16. Chapter 16
Chapter sixteen
Jonathan
S tay calm. Stay calm. There is no reason to panic. It’s just a little storm, and you’ll have her out of here before it becomes a real threat. She needs you to keep it together.
“Jon . . . athan.” The sound of Lucy trying to speak between ragged inhales dislodged Jonathan from his internal rant. “Can you please . . . just slow down . . . a tiny bit.”
He turned and saw she was lagging behind and struggling to keep up. Since spotting the first few shocks of lightning, they retreated briskly down from the summit without stopping or saying a word to one another. He was thinking, planning for worst-case scenario events that may or may not happen, all the while trying to maintain a solid poker face. In his rush to get back to camp and collect their things, he hadn’t considered how his attempted stoicism might affect her. He should be reassuring her; instead, he was too busy mollifying his internal fatalist, and she was starting to take notice.
He didn’t relax his speed, didn’t even turn to face her when he barked, “We have to keep moving.”
A little yelp accompanied by the sound of boots skidding on dirt finally halted Jonathan’s purposeful strides. He whipped around and spotted her. Flat on her ass. Unable to plant her feet, Lucy couldn’t get back up due to the steep decline and scattering of rocks and debris on the trail. Fuck . He needed to chill out. A sprained ankle or worse wouldn’t help their progress. Yes, getting her out of there was imperative, but he should probably aim to deliver her back to town in one piece.
Scurrying back up to where Lucy scrambled around in the dirt, he reached an arm under each armpit and lifted her effortlessly upright. “I’m sorry I’m going so fast. We need to get out of here quickly.”
“I get it. I’m all for not getting electrocuted. I just need you to slow the hell down a bit.” She clung to his arms while steadying herself, panic saturating her words.
Thunder rumbled in the distance as a few fat drops of rain fell around them. Lucy whimpered. They hadn’t even made it back to camp before the rain began.
Just perfect.
“I’ll stay close,” he promised, only letting go of Lucy once he was sure she was stable.
They soon rounded the corner into camp. By then, the casual sprinkle had cranked up, giving way to a downpour. Lucy shivered in the neon pink tank top that had once been suitable for the warm June day. She stood by, arms clutched around her middle, as Jonathan worked to retrieve their packs from the tree. The water made the knot slick and hard to unravel. He swore a few times, urging his hands to quiet their trembling. Finally, the rope gave way, and the bundle fell to the ground with zero care. He handed over her bag, and they each pulled out their jackets and shrugged into them.
“Are you ready to get the hell out of here?” Jonathan shouted over the increasing deluge and another boom of thunder. Two hours or so and they would be in the clear.
Lucy nodded emphatically, zipping up her jacket and pulling her hood into place. Fear and worry broke through the frail mask of her haphazardly applied bravery. His anxiety was amping up hers, but there wasn’t time to address it. Jonathan was too busy triaging while logic rattled around the cage in the back of his mind, imploring him to listen to reason. Though they weren’t in any imminent danger of getting struck by lightning, the reality was that leaving the area was the safest option. But panicking wasn’t going to help. Losing rational focus would lead to mistakes.
Mistakes lead to death.
Blood roared in Jonathan’s ears as they left the campsite behind. His heart pummeled at his chest. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to Lucy. He’d fucked up in the past, let others down, but he’d be damned if he allowed it to happen again.
Aside from the growing storm, the next hour passed in relative silence. Sheets of frigid rain coated the trail, creating a sloppy mess that made their descent that much trickier. The runoff carved away at the carefully constructed switchbacks, threatening to turn them into one steep slope downward that couldn’t be traversed. The mud was so slick that even Jonathan fell a few times as they neared Skydiver’s Bluff.
He did what he could to focus on what he could control: (1) putting one foot in front of the other and (2) shepherding Lucy safely through the more challenging landmarks. While the switchbacks were on that list, the upcoming bluff definitely topped it.
Jonathan glanced back at Lucy for the thousandth time to ensure she was close and managing. One thing was certain: That woman was tough. Despite her fear—elevated, no doubt, by his inability to manage his own—she was unwaveringly trudging along instead of losing her shit. Her expression remained flat, if not neutral like she had convinced herself that she could fall apart after making it back to the car. She was covered in mud. There was a scrape on her chin from a tumble taken during their hasty retreat, and her hair was plastered across her forehead. At some point, the wind had blown the hood of her jacket off yet again. She must have given up on her attempts to keep it in place because it hung around her shoulders half filled with rainwater. She looked exactly how Jonathan felt.
Wrecked.
At the bottom of the switchbacks, he heaved a sigh of relief and then turned to Lucy. Stepping close, he shouted over the percussive rain, “We have to cross Skydiver’s Bluff next. Stand as close to the inner wall as possible. And you can hang onto my pack if you think it’ll steady you. It’s going to be slick, so we’re going to go painfully slow. Got it?”
Head down, nodding slightly, she murmured something he couldn’t make out. Her fists and eyes were clenched shut as she attempted a few choppy breaths. Tremors wracked her body. Jonathan banished his fear and worry for a moment. Reaching out, he placed a hand on either side of her face. She looked up, her eyes locked with his, searching for just enough courage to make it through the next obstacle. Gently, he tucked a sopping lock of hair behind her ear, a movement that was as impulsive as it was futile.
“Tell me something.” Jonathan leaned close so she could hear him over the rain.
Lucy’s brows rose in question.
“I’m a little hungry. Do you think those leftover fruit snacks are dry enough to salvage, or have they congealed into a soggy brick?”
Her eyes sparkled momentarily, lips quirking up in an exhausted grin. “What makes you think I’d share?”
Her valiant effort at playing along with his attempt at lightening the mood sent ripples of warmth through his chest. “Fuck ‘em. I owe you a real meal when we get back to town. Deal?”
“Deal.”
Jonathan lowered his hands, allowing one to stop on her shoulder for one more supportive squeeze, then turned and faced the bluff. The torrential downpour and punishing wind were unyielding. Water collected on the cliff overhead, cascading off the edge sporadically in narrow, temporary waterfalls. He had never witnessed this kind of weather on the trail. Rain? Sure. Wind? Absolutely. But this combination was nearing tempest proportions. The rolling thunder drowned out his raging heartbeat. It rumbled over and over. At moments, it sounded like cracks as though thick logs were being snapped in two.
Something felt . . . off.
Something besides claps of thunder ricocheted throughout the valley. The ground trembled under Jonathan’s feet. An earthquake? No, this wasn’t coming from deep down in the earth. It was surface.
Oh, fuck! Landslide!
His head shot back, looking up at the cliff above. Chunks of earth teetered over the edge like quarters in one of those coin pusher games at the fair. A big clump dislodged, fell, and slapped the trail just a foot ahead of Jonathan’s boot. Rocks the size of his fist followed, as did a few sticks that missed the ledge and cascaded toward the treetops below. He gaged how far they were from the opposite side of the bluff and cursed violently. There was no choice. They had to backtrack and get to stable ground immediately.
Pivoting, he snatched Lucy’s shoulders. “Go back! Now!”
She did not hesitate. Instead, she turned with blind faith and followed his lead as he stepped ahead and took her hand. He gripped tightly and carefully retreated at a speed that wouldn’t throw either of them off-balance. Snaps and crashes terrorized them from behind. Jonathan hazarded a glance over his shoulder and instantly regretted his curiosity. A thick tidal wave of rocks, dirt, and tree limbs fell from the cliff above. Debris blanketed the narrow bluff, hiding it from view as though it had never been there to begin with. The excess of jumbled muck careened off the edge, roaring in its movements and cracking trees on the way down.
He didn’t stop. They weren’t yet out of the reach of the treacherous flow.
Jonathan eyed the trail up ahead. He picked up speed, pulling Lucy desperately behind him, refusing to release her hand. “We can’t stop. Up!” His bellow barely registered in his own ears, but Lucy understood his intent. They bounded forward, channeling their inner mountain goat as they managed stride after relentless stride up the switchbacks. Skipping parts of the snaking trail, they scrambled their way up the middle.
The cascading rain and rumbling ground made the earth under their feet doughy and unstable. It gave way with each step. The gathering of disrupted earth left behind mixed with the punishing rain.
To their right, a few trees that once stood mighty and proud toppled downhill, landing with a thud and swiping away the already waning switchbacks below.
Ohmygod! We aren’t going to make it!
Doubt—not so deep—inside Jonathan surfaced, and he nearly eased up on the urgency to move forward.
It’s going to happen again.
Lucy’s gasping and wheezing reached his ears. Her grunts and terrified expletives rang out every time she slipped and landed hard on her knees. But she didn’t let go. She clung to Jonathan’s hand like the lifeline that it was. She trusted him. Relying on her belief that he would get her through this shitstorm of a situation .
Fuck this. It won’t happen again.
He turned and jammed an arm underneath her armpit and wrapped it around her waist in a desperate effort to transfer some of his strength to her. The bolstering provided enough motivation for her to keep step with him as they went. Plants and rocks broke free around them, under them, as they trudged onward. The cusp of the switchbacks was in sight where trees thinned, making way for a solid, flat mass of exposed granite.
Almost there. Almost there.
With a final herculean dive forward, Jonathan pulled Lucy in tight to his chest while turning to land on his back. His pack absorbed most of the impact, and they skidded along the slick rock. Gripping his jacket in her fists, she buried her face underneath his chin, shaking in terror. His eyes darted around and assessed their surroundings. The slab they landed on stood above the surrounding trail, devoid of the threat from potential boulders or collapsing trees. The only thing falling where they lay was rain, and by that point, Jonathan couldn’t bring himself to care. She was the only thing worth considering at the moment.
Safe. She’s safe.
“Lucy,” Jonathan cooed to her, noticing that yelling wasn’t as necessary as it was just moments before. Her shoulders trembled, knuckles white, refusing to let go of him. “Sunshine. I’ve got you. You’re safe now.”
He continued to lay there, allowing her body to mold against his, mumbling comforting utterances while caressing her back. The violence of her quaking eased. Quick, shallow breaths steadied as she pulled her face from the crook of his neck to look down at him. Her eyes were pools of liquid emerald, and her lips were close enough that he could feel the sweet puff of her breath on his. He tenderly slid away the wisps of sodden hair that splayed across her face and cupped her cheek. She pressed into it, eyes closing sleepily like a cat receiving her first scratches after a long day. Even though the storm continued, the tears she shed were unmistakable. Something in Jonathan’s gut wrenched while bearing witness to this vibrant woman in the aftermath of such terror. With all the gentleness he could muster, and despite the futility of it all, he swiped away the salty trickle.
Thick lashes, spiky from water and sweat and tears, fluttered open. Her eyes locked onto his. And while the rain subsided and the earth ceased to rumble, Lucy leaned down and fluttered a light kiss onto Jonathan’s lips.