Page 9 of Finding Chaos

Chapter 4

Destiny

Monique had told the truth. Walker Bennett was everything she’d said and more. Big. A brute. No-nonsense. A liar.

People seemed to either love this guy or hate him. Destiny was still straddling the fence, determining which way she was going to fall.

Her opinion didn’t matter, though, as long as he could get the job done. Recognition had flashed in Walker’s eyes. The unmistakable flinch from not only knowing about the ghost before now but understanding what this meant. Was he in on all of this too?

Like most ghost stories and the unexplained, there was a bit of truth lying beneath the exaggerations and the tales. Putnam had been onto something. The only questions left were what he’d found and where the hell he was now.

The vehicle shook and shimmied beneath her body. The muscles in her legs and arms ached. Superficial cuts on her arms from limbs hanging in their path had bubbled dry. Stickers clung to the hem of her jeans. Even with all that, the worst part was that Walker was right. A cool breeze caressed her skin, raising goosebumps up on her arms. She could smell the rain in the air. They needed to hurry. Once the rain started and the temperature fell, they’d need more than the jackets he’d brought to keep them warm and dry from the upcoming snow.

Maybe she hadn’t thought this through. Had Putnam misjudged the weather too?

Hours later, Walker steered into a clearing and cut the engine. He held out his hand to help her off before rising from his position.

“We’re going to have to walk from here.”

“Why?” she asked, gesturing to the open field that looked as though it was ripe for 4-wheeling, unlike the last twenty minutes of thick brush.

“Because just across that field and on the other side of those trees is a cliff with a path too narrow to drive on.”

“Why this way?” She turned in place. “Putnam wouldn’t have come this way. He’s afraid of heights.”

“It’s quicker to our destination, and judging by the weather, we’ll barely make it to the Ranger station in time.” Walker unhooked the jackets and packs from the back of the vehicle. “I’d planned to make camp here, but if we don’t go now, the path is sure to ice over. If that happens we’ll never get to your friend before the elements claim him.”

“Then we should hurry,” she said, grabbing some of the equipment and one of the jackets.

She shivered at the thought of spending the night in these creepy woods.

She followed behind him across the opening to the trees beyond. She almost ran into his back when he’d stopped. She lifted her gaze from the burrs sticking to her jeans and glanced around him.

There was a dark, deep opening into the earth—a crevasse in the mountain that extended down into darkness with no end in sight.

“How do we cross that?” she asked.

“There’s only one way across the Devil’s Pit.”

He struck off, going north through the trees and following the ridge along the abyss until they reached a rock wall jutting several feet above them. They’d come to a ledge barely big enough for them to walk single file across on top. One wrong step while over the opening and there was nothing to stop her from finding the answer of just how far that hole went down and what exactly was at the bottom in the darkness.

“This is a bad idea,” she whispered as dread swirled in her gut and tension knotted her shoulders.

“This is the quickest route to Putnam.” He let out a hefty sigh and glanced back toward where the field stretched beyond the trees. “Listen, I can walk you back to the four-wheeler, and you can try to get back to town. Just head down the mountain, and you’ll eventually get there. Ask anyone in town for directions to the inn, and I’m sure they’ll point out the way. The weather is going to turn fast. If you’re truly concerned for your friend, I need to go this route, with or without you.”

“What’s to stop you from falling in the hole?” she asked.

“Experience,” he answered, taking out a rope and what looked like a pickaxe, which climbers used when scaling walls to make sure they didn’t fall. He hooked up a pulley system before tossing the rest of his bags across the opening to the other side. “This isn’t my first time. I’ve already put anchors in the face of the wall. We’ll attach to each hook and move along.”

“Normally when I’d attempt this, I have someone trained that helps me. What you see on TV may make things look easy, but I’m not naïve. You’ll make sure I won’t fall?” she asked.

“Hey, I am atrainedprofessional.” He frowned. “I can promise you that I’ll do everything in my power so that you don’t fall. Either that or you’ll be taking me with you,” he answered.

She nodded and handed him the bag, and he tossed it to the other side of the expansive opening.

He tied one of the ropes around himself and then tied one around her. He explained and showed her what to do if, if for some reason, she should slip.

Nice and easy, through sweat and shaking muscles, he got her to the top of the ridge that crossed the opening.

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