Page 26 of Their Haunted Hearts
“It’s a gold locket.” Kane pulled out his phone and took photographs of the pig and the locket. He bent and unclasped the chain and held it up in gloved fingers for Jenna to see. “I recognize it.”
Trying to ignore the acrid smell of rotting pig, Emily moved closer and a shiver slid down her spine. The killer had been here. This was his idea of a sick joke. “Me too. It’s in the photograph we have of Darlene Travis.” She stared at Jenna and then scanned the shadows. “He’s here, isn’t he? This is a trap.”
“If he’d wanted to kill us, he would have tried by now.” Kane’s voice was just above a whisper. “We’ve been out in the open, and anyone who can aim a rifle could have hit at least one of us by now. I figure this is a ploy to keep us out of town, for whatever reason.”
“How would they know we’d take the call?” Raven looked skeptical. “Or the women would spot the pig and call it in?”
“Because he has a trail cam close by.” Jenna waved a hand at the densely packed pine trees. “He could place it anywhere along the trail and we’d never see it. He doesn’t need to be here; he’d pick up the feed on his phone.”
Three gunshots rang out and echoed through the forest. Both men went for their weapons and pushed Emily and Jenna to the ground. The forest floor vibrated and the sound of distant hoofbeats thundered toward them. The loud cracking of branches breaking was getting louder by the second.
“Stampede. Get up, run. We can’t turn the herd. There’s no room. We’ll need to make it to the bridge.” Kane grabbed Jenna’s hand and they sprinted toward the river.
“Come on.” Raven took Emily’s hand. “Run.”
Leaping over fallen logs and dead bushes, Emily ran. Ahead, Jenna and Kane made a sharp left and bounded through a clearing. They ran along the edge of the ravine. She stared down in horror. Thirty or so yards below them, the river pounded toward the falls. Cold air cut painfully into Emily’s lungs as she ran, the agony increased with each breath. Muscles in her legs screamed with overexertion as she gasped for air. She couldn’t stop to take a breath. The noise of the stampede thundered behind them and Raven’s hand held her tight. He ran so fast she could hardly keep up with him. Roots tangled around her feet and the next moment she fell. Without a word, he stopped, picked her up, tossed her over one shoulder, and kept running. She gasped, trying to pull air into her lungs. “Put me down.”
“Look behind you.” Raven picked up speed.
Her chest bounced painfully against his shoulder. Tree branches tore at her clothes and hair and whipped her cheeks. Her ribs ached but she lifted her head to look behind her and fear gripped her by the throat. A wall of elk, some of them with bleeding stumps where they’d torn off their antlers against the dense trees in their desperate rush to get away, headed straight for them. In seconds they would be crushed to death. There could be no escape. Where was Kane heading?
“Go, follow Jenna across the bridge.” Raven skidded to a halt and dropped her to her feet at the edge of the ravine.
An old footbridge, the cables rusty and the wooden slats wet and covered with moss, swung across the boiling river. A huge rusty sign with red writing warned do not cross.
Emily gaped at the rotting dilapidated footbridge, and then at Kane and Jenna. Her friends moved swiftly, picking their way slowly from rung to rung. She couldn’t make her feet move toward the open holes where the slats were missing. How could she hold on? One of the guide ropes hung down toward the river. Panic gripped her as she looked down. Beneath her, the river bubbled and churned and ahead the old bridge swung dangerously back and forth. To her horror, green slimy slats fell away behind Jenna and tumbled end over end into the bubbling firmament below. Terrified, she cried out paralyzed with fear. Even with Raven’s encouragement, she couldn’t make her feet move. “I can’t.”
“You must. It’s our only chance.” Raven stepped past her, grabbed her hand, and pulled. “Walk in my steps. If the elk try and follow, they’ll destroy the bridge. Hold on tight to me. Move it. Now!”
Twenty-Six
Glad of her leather gloves, Jenna gripped tight to the rusty metal cable that formed the side of the bridge. Below her the rapids roared like thunder and water soaked her hair and face. Everything was slippery and with each step, her boots slid on the green slime coating the rotting wooden slats. Ahead of her, Kane yelled encouragement and gave her instructions: where to move each foot and how to slide her hands along the railing. Underfoot, the bridge shook as the elk smashed through the forest. The trees appeared to bend as they ran in blind fear. She glanced behind her. Raven was in the lead, dragging Emily behind him. Her face was contorted with fear.
In a rumble like thunder, elk burst through the forest in a snorting mass of brown, with wild eyes rolling. The thick musty scent of them washed over Jenna and she gaped in fear as they came closer, ripping apart the forest. With the ravine in front of them, they had nowhere to go. Hooves slid over the rocky edge as more rushed from behind. The ones in front lost their footing and dropped out of sight into the swirling, bubbling water below. Jenna cried out in terror, her scream echoed by Emily as a massive bull elk jumped onto the bridge. The slats disintegrated below it and the proud creature tumbled into the river with its legs still running. Behind it, masses of animals formed a thick wall and forced the ones in front into the ravine. The bridge shook from the impact of elk jumping at the bridge in a frantic effort to get to safety but there was nowhere for them to go but down.
“Keep moving before the bridge collapses.” Kane’s voice drifted to her above the chaos. As she looked back toward him, a board disintegrated under Kane’s foot and he dropped, vanishing into the mist. Horrified, she screamed unable to believe her eyes. “Dave. Oh, dear God, no.”
Where was he? Afraid to look, she gritted her teeth and peered over the edge expecting to see him floating away with the elk but only mist and turbulent water tumbled through the ravine. Panic gripped her. She couldn’t breathe and then movement under her feet caught her attention. She dropped to her knees and stared through the slats. “Dave?”
She sobbed in relief when a hand appeared through the broken boards groping for purchase. To her horror, Kane’s gloved hand slipped but before she could reach for him, his fingers dug into the cable beside the missing slats. The bridge swung and bucked. He wouldn’t be able to hold on with his fingers for long. She looped one arm around the metal cable running from handrail to the slats and grabbed Kane’s arm with both hands. “I’ve got you. Hang on.”
Above the noise, Raven was yelling at her. When his hand closed around her arm, she shook him off and gripped tighter vowing to die before she let Kane go.
“You’re not strong enough.” Raven lay flat along the broken slats, one leg hooked around the horizontal cable. “I’ll pull him up. Go help Emily.”
Trembling, Jenna moved slowly back to give Raven room to move. The bridge jolted and swung erratically. Her feet slipped on the soaking boards and for a moment her feet hung in midair. With effort she dragged herself back onto the shuddering bridge and waved Emily forward. Her friend’s face was ashen and when her wide eyes turned in her direction, Jenna’s heart went out to her. Emily wasn’t going to move. Behind Emily, streams of terrified elk jumped at the bridge in a suicidal attempt to get to safety. Each effort shuddered through the dilapidated bridge. It tipped sharply sideways and Jenna clung to the railing. In front of her Raven had lifted Kane enough to get his hand onto the rusty metal cable running from railing to slats.
Don’t drop him, please don’t drop him. Jenna held her breath as Raven leaned down the hole and, muscles bulging, dragged Kane’s other arm back through the gap. With both Kane’s hands on the cable, Raven grabbed one of the straps on Kane’s backpack and hauled him through the shattered slats.
Tears streamed down her face as Kane pulled himself up and straddled the broken slats, gasping for air. He’d lost his hat and a cut on his cheek bled in a curtain of red. Jenna could see an angry bleeding gash peeking through a rip in his jeans below the knee. Raven lay on the bridge, his chest heaving, and then he rolled over and reached under the bridge emerging with Kane’s black Stetson.
“It somehow got caught on the end of a hanging slat.” Raven sat up slowly as the bridge lurched again.
“Thanks. That’s the best hat I’ve ever owned.” Kane indicated to Emily frozen on the bridge. “Can you help Em? She’s not moving.” He slapped the hat on his soaked head and held out his hand to Raven and pulled him to his feet.
“Don’t worry.” Raven edged past Jenna. “I’ll get her.”
Twenty-Seven
