Chapter 5
Chapter Five
“What in the world are you doing?”
Milo froze and hung his head before turning around. “Just…going for a walk.”
“With a backpack, hiking boots, and God only knows what tucked into all those pockets? Seriously, dude, where did you get that vest?” Slater asked with amusement.
“Shut up. I’ve been walking along the lake every morning and I’m bored with it. I figured I’d venture…you know…up a bit. There are trails, and I don’t plan on going far. I’ve got my phone, a compass, plenty of water, insect repellent, my sunglasses, a hat…”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you read the guidebook and bought one of everything. Got it. What I don’t get is why. Why now?”
“I just told you…”
“Yes, you’re bored. But there are other trails you can walk on—like the actual walking trails that are paved. Why not just do that?”
“Why? You don’t think I can handle a beginner-level hike?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Rolling his eyes, Slater studied him for a moment. “Take one of the two-way radios.”
They were outside the shed office, and he really didn’t think anyone was going to see him because it was so early. He’d already watched Nora go up to the lodge, and he just figured Slater would be up there too.
“Come on, man. Really? Don’t treat me like a damn baby.”
“I’m not. I’m treating you like a friend who’s like a brother to me, who doesn’t know how to handle himself in the woods very well. Especially alone. I’d just feel better knowing you could reach me if you got turned around or something.”
“Or something?”
“Okay, like…if you fell because a squirrel was chasing you,” he teased. “Just take the damn thing. Please.”
“On one condition.”
“What?”
“You don’t tell anyone what I’m doing. Anyone,” he said with emphasis. “I know what you all think of my skills out here, so I’d prefer it if you didn’t say anything so I don’t have to get mocked later on.”
“No one’s gonna mock you.”
The look he gave Slater expressed how much he didn’t believe him.
“Fine. I won’t say a word to anyone.”
“Thank you.”
“Wait here while I get the radio.”
Milo watched him walk into the shed and he considered just taking off, but with his luck, he’d trip and fall on his face and just prove everyone right.
So he waited for the radio.
When Slater stepped back out and handed it to him, he did it reluctantly. “All kidding aside, call me if you run into any kind of trouble. Use channel three. I’ll be the only one who can hear it. Which path are you taking?”
“Uh…the one that starts around the east bend by the gazebo garden.”
“Okay, good. You’ll hit a point where the path splits and the trail is marked green to the right, yellow to the left. Take the green.”
“Because it’s easier?”
“Exactly.”
It was pointless to argue, and the longer they stood there, the more of a chance there was for people to start coming down.
“You really should wait until Saturday and go with Nora’s group. This way you could get a feel for the trail.”
“It’s a family group thing. I’d stick out like a sore thumb more than I already do. No thanks.”
“Fine, just…”
“I have the radio,” he quickly interrupted. “I’ll be fine. I’ll see you later.” And without waiting to see if his friend had anything else to say, he walked off.
Milo knew he should feel good about Slater looking out for him, but he couldn’t help but be a little offended.
He’d camped out with the guys before, and they grew up running up and down most of these trails on their summer vacations.
So the fact that apparently no one thought he could do it was definitely a reason to be insulted.
He got to the base of the trail and let out a long breath. “Here we go.”
For the next thirty minutes, he walked along at an even pace.
The scenery was decent, and he wasn’t even slightly winded.
At one point he stopped and turned to look at the view of the lake, and that was the real money shot.
This was the sort of thing he never took the time to see in his life back in Seattle, even though the Pacific Northwest was pretty damn scenic.
“Maybe when I get back, I’ll make the time,” he murmured before continuing up the path.
Then, he simply lost track of time. This was a longer morning walk than he typically took, but it felt good.
The higher up he trekked, the more accomplished he felt.
And when he hit the split in the path like Slater said he would, he decided to be a little defiant and go to the left. After all, how much harder could it be?
Twenty minutes later, he had his answer.
He was breathless, thirsty, and the trail kind of narrowed and disappeared into the brush. He spotted one of the lean-tos that were specifically for hikers to use in an emergency, but he walked by it and continued on the trail.
But it didn’t take long for him to realize he was exhausted and that maybe this was a mistake.
“Not a big deal. I’ll just sit and rest and get my bearings.”
Slipping his backpack off, he sat down on the ground and immediately guzzled half of his first bottle of water. When he pulled out his phone, he quickly realized that he didn’t have reception up here.
“Maybe I should see about adding some towers up here when we do the next round of work,” he muttered.
For several minutes he sat there resting and put the backpack behind him as a pillow.
His mind wandered as he tried to figure out what he would need to do to make sure they had better reception at higher altitudes so they wouldn’t have to solely rely on two-way radios.
And that was his mistake. Because whenever Milo started thinking about an idea, he would get so lost in trying to work it all out in his head that he really did lose all sense of time. When the loud crack of thunder shook the ground, it effectively snapped him out of his reverie.
“Oh, shit.” Standing, he finished the rest of the one bottle of water and slid his backpack on. No sooner was it in place than he stumbled and fell, rolling several feet away. When he stood, he was mildly disoriented and suddenly couldn’t remember which direction he was supposed to head in.
The radio had GPS on it, so he decided to reach for it and see if it would help.
After all, that was the purpose of these high-tech ones.
They basically did all the thinking—and directing—for you when you needed it.
He studied the screen and moved around a bit to make sure he was going in the right direction.
If he couldn’t get it figured out, he’d pull out his compass and use that as his guide.
Rain was gently falling, and he hoped he could get to the lean-to and regroup properly.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t paying attention to where he was walking and missed the roots of the giant mountain maple. He stumbled for the second time and went down hard; all the air knocked out of him just before the world went black.
The morning had been super busy because of the inclement weather, and Nora was getting ready to head down to her cabin for lunch when Lexi called out to her.
“Nora! Nora, wait!”
Turning, she spotted Lexi practically running down the office hallway toward her. “Hey, where’s the fire?” she joked, but sobered immediately when she saw the panicked look on Lexi’s face. “What’s going on?”
“We have a situation,” she whispered before gently pulling her over toward a quiet corner. “Slater’s on the intermediate hike off the west trail, but he left me with one of the two-way radios.”
“O-kay…”
“Ugh…I know he’s going to want to kill me for this, but…Milo’s missing.”
“What? What do you mean he’s missing?”
“He went out on a hike this morning on the east trail and Slater really didn’t want him to go, but…
well…obviously he did. He took one of the two-way radios with him, and they agreed on the channel they’d use so no one but Slater would get any calls from him.
” She paused, nervously glancing around.
“But Slater’s group had some high-maintenance guests and they’re dealing with the rain, so he left one radio with me with only Milo’s channel on it, but he hasn’t come back yet and he’s not answering.
I don’t want to bother Slater or any of the guys because I don’t want to embarrass Milo, but… ”
“Okay, okay, I got it. Um…I have a kids’ camp that I’m supposed to start at one, so…”
“I’ve already got it covered. I called Sammy and he’s going to take over with Liz. They’ve got it under control. I really didn’t know what else to do. Other than Slater, you’re the only one who knows the trails and can navigate them quickly.”
Unfortunately, she was right. Letting out a long breath, she said, “Let me have the radio and please ask the kitchen to quickly pack up two lunches and several bottles of water. I’ll load everything into one of the packs down in the shed ASAP.”
Lexi pulled her in and hugged her. “Thank you. I just really didn’t know what else to do.”
“You did the right thing. Hopefully, he just lost track of time.”
“Then why won’t he answer when I call him?”
Good question.
“Maybe he accidentally turned it off,” she suggested, but the idea sounded lame even to her.
Everyone knew Milo wasn’t the outdoorsy guy, but she certainly didn’t want to keep driving that point home.
He also wasn’t stupid. If he wasn’t answering, it was definitely cause for alarm.
“Let me try radioing him. If you can get the lunch order—and I don’t care what it is—then I can get going. ”
“I’m on it! The radio is on my desk!” Lexi raced off, and Nora quickly stepped into her office and grabbed the radio.
She let out a long breath, knowing if he answered, he was going to hate that she was the one calling. But what choice did she have?
“Milo? It’s Nora. Over.”
Nothing.
“Milo, can you hear me? Over.”
Nothing.