Deb had no idea how far they’d travelled, because the woods all looked the same. It became a little easier as the sun came up, but after so many trees and rocks it all just blended together.
“At least it’s a pretty view,” Mal said, coming up beside Deb. “Check out those mountains.”
Deb rolled her eyes. “If you’ve seen one mountain, you’ve seen... oh my God.”
“What?”
“I have seen this mountain. I’ve seen this mountain, from this very spot.”
Deb stopped, looking around. She knew, as long as she lived, she’d always remember this spot.
This is where the mountain lion attacked me. I crawled through this area, with two broken legs.
“What are you saying, Deb?”
“Up ahead, just around that bend. The cliff.”
“The one you...?”
“Yeah.”
“So there’s a road around here. Right?”
Deb shook her head. “I had a Jeep. I’d taken it down a trail. The trail is two miles away, but the main road is five more miles.”
“Seven miles? That’s a long hike. Do you think you can still find the trail?”
“I don’t have to. After my accident, the county built a lookout platform on top of the mountain I fell from. There might be someone there right now. If not, they for sure have a radio. Direct line to the ranger station.”
Mal was nodding enthusiastically. “We could contact them, they’d pick us up.”
They’d tried using Mal’s phone to call for help, but had led nowhere. Even though they found a cell signal and managed to contact the authorities, no one knew where the Rushmore Inn was. Apparently, triangulating a cell phone signal only worked when there were multiple cell towers. Out here, there was only one, and no way to pinpoint their location.
Mal had argued with various people, and managed to get the forest rangers to agree to send out a helicopter and look for them.
They hadn’t seen any helicopter. And shortly after that conversation, Mal’s battery died.
He attempted it once more, digging the phone out of his pocket. It wouldn’t even power on. Deb tried taking out the battery, rubbing some saliva on the contact points—a trick that often worked on flashlight batteries. It didn’t work on cell phones.
“No problem,” Mal said. “We’ll just get to the lookout tower.”
That’s when they heard the scream.
It was so far away, it echoed. But Deb could tell it was from a girl.
“It’s Kelly,” Letti said, limping up to them. “Kelly! Kelly, it’s Mom!”
If that was Kelly, she didn’t respond.
“KELLY!”
“Letti,” Mal said, touching her arm. “We’re near a ranger lookout station. We can get help.”
If Letti heard him, she didn’t show it. Instead, she went limping off into the woods.
“Letti!” Mal yelled after her. “We can get help!”
The forest swallowed her up.
“Should we go after her?” Mal asked.
Deb shook her head. “We know our location. There’s a ranger station nearby. The best way we can help her is to get to the authorities.”
“How far is this station?”
“Maybe a few hundred yards. But...”
“But what?”
“It’s about seventy feet up the mountain, Mal.”
“It’s a lookout tower, right? Maybe if we get to the base of the mountain, they’ll see us.”
Deb agreed it was their best shot. “Okay. Let’s go.”
Having a plan reenergized Deb, and she was able to ignore the pain in her legs. But when they finally reached the mountain, she was hit by a wave of vertigo and had to sit down.
It was massive. A giant shelf of solid, grayish-tan rock. There were some outcroppings, a few seams, a patch of dirt here and there where some bushes managed to take root. But it was steeper than she remembered, and bigger.
The old memories came stomping back. She could see the sheer place she slipped off of. The spot where she landed. The mountain bent and tilted in her vision like it was falling on top of Deb, about to bury her forever.
“There’s the base,” Mal said, pointing at a tiny cabin perched on a shelf of the mountainside. “Hey! We’re down here!”
He waved his arms, trying to get a response.
No response came.
Mal walked to the mountainside, where the rock met the soil. He placed a foot on the stone, tried for a handhold, and got up about eight inches before slipping back down.
It was impossible to mountain climb in the leather dress shoes he wore. And it was doubly impossible to climb with only one hand.
Mal came back over to her, his expression grim. She knew what he was thinking.
“I know,” Deb said. “But I can’t.”
“You’re superwoman, remember? You’ve even got your mountain climbing legs.”
Mal patted the suitcase. Deb rubbed her face with her hands.
“You don’t understand, Mal.”
“Deb, it’s okay to be scared. But you can do this. I’ve seen how you can handle yourself.”
“Mal...”
“The other time, it was just a fluke. A freak accident. You can make it this time. You can—”
“It wasn’t an accident!” Deb said, harsher than she meant to. “It was my fault!”
Mal waited. Deb took a big breath, and sighed.
Time to tell the truth.
“I was cocky,” she began. “I knew I was a good climber. I knew I could climb this mountain with my eyes closed. So I thought I’d challenge myself. Remember I told you I was hammering in my first pinion when I started to slide?”
Mal nodded.
“Look up there.” She pointed at the mountain. “See that angled shelf? That’s where I fell from. I should have used two or three pinions just to get up to that point. But I was cocky.”
“So when you tried to hammer in your first pinion the rock gave way...”
“Don’t you get it, Mal? I didn’t use any pinions. No ropes. No harnesses. No helmet. I tried to free climb. And I did it without a partner, and without telling anyone where I was. I came here alone, with no gear. It was my own goddamn fault I fell. Not an accident. The rock didn’t give way. I just slipped. It was pure stupidity. I was a fucking fool.”
She waited for Mal’s reaction. His judgement. His disapproval.
He’s got to think I’m as big of an idiot as I think I am.
But Mal’s expression didn’t change. And he didn’t say anything. He simply kneeled down and opened up her suitcase.
Deb shook her head. “I can’t do it, Mal.”
He took out her mountain climbing legs. The ones she’d never used, except to bash Eleanor’s freaks in the face.
“Mal, I fell off with two good legs. I can’t climb that as a cripple.”
“You’re the strongest person I ever met, Deb.”
“I’m an idiot who ruined my life.”
“You’re an amazing woman. And you’re going to climb that mountain, get that radio, and save the day.”
He handed her one of the legs. She threw it back at him.
“Don’t you see I can’t do this!”
“I’m a writer,” Mal said. “You’re an athlete. If I can learn to type one-handed, you can climb this mountain with no legs.”
“And what if I fall off again?”
“Then I’ll catch you.” Mal winked. “This time you didn’t come alone.”
Deb didn’t know whether to cry, scream, or kiss him. She settled for saying, “Gimme the damn legs.”
When she pulled off the Cheetahs they were filled with sweat. Her skin was mottled and blistered and bleeding in some places. But, oddly enough, she didn’t care that Mal saw. After laying her soul bare, him seeing her stumps wasn’t that big a deal.
Besides, he wasn’t looking at her legs. He was looking at her chest again.