Chapter 3
Emiko crept through the underbrush cautiously, her brown shoes moving silently over the grass and fallen leaves. She was a huntress, becoming one with the shadows. The sun shimmered through the green foliage overhead, lending her black hair a luminous sheen. Bangs hung just above her thin, dark eyes, and the rest of her unbraided hair extended halfway down her back, clinging to a woven olive green shirt. She wore dark, charcoal colored pants. Given the summer heat, she’d have preferred shorts, but she knew better — thorns and poison ivy weren’t kind to unprotected skin.
She employed only two tools in the hunt: the jackknife strapped to her hip, and the Ruger 10/22 rifle slung across her back. The.22 caliber rifle’s oak stock rested near her waist and the stainless steel barrel protruded past her shoulder. She intimately understood its weight and bulk, like a third arm extending from her back, and gracefully compensated for it in her movements.
The sounds of the forest surrounded her. A calm morning breeze whistled through the leaves. Birds chirped their songs from the safety of the trees. While her brother Nathan loved listening to the subtle music of nature, Emiko’s ears filtered through it. It was white noise, obscuring the sounds that mattered — the rustle of a squirrel’s feet in the grass, or the scampering of a rabbit through the undergrowth. Those were the sounds she’d trained her ears to pick out from among the murmurs of the woods.
Beneath Emiko’s eyes hung two heavy, dark crescents. Though she wasn’t far from home, she had stayed out all night, sleeping only for a few hours in a leaf bed amid a cluster of old spruce trees. Not that she’d planned it that way. After she’d spent hours stalking through the woods, the sun went down, and when she’d sat down to take a rest she’d drifted to sleep. An honest mistake.
Right now her body wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep in a real bed, but that would have to wait a little longer. She wasn’t ready to face him yet. She could already envision it. Nathan would be sitting in a chair near the door, waiting for her to come home. She would walk in. He would explode at her, trying to fill the role of their father. She would lash back, reminding Nathan that he was her brother, not her dad. That he was only three years older than she. That he had no right to boss her around.
They’d fight for a while, then one of them would storm out of their small cabin. It would probably be her, and she’d probably march right back into the wilderness — the same wilderness she was stalking through right now. So why even bother going back home? Emiko intended to put off her return as long as possible.
Emiko shook her head violently, clearing her thoughts. She absolutely would not let her brother ruin her little hunting trip. No way.
Ahead, she noticed a thinning of the trees — a trail was near. She set out toward it. From there, she’d be able to clearly see the terrain on either side and instantly determine her location. On any of the trails leaving from Frontier View, she knew exactly how many steps it would take to get back to town. It seemed to be fewer steps every month, but that problem wouldn’t last long. Already fourteen and slightly tall for her age, she figured her legs didn’t have much further to grow. She looked forward to being an adult. In fact, she already felt like one, yet everyone in Frontier View still treated her like a kid.
With a sweep of her arm Emiko shoved a fir branch away from her face, revealing an old road paved with loose gravel ahead. She stepped out from the tree cover and onto the trail, squinting immediately. The unfiltered sunlight was brighter than she’d expected. Lifting an arm to protect her eyes, she examined her surroundings.
About a quarter mile south a creek bank kissed the side of the road — a distinct landmark. When Emiko bushwhacked through the woods surrounding town, she always had a general sense of where she was, but now she was certain: Frontier View was an eighteen-minute walk south.
I may as well go deal with Nathan, she thought. I can’t avoid him forever. Reluctantly, she started down the trail at a casual pace. There was no reason to hurry the inevitable.
The trail extended forward into the distance, bending behind the trees. An object about 200 feet ahead caught Emiko’s eye. It was a large green … pack? She approached carefully, watching for movement.
No, not just a pack, she realized. It was a pack on top of a man, who was lying face down on the gravel. Was he asleep? Wounded? Dead? Emiko quickened her pace, driven by curiosity.
The man remained motionless as she hurried toward him. The green pack rested on his back like a turtle shell, and his face was turned to one side.
As she approached, she noticed his thick beard — a rare sight. Everybody in Frontier View made a point of shaving. Even Nathan, who could only grow a whisker or two, shaved nearly every day. It was just … what men did. Not this guy, apparently.
She squatted by the man’s head to take a closer look. Thankfully, he was still breathing; she was in no mood to deal with a corpse. Taking a step off the trail, she snapped a twig from a small tree and turned back to the man.
“Hey, Beard, are you awake?” Emiko poked at the man with her stick. “Anybody there … Beardy Beard Beeeeeeaaaaaaard?”
The man didn’t respond. Emiko poked him again. Nothing.
What could she do? Even without the pack, the man far outweighed her. She’d have to fetch help.
Emiko stared at the man with intrigue. It wasn’t every day she discovered a stranger passed out on the road. Maybe when he woke up, he’d have a fresh batch of interesting tales to tell. Anything would be better than hearing another of Pierre’s stories for the millionth time.
More importantly, now she had an opportunity to evade her brother’s wrath. With a bounding first step, she began to skip toward Frontier View.
***
Emiko knew exactly where Nathan would be waiting. Their cabin only had two rooms — a small corner bedroom and a large room for everything else. Modest but big enough for two. Well, except for on those frigid winter days when even a polar bear would freeze after a minute outside. Then it meant she couldn’t escape her brother. Talk about cabin fever.
Right — her brother. She mentally ran through her assault plan one final time, then fortified her nerves and pried the cabin door open. The hinges creaked as the door swung inward. She stepped inside, taking a moment to hide behind the door before poking her head out from its cover.
Just as she’d expected, her brother Nathan was in the corner opposite the bedroom, sitting in their dad’s handmade rocking chair. He wore a white t-shirt and blue jeans. Thick, unkempt black hair jutted from his head in every which way. He’d likely been sitting in the chair all night, anxiously awaiting her return. When he recognized Emiko the anticipation in his eyes faded and he let out a sigh of relief.
The calm didn’t last. Within moments, the hint of joy she’d seen in his expression drowned in a flood of anger, boiling in his eyes as he leapt up from his chair.
“Loons over the moon, Emiko!” he said. “Where the hell — ”
“There’s a man passed out on the road who needs our help! I think he might be dying!” she blurted out as fast as humanly possible.
“What?”
“A man needs our help. He’s unconscious — we’ll need something to carry him on.”
Nathan glowered at her.
“You’re serious?” he asked.
“Yes.” Emiko nodded, looking her brother straight in the eye to make sure he’d believe her.
“Alright.” Nathan’s expression softened a bit. “Let’s go see if Cynthia’s home — I’m sure she’ll help. You can explain everything to both of us.” He paused, struggling to recreate his stern expression. “But don’t think for an instant that I’ll forget about last night,” he said, starting for the door.