Karina Halle - Donners of the Dead

“According to the map,” Isaac shouted from behind Tim, “we should be close to Alder Creek, the first camp for the Donners.”

I’d seen Isaac’s map. It was little more than a few squiggles drawn on crudely-shaped mountains. Still, I had a feeling he was right. Though the rotting meat smell was gone, there was something else. I studied the nearby trees closely and noticed that here and there, the branches were hacked off at eye level. Someone had been collecting them, either to make a roof for a shanty or to burn as firewood.

“I think we’ve already found it,” I said. I nodded at Jake. “Keep on riding.”

From the look on his face I could tell he hated being told what to do by a woman, let alone a half-Indian one. That’s why I said it. I liked seeing his upper lip snarl and those deep, dark eyes narrow into cold slits. I liked that I made this very grown man as ornery as a mule. I liked that I seemed to bother him as much as he bothered me.

We rode for another minute until the trees opened up into a tiny meadow of fawn-colored grass that spread out to the golden alder trees that bordered the edge of the forest. From here you could see the wide expanse of the mountains, their tops covered by low clouds. While the drizzle had stopped where we were, the air had gotten colder and I knew that snow was falling higher up.

A flock of geese suddenly rose from the grass and Jake was quick with his plains rifle, bringing down one with his only shot.

“Another good meal,” Tim commented cheerily. “Well, I suppose we should take a look around here and see what we can find.”

“I reckon we keep going,” Jake said, twisting in his saddle to face him, the leather squeaking against his raincoat. “We can’t stay here, and we have to reach proper shelter before dark.”

“We’re staying here,” Isaac countered, “until we find what we’re looking for. You might be leading us but you’re not in charge of this expedition, Jake. You’re not funding it. And if you want your money, then you’ll have to sit tight and keep your mouth shut.”

I’d never heard Isaac talk so much in one go before, nor mouth off to Jake. The air suddenly rippled with tension, adding to the weighty, eerie quality that the valley was already giving off.

“Eve,” Tim said in his most diplomatic voice, “why don’t you take Isaac around this valley here and see if you can find anything. I think there should be a creek nearby and hopefully remnants of the Donners.”

I raised a brow. When he said remnants of the Donners, did he mean discarded belongings—or discarded bones of the men who died in the snows? I shivered at the thought but dismounted Sadie all the same.

Meeks also wanted to take a look around, and as soon as Hank indicated the same, Avery was joining my side. Tim was already pulling Jake away, wanting to talk to him far from the rest of us. Only Donna remained on her horse, pretending not to be slighted.

“What exactly are we looking for?” Avery asked, arms folded across his chest.

Isaac eyed him carefully before he spoke. “Just signs of civilization. Why don’t you and Hank and Merv take the south end over there? Eve and I will take the north.” He jerked his skinny face to the mountains where the alders thinned out and the grass was lost to trees.

I could tell Avery was apprehensive about leaving my side, but as long as he was with Hank—who was staring me down like a prized buck—I wasn’t bothered. Isaac was strange and pushy but he didn’t give me the same feeling as Hank did.

So I walked with Isaac toward the north end of the field, the rain-wet grass brushing against my dress and soaking the hem. I was grateful for the boots I was wearing, especially as the ground grew soft and marshy, and we eventually came across a creek that snaked just inside the last crop of alders.

“So this is Alder Creek,” Isaac said as if I wasn’t there. He started looking around him for signs. But for me, the signs were obvious. That rotten smell had returned again, albeit fainter, along with the light but still horrid smell of human waste. Isaac obviously couldn’t pick up on it, or he would have remarked something fierce. I suppose I really was starting to prove my worth.

I gestured to the trees on the other side of the gurgling creek. “I believe if you’re looking for anything it will be over there.”

He didn’t look as suspicious as I had imagined he would. “You reckon?”

“Let’s go see.”

The creek wasn’t hard to cross with a few large stones in the middle, and I was glad that we’d found something to appease him.

However, as soon as we came across faded hoof marks and footprints that led us into a small glade, my gladness took a sharp turn towards horror.

There were two small huts composed of felled logs and branches with some mildewed quilts thrown on top. Beyond that was a small semi-circular cabin with a missing roof and fire pit in the middle. Even if I had just seen those two sights, I would have known something was wrong. It was more than a sense or a smell, picking up on who was here before. There was a feeling that something terrible happened here and that feeling was snaking up my body, intent to drown me in it.

Of course it only took me a few steps over to the right, so I could see beyond the makeshift cabin, to see what was causing my hairs to already stand on end. There was a large pile of human skeletons—some men, some women, some children. Some were almost whole, some were missing almost every part of them, but none of them were completely intact. As if that wasn’t odd enough, some of them had what appeared to be bite marks on them and yet the area hadn’t seemed disturbed by animals at all.

“I think we found them,” I managed to say before I realized that any of the bodies could be Isaac’s uncle. “I’m sorry. Do you think that George was one of them?”

But Isaac was paying the skeletons no attention. Instead he went into the cabin, turning over fallen logs and canvas, turning over empty boxes and emptying out an iron pot that was filled with a foul-smelling sludge that caused Isaac to recoil in disgust. Still, he continued on, going to the huts next and disappearing inside. He had wanted me to lead him here but apparently that was as far as my services went.

Finally, when I had grown tired of standing next to the poor, expired bones of pioneers, their sorrowful stench filling my nostrils until I couldn’t imagine what fresh air smelled like, I asked Isaac if I should go and get the others.

He was quick to respond to that and hurried out of the hut, the canvas flapping against him like a wet wing. “No,” he said, his eyes momentarily too wide, a dirty smudge across his face. “No, it’s fine. I’m ready to go on. George wasn’t here. These people were part of the Donner party, if not the Donners themselves. We must move on.”

And as quickly as we had come here, we were leaving. Though puzzled, I couldn’t say I wasn’t glad. The sharp air from the mountains swept toward me and cleared my head as we flocked back to the party. Everyone except Jake and Tim were mounted on their horses and looking bored.

“We were getting plumb worried about you,” Tim said, directed more to me than Isaac. “We were just about to set out after ya. Find anything?”

Isaac shook his head and quickly got on his horse. “No, nothing. Better luck at the next stop.”

I frowned at him while I mounted Sadie. “Well, I wouldn’t quite say we found nothing. There’s a heap of skeletons out there behind some of the huts the parties must have built.”

“Skeletons?” Jake repeated and I caught an odd exchange between him and Tim.

“Yes, yes, the poor souls,” Isaac said quickly. “But it wasn’t George’s party and that’s all I care about.”