Page 1 of Mountain Grump

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Chapter 1

Ethan Grant, Park Ranger

Moss flattens beneath my boot,and I pause.

Is that… humming?

I tip my head to the side, holding my breath.

That’s humming.

I start walking again.

Lonely Peak State Park is practically my home. I spend more time here than at my house, and I know every square foot of it.

So I know that out here, at the border of the park, there shouldn’t be anyone.

At least not someone who can produce a high, girly hum.

The pine and aspen trees are thick in this part of the forest, filtering the afternoon June sun and forcing me to duck under another low branch as I follow the sound.

Jack, the old man who owns the place on the other side of the park border, should’ve been back weeks ago. He always disappears for the colder months, claiming he’s gotten too old for winters in the Colorado Rockies. But he still spends more time here than not in the summer. Which, for Jack, starts in May. So he should’ve been here already.

But he’s not.

I know he’s not because I’ve been checking.

The humming stops.

I stop.

Silence stretches.

The humming starts again, quieter, farther away. And I continue my stride.

A moment later, the old barbed wire fence that separates state park property from Jack’s comes into view.

I stop again.

The fence is just as shitty as it was the last time I saw it. The wooden posts have seen better days. The center strand of wire is sagging. But the top wire…

I take a step. Then another.

Is that a fucking ribbon?

I take two more steps, reach out, and touch the purple ribbon wrapped around the top strand of barbed wire.

What the fuck?

I look to my right.

The ribbon extends down the wire a dozen feet, ending in a bow around a fence post.

I look to my left, toward the humming.

The ribbon continues, bows tied around each post, disappearing from sight, into the trees.

Thisis park property. The fence, the land. No way did Jack put this up.

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