I frowned at his tone, but he continued to load it and pointed out what he was doing. “Now remember,” he said, staring me square in the face, his dark eyes determined. “Gunpowder is highly combustible. The slightest spark, the slightest anything will set it off. Treat it with respect. Never look down the barrel. Never hold it near your face. You understand?”
I nodded quickly. I was still shaken from the first shot. He didn’t need to scare me twice.
“Now, I reckon you should get us our dinner.”
“What?” I exclaimed. “I beg your pardon, but I can’t shoot anything. You saw what I just did.”
“You took a good piece out of the air. That’s still something.”
“Jake!”
“Eve,” he said back and put the rifle in my hands. “Trust me. You’ll do just fine.”
“But I didn’t hit the tree and that wasn’t even a moving target.”
“I trust in you,” he said in a measured voice. “You will do just fine. Come on, let’s go get us something to eat.”
He steered me around so we were heading back the way we came. As we walked, I kept taking in the ground, watching for the prints of jackrabbits. We were quite high up in the mountains so I wasn’t sure if they would be around, but sure enough I saw some marks and droppings as we went.
As cute as I thought rabbits were, I’d grown up living off the land and had no problems eating them as food. I just didn’t think I’d be able to shoot one, and with each shot I would take, we would use precious gunpowder. I don’t know why Jake had faith in me to hit it, but he did. He did even if I didn’t.
He did, and he was one of the few people left alive that felt that way.
The jackrabbit looked as if it had veered off into the forest, so I automatically headed that way with Jack right behind me.
“You know something?” he said. “You ain’t that bad of a tracker.”
I scoffed. “It ain’t that hard when you’re following rabbit droppings on snow.”
“I mean it though. I’m glad you’ll be able to fend for yourself out here should anything happen.”
I shot him a worried glance over my shoulder. “That’s not exactly positive talk there.”
He smiled kindly, the tanned skin around his eyes crinkling. “I’m just being realistic. I don’t plan on dying anytime soon, but we both know the possibilities are there. With your gun and your tracking, you can find yourself all the way back home.”
“I’d rather not go it alone,” I murmured.
“As do I. And I give you my word I will do whatever I can to protect you while I can.”
“And I’ll protect you.” Even though we were still walking through the forest, my pace had slowed while that warm, intangible feeling came back to dance with me.
He didn’t say anything for a moment. The only sound was the soft crunching of snow beneath our boots.
He cleared his throat. “Not sure if I’m worth protecting, Pine Nut. First chance you get, you’re getting out of here. Take the gold and start a new life.”
“Is that what your plans are?”
“They were,” he said thoughtfully. Another pause. “Things change. Now my plans are keeping you alive and getting you back home.”
“And where will you go?”
“If I’m lucky, anywhere my heart desires.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that but it didn’t matter. A faint sound on the forest floor brought my senses away from my swirling heart all the way to my limbs. I froze as Jake did the same. I concentrated and could hear the delicate thumps continue to our left.
Without looking behind me at Jake, I raised the rifle up and aimed it low to the ground and right through a line of trees. If I was right, a rabbit would come bounding through at any moment and I would have to be quick.
I waited with my breath in my mouth, afraid to let go of it. Any minute now.
I put my finger on the trigger and prepared for the kickback.
The foul stench of death filled the air, seeping into my nose, my skin, my pores, and every single hair on my body stood on end.
The rabbit bounded past.
I didn’t shoot.
I was already turning around and looking at Jake with fearful eyes as he growled, “Run!” under his breath.
We took off through the forest, Jake careful to keep me in front of him as we ran. I hadn’t seen the monster but I knew it had been there, somewhere. It could have been in the trees above us, in the bushes below, behind boulders. It could have been anywhere, watching us, chasing us, wanting us, because all I could smell was that terrible odor, the one that made me want to both vomit and cry with fear.
It was enough to let me know it was there. Like Jake had said, our moment was over. Things were changing.
We ran all the way back to the cabin, and it was only as we entered the open, skirting around the frozen edge of Donner Lake, that I dared to look behind us.
There was nothing there, not that I could see, but the smell, I just couldn’t get it out of my brain.
We burst into the cabin, sweating and breathless. The silence was thick and there was another smell. Something cooking.
“Tim?” Jake yelled, and we both peered around the corner at the fire where Isaac was sitting in his long johns and stirring something in the giant pot. “Where’s Tim?” he asked Isaac.
“He’s gone,” Isaac said calmly. He eyed us. “Is something the matter?”
Jake sneered at him in disgust. “Yeah, Isaac, something is the matter. We’re getting the hell out of here. Where’s Tim?”
“I told you,” he said, looking back to the pot. “He’s gone.”
“What are you eating?” Jake asked, peering over at the pot. “Tim said there was no more food left.”
“I improvised,” Isaac said. “Tim isn’t as resourceful as I am.”
Jake patted the gun in my hand and whispered, “Keep an eye on him.” He turned and ran out of the cabin, yelling for Tim.
I stared at Isaac and he stared right back at me, his eyes glinting coldly despite the fire’s warm glow.
“You’re a pretty girl, you know that,” he said.
I pressed my lips together in a hard line and waited for Tim to come back. Isaac was crazy; I couldn’t converse with a madman.
He dipped his spoon into the stew and ate a few bites. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and sat back in his chair. “I never was a good cook like Jake was. I’ve been eating this and eating this and it just don’t taste right. It’s hard to make do when all you have is a pinch of pepper.” He looked to me. “I’d offer you a taste, but I’m afraid I’d no longer have an advantage.”
I had to ask. “An advantage?”
He nodded slowly. “You’re weak. I’m strong. It’s how I’ll win.”
My throat felt thick. Oh, why wasn’t Jake coming back? “Win what?”
“Have you ever heard of selective breeding?”
“No,” I answered cautiously, hoping he wouldn’t indulge me.
“It’s the theory that if you only breed—create—strong animals, they will only create stronger animals, and in the end, only the strong survive. They have the advantage.” He smiled absently, clearly suffering from dementia, and looked back at his stew. He stirred his spoon around in it until food from the bottom surfaced at the top.
Within the thick, brown liquid I saw an odd white shape.
An egg? I thought to myself. Where on earth would he get an egg?
Only it wasn’t an egg.
It looked at me.
Isaac scooped it up in his spoon.
And it looked at me.
“I win,” Isaac said before he shoved the eyeball in his mouth.