Page 89 of High Density

I’m about to tell him as much when I hear my name called.

“Doc?”

Frankie comes jogging up to me, her pink Chucks no match for the muddy, overgrown field she finds me in.

“What’s up?”

“We have an emergency,” Frankie announces, breathing heavily when she reaches me.

“What kind of emergency?”

“A crash involving a truck hauling a small trailer with two horses out on Flower Lake Road near the Nordic ski trails. Both horses injured.”

“Shit. No sign of Logan yet?”

“No.”

I turn to Will Figueira. “You can find your way around from here?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he replies, waving me off.

“Need anything, talk to my assistant.”

I start heading back to the clinic with Frankie trying to keep up with me.

“Look, if you prefer, I can try and get a hold of Dr. Feltner. See if he can go?”

I shake my head.

“It’ll take too long.”

Flower Lake Road runs up the mountain right behind us. It wouldn’t make sense to call in Sam Feltner, his office is on the north side of town and it would take him too long to get there.

I rattle off a list of things I might need as we make our way back to the clinic. Inside I quickly change into coveralls, while Frankie stocks my kit with the extra supplies. Within five minutes I’m in my truck, heading out.

Flower Lake Road is little more than a dirt road, snaking up the mountain. There isn’t much along here, a few trailheads, the lake, and the ski trails that are mostly used for ATVs in the summertime. There may be a few hunting cabins up farther, but little else. I follow Snowshoe Road past the golf course where I have to take a right turn up the mountain.

I drive for a few minutes without encountering another vehicle, which kind of surprises me. I would’ve expectedmaybe emergency vehicles heading to the site of the accident. Personally, I wouldn’t want to haul a trailer up this road, but I guess to each their own. I assume these people were looking for a good spot to take the horses for a ride. It’s definitely pretty up here.

Driving past the small dirt parking lot of a trailhead, I notice it’s empty. There’s no sign of any accident, and nothing visible on the road when I pass by the Nordic Ski Club. I’m starting to wonder if maybe we got the directions wrong.

Then I round the next curve and see an ATV on its side in the middle of the road. A pickup and horse trailer are off to the side, butting up against the tree line. I notice the back of the trailer is down.

I pull up behind the trailer and start getting out of the truck, wondering what is going on. Maybe the horses were spooked and took off? I scan the woods around me but don’t see any movement. Puzzled, I walk up to the back of the trailer and peer inside.

The next moment a hand clamps over my mouth and, before I can react, I feel a sharp stab in my neck. I try to struggle briefly, before my body grows heavy and my muscles become nonresponsive. I feel myself getting dragged into the back of the trailer, and there is nothing I can do.

Next, everything goes black.

My arms feellike they’re being pulled from their sockets.

I cry out as I’m bounced around.

I’m trying to wrap my head around what is happening and where I am, but I can’t will my eyes to open. All I know is that my arms are suspended above me and my body is heavy.

My olfactory senses provide the first clues when I notice a few familiar smells; fresh straw, horse manure, and a hint of gasoline.

I’m in the back of the horse trailer, and it’s moving.

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