Page 28 of High Intensity

Nine

Wolff

The woman is tireless.

I’ve followed behind Jillian for close to two hours now with only a few short breaks. My inner thigh muscles are starting to burn with the slightly unnatural gait, walking on snowshoes.

I’ve noticed though, the trail the dog seems to be tracking is all over the place. He’s taken us in every direction, at some point even crossing over our own tracks. It seemed to throw him for a moment, the scent leading in two different directions but, somehow, he figured it out.

The girl must’ve been disoriented in the storm.

But now the dog looks to be a bit confused. Up ahead he came to a sudden halt and is lifting his nose, sniffing the air around him as if he’s lost track of the scent.

“Okay, Murphy,” I hear Jillian call out to the dog. “Break.”

She drops her pack and fishes out a flask of water and the dog’s collapsible bowl, as I catch up.

“Did he lose the scent?”

“I think he’s running out of steam, but he’ll keep pushing until he collapses, unless I stop him,” she shares when she catches sight of me.

“How long can he go for?”

“He’s good for a couple of hours in decent conditions, but not trudging through a foot of snow. He’s gonna need a good rest soon.”

I glance around me. “Well, we’re actually not that far from base camp. Have you noticed the last half hour we’ve been going almost parallel to the trail we came up with the snowmobile?”

She nods, brushing some snow off a fallen tree, and sitting down. I take a seat beside her, giving my legs a break. I do better on horseback.

“Remember that rock shelf where we took the last break? Murphy really seemed interested in the shallow crevice underneath. I wonder if she maybe rested there for a while. That ledge would’ve given her a bit of shelter.”

“Could be,” I concede. “Maybe she waited for the worst of the storm to be over.”

“That would explain why, since leaving that location, the trail has been straight downhill instead of nearly going in circles like it did before.” She shakes her head. “The only thing that doesn’t make sense is the timing. If she waited out the weather before heading down this way, it most likely wouldn’t have been until morning. By that time the search was already in full swing, she was close, she must’ve noticed the activity. Why didn’t she come look for help?”

She’s right. It is curious, and ties in with one of the theories Fletch floated earlier this morning.

“Someone suggested the possibility she may not want to be found. Like you said, there has been plenty of activity, and we’ve covered all of this ground on horseback.”

“I guess she could’ve gotten hurt in the crash and died trying to get to help,” Jillian suggests somberly.

“Surely we would’ve found her.”

She shrugs. “She may have holed up in a hiding spot.”

I turn my head to look at her.

“What about getting Emo?”

“No,” she responds almost angrily. “I’m not ready to give up on her.” Abruptly she gets to her feet. “I’m gonna give Murphy a rest and get Hunter out here. Let her have a try.”

Clearly, she did not like my suggestion Hayley may not be alive. I decide not to push it. There really is no rush should the girl already be gone.

I pull out the spray can I’ve been marking our trail with and put an arrow on the log we were sitting on. This way we’ll know where we were and when we get turned around. It isn’t easy to keep track of where you are in this snow-covered landscape. Everything looks very similar.

It’s literally no more than a ten-minute walk to the shelter, where we find Jackson and JD.

“Where is everyone?”

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