Page 52 of Wild in the Woods
Lulu looked behind her and rolled her shoulders. Something felt off… and she needed to go up.
Clenching her eyes, she hurried forward before she changed her mind, navigated the slippery incline until she reached the top. The destruction here was notable. The flood had taken small trees and flattened the ground, which was still slimy with mud and small pockets of standing moisture.
But no creek.
“Damn it. I’m going back.”
She’d go back down, fill her bottle, and get the hell back to the warming house. Swearing quietly at herself for coming up here, she made a half turn.
And saw a small red sneaker.
Lulu froze. Her hairline tingled as a sense of disbelief overtook her. A… shoe? For real?
Heart racing, she burst forward and grabbed it. Her boots slid in the mud, and she nearly lost her balance. She spied the gaping opening in the earth right before her left foot slid to the lip of it. Grabbing an arched tree branch, she pulled herself to a stop before she slid straight down into the opening.
“Holy shit!”
The area beneath her feet was pure, oily mud. It took several tries before she got her boots to grip, but even then, she didn’t let go of the branch. Panting and gasping, she held onto the lifeline and gathered herself. There was a hole in the ground. The opening was maybe four feet across. Not big, but wide enough for…
She’d found a shoe. The flood had obviously come this way. Her entire body went cold. Still hanging onto the branch, she peered into the hole.
“Hello? Is anyone in there? Do you need help?”
This was crazy. The child couldn’t possibly be here. No, her brain was making things up. No. But the shoe.
She took a few deep breaths. Mindset, Lulu. Mindset is the difference between surviving and falling apart. Clutching the shoe tightly beneath her arm, she grabbed the emergency radio and made sure it was on channel 10, just like Fox had said. She depressed the com button.
“Hello? Can anyone hear me? I found a child’s shoe and there’s this big hole in the ground. Hello?”
Oh, right, she had to release the button to get a response. But one didn’t come.
“Can anyone hear me?” She tried again. “I found a child’s shoe.”
Static. Then, “Identify yourself and your location.”
“Lulu. Lulu Orlando. I don’t know where I am, but Fox Mitchell said the radio I’m using can be tracked on GPS.”
The back of her neck prickled hard. She went to full attention, straining to hear. What was that noise?
So soft, so muddled. “I need help. I’m down here.”
Eyes wide, bile in her throat, Lulu shone the light from her cellphone into the hole. The light barely reached but there… there! Something reflected at her. Two small eyes.
Grappling with the radio, she called into it, “I found the boy! He’s in the hole!”
She set the radio aside and waved down. “Sweetheart, are you hurt?”
The light worked hard to give her some illumination, but it just didn’t reach. The child moved his head. Maybe a nod?
“I can barely see you. Can you talk to me? Are you hurt?”
“My legs hurt. I’m tired of swimming.”
Swimming? The hole must be flooded. She had to get him out. On autopilot now, something primal kicked in.
“I’m coming to get you. Hang on.”
She didn’t think. Not really. Not as she grabbed the length of paracord from Fox’s pack and tied the end to the sturdy branch, then testing her weight against it to make sure it would hold. Not when she shrugged out of her jacket, or when she ripped a hole in the shoulder of her shirt so she could clip the emergency radio there.
