Taming the Wild Cougar

  He sat at the fire, a cold wind blowing, and he smelled rain coming again, damn it. Lightning forked, spearing into the creek a half mile away. And then the rains came down.

  Sheet lightning flashed across the darkening sky. Leyton dove into the tent, grabbed the sleeping bag and Kate’s hand, and dashed for the car. They’d be safer in there than sitting out in the open in the tent both because of the threat of lightning, and if they had torrential rains again that swept the tent away. But they wouldn’t have time to dry out the bag if it was soaked again. And he wanted to take it with them on their hike.

  They managed to get into the car before the deluge really broke loose. Other than fat wet drops all over their clothes, he’d managed to tuck the sleeping bag close to his body, and it was mostly dry. He slammed the door behind him. Glad she’d made a bed in the car and they’d left it as it was, he pulled off his shirt and pants and helped her out of hers, then laid them over the backs of the front seats to dry completely. The tarp had slipped and the rain was blowing in through the broken out windshield again. He climbed over the console into the front seat, then tucked the tarp over the visors and pushed them up to create a makeshift waterproof curtain again, tying it a little differently this time in hopes it would stay put during the brunt of the storm. The rainwater was running down the backside of the tarp onto the floorboard, but at least it was not going anywhere other than there and it was keeping most of the wind out too.

  He’d almost miss this time with Kate, just the two of them, isolated from the rest of the world, just two cougars in the wilderness, yet not all that far away from civilization. And for the time he had left with her, he wanted to enjoy it, no regrets.

  He rejoined her in the backseat where she’d grabbed one of the old quilts and wrapped it around the two of them. They cuddled together in silence as the storm raged around them.

  “I guess,” she said, resignedly, “that’s the end of the signal fires. And no hot meal.”

  “Yeah, but how about we have some ham and cheese sandwiches instead?”

  She smiled up at him. And he kissed the raindrops on the bridge of her nose.

  After making the sandwiches, they settled back to eat them. “I was going to make the stew, but we can take that with us and heat it up on the way.”

  Kate sighed. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to top this camping trip on my list of wild adventures. What about you?”

  “I’ve had some wild ones, I have to admit. But that’s because of the job I’m in, and my wartime experiences before that. But I have to say that this will be my most memorable trip in a good way. Do you think you’ll do anything differently on your next vacation?”

  “I don’t think anything will measure up to this one again. But knowing me, I’ll probably just make the same reservations next year, only this time hope to reach my destination.”

  They finished their sandwiches and not having the ability to cook s’mores over the fire, they just ate a chocolate bar each.

  “So where do you go from here?” she asked.

  “Not sure. I’ve got to find Butch. But I’m afraid the trail will have gone cold. I don’t have any funds to get me by, so I’m probably going to have to resort to running as a cougar, searching for him, and then if I can’t find him, return to where I left my car and my gear. I’ll drive back here and search again. He knew the area and he knew that cabin. I’m certain he’s got to be from around here. Which could mean he has family in the area. I have to take him down.”

  “He needs to be. He shot you and you’re one of the good guys.”

  “He’s an arms dealer.”

  “Oh. Then that’s another good reason. I’ll have to give you money to rent a car. I can call Dan to see if he can have someone pick me up at the first town we come to.”

  “All right. That works for me.”

  That night, they didn’t have a choice but to sleep in the car again, the wind howling about them, the lightning slamming into the forest and creek, cracks of thunder deafening to their sensitive ears. That made him worry some about hiking out of here should they get caught in another storm, this time without a car to huddle together in, nice and warm and comfy. But he didn’t believe anyone would ever find them and he had to get Doc to safety.

  10

  The next morning, the rains had thankfully stopped and Leyton moved to the front seat of the car and tried to start the engine.

  “Now, why hadn’t I thought of that?” Kate asked, thinking he was crazy as she pushed open the door so she could leave the car and relieve herself in the woods.

  He smiled at her. “Smart aleck. We have a dead phone. I just thought about it this morning, and I wondered if I could charge it up, and when we got closer to civilization, we could call for help. But the engine won’t turn over.”

  “Must have failed after I used it the last time to scare away the bear. But we can grab the charger. I have one for an electric outlet too for when we reach a town.”

  “How far away was the last sign of civilization?” Leyton asked.

  “Ninety miles.”

  “Hell, I slept that long?” He thought he had only dozed for a half hour, if that.

  “You did.”

  “That means we have a three-day hike unless we can hitch a ride.”

  “Ha! I’m not risking my life to hitchhike.”

  “Nobody would dare pick me up,” he said, looking more and more like a grizzly bear. “But they’d pick you up in heartbeat.”

  “Yeah, and leave you behind.”

  “Agreed. No hitchhiking.”

  He took off into the woods to take care of business, then rejoined her. She was making a breakfast of cereal and fruit, slices of cheese, and ham to give them some nourishment before they took off. “I hate leaving all this behind. Which is part of the reason I didn’t want to leave here until we were rescued.”

  “You can have whoever comes for you retrieve your stuff. Just tell them they need climbing ropes to do it.”

  They finished packing up their gear, and he helped her on with her backpack, having taken half her load so it wasn’t too much. They had raingear in case it began to rain, and as much food and water as they could carry that wouldn’t spoil, three days change of clothes, the gun, dead phone, chargers, one of the tarps to make a lean-to for a shelter for the two nights, an emergency blanket, and the highly compressible sleeping bag in its own individual drawstring stuff sack, then wrapped securely in the tarp to keep it dry in case the rain came down again.

  She helped him on with his pack, and he groaned a little as the strap dug into his injured shoulder.

  “Leyton—“

  “I’m fine. “

  “You pass out on me on the way up the mountain, and I’m going to have to just leave you behind.”

  He leaned down and kissed her mouth. “You do that. And if you see anyone, send them back to pick up my half dead body, will you?”

  She snorted, then kissed him back. “Come on. Let’s get moving before I decide to start ditching everything in my bag.”

  “Too heavy?”

  “No. Same thing goes for me. If I pass out—“

  “I’m coming back for you and we’ll just live here on the mountain, setting signal fires until we’re old and gray.”

  She laughed. And then they made the arduous climb up the mountain. It was really slow going this time in her human form, gripping trees and rocks with her fingers, trying to watch that she had solid footing with every step she took. The problem was that she just didn’t have the upper body strength that Leyton had. So even if she hadn’t had a backpack to carry, she was having a time of it. She had to keep pausing, keep catching her breath, and she saw him watching her when she knew, despite the heavier weight he was carrying, he could have been up the mountain in half the time.

  “Go,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “I’ll... be up there…in a moment.”

  She knew he didn’t want to leave her behind. That he worried she’d fall. But if
she did, he couldn’t have caught her anyway.

  “Be back in a minute,” he said, and with that, he began to climb much faster with his longer legs and upper body strength.

  She knew he meant to help carry her load, and she didn’t want him to have to come all the way back down to carry her bag too. He’d be worn out before they even walked a mile.

  She continued her slow progress, unable to hurry any faster than she was, her back killing her again. Her foot slipped suddenly on some loose rocks, and she slid a few feet, her heart jumping into her throat, her knees bruised against the rocks. She caught hold before she slid any further and clung on for dear life. Fear made every bit of moisture in her mouth and throat evaporate.

  You can do this, Kat, she told herself. Her whole body was shaking from the rush of adrenaline that had flooded her cells the moment she lost her grip on the rocks, but she managed to get a toehold again and started to work her way up. She hated that she’d lost any progress she’d made in the last ten minutes. But she reminded herself she was lucky she hadn’t slid all the way back down the mountain and broken something—like her neck.

  She was a long way from the top still when she saw him coming back down for her. She wasn’t going to tell him not to, not when he had it in mind to do it. And he was already halfway down the mountain.

  She continued to climb, carefully, her shoulders aching, her back hurting, her arms and legs shaking.

  “I’ve got you, Kate,” Leyton assured her, suddenly beside her. “You’re in a good spot. Just turn toward me a bit and I’m going to slide the pack off one arm and then the other. Just hold on tight.”

  She did, feeling as though either of them could make one false move, and they’d both go flying to the bottom of the cliff. But she did exactly as he told her, and he pulled the backpack off her slowly, one arm, and then the other, and hung it over his good shoulder.

  “Okay, can you make it now?” His eyes were dark with concern, his look grim. Had he seen her fall?

  “Yes.” She better damn well make it after he had to carry all their gear. But she felt so light now and began to climb faster. It was still difficult, but she realized just how much a little extra weight made a big difference. Her foot slipped again on more loose rocks, only this time she was careful to have a better handhold on the rock above her and she held on until she could get the nerve to try again.

  Except for climbing cliffs as a cougar, which was a lot different than doing so as a human, she had never done this before. She wasn’t exactly equipped with the right gear for it and with her injures, that wasn’t helping either.

  He stayed next to her the whole way up, when she wished he wouldn’t so he could rest after all the effort he’d made, yet she appreciated him for working so hard and being so concerned about her. When they reached the road at the top of the cliff, he threw the pack onto the asphalt, and finished the climb. He turned quickly and pulled her up into his arms and sat down hard against the other pack.

  She moved around so she wasn’t lying on top of him, but sitting between his legs, using him as a back cushion while he used the other pack for his, trying to catch their breaths.

  “What do you think about changing the plans again?” she asked.

  “How’s that?” he asked.

  “Well, since you’re in such great shape, you could go back down there and grab the tent, bring it up here and set it up, and we can take a nap. And get started again tomorrow.”

  He laughed. “If I have to climb down there again, and carry up the tent, we’d definitely have to start over again tomorrow.”

  She sighed. “Okay, I caught my breath. Let’s go.” She didn’t want to move. Not really. She told herself walking wouldn’t be so bad. But she had driven here and she knew how hilly the road was. It wasn’t going to be an easy walk back to civilization.

  “We’ll get as far as we can, Kate. No need to kill ourselves trying to get there.”

  “Okay, sounds good to me.”

  He stood and helped her up. And then she helped him on with his backpack first and then he helped her on with hers.

  They headed on the first leg of the journey, the road nice and level, but around the bend, it went downhill for a long ways. Driving it was no problem. Walking was going to be some exercise—especially climbing the next hill. At least it was cool that morning, though the sun had begun to rise and with all the exercise, she was already hot.

  For a while, he talked about what he’d like to do when they got back to civilization. “A hot shower and a steak dinner. What about you?”

  “A nice long soak in a tub and barbecued ribs.”

  “It’ll take about six hours for someone to come get you from Yuma Town. How about we grab a motel room, get cleaned up, and have dinner out when we get in?”

  “Maybe I’ll have a steak too, mushrooms, wine, baked potato with all the toppings: melted butter and chives and sour cream.” She could already taste it. “And ice cream afterward with hot fudge topping, whipped cream, and a cherry on top.”

  “Plain ice cream or something special?”

  “Hmm, chocolate fudge swirl.”

  “Let’s get a double order. Eat out or room service?”

  “Watch a movie on T.V. while we’re eating dinner?”

  “Sounds like one hell of a plan.”

  She realized by talking about what they would do when they got into town, whether they really did do it or not, she hadn’t paid any attention to hiking down the hill, but when they came to the hike up, she had to conserve her breath. Once they were on top and on level ground again, though she’d slowed way down, and he’d offered to take her pack, to which she had politely declined, they had a nice level stretch.

  “So what movie do you want to watch?” she asked, a little short of breath.

  “Thriller? Comedy? T.V. show? Movie?”

  “Space movie. I like Sci-Fi. What about you?”

  “Sure. Some of my favorite stories are in that genre. Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly, Galaxy Quest, even Oblivion and tons more.”

  “Maybe I could have a lobster tail with my steak. Side of melted butter to dip it in. Jumbo shrimp appetizer with cocktail sauce.”

  Leyton laughed. “You’re making me hungry.”

  For several miles, they walked in silence. Leyton figured if they walked thirty miles a day, they’d reach a town about dusk on the third day. But he didn’t think they’d get that far today. Not as slow as Kate was walking because of how hilly the terrain was, her injured back, and carrying the heavy pack. At this rate, they were likely going to need four days.

  He nearly had heart failure when he left his backpack up on the road, turned to climb back down, to see where Kate was when he witnessed her slip and fall. He’d hurried down as fast as he was safely able, knowing there was no way she was going to make it to the road carrying her pack, despite how bound and determined she was to do it. He hadn’t been able to feel any relief that she would make it until he’d pulled her safely to the pavement.

  “How far to the turn off where you reached this road?” he asked, figuring the next road would be a main one, and probably less hilly than this. Maybe if it wasn’t too far, they could make up the lean-to, someone would drive by and see them and report them to the police. Then an officer in a cruiser would check them out and give them a ride into town.

  “I’m not sure. Thirty miles, maybe?”

  He didn’t think they’d make it that far today and he didn’t want to push it if it meant injuring themselves further. “Okay, we’ll just walk until we get tired, eat, drink, have a pit stop, and continue on our way. We’ll see how far we can get to.”

  “If you’re thinking we might get to a main road after this?” She let out her breath. “We won’t. It was a narrow, winding trail too. I should have known it was the wrong way to go. I think I drove on it for about fifteen miles.”

  “And…before that?”

  “The main road. No businesses or homes. But it did have a shoulder we can
walk on and it was much more level. A few more cars passed me there. None on the other two roads.”

  “We’re doing great,” he said. Because they were. Any progress at all meant they were making…progress. And that’s all they could do for now.

  They stopped several times and he thought he must have been feeling in as bad a shape as Kate, as far as carrying the packs went. If he knew for certain they’d get picked up somewhere along the way early enough that they wouldn’t need a lean-to and everything else they were packing, he’d just dump it and carry water and a little food. But he couldn’t risk it if they had to go it alone. They needed shelter from the wind and cold and rain. They needed to stay warm.

  The sun was sinking and he was about to suggest that they stop at the bottom of the hill. Right now they were on a nice level spot on top of a hill. “Do you want to go to the bottom of the hill and set up there? Or here?” He was certain neither of them could climb the next hill tonight.

  “It would be less breezy down below,” she said practically. “And if we get hit with another summer storm, we’ll be safer down there than up on top of the hill.”

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  They headed downhill, which really was harder on their legs than climbing uphill. When they reached the bottom, he dumped his backpack and took hold of hers and set it down on the ground.

  Kate didn’t know how to make a lean-to, so she began to gather rocks to create a fire ring on the asphalt. If anyone ever came by here someday, they’ll probably think the people who did this were nuts.

  She began gathering kindling, while Leyton built the lean-to shelter, creating a backbone to the structure by tying a heavy branch between two others. Then he secured a tarp over it and covered it with branches and leaves for more insulation. He laid the emergency survival blanket on the ground to keep them from lying on the damp, cold ground, and spread the sleeping bag out under the lean to. He grabbed more timber for the fire and before the sun sank completely in the sky, they were seated on the sleeping bag, grilling hot dogs over the fire. They figured they’d have to eat those tonight. Everything else was non-perishable and could be eaten at any time.