It felt important, vital.
It looked very old and very well used.
Very old. If Noah collected antiques like this, it would explain the strange images I got from him. An antique dressing table had once given her images of a young girl in a calico sunbonnet, and a cameo brooch had once allowed her a glimpse into the Victorian period, showing her an elegant woman who had strolled with a white umbrella on rainy cobblestone streets.
She put the knife back. After cinching and buckling the pack, she hefted it onto her back again. Fastening the waist and chest buckles, she wondered over the objects she had found inside. Then, screwing up her courage, she prepared herself for the long hike to Many Glacier.
She had just rejoined the trail when she heard shouting. She froze, stepping back away from the trail. She heard it again: a man yelling from the direction of the ranger station. She crouched down, peering out between tree trunks. A figure appeared on the trail, and Madeline desperately hoped that it wasn’t the creature. It definitely looked human, though after the ranger’s station, that wasn’t worth much anymore. No long claws or ink-black sharkskin. She remained where she was, trying to make out if it was a ranger or the creature in another guise.
And then she saw the familiar blond hair and made out the face as he drew nearer.
Noah.
“Madeline!” he shouted, looking around in all directions.
Immediately she entered the path and started running, meeting Noah on the trail. He saw her and ran to her. A large gash ran the length of his cheek, and his face showed purple and blue in more places than not. He’d tucked his tent under his arm, along with her wet clothes.
“Are you okay?” he asked breathlessly when they reached each other.
“Yes” she said, panting herself. “I never thought I’d see you again!” The backpack weighed a ton, and she could feel the veins standing out on her neck. She ached to take it off but was too worried they’d have to start running again.
Noah looked around nervously. “I lost it. Let’s go over there, and I’ll tell you.” Motioning to a large glacial erratic boulder a few feet away, he said, “He won’t see us there as easily.” They hurried to the boulder and squatted down behind it. “It was quite a struggle up there. It was pretty close for a minute, but I managed to wound him and get away. I found my way here and went inside. No ranger. And the radio’s missing.”
Madeline gave him a glance over. He didn’t have much more than bruises. “You weren’t seriously hurt?” She thought of the screams.
He shook his head. “Luckily, no.”
“But I heard… you screaming.”
“Well,” he said, looking uncomfortable all of a sudden, “like I said, it was pretty tense for a minute there.”
“It’s here now,” she said. “I know this sounds crazy, but I talked to a ranger, only it wasn’t really him… it was the creature.”
Noah nodded. “It’s not crazy.”
Madeline glanced toward the ranger station. “I hit it with an ax.”
Noah raised his eyebrows. “Really?”
“Yes. But I don’t know if I killed it.”
“Well, it wasn’t in there.”
Damn. So it just got up again? “Did you look in the vaulted toilet?”
He raised his eyebrows. “The toilet?”
She cast her eyes down, trying to block out the memory of what she’d seen in the rafters. “It was horrible.”
“Another victim?”
“Another victim?” She looked at him sternly, wondered why he knew so much. “I think it’s about time you told me what that thing is.”
“I can’t now. It’ll have to wait. We’ve got to get you to safety.”
“But what about the ranger’s body in the bathroom?”
“A ranger? Oh, man. That’s bad. Did he have a two-way radio on him?”
Madeline stared at him aghast. “Well, I didn’t happen to notice.” Her voice began to rise, quavering as she grew more upset at the thought of what she’d seen. “I mean, when you see a dead body hanging from the rafters with this… thing… eating it, you don’t really think of looking for a goddamn two-way radio.” She was shaking. Forced herself to calm down. After a moment, she added, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I understand. It is terrible.” Noah’s eyes were wide and sympathetic. “Believe me, I know what it feels like to stumble upon a scene like that. That’s why I’ve got to catch him.” After a pause he added, “I’m going to go check the body for a radio.”
“Noah, no!” She grabbed his arm as he started to get up.
“We could use it to radio for help, get you off the mountain.”
Fear gripped Madeline. “But it could still be in there!”
“He’s probably gone by now. I have to take the chance.”
“No, you don’t! That’s ridiculous! Let’s just get the hell away.”
Noah remained squatting where he was, and Madeline let go of his arm. He glanced around. “Which trail is the one that leads down to Many Glacier Campground?”
“I was already heading that way. Too bad there’s not a closer one.” She was so tired. She slid the pack off her back.
“Well,” he said grimly after a moment, “that is the closest ranger station. “The trail’s a little long, but at least it’s not steep. There’s very little elevation gain. I took this route hiking up here. The way down should be a breeze.”
“So it’s all downhill from here?”
Noah smiled and looked up at her. “Yep.”
She watched Noah as he adjusted the laces on his hiking boots. She wanted to ask him again what was going on, what that thing was, why it seemed to be hunting them. But she was just so tired-her eyes burning from lack of sleep, her back aching, her head pounding-that she didn’t think she could thoroughly digest it all, even if he did tell her. She just wanted to lie down in a nice, comfortable bed and sleep for a long time. “Let’s go,” she said finally.
After repacking the map, tent, and clothes, Noah slung the pack over his shoulders, then buckled it in place.
They stood up, glanced around cautiously, and started down the mountain, the heat of the afternoon still building, humidity closing in around them, stifling and unbearable.
Halfway down the mountain, they stopped in a meadow to rest and eat and found a cluster of boulders to sit on. Catching their breath, they passed the water bottle back and forth.
“Sorry I lost all my stuff,” she said, feeling bad for drinking so much of his water.
“Don’t be sorry for a second. If you hadn’t dumped your pack, you’d probably be dead right now.” He took a long drink from the water bottle and surveyed the scene around them. They were hiking down through thick forest, where mosquitoes clustered, buzzing in her ears and biting through her clothes. She’d never experienced a summer so filled with mosquitoes. The muggy heat was perfect bloodsucker weather, and they repeatedly landed in her eyes and even occasionally came close to buzzing up her nose. They filled the hot air with incessant, whiny buzzing. Sweat poured down Madeline’s face and back, and occasionally mosquitoes stuck in the droplets of perspiration.
“You doing okay?” Noah asked, studying her face.
Madeline nodded.
“Is your head giving you any trouble?”
In truth the cut stung painfully, especially with the salty sweat seeping into the bandage, but there was nothing that could be done there in the backcountry that wasn’t already done. “It’s okay,” she lied.
“Let me see your eyes.” He scooted closer to her on the rock, placing a hand under her chin and lifting her face up so he could get a better look. He leaned in, peering intently into her eyes. “No dilation,” he said. “That’s a relief.”