-Caleb-
I sat up from Jocelyn’s lap, listening as she was. Sure enough, there was a familiar rumbling sound, the same sound we’d heard when we pulled off the road coming to the lake for one of the big bastards to pass.
“Come on,” I said, getting to my feet. I’d been lying there, trying to forget what I’d done, trying to unsee the blood and the dented skull. I’d also been trying not to lose hope as Jocelyn and I made our way aimlessly through the forest.
But now there was hope in the form of a large truck.
I pulled Jocelyn up next to me and started walking in the direction of the sound. Even if we missed the truck—and considering how they zoomed along, we probably would—we would at least be able to find the road and wait for the next one.
Even if I ended up going to some Canadian prison for the rest of my life, I wanted to get Jocelyn to food, shelter, water, and, God willing, a hospital.
Pine needles pricked my feet as we walked, but I decided to call it a small penance for killing a man. I was sure my true penance would come later.
“It’s not far,” Jocelyn said. “I know it’s not.”
“No, I don’t think it is, either,” I agreed. I held her hand tightly. My world felt as though it was spinning out of control, and she was gravity. My only anchor in the storm.
Road dust in the trees was our first clue. The logging truck had pulled quite a cloud behind it. But we fought our way through and found the gravel road.
“You can’t possibly walk on this,” Jocelyn observed, looking at my feet.
“Probably not,” I agreed. “But we can follow alongside the road in the woods.”
Jocelyn nodded. “Good plan. Which direction, though?”
I looked down one way, then the other. “Christ, I don’t know. Right?”
“Yeah. Either we hit a logging camp or the main road. We’ll get help no matter where we end up,” Jocelyn decided.
She and I started down the side of the road, still nearly naked, like Adam and Eve coming out of the woods. I wondered if we’d find the dead man’s vehicle stashed somewhere. Maybe he’d have left his keys.
I didn’t see a vehicle along the road, but after a curve in the road, we did see a logging camp.
Stripped pine tree trunks were being loaded onto a long, chain-covered trailer. There was a building that was clearly the office, then a few scattered cabins around that, which I imagined housed the workers themselves.
“We made it!” Jocelyn said excitedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
I put a hand on her shoulder to stop her bouncing. It was making her boobs bounce with her, and I didn’t like the idea of her, even so innocently, putting on a show for other men. Jocelyn was MINE.
When we got close to the camp, a whistle went up, and the loading stopped with one log dangling on a chain in the air over the truck.
“What have we got here?” a guy in overalls asked, marching down the road toward us.
“Hello, sir,” Jocelyn said. “We had a boating accident during the storm the other day and we’re terribly lost. Could we possibly use... um... do you have like a phone that actually works up here or some way we could contact the authorities to come get us?”
The guy in overalls scratched his chin, looking at Jocelyn speculatively. I didn’t like it. “American?”
“Yes, sir,” Jocelyn said. “I’m Jacey, this is my stepbrother, Caleb.”
“Had to be American. Nobody else would walk around near naked in the Canadian woods,” the guy chuckled. “I’m Girard. Afraid we don’t have any working phone around here.”
“Who do you call in case of an emergency?” I asked, stepping in front of Jocelyn.
“We’ve got trucks. We drive to a hospital,” Girard said as though I was stupid.
“Could we get a ride to the nearest hospital, please?” Jocelyn piped up, peering over my shoulder. She was shooting me confused looks.
I knew I’d confused her, but I had a bad feeling in my gut. “Or maybe tell us how far to the main road?”
“You’re not walking to the main road barefoot, son. I’m surprised you made it here from the lake,” Girard said. “As for a ride, well, that’s complicated.”
Jocelyn swallowed, her throat undulating against my shoulder. I reached back and took her hand in mine.
“Why is it complicated? If you’re looking for a reward, I’m sure you can make some sort of arrangement with my stepdad or my mom,” I replied.
Girard sucked his teeth, rocking on the heels of his steel-toed boots. “Well, you see, son, this here is an illegal logging operation.”
“Oh crap,” Jocelyn whispered.
I squeezed her hand tighter. “That’s no business of ours. We just want to get to a hospital.”
“I’ll bet you do. You two look pretty banged up. But now you know we’re back here, well, that creates problems for us,” Girard said.
“Caleb?” Jocelyn breathed next to my ear, the stress in her voice having ratcheted up almost as high as the pounding in my blood.
“Sir, I promise you, we’re going to forget all about it. We just need a way out of here. Hell, we don’t even know where we are anymore,” I tried reasoning with him.
Girard shrugged. “Afraid that isn’t going to work for us, son.” He let out a high-pitched whistle.
The other men back in the encampment started stalking toward us.
“Oh God. Oh God,” Jocelyn said.
I knew her eyes were darting around, just like mine, trying to find some way out of this. “Um... thank you for your time. We’ll just be going, then.” I didn’t even have to tell Jocelyn to run.
It wasn’t much use, though. Jocelyn was wearing clunky, awkward wading boots while I was barefoot. The combination did not make for speed for either one of us. Whereas our pursuers were wearing steel-toed, rugged terrain footwear.
We made it about half a mile before two men tackled me to the forest floor and Girard snatched Jocelyn by her hair.
“Jacey!” I called, panicking.
“I’d be worrying more about yourself,” one of my attackers said.
I struggled. I was in good shape and worked hard to keep myself that way, but there were two burly lumberjacks holding me down. I wasn’t exactly equal to that.
Still, when they hauled me to my feet and Girard marched Jocelyn past me, I bared my teeth at him. “If you harm one hair on her head...”
“You’ll what? Threaten me to death? I’m shaking in my boots,” Girard deadpanned.
“We’ll have to go back and make sure they didn’t leave a trail. There’re probably people looking for them,” one of the other lumberjacks said.
Girard nodded. “Come on, let’s get these two locked up until we decide what to do with them.”
“If they were around Little Wiikaa, Bill will know,” the two lumberjacks who went back into the woods said to each other.
Jocelyn looked at me. We had a pretty good idea of who “Bill” was. The question was, what would these men do when they discovered Bill?
We were half-marched, half-dragged to a windowless shed and thrown inside on the rough plank floor. The door slammed shut, but light still came in faintly through cracks between the wallboards and around the door.
I reached out for Jocelyn, my hand finally landing on her shoulder. She crawled immediately into my lap and hugged me.
“We have to get out of here before they find him,” she said, voicing my own thoughts.
“I know.” I let my eyes adjust to the low light of the shed then began looking and feeling around. There was nothing in here of consequence, just things that they wouldn’t want to get wet—extra blankets and clothes—as well as other supplies we might have even kept under our tarp, such as bottled water. The most dangerous item in the shed was a butterknife someone had left in a half-eaten loaf of bread.
Jocelyn, meanwhile, was exploring the back of the shed, pushing her booted feet experimentally against the boards. “I think we might be able to kick them and break them,” she whispered to me. “But I didn’t get a good look at what’s on the other side, and I’m afraid they’ll hear us.
“We’ll have to wait for night, then, or for another opportunity to present itself,” I sighed, raking a hand over my hair. “In the meantime, let’s eat something, drink some water, and rest a bit. It’ll be a couple of hours before they find Bill.”
“I wish they’d start sawing again,” Jocelyn muttered, cutting me off a hunk of bread and handing me a water bottle.
The bread turned out to be a sweet bread and really good. We finished off the loaf, sitting on a blanket I spread on the floor and swigging water.
I laid down after we’d set the bottles aside and motioned for Jocelyn to lay with me. She pillowed her head on my bicep and snuggled into me, her arm across my stomach. I played idly with her braid, thinking of what we could possibly do next to aid in our escape.
Jocelyn, thank God, drifted off into a light sleep. I kissed her forehead, wracking my brain for some way to protect her. To get her out of here.
I must not have noticed myself drifting off as well, because the next thing I knew, the door was rattling and my eyes were flying open. I quickly grabbed another blanket and wrapped it around Jocelyn, who came awake with a start.
“Shh,” I whispered, looking at the long shadows of light along the floor. Hours had passed. Had they found Bill?
Girard poked his head in the shed, took a look around, and chuckled. “Made yourselves right at home, I see.”
“Please, let us go,” Jocelyn said, tucking the blanket high up under her chin to hide her mostly-naked body.
“Well, about that. My men just radioed me with some interesting news. Seems old Bill is sitting in the forest, not far from his cabin, with his head bashed in. Now, I know it was a bit early for moose-hunting season, but I don’t think the Canadian Forest Service is giving out corporal punishment for breaking that law.” Girard raised an eyebrow at us. “Care to explain?”
“We don’t know this Bill person,” Jocelyn replied quickly, while I just kept my mouth shut.
“Really? Because there were bare footprints and some woman’s size boot prints near his body,” Girard pressed. “Care to revise that lie of yours?”
Jocelyn squished closer to me, practically mummified in the blanket, and gave Girard a harsh look. “What are you, CSIs now?”
Girard stepped into the shed, his gaze cold. I looked past him. There were at least five men behind him, looking equally stoic. “Bill was a friend.”
“Bill was a pervert!” Jocelyn insisted. She struggled her arms out of the blanket and grabbed for me when I stood to face Girard down.
“I killed him.” I let the truth marinate around him for a while, then continued, “He was trying to hurt my stepsister.”
“Ah.” Girard gave Jocelyn a long once-over. “Well, can’t blame the man. That body’s made for sin.”
Jocelyn pulled the blanket back up to cover herself.
“I don’t care what you think her body’s made for. She’s my stepsister, and I won’t have ANYONE messing with her,” I said. I wasn’t going down without a fight. If it came to it, I was taking some of these bastards with me if they decided to go for Jocelyn. Or I’d die trying.
Girard chuckled. “Oh, you’ve been a very bad boy, Caleb.”
“So now you know I murdered somebody and we know about your logging operation. Does that make us even enough for you to let us go?” I demanded.
Girard stroked his chin. “I’ll have to think about that.” He walked back toward the door, then turned around and winked. “Don’t go anywhere.”
His laughter carried through the ill-fitted boards as the door slammed behind him.