Chapter Ten
Mary awoke with a start.
Gently raking a finger over her eyes, she tried to wipe the sleep from them and gather her wits. It wasn’t hard; her nervous system was on high alert, even though she didn’t know why. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins.
“John?” she whispered, trying to wake him. But as she looked where he’d been laying, she found the slab empty.
That’s when she realized he was up ahead, to her right, crouched on one knee with his rifle pointed at the cave’s entrance.
“What’s—” she whispered.
But he shook his head, indicating she needed to be quiet.
A noise reached her ears, causing her to shiver.
Someone—it sounded like a woman—was screaming.
Scrambling to her feet, she whispered, “Someone’s in trouble! We have to—”
“Mary. Get behind me. Now.” His voice was low and calm, but there was an urgency to it.
“Why—” Once again, her question was cut off, but this time it wasn’t a sound that halted her words.
Moving into the cave, its body sashaying gracefully, was a mountain lion.
It hadn’t been a human screaming, after all. It was the eerie sound of the huge cat. A sound that gave Mary the chills.
The magnificent beast kept its gaze trained on them.
“Damn.” John was speaking louder now as he rose to his feet. “Actually, stand up. Don’t run. Keep your feet planted firmly. Just move your arms around.”
“But—”
“Stand up. Raise your arms. Make a lot of noise. Let’s scare it off. Unless you want me to have to shoot that thing.”
Mary did as told, and a moment later, she was making loud, weird noises, waving her arms, and making a fool of herself. That didn’t really matter right now, though. Not when a damn cougar was sizing them up.
John was doing the same thing as far as the noises were concerned, but he kept his arms in a position where he could fire that rifle on a moment’s notice if need be.
For a few tense seconds, Mary feared he’d have to do just that. The giant cat didn’t seem very eager to leave. But then, just when she feared it was going to pounce, it stepped backward before turning around and trotting off.
“Whew,” John said.
“Thank God!” Mary cried.
“You the religious sort are you?” he asked.
“What? You don’t think I could be? My name is Mary, after all.”
“Not sure you’re living up to your namesake.”
The comment stung, but she let it roll off her back. And just like that, they were back to their old dynamic, she realized.
Should she expect anything else?
“Come on,” he said. “Sun will be up in a few minutes. Let’s get a move on it.”
“You think that cougar will come back?” she asked, unable to hide the fear in her voice.
“Eventually. This is probably its cave. He was out hunting all night. Now, he’s tired and ready to sleep. I don’t want us to be his bedtime snack.” He looked out of the cave. “Anyway, we might have a lot of ground to cover. Best we get an early start.”
She stuck out her lips in a pouty display. “What about breakfast?”
“What about it?” he said sharply. “All my rations are back—”
“On the pack horse,” she finished for him.
“You’re catching on. Now let’s get going. The sooner we start, the sooner we can get to some food.”
That sounded good. They’d gone to sleep last night without any supper, and her stomach was starting to growl in protest.
With that, the two ambled down from the cave, hit the trail, and started walking to who knew where.