Chapter Seventeen – Doreen #2
Bash stood rigid in the snow, ears up, tail straight out behind him, every muscle alert. Every instinct in the dog’s body seemed to snap taut, as if some ancient animal knowing had been triggered deep inside him.
Then he barked—sharp and insistent—and darted toward the tree line about twenty feet from the car.
“What is it, boy?” Doreen followed reluctantly, the snow soaking through her boots. The wind cut through her coat as if it were made of paper, and she could already feel her fingers growing numb despite her gloves.
Bash barked again, pawing at something beneath the overhang of a small ridge. As Doreen approached, she realized with a surge of hope that it wasn’t just an overhang, it was the entrance to a shallow cave, naturally formed where the rock face had eroded away.
“Jake,” she called, turning back toward the car. “Come here. Bash found something.”
Jake climbed out cautiously, his small face screwed up against the biting wind. He trudged through the snow to join her, his eyes widening when he saw what Bash had discovered.
“A secret hideout!” he exclaimed, his earlier worry momentarily forgotten.
Doreen kneeled to examine the cave entrance. It was perhaps four feet high and twice as wide, opening to a space that extended about twelve feet back into the rock face. Most importantly, it was dry inside and sheltered from the wind.
“This is perfect,” she said, relief flooding through her. “Let’s get inside where it’s warmer.”
She guided Jake inside first, then followed with Bash right behind them. Inside, the temperature was still cold, but without the wind, it felt considerably more bearable. Doreen’s hands shook as she helped Jake further inside, the tremors betraying her anxiety despite her calm exterior.
“It’s like a real adventure,” Jake said, his breath visible in the chilly air.
“It is,” she agreed. “And this is the perfect time to use the emergency kit Deputy Pike gave you. You have it, right?”
“Yes!” He dug into his coat pocket and pulled out a small metal tin. “Deputy Pike’s emergency kit! He said to always keep it with me.”
Doreen could have cried with relief as she opened the tin with trembling fingers. Inside lay exactly what they needed: a tiny LED light, a compact silver emergency blanket, a small whistle, and a waterproof matchbook.
“Deputy Pike says, always be prepared,” Jake announced, pride evident in his voice.
“He’s absolutely right,” Doreen said, her throat tight with gratitude. She set the LED light against the cave wall, casting a soft glow throughout their shelter.
It felt absurd, like James had reached through the storm and pressed the kit into her hands himself.
Next, she unfolded the emergency blanket. It was barely larger than a hand towel when packed, but expanded to cover Jake completely when opened. The silver material reflected his body heat back to him, and she tucked it carefully around his shoulders.
“Now for a fire,” she murmured, eyeing the cave floor. There was a small depression near the center that would work perfectly as a fire pit. She gathered dry pine needles and small twigs from just inside the cave entrance, arranging them carefully.
Her fingers were nearly numb as she struck one of the matches.
It flared to life, and she shielded the tiny flame with her body as she touched it to the pine needles.
They caught immediately, a small flame dancing to life.
She fed it carefully with larger twigs and bits of bark until a modest but steady fire burned before them.
“There,” she said, sitting back on her heels. “That should keep us warm until help comes.”
The tiny flame felt like more than fire—it felt like reclaimed control, a fragile defiance against the storm pounding just outside.
Jake scooted closer to the fire, and Bash pressed protectively against his side, his fur a warm comfort in the chill of the cave. Doreen watched as Bash rested his muzzle on Jake’s knee, eyes alert and vigilant even as the boy’s fingers absently stroked his ears.
“He’s being extra good today,” Jake murmured, his voice small against the howling wind outside. “Finding this cave for us.”
“He has.” Doreen nodded, throat tight with unexpected emotion.
“I wish Deputy Pike were here,” Jake said, as if reading her thoughts. “He would know what to do.”
Last night, wrapped in his arms, she’d felt as if nothing could touch them. Out here, she clung to that feeling like a lifeline.
Doreen swallowed hard and forced a smile. “Well, we know what to do, too, thanks to him.”
She added another small branch to their fire, watching the flames lick at the new fuel. The smoke curled upward, disappearing into the shadows of the cave ceiling. Outside, the storm’s voice grew louder, wind shrieking through the trees.
A cold certainty settled in her chest as she listened. No one would find them here, not in this weather, not on this forgotten trail. If they waited, hoping for rescue, they might wait too long.
“Jake,” she said, keeping her voice light despite the fear fluttering beneath her ribs, “I’m going to step outside for a minute to check on things, okay?”
Jake looked up, his face serious in the firelight. “Is it getting worse?”
“The storm’s pretty strong,” she admitted. “But you’re safe in here. I just want to see if I can spot the road to the cabins; it runs alongside this one.”
“Don’t get lost,” Jake told her.
“I won’t, because you have the whistle, remember.” She took it out of the tin and looped it around his neck. “You keep blowing it every couple of minutes, and it will lead me back to you.”
“Okay.” To test this theory, Jake blew into it hard. The sound was so shrill it hurt her ears.
“That’s it.” She zipped her coat higher, tucking her scarf over her mouth and nose. “Keep feeding the fire, but just the small sticks, nothing bigger. And don’t go near the entrance, okay? The wind is tricky.”
Jake nodded solemnly. “I’ll take care of Bash.”
Doreen smiled despite herself. “I think he’s taking care of you, honey.”
The moment she stepped outside, the wind nearly knocked her backward.
Snow flew sideways, stinging her exposed skin like tiny needles.
She squinted against the assault, shocked by how quickly conditions had deteriorated.
The car, barely twenty feet away, was already half-buried, its shape blurring beneath accumulating snow.
Her footprints from earlier had vanished, filled in as if she’d never walked there at all. But Jake’s whistle cut through the storm, giving her the confidence to move a little further away to a small incline that might give her a better view.
The incline proved steeper than it had appeared, with ice hiding beneath the fresh powder. Doreen dug her boots in with each step, using exposed tree roots as handholds. At the top, she turned in a slow circle, searching desperately for any sign of the main road.
Nothing. Just an endless sea of white, trees emerging like ghostly sentinels before disappearing again behind veils of snow.
Her heart sank, but she forced down the panic rising in her throat. She would find a way. She had to.
Snow continued to fall around her, erasing her presence from the forest even as she moved through it.
But beneath the howling of the wind, beneath the crunch of snow under her boots, something else stirred—a connection she couldn’t name, pulling like an invisible thread through the storm, guiding her forward into the white unknown.
She didn’t know if she was following that pull or if it was following her. Either way, she walked on, trusting two truths at once: she would do everything she could to save Jake… and James Pike would move heaven and earth to find them.