Sharon Dunn - Big Sky Showdown

A flood of memories of his time with Willis came back to him with each step he took. He’s been barely seventeen when Willis had caught him breaking into his car to sleep. Jordan—Jordie—had only been thirteen when they decided a few months earlier that living on the run was better than foster care. His little brother had been even more impressionable than he had been.

So many of Willis’s antiestablishment rants hadn’t rang true or lacked a certain logic, but that was easy to overlook when Willis’s ragtag community finally gave Zane a place where he felt like he belonged. It was the pats on the back and the way Willis would take the time with him to teach him to shoot, build a lean-to and hunt that had made him want to stay in the wild. The camaraderie with the other boys and men filled a void for him, too. It had been hard to leave that behind, even when he’d known it was the right thing to do. The hardest part had been parting from Jordie, who’d refused to leave with him.

His brother would be twenty now, a man. Jordan had gone with Willis and the others when they left the area, but had he stayed with him all these years?

Zane stuttered in his step. Heather came up close to him. Her shoulder pressed against his as he heard her sharp intake of breath. To the east, the river murmured.

Though he heard nothing amiss, his heart beat a little faster. “You hear something?”

After a moment, she shook her head. “I guess not. I’m just a little nervous.”

His warning system was on high alert as well. Now that they were out in the open, he had to assume they were being tracked.

“Stay close,” he whispered.

He moved slower, choosing each step with a degree of caution, not wanting a single sound to alert anyone tracking them to their location. Heather seemed to instinctually know that she needed to be quiet. Her steps were almost lighter than air.

A wolf howled somewhere in the distance. Zane’s heart hammered out a steady beat. He pushed through trees, seeking more cover. The gray dusk light turned charcoal. Stars glimmered above them, but he could not take the time to notice their beauty. He dared not let himself relax or let his guard down.

“I’m thirsty,” whispered Heather as she came up beside him.

She was probably hungry, too.

He just wasn’t sure if stopping to eat the protein bars was a good idea right now. “Don’t eat the snow. We’ll drink from the river.”

He followed the sound of the water rushing over stones. He crouched low and chose a sheltered spot where the cottonwoods grew close to the water.

Heather knelt beside the river.

“It’s cold. Drink just enough to keep you going. I have food. We’ll eat in a while.”

He positioned himself beside her and cupped his own hands and placed them in the icy water. After several handfuls, he stood up and tugged on Heather’s coat. She rose to her feet and they slipped back into the shelter of the forest.

The canopy of the trees and the encroaching darkness made it hard to see. He heard a yelp that was clearly human off to his side, maybe ten feet away. He grabbed Heather’s hand and pulled her to the ground.

Both of them remained still as the footfalls of a human being overwhelmed the other forest sounds. Heavy boots pounded past them.

One guy alone. Zane should be able to take him and get a weapon. Zane leaped to his feet and jumped on the teenager. The young man turned out to be the size of a football player and with the same strength. They wrestled, crashing against the brush. The teenager flipped over on his stomach in an effort to push himself to his feet.

The shouts of the other boys filled the forest. Their position had been given away by the noise of the fight, and reinforcements were closing in.

Zane kept a knee in Football Player’s back as he felt along his waistband for a gun. He retrieved a small pistol.

Now the whole forest was full of the noise of their pursuers edging closer. He saw bobbing lights. The mechanical thunder of ATVs coming to life surrounded them.

Heather pulled on his shoulder. “Hurry. They’re coming.”

She let go of him and turned to head away from the bobbing lights. He stuffed the gun in his waistband and took a step toward her. From the ground where he lay, Football Player grabbed at his ankle. Zane stumbled, nearly falling on his face.

Heather swung around and landed a kick to the kid’s shoulder so he let go of Zane’s foot. The crashing and breaking of branches alerted them to the closeness of their pursuers. They shot through forest and back up toward a sloping hill. The roar of ATVs pressed on them from all sides. When he glanced over his shoulder, he saw three sets of glowing white headlights. They’d never outrun these machines.

He rerouted toward a cluster of trees. Heather followed him. Once they were deep into the forest, he stopped.

He pointed at a tree. “Climb.”

Heather must have realized hiding was their only option. Without a word, she dashed toward the tree and grabbed a low, sturdy branch. She climbed with agility and ease. He ran to a nearby tree and jumped up to grasp one of the lower branches. The ATVs grew louder. Headlights cut a wide swath through the trees. As artificial light filled the forest, he could make out the silhouette of Heather resting her belly on a stout branch and holding on to the smaller limbs of the tree. Evergreen boughs partially hid her, but wouldn’t provide enough protection if someone looked her way. He could only hope their pursuers kept their eyes on the ground.

The machines surged by beneath them. He spotted two riders by themselves. A third ATV with a driver and a passenger zoomed by. The ATVs scooted up the hill, the noise of their engines growing faint. The bobbing flashlights told him there were some trackers on foot, as well. These searchers approached at a slower pace, shining their light over the brush and trees. The orange glow of the flashlights landed on the tree where Heather was hiding. Zane tensed. If they were spotted, they’d be shot like coons out of their trees even if it was just to injure them.

In the distance, the ATVs slowed. They must have figured out they’d lost the trail and now they were backtracking. There were three young men with flashlights on foot. One of them lingered beneath the tree where Heather was hiding.

He’d counted seven boys and young men chasing after them in all. As far as he could tell in the dark, none of them were Jordie. Though the passing of time would make it hard to recognize his brother even in daylight. He could only hope that his brother had escaped the control Willis had had on his life.

The lone searcher continued to pace beneath Heather’s hiding place, shining the flashlight on nearby trees. Zane could no longer hear the noise of the other two foot soldiers who had split off and disappeared into the forest.

Zane clenched his teeth. All they needed was for this tracker to leave, and they could scramble down and find a new hiding place or even escape.

It sounded like the ATVs were doing circles, trying to pick up the trail. The man shone his light on the tree where Zane hid. The light glared in Zane’s face. He’d been spotted. Zane’s muscles tensed as the man reached for his gun.

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