Chapter 8 - Footprints Outside the Cabin
By morning the orange glow had disappeared.
Smoke remained.
A black line against the winter sky.
Samuel stood at the window.
“He knows.”
Elias packed supplies.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“You told anyone?”
“No.”
“Thomas?”
“Only Clara.”
Clara looked up.
“Thomas never told me Silver Creek.”
Samuel frowned.
“Then somebody followed me.”
Elias stopped.
That made sense.
Gideon hadn’t known Samuel’s location.
Not until Elias rode to Saint Mercy.
“You were followed from the mission.”
Samuel’s face fell.
“My fault.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It matters.”
“Only if you plan to repeat it.”
Elias looked toward Clara.
“We leave today.”
“For Fort Bridger?”
“Yes.”
Samuel shook his head.
“Too obvious.”
“What route?”
“Pine Needle Pass.”
Elias stared.
“In winter?”
“Gideon will watch the main road.”
“Pine Needle is dangerous.”
“So is Red Hollow.”
Clara interrupted.
“What is Pine Needle?”
“A mountain pass.”
“How dangerous?”
Elias said nothing.
Samuel answered.
“Very.”
Clara looked at Elias.
“Helpful.”
They loaded the sled.
Before leaving, Elias walked around the cabin one final time.
His gaze lingered on the porch.
The woodpile.
The window where Clara had stood.
He had built this place to keep the world out.
Now he was leaving because the world had finally given him something worth returning to.
They traveled slowly.
Samuel rode behind.
Clara sat in the covered sled with Rose and Ruth.
By afternoon clouds thickened.
Elias checked the sky repeatedly.
Clara noticed.
“Storm?”
“Maybe.”
“Your face says definitely.”
“My face has always looked like this.”
“That is unfortunate.”
Samuel laughed from behind them.
Elias glared.
“I preferred hiding.”
They reached a hunting shelter before dark.
One room.
Dirt floor.
Stone fireplace.
Enough.
Elias started a fire.
Clara fed the twins.
Samuel slept almost immediately.
Later, Clara sat beside Elias.
“Do you ever think about leaving?”
“The mountains?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Never?”
“Why?”
“Because everything here seems connected to pain.”
Elias looked toward her.
“Pain follows people.”
“That sounds cheerful.”
“You asked.”
Clara watched the fire.
“I used to dream about the ocean.”
“Why?”
“Thomas promised to take me.”
Elias felt the familiar uncomfortable jealousy of a dead man.
He disliked himself for it.
“What stopped you?”
“Money.”
Clara smiled faintly.
“Life.”
Silence.
Then Elias said, “I’ve never seen it either.”
“The ocean?”
“No.”
“Maybe someday.”
The words hung between them.
Maybe someday.
Together?
Neither asked.
A branch snapped outside.
Elias stood instantly.
Samuel woke.
“What?”
“Quiet.”
Elias opened the door slightly.
Snow.
Trees.
Nothing.
Then he saw tracks near the shelter.
Horse tracks.
Fresh.
They ended twenty yards away.
The rider had dismounted.
Elias closed the door.
“They found us.”
Clara picked up Rose.
Samuel reached for his pistol.
“How many?”
“Unknown.”
A voice came from outside.
“Vance!”
Sheriff Pike.
Clara went pale.
“Give me Crowe and the woman.”
Elias said nothing.
“You have five minutes.”
Samuel whispered, “Take them through the back.”
“There is no back.”
“Yes.”
Samuel pointed to a section of wall.
“Old trapping shelters had supply doors.”
Elias examined the boards.
One was loose.
Behind it—
a narrow opening.
Big enough.
Clara bundled the twins.
“What about you?”
Elias looked at Samuel.
“We go together.”
“No.”
Samuel stood.
“I delayed this three years.”
“Not your job.”
“Thomas died because everyone kept deciding survival was somebody else’s responsibility.”
Elias’s jaw tightened.
“Samuel—”
“I can buy time.”
Clara grabbed Samuel’s sleeve.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“I abandoned you once.”
“You don’t repay cowardice by dying.”
Samuel stared.
Clara continued.
“You repay it by living long enough to tell the truth.”
That decided it.
All four escaped through the supply hatch.
They descended into the ravine.
Behind them Pike shouted.
A gunshot cracked into the air.
Not at them.
Warning.
Elias pulled the sled.
Snow deepened.
Clara carried Ruth beneath her coat.
Samuel held Rose.
For twenty minutes they moved through the trees.
Then another sound came.
Horses.
Elias looked up.
A narrow frozen river lay ahead.
“No.”
Samuel understood.
“The ice?”
“Too thin.”
Behind them lanterns appeared.
Clara stared at the river.
Then at the riders.
“We don’t have a choice.”
Elias tested the surface.
It groaned.
“Spread out.”
They stepped onto the ice.
Elias first.
Clara behind him.
Samuel pulling the sled.
Halfway across—
CRACK.
Clara froze.
“Don’t stop!”
Elias shouted.
Another crack.
The ice split behind Samuel.
One boot plunged through.
He fell.
“Samuel!”
Clara screamed.
Elias turned back.
Samuel clawed at the surface.
The sled began sliding toward the opening.
Elias dove forward, caught the rope and pulled.
Clara placed Ruth safely on the far bank and ran back.
Together they dragged Samuel free.
Behind them Pike’s riders reached the river.
They stopped.
Nobody wanted to cross.
Elias smiled.
“Keep moving.”
Pike shouted from the opposite bank.
“You can’t run forever!”
Clara turned.
For the first time since Elias had known her, fear did not control her face.
She shouted back.
“We’re not running!”
Pike stared.
Clara continued.
“We’re going to tell everyone what you did.”
Then she turned away.
Elias looked at her.
“What?”
she asked.
“Nothing.”
“You’re smiling.”
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
He took the sled rope.
“You’re becoming difficult.”
Clara lifted her chin.
“I learned from you.”
They disappeared into the forest.
But none of them noticed the lone rider already waiting farther up the mountain.
Watching.
May you like
And when they vanished, he turned his horse toward Fort Bridger.
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