Richard Laymon - Tread Softly

Benny dropped to the rocks ten feet below. He cried out as he hit. With a yelp, the coyote raced away.

Julie let go of Karen's sweatshirt and stepped beside her. "Benny!"

They boy raised his head.

A crouched figure with a hatchet scurried toward him over the moonlit rocks.

"Look out!" Karen yelled.

"It's just Nick," Julie said.

As they climbed down, Karen heard Benny whimper, "My arm, my arm."

Karen knelt beside him. He was gasping, holding his right forearm.

"I think it might be broken," Nick said.

Karen stroked the boy's sweaty forehead. "Where else do you hurt?" she asked.

"Everywhere."

"You took a pretty good fall."

"I tried to duck, but it — "

Julie said, "Is anything else broken or sprained?"

"I don't know," he said. "I don't think so."

He flinched and sobbed as they sat him up. They carefully removed his parka. Julie shined a light on his arm while Nick rolled his right sleeve up above the elbow. The forearm was swollen and discolored, but the skin wasn't broken. "We need something to splint it," Nick said.

"Knives?" Karen suggested.

"Let's give it a try."

Julie opened her belt and took off her leather-cased knife. From hilt to tip, it was nearly a foot long.

"That'll do for one," Nick said.

Benny had a similar knife.

Karen held them in place, one on each side of the arm, while Nick strapped them tight with Benny's belt. "I guess that'll have to do until we find something better."

"Hope we don't need those things," Julie said.

Nick ruffled Benny's hair. "Now you're better armed than any of us."

"My gun," Karen muttered.

She and Julie climbed up the rocks to look for it. With Nick's flashlight, she searched the area where she'd let it fall. Her beam swept the gray surfaces, sought out dark corners, dug into fissures. Julie located the lost flashlight. It was broken. They kept on looking.

"It has to be here someplace," Julie said.

"You'd think so."

They went over the same area time and again.

"Maybe it's down there," Julie said, stepping close to the edge.

"Any luck?" Nick called to her.

"No."

They climbed down and searched the base of the rock cluster.

Julie glanced at her brother. "You're not sitting on it, are you?"

"No," he said.

"I'll try looking," Nick said.

Julie handed over her flashlight. She stayed below, while Karen led Nick back up the broken rocks to the place where she had dropped the gun. "Right about here," she said, standing a yard from the edge.

"Did you throw it, or just let it fall?"

"I just opened my hand so I could grab for Benny."

"Maybe you kicked it."

"I might've. If I did, it didn't register."

She showed him where Julie had found the flashlight. They searched there. They crisscrossed the craggy mound of granite, walking shoulder to shoulder.

"It might've gone down one of these cracks," Nick finally said.

"Wherever it is," Karen told him, "I don't think we're gonna find it. Not tonight anyway. Why don't we come back in the morning when we've got some light on the subject?"

"Morning will be too late," Nick said.

They climbed down, and spent some time searching the area around Benny and Julie.

"Might as well forget it," Julie said.

Karen took off her belt and made a sling for Benny's arm. Then they helped the boy to his feet.

"What now?" Julie asked.

"Let's just get back to our packs," Nick said. "There's aspirin in my first-aid kit. Maybe that'll help Benny's pain."

"Build a nice, warm fire," Julie added.

"And eat," Benny said. "I'm starving."

They were near the south end of the lake. Karen, with one of the flashlights, took the lead. Nick followed, supporting Benny. The boy could walk all right, though he winced with each limping step. Julie, carrying the hatchet and the other working flashlight, brought up the rear.

Karen tried to pick out the easiest route. Her beam probed the darkness ahead, swept the slope to her left. She felt very vulnerable without the gun.

By losing it, she'd put everyone in terrible danger. Nobody had criticized her and she tried not to blame herself, but damn it, she'd thrown away their main defense, the only weapon they had that could reach out and knock someone down at a safe distance. The pocketknife in her jeans was little comfort. The two big knives were belted around Benny's arm. Nick still had a sheath knife at his side, and Julie had the hatchet. A pitiful collection of weapons. Christ, why didn't I hang onto the gun!

Rounding the end of the lake, she came upon the feeder stream from Upper Mesquite. Her light shimmered on its rushing surface, followed the water upward to the low ridge, swept back and forth over both rocky shores. She saw rocks and lurching shadows and flowing water. Nothing more. She crouched. She cupped some cold, fresh water to her mouth. Then she jumped to the other side, and held her light on the stream.

Nick and Benny waded across, the water swirling over their boots, soaking their pants legs almost to the knees.

Julie leaped over the stream. "Now you two'll come down with pneumonia."

Nick made a sound resembling a laugh. "Better than old- monia."

Karen crossed the slope, heading downward, closer to the lake. And then her boot pressed springy earth, not rock. It felt like a cushion. It felt wonderful. The layer of pine needles made soft crunching sounds as she walked.

She took a twisting route to avoid trees and clumps of rock. Then she saw the clearing just ahead. She spotted the fireplace, the stumps and rocks surrounding it like stools, the pile of wood. She was swept by a feeling of pleasure and relief, as if returning home after a long trip.

She staggered forward. She lowered herself onto the flat surface of a stump, stretched out her pulsing legs, and sighed.

"What the shit!" Nick blurted. "Where'd our packs go?"

Karen shined her flashlight into the darkness. The packs were gone.

Benny felt useless. He sat on a rock shivering, his arm throbbing with pain, while Nick and Julie searched for the backpacks. Karen sat on a stump close to him. She held an open pocketknife. "You can help them look if you want," he said.

"That's okay."

"You don't have to stay and guard me."

She smiled slightly. "Sure I do."

"Boy, I really messed things up."

"No you didn't. It could've happened to any of us." She wrapped her arms around herself.

"Are you cold?" Benny asked.

"I'm one giant goosebump."

"Do you want my parka?"

"No, thanks. It wouldn't fit anyway."

"You could put it over your back."

"No. You keep it. Really. You need it more than me. Didn't you know that women have an extra layer of fat?"

"Not you."

She laughed. "It's gonna be a rough night if they don't find the packs. We'll freeze our buns."

"And starve. Like the Donner party."

"Hardly like the Donner party. We can hike out of here in a day if we have to. We've done it before."

"We can't leave without. We've gotta kill the witch first."

"At least we know she's here," Karen said. "She has to be the one who took our packs. That's something anyway." "I knew she would be. She brought us here."

"What?"

"She brought us here. With her magic."

"That's a pleasant thought. What makes you think so?"

"We're here, aren't we?"

"We chose to come."

"Why didn't we have a wreck on the way up? We didn't even have a close call."

"Nick was driving. As your dad said, he's the Great Uncursed One."

"Nothing's happened to any of us since Thursday. Nothing happened till we got here. She wanted us here."

"So she could get Nick?"