow.

I followed the sound of the engine until I saw—not far ahead, just beyond a grove of leafless aspens—a wide-open space.

As I staggered out of a thicket onto the snow-covered field, I tore my sleeve on prickly thorns. But it didn’t matter…

There it was! Just over there! Flying low to the ground!

Flying away.

Sprinting as fast as my legs would carry me, I chased the plane and frantically waved my arms over my head.

“
Stop!”
I yelled again. “
Over here
!”

The plane flew toward a mountain in the distance.

“
Come back
!” I stopped and jumped up and down, beckoning to the plane like some kind of lunatic. “
We’re here
!”

Its wing dipped, then it veered sharply to the right around a high ridge and disappeared from view.

The sound of the engine grew faint. All I could do was stand there, immobile, breathing hard and staring after it, listening to the sound of the propellers until I couldn’t hear them anymore. Until there was nothing left but my thunderous heartbeat in my ears, drowning out the silence of the wilderness.

Come back. Please come back. We’re alive
.

A squirrel chattered at the edge of the forest.

The sound of Seth’s heavy footsteps across the snow caused me to turn.

“Did you see it?” he asked, stopping to bend over with his hands on his knees, panting heavily.

Only then did I notice the bloody scratch marks on his face and the slashes and tears on his jacket.

“Yes,” I replied, “but we’re too late. It’s gone.”

“Shit!” He ripped his backpack off his shoulders and threw it on the ground.

I collapsed to my knees, fell forward onto my elbows, and cradled the top of my head in the heels of my gloved hands.

Gone
.

“We shouldn’t have come down here,” I quietly said as I rocked back and forth on my knees. “We should have stayed on the hilltop and kept a signal fire going.”

“What…and starve to death?” Seth argued. Then he glared at me with derision and began to pace back and forth like a caged animal. “Don’t try to pin this on me.”

“I’m not pinning anything on anyone,” I replied.

“Yes, you are,” he said. “I can tell. All along you’ve done nothing but ask stupid questions and wait for me to make all the hard decisions. If I didn’t feel so damn responsible for you, I would have done things differently. God knows I wouldn’t be standing here right now.”

My brow pulled together in a frown. “
What
would you have done differently?” I asked, rising to my feet. “It wasn’t my idea to come down off the ridge. It was yours.”

“We were out of food!” He jabbed a finger into my chest, pushing me backwards.

“And how is that my fault?” I asked.

Seth turned and picked up his pack. “Jesus Christ.” He slung the pack over his shoulders and started walking.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“Back to the camp,” he replied, pointing toward the west. “That’s gotta be it over there, just ahead. Our best hope is that the searchers saw the tent. Maybe they’ll keep looking for us. We left a note, didn’t we?”

I took a moment to catch my breath, then I started walking, following Seth toward the mountain pass where the plane had disappeared.

At least we’d found our way out of the woods, I told myself as I trudged through the snow. And we hadn’t been eaten by a giant devil cat. Now my blood was circulating, warming my extremities. That was a good thing.

With any luck, the searchers had spotted the tent from the sky and we’d be rescued by nightfall.

Please Lord
, I prayed.
Let that be what happens next
.

Chapter Eighteen

“I’m sure this is where it was!” Seth shouted when we reached the top of the ridge. He pointed at the ground. “The tent was right here!”

“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” I asked, though I don’t know why I was even asking. Everything looked exactly the same except for the fresh blanket of snow.

How then, could there be no tent? No campsite? Did this mountaintop have a doppelganger? Or did a band of thieves come and steal everything?

I gazed around with concern and managed to identify the familiar rock face and the view of the valley below. We’d spent four days up here. I was certain I knew every inch and cranny.

Seth dropped his pack and began to dig. “It was right here,” he said again. “I’m positive. This is where we hammered the pegs.”

I watched him dig through the snow like a terrier after a bone, fast and frantic. Then he stopped suddenly, paused, fell over and rolled onto his back. For a long time he stared up at the sky.

“No!” he sobbed. “That didn’t happen.”

“What?” I asked.

To my astonishment, Seth curled in a ball and wept for many minutes.

All I could do was wait quietly for him to finish.

At last he sat up and caught his breath. He spoke hoarsely. “The tent tore away from the pegs. It must have blown off in the blizzard last night.” He looked to the horizon. “We shouldn’t have left it.”

My stomach churned with dread. Did this mean there had been no colorful signal for the rescue plane to see? Or was the tent flying somewhere else nearby, like a giant red flag, flapping at the top of a tree?

“We have to find it,” Seth said, rising to his feet. “We can’t survive without it. Last night was hell. I’m not doing that again.”

Maybe he was referring to the lynx, or maybe just the snow falling on us, or our hopeless situation. I had no idea. I didn’t get the chance to ask.

“Where are you going?” I asked as he strode across the ridge with purpose.

“I need to see if it’s out there.”

He began to jog, and I frowned as I watched him.

“Be careful!” I shouted. “Don’t get too close to the edge!”

Thank goodness he stopped when he reached the steep side of the cliff. Carefully he leaned over to peer below, then he turned around to face me.

“I see it!” he called out. “It’s just down there, caught in some trees!”

The breath sailed out of my lungs, and I bowed my head in relief.

Maybe the rescue plane spotted it after all
.
Maybe there’s still hope.

When I lifted my gaze, Seth was leaning out again, attempting to get a better look.

I didn’t enjoy heights, so I couldn’t understand how he could do that, but he was a seasoned climber. He’d summited Everest five times while the most
I’d
ever done was reach the top of the Empire State Building—by elevator. Surely he knew what he was doing.

Then something gave way. Or perhaps he just slipped. I’ll never know for sure.

I stared for a long moment in disbelief. The breath sailed out of my lungs as I ran forward.

Chapter Nineteen

“Seth!” I reached the edge and carefully peered over the side.

There he lay, sprawled on his back at the bottom of the ravine, about fifty feet down.

I couldn’t tell if he was conscious or not, then his hand moved and he signaled to me.

“I’ll be right there!”

Quickly, I dashed across the snow to fetch his backpack which contained a first aid kit and ropes and water. Knowing I couldn’t reach him from the steep edge, I skidded down the gentler slope, sliding on my backside for a good part of the way.

When I reached the bottom, I ran hard and fast into the ravine.

o0o

Though I knew it had been an exceedingly bad fall, I was shocked, regardless, to find him so badly injured.

His legs were twisted grotesquely and his face was covered in blood. The scratches inflicted by the lynx the night before now seemed unimportant compared to this.