Voyage (Powerless Nation #2) (21 page)

She took a cautious step forward and shuddered when something tickled her face. She brushed it away and it stuck to her fingers. A spider web! Sena panicked, windmilling her arms in every direction and brushing frantically at her clothes.

After she calmed down, she giggled and was glad for once that phones weren’t working. If anyone had filmed her spider dance just then she’d be an internet sensation for sure.

Laughing at herself pushed the fear away a little, and she looked around to see where she was. As her eyes grew accustomed to the dark she noticed the trail of broken limbs, branches and trees that marked the SUV’s descent. She headed for it and began to climb.

The light of the moon cast a soft glow on the forest, though it did little to help her find her footing in the underbrush. She tripped over tangled roots and walked into tree branches. Thorn bushes caught at her clothing and scratched her hands and face. Every step was an ordeal, and she fought for every foot of progress up the hill.

She stopped for a moment to catch her breath, and turned to look down at the SUV. Its white paint gleamed in the dark forest, easily visible in the dim light. They’d fallen so far. It was amazing they were still alive.

Or, she hoped they all were. At the thought, she hurried back to the arduous climb.

Although the going was difficult, it was doable and she didn’t have any real trouble until she was just below the roadway.

The drop off next to the road was steep, too steep to scale. She tried moving sideways along the roadway, but the SUV’s fall had literally cleared a path down. Away from the path, the undergrowth was impossibly dense. Retreating down the slope wasn’t an option. She had to find a way up, and quickly.

Sena began to climb the nearly vertical embankment, feeling for hand and footholds. The ground was wet from the rain, and wouldn’t support her weight. She lost her grip several times, sliding down in the mud until she was caked in it.

She wanted to scream in frustration. It wasn’t that high, only ten or twelve feet, but it felt like she was climbing a wall of pudding.

Sena made herself begin again, this time going more slowly and making sure with every advance she was firmly entrenched before she tried to go higher. She looked for some kind of handhold, and realized the broken guard rail was hanging down the embankment.

Careful not to unbalance herself, she reached up and grasped the rail. At that moment one of her feet slipped and she clung to the railing to keep from sliding down again. 

It was sharp and jagged where the SUV had roughened its edges. The metal bit into her hand and tears of pain sprang to her eyes, but she refused to let go. She dug her feet into the embankment again and gripped the railing with her other hand.

Inch by inch, she climbed the last few feet to the top of the cliff, crying openly now as the jagged metal tore open her soft hands. Letting go meant failure, and she refused to give in to the pain.

Sheer determination brought her to the top of the road, and she sat on the cool pavement for a moment, catching her breath and wiping her tears before standing to face the mountain. 

A chill breeze blew on her sweaty skin and she shivered. Dark trees with sinister shadows lined both sides of her path, and she heard strange sounds in the night. For a brief moment she wavered in her resolve. Silvery moonlight was bright on the ribbon of road before her, so she focused her attention on that and hurried down one of the highest passes in the Northern Cascades.

Sena was soon winded and had to settle for a slower pace, managing a brisk walk. At times, images of Claire's injury swam before her eyes and she broke into a jog for a few hundred feet. She was grateful the road was mostly downhill. 

The night creeped by, and she had plenty of time to think about how unfair she’d been to Claire over the past few days. What had happened to Sena’s mom wasn’t Claire's fault; it wasn’t Sena’s fault. Songyee had made a lifetime of decisions that had led her to that point.

Sena sorrowed for the mother she’d never really known. The mother that had chosen drug abuse over her daughter time after time.

Walking through the night, thirsty and cold, she had a sudden flash of insight. She remembered her thirst on the life raft. She would have done anything for water then; she even drank seawater she knew might kill her.

She had known what it was like to need something so badly you’d sacrifice your own life to have it. With this new perspective, she could kind of understand her mom. It didn’t justify what Songyee had done, though it explained a little.

A bubbling stream of mountain water cascaded over the rocks on one side of the road. Sena stopped to let the cold water wash away the blood on her hands. Then she brought handfuls of it to her lips and drank the unbelievably icy, pure liquid. 

Water was a luxury she never took for granted now.

Refreshed, she hurried her pace. It felt like she’d been traveling for miles. Was there anyone on this mountain besides her? Was she a fool for going off on her own? What if she didn’t find anyone? Or worse, what if she did find someone and they wouldn’t help? Or wanted to hurt her?

Questions swirled in her mind, and the moon sank behind Sena until her moon shadow stretched long in front of her. 

True darkness was coming to the mountain.

Hours later, Sena could barely put one foot in front of the other. She was so cold and tired, and pain was splitting her head. It was late September, with nighttime temperatures nearing 40 degrees Fahrenheit. She brought her arms inside her sleeves and wrapped them around her, next to her skin, trying to get warm.

It was so dark she could barely see to stay on the road, and she shuffled along. One thing had changed, for which she was grateful: her paralyzing fear of the dark was gone. She knew now that she would walk through a thousand nights for Claire if it would save her.

She continued down the road, stumbling occasionally, and praying for a miracle. She had never prayed so much in her life, not even on the lifeboat. 

She realized that she had much more to lose now. Like Kade had said, Claire and Ted were like parents to her, and even Kade himself was becoming a friend.

Though the temperature was still dropping, Sena looked around and thought it looked a little lighter. Trees and rocks glowed faintly, though she couldn’t see anything clearly. 

The sun would be up soon. The thought gave her little hope. She had almost reached the end of her endurance, and she hadn’t seen a single person.

As the first rays of sun broke over the mountains, cutting through the darkness, it was as if a weight was lifted from her. The density of night was dispelled, and in the brilliant sunlight, she was awed by the beauty and majesty surrounding her. 

She stumbled along the edge of the road. She saw forests of old trees carpeted with moss and mushrooms, and then a meadow of wildflowers, not yet touched by frost. There she made the best find yet, a clump of flaming red bushes blanketed with purple berries.

Sena left the road and gingerly picked a berry with her ruined hands, then popped it in her mouth and chewed cautiously. The tender skin split between her teeth and her mouth filled with the taste of a blueberry gone mad. It was like eating pure, sweet wildness.

She took a few more berries and ate them while she walked. She decided she’d never tasted anything as delicious as the mountain berries and wished she knew what they were. The sun continued to light the sky, and she picked up her pace.

Less than an hour later, the morning breeze brought a welcome sound to her ears. An engine. She turned to look behind her, and discovered the sound was ahead of her. It must be a car coming up the mountain.

The sound didn’t get any closer, so she kept walking, trying to figure out what it was. A second engine roared to life, and with horror, she realized what she was hearing.
Motorcycles.
 

It must be the motorcycle gang from the previous day. They’d probably passed the site of the wreck without noticing it, and spent the night here camping. Now they were getting ready to leave. 

They would be going the wrong way though. 

Sena knew they might be the only other people on the mountain and she was going to miss them.

She began to run.

Each time she heard another engine start, she was spurred to greater speed until she was racing down the highway. Too soon, she heard a mighty roar as they rode out together.

Wait!
she wanted to scream at them, her lungs on fire. Her headache was worse now, and she had blisters on her feet from walking through the night. She had a stitch in her side and she was nauseous, but she put aside all of those feelings and ran to save Claire.

Claire, the only woman who had ever really wanted to be a mother to her.

She mouthed Claire's name to the beat of her hiking boots pounding down the road. 

Claire. Claire. Claire.

Then the chant changed to a prayer:
Please. Please. Please.

Sena rounded a bend in the road and saw a sign for a campground and ranger station up ahead. The last motorcycle was pulling out from the access road. She waved, but he was already turning.

His back tire kicked up rocks as he gunned his engine and rode away. 

Sena staggered to a stop in the middle of the road with a sob. She tried to shout to the rider, but she couldn’t catch her breath. The air was too thin here. She gasped and struggled as her lightheadedness drove her to her knees, and then to the ground. 

Sena passed out. A small, crumpled form in the middle of the empty highway.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

W
HEN
S
ENA
AWOKE
,
SHE
was on a cot in a small cabin. A woman stood with her back to Sena, talking to someone. When she turned, Sena recognized the biker mom from the day before when they’d siphoned gas at the jet skis. Her daughter, Sassy, was at the table too, eating a bowl of oatmeal.

“Hi, Sena,” she said.

When Sena tried to sit up, the woman shook her head. “Stay still,” she said. “Doc’s gonna be here in a minute to sew up that split in your scalp and the cuts on your hands.”

“You’ve got a doctor?” Sena asked, sitting up anyway. “My family needs help. Our car went off the road up the mountain and—”

“I know,” said the woman. “A couple of us remembered you from yesterday. Figured we’d better check your back trail and see if there were any other survivors.”

“I need to get back there and help,” said Sena. “Is there any way you can give me a ride back up?”

“I don’t think so. You’ve got altitude sickness and a concussion, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re hypothermic and dehydrated too. No, you’re staying right here.”

“But I have to know…” Sena was suddenly afraid to know. What if she’d taken too long? What if it was too late?

“About your family?” the woman finished. “Don’t worry, honey. You saved them.” She held up a walkie-talkie. “The gang already found them and got them out of your truck. They’re all still alive, and they’re almost up to the road and the bikes. They’ll be loading them up and bringing them down here soon.”

She looked at Sena carefully. “Your mom’s in bad shape. You know that though, don’t you?”

Sena didn’t correct her when she called Claire her mom. She liked how it sounded.

“How did you know I was there? I didn’t think anyone saw me. You all rode away.”

“
Almost
all rode away,” said the woman, with a pointed look at Sassy. “Do you remember that book you gave my daughter?”

“I was reading it in bed last night and it fell behind the bed,” Sassy piped up. “Mama was mad.”

“Yep, we had to stay behind and look for that blasted book. I came out of the cabin just in time to see you fall. After I saw you were in trouble, I got on the radio and told everyone what was going on. They all remembered you and your dad from yesterday. Most people would just as soon shoot you as look at you these days, but we could tell you folks were different. We wanted to help.

“We’ve got one guy who used to be a paramedic. We call him Doc. He’s going to patch you all up and then you can recover here a while. This cabin is normally a gift shop. There are a few beds in the back where you can stay while you rest up.”

Sena blinked rapidly, tears of relief and gratitude ready to spill. “You’ve been so nice, and I don’t even know your name.”

“Before I joined the gang I was Maria Angeles,” said the woman. “Everyone calls me Angel now.”

Sena smiled. Of course she’d been saved by an Angel.

Angel was as good as her word. Within the hour, Sena’s family (she couldn’t think of a better word for them) was brought to the ranger station and Doc did what he could for them.

Though Sena’s injuries were easily treated, the cuts on her hands remained painful and stiff for a long time. Kade put antibiotic ointment on them for her, and helped with as much of the work as he could, though his foot kept him from getting around very well. He had a sprain and possibly some crushed bones in his ankle. Without an X-ray, Doc said he couldn’t be sure how bad it was, so Kade was to stay off the foot as much as possible.

Ted and Claire's injuries were more serious and they were confined to bed for a few weeks. Ted had a concussion and an extremely painful fractured sternum. There wasn’t any treatment for it besides bed rest and time. 

He didn’t complain, though his injuries probably were the most painful of all of them. They all agreed that he should get the lion’s share of the ibuprofen Sena had taken from the Clarks’ medicine cabinet.

Doc said Kade had done exactly the right thing by stopping Claire's blood loss and keeping her warm through that first long night. After Doc cleaned and sewed up her wound, he told them all how lucky they were she was still alive. When he said she was a fighter, Claire looked straight at Sena and said she had a lot worth fighting for.

Sena didn’t answer. Instead, she reached for Claire's hand and gave it a squeeze.