Off Road Read online

  “Yeah, I think so,” Wyatt said. “And if we were right about the creek being south of where I crashed, then we know for sure that we’re facing south right now. Which means we have to go east along the creek to get to the bridge.”

  “That doesn’t sound so bad,” Tanika said. “As long as we don’t run into any more mountain lions.” She held up her crossed fingers.

  Wyatt wished he had her optimism, but he was still shaken from seeing the mountain lion, and the cut on his arm was still stinging painfully with every move. But he forced a smile for the benefit of his friend. “No problem at all.”

  ***

  Wyatt had assumed that once they found the creek, it would be an easy walk back to the visitor center.

  And while it was comforting to have the sound of the rushing water as a reminder that they were on the right path, he found the walk tiring and long.

  The distances on the map must not have been to scale. Or maybe, Wyatt thought with growing concern, we got the directions mixed up and are following the creek further into the wild. He tried to remember what the trail map had looked like. But there hadn’t been much detail put into the off limits part of the map since visitors weren’t expected to be out there in the first place. All Wyatt knew was that they really needed to be heading the right direction. The sun was sinking faster and faster in the sky.

  In the growing dusk, Tanika narrowly avoided tripping over an exposed root and slipping down into the creek. Shapes had become hard to distinguish and the colors started to fade until everything looked gray in the gloom.

  Tanika caught herself and turned on her bike’s headlight. In this strange twilight, it hardly did any good, but they would be thankful for it as soon as night fell. Which, Wyatt guessed with a sinking feeling, would probably be in the next half hour, maybe sooner. And they still had no way of knowing how close they were to the bridge, or even if they were going in the right direction.

  Tanika stopped abruptly, the comfortingly familiar rustle of her bike tires over the dead pine needles falling silent, immediately putting Wyatt on edge.

  “What is it?” Wyatt asked, scanning the woods around them nervously, half expecting to see another mountain lion.

  “This isn’t working,” Tanika said.

  “What isn’t?” Wyatt asked.

  “This,” Tanika said, gesturing at the creek. “How can we even be sure we’re going the right way? Shouldn’t we have run into that bridge by now?”

  Wyatt was glad he hadn’t been the only one to have that thought.

  “It could still be the right way,” he argued, mostly because he was too terrified to admit that they might have spent valuable hours of daylight heading the wrong direction. “Maybe the bridge is just farther away than we thought.”

  Tanika gazed up at the treetops. “I can’t see anything down here in the middle of all these trees. How about I climb one of them and see if I can get a good look ahead? I might even be able to see the bridge from here. Or at least some sort of landmark, like lights from one of the nearby towns, so we at least know if we’re heading toward civilization.”

  “That sounds like a horrible idea!” Wyatt blurted out, mostly because the thought of climbing a tree that high made his legs feel like jelly.

  Tanika rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Do you have a better idea? I’m a great climber, and these pine trees have a lot of nice, straight branches.”

  “The branches are sturdy enough down at this level,” Wyatt admitted, “but once you get up higher, who knows. I’m not even sure you’ll be able to see anything from up there besides more trees.”

  “It’s worth a shot,” Tanika said, shrugging.

  “No, it’s not worth it,” Wyatt countered. “What happens if you fall? If you get seriously injured, we have no way to get you help. How would I get us out of here?”

  “You worry too much,” Tanika said, heading toward the tree.

  “Tanika, wait!” Wyatt groaned. “Stop, seriously, what are you even doing? Tanika!”

  Wyatt bit his lip. Tanika’s lack of fear had been getting her into trouble as long as Wyatt had known her. And in a survival situation like this, it could get her hurt . . . or worse.

  Tanika pulled herself up into the lowest branches and started to climb. Wyatt called down for her to stop a few more times, but she was either ignoring him or too focused on the climb to pay attention to his warnings.

  It looked like Tanika had been right that the branches made for good climbing. Within a minute she was up higher than Wyatt would have dared to climb.

  But as he stepped back to keep his eye on her, Wyatt thought that maybe Tanika’s plan had a chance of working. This particular tree stood a little apart from the others on the creek bank, and it was taller. Wyatt sighed. He would never hear the end of it if Tanika’s daredevil plan worked, but he didn’t really want her to fail either because of what that would mean.

  “Can you see anything?” he called after a while. He could only just see Tanika’s bright jacket up among the branches of the tree.

  Wyatt heard nothing for a moment, then Tanika gave an excited shout.

  “I do, Wy! I can’t see the bridge from here because it’s hidden by the trees, but I can totally see the visitor center building and bit of the parking lot. It’s still a little ways off, but we’re heading in the right direction!”

  Wyatt breathed a sigh of relief that safety might literally be in sight. If they got out of this without having to spend the night in the woods, he would be so grateful.

  “It’s really beautiful up here,” Tanika shouted. “You can see the last bit of sunset and the first stars and the—”

  “Great,” Wyatt shouted sarcastically, “but stars mean nightfall, which means trying to find our way in pitch blackness. We can stargaze once we get out of these woods! Now get down before you hurt yourself.”

  Wyatt swore he could feel Tanika’s eyes rolling at him. Soon he heard the rustling sound of movement in the tree, and Tanika came back into view.

  Tanika seemed pleased with herself as she climbed down.

  “I told you so!” she called cheerfully. And a split second later, she was falling.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Wyatt saw it all happen as if it was in slow motion. Tanika’s foot scraped the trunk for a foothold, but the sole of her sneaker slipped, sending a shower of bark raining down. Tanika shrieked and lost her balance. She slid down the tree, unable to grab anything to break her fall.

  She had climbed down low enough that she didn’t have very far to fall, but she still landed hard. Wyatt had seen enough mountain bike crashes—at least on social media—to recognize a bad fall when he saw it. His breath caught in his throat. Tanika had landed in a half crouch, but now she rolled over onto her side, grasping her leg.

  “Tanika!” Wyatt yelled as he rushed toward her. He knew from the way she was gritting her teeth and had her eyes squeezed shut that it would be pointless to ask if she was okay. So instead he asked, “How bad is it? What did you hurt?”

  “My ankle,” Tanika managed to say without unclenching her teeth or opening her eyes.

  Wyatt looked at Tanika’s ankle. It was already swelling and bruising, but the ankle wasn’t twisted at an odd angle, so that was good.

  “Can you move it?” Wyatt asked.

  Tanika grimaced. “I think I could, but that doesn’t mean I want to.” She groaned. “I’m not sure I can stand, though. It made kind of a popping sound, not a cracking sound, so I’m really hoping it’s a sprain and not a fracture.”

  Now that he knew Tanika hadn’t been seriously hurt in the fall, Wyatt couldn’t resist teasing her. “Would you be mad if I said ‘I told you so’ right now?” he said, giving her a friendly smirk.

  Tanika groaned, but this time in mock annoyance. “Just help me up, Wy,” she grumbled.

  Wyatt let her put her arm around his shoulders, then carefully stood up, supporting her as she balanced on one wobbly leg, holding her swollen ankle away from the groun
d.

  Tanika shifted her weight, then bit back a yelp of pain. “In case you were wondering,” she said with a straight face, “the answer is no—I can’t put weight on that leg.”

  Wyatt helped her hobble over to the tree trunk so she could balance on her own for a second. “There’s no way you’re going to be able to push your bike in this condition.”

  Tanika frowned. “But we already came this far with it. Maybe it will help me walk. Like a set of crutches with wheels.”

  “Maybe if we were just walking down the block, but there’s no way you’ll be able to do that in the woods. It’s going to be hard enough to make it to the bridge as it is, without lugging the bike with us. It’s like you said with my bike. We’re just going to have to come back for it.”

  Tanika’s eyebrows knitted together anxiously. “I guess . . .” she said reluctantly. “I just don’t want to leave my baby here.” She sighed. “I know, I know, we don’t really have a choice. But we should grab the headlight and my water bottle. And anything else that might be useful.”

  “I wish we had some way to set your ankle,” Wyatt mused. “If it’s broken, then we want to keep it from moving. I guess I could use a part from your bike as a splint if we strapped it to your leg with the bandages from the first aid kit.”

  Wyatt swore he could see Tanika’s eyes flash even in the dim light.

  “Don’t you dare, Wy!” she said. “I already agreed to leave my bike here, but there is no way you are stripping her for parts! Especially not with that dinky little multi-tool on your pocketknife.”

  Wyatt chuckled. “Don’t worry, I won’t. I’m not sure it would even do any good. And besides, we’re finally within reach of the bridge. It will be slow going, but at least we know we’re close and going in the right direction.”

  “And we have the bike headlight,” Tanika added, her voice shaking as she stared at the dark woods around them.

  For the first time all day, Tanika didn’t sound sure of herself. Wyatt realized that her positive outlook had been helping him stay calm. Now that her confidence was shaken, his stomach felt tight with anxiety. I’ll just have to be brave for both of us, he thought.

  “Hey,” he said kindly, “we’ll be fine. Just take it slow, lean on me, and do your best to keep the headlight pointed at the ground in front of us. The last thing I want is for us to trip. We’re banged up enough as it is,” he said.

  If anything, the forest was louder at night than it had been during the day. Wyatt had thought the sounds would be comforting after the damp stillness of the afternoon, but he found himself jumping at every small sound.

  He had no idea what sorts of creatures made the sounds he was hearing, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to find out. The rational part of his brain told him that they were probably all frogs or insects or owls, but some of them sounded otherworldly. Chatting hadn’t seemed too out of place in the daylight, but now that the dark pressed in around them, Wyatt found it hard to speak above a loud whisper.

  The whitish circle of light from the headlight didn’t do much to relieve his fears. It lit the path in front of them and kept them from tripping over roots and rocks, but outside of its glow the forest seemed even darker by comparison. From time to time, Wyatt thought he saw shadows move in the dark or the greenish glow of the light hitting some creature’s eyes, but it might have just been his imagination. After all, he was beyond exhausted. All he wanted was to tumble into his bed and pull up the warm covers. Instead, he was dealing with the blisters forming on his feet and nothing but his thin blue jacket to keep him warm.

  It was hard to tell distance in the dark, and Wyatt had never noticed how much he depended on his phone as a clock. He was losing track of time, and for all he knew they had been struggling along in the dark for hours. He was glad the creek made noise because he could barely see it anymore. But as long as they kept that sound to their right, they would have to reach the bridge sooner or later. And Wyatt hoped it would be sooner.

  Their progress was slow, with Tanika using Wyatt as a makeshift crutch and whimpering in pain whenever she accidentally put pressure on her ankle or brushed against a rock or root with her dangling foot.

  “Ugh, it’s probably broken,” she muttered. “That would be just my luck.”

  “Just try not to think about it. Keep your mind on other things . . . like the dark and the wild animals,” Wyatt teased

  Tanika snorted. “You should put that on an inspirational poster—‘Just think about all the other things that could make your situation worse!’ ”

  Wyatt gave a small chuckle.

  A branch cracked loudly somewhere in the forest off to their left. Wyatt and Tanika both froze for a moment, listening intently and hardly daring to breathe. Wyatt’s heart pounded against his rib cage, and he felt himself trembling—like he was a little kid scared of the dark.

  “It’s probably just a deer or something, right?” he whispered to Tanika after a long moment.

  “Yeah,” she said, taking in a shaky breath. “It’s probably not a dangerous predator coming to finish us off.” She gave him a small, tight-lipped smile.

  “Well, we aren’t worth the trouble,” Wyatt pointed out. “There is plenty of other tastier prey out there.”

  He tried to take some comfort from his reasoning. Logic seemed like a good counter to the fear he was feeling. But that didn’t stop hairs on the back of his neck from prickling uneasily as they resumed their slow hobble toward the bridge.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Wyatt could hardly believe that over the course of the day, he had gone from jumping obstacles on his mountain bike to staggering through the wilderness, bloodied, bruised, and terrified.

  He was just glad that he and Tanika had stuck together in spite of their arguments. He wasn’t sure he would have been able to face this without her. If he had been alone, he would have had a hard time convincing himself not to whip together a makeshift tent out of his poncho, curl up in the fetal position, and lie awake shivering until morning.

  In the dark, they almost didn’t see the bridge until they were right at it. Wyatt helped Tanika up the short incline from the creek bank to the wooden bridge. After their time in the woods, it was a relief to have a manmade structure under their feet again.

  Wyatt helped Tanika sit down to rest for a little bit before they made it the rest of the way. He looked at her, and they shared a shaky, tired laugh, hardly daring to believe that they had finally made it back to the path.

  “I can’t wait until we get back to the car,” Tanika said.

  “Or until I get home and take a shower,” Wyatt said. He couldn’t imagine how ragged they must look right now, with torn, bloody clothes and makeshift bandages. He shifted his arm and winced as pain shot up along his elbow. “I’m just glad we’re—”

  He heard the growl before he saw the mountain lion. Wyatt jumped up. They were halfway across the bridge, and it was standing at the end closest to the woods. The way to the Visitor Center was open, but Wyatt knew that if they tried to make a run for it they wouldn’t stand a chance, and besides, Tanika wouldn’t be able to make it more than a few steps before her ankle would most likely give out beneath her.

  “Do you think that’s the same mountain lion from before?” Wyatt asked.

  “I don’t know!” Tanika snapped. “Do you want me to see if it has a collar and a name tag?” She pulled herself up using Wyatt’s arm and braced herself against the bridge railing. “Hey! You!” she shouted at the mountain lion. “Get out of here! Bad kitty!”

  Wyatt unclipped his helmet and whacked it against the railing on the other side of the bridge. But if this was the same mountain lion from before, it now seemed completely unconcerned by the noise they were making. Wyatt looked around desperately for anything to fight off the mountain lion with as it prowled closer to them, its eyes flashing green in the light from their headlight.

  It was only twenty feet away from them. Wyatt wondered how far mountain lions could pounce in a single
leap.

  Fifteen feet away. They had nothing to fight it with. They couldn’t even use Tanika’s bike as a shield since they had left it behind. And Tanika herself was in no shape to do much more than yell. She was shouting as loudly as she could, but Wyatt could see her wincing in pain.

  Usually Wyatt would look to Tanika to be the one to come up with some wild impulsive idea that would save them. But Wyatt knew now that if he didn’t come up with a strategy, they might not make it back to the parking lot.

  Wyatt’s brain buzzed. His muscles were so wound up he felt like he could barely move. He forced himself to take deep breaths, even though he felt like hyperventilating.

  The mountain lion twitched its tail, a growl building low in its throat, a deep bass rumble that was almost too low to hear.

  “What do we do, Wy?” Tanika asked. “I don’t think it’s working this time.”

  “I think we’ll have to fight it off,” Wyatt answered.

  “What?” Tanika shot back. “With what, exactly?”

  “I mean I guess we could break off a stick or something—”

  “Hit it with your helmet,” Tanika interrupted. “That thing is pretty hard. If you swing your helmet and smack it in the face, maybe it will decide we’re not worth the trouble.”

  It was about as good an idea as any. The mountain lion opened its mouth and snarled at them, showing sharp teeth that gleamed in the glow from their headlight.

  Wyatt stopped banging his helmet on the railing and let it dangle from his uninjured hand.

  He watched the mountain lion’s every move closely, ready to jump into action at the first sign of trouble. Wyatt’s eyes darted between the swishing tail, the small turn of an ear, the legs that were bunched up like a coiled spring, ready to explode forward in a flurry of teeth and claws at any second. Meanwhile, he kept forcing himself to take slow, deep breaths. In and out. In and out. Each breath an effort of willpower.

  The mountain lion lunged, and Wyatt’s reflexes were almost too slow to counter. He swung the helmet with all the strength he could muster. For a split second he thought that his wild swing had missed and that he would find himself pinned down under the mountain lion, its teeth ripping into him. But then the helmet connected with the mountain lion’s face with a loud thwack, and the big cat jerked backward, hissing angrily.