Page 3 of Mountain Refuge
Corbin’s instructions had been to follow the directions to the ski lodge. When I came to a fork on the mountain road where it saidWhitefish Ski Lodgewith an arrow pointing left, I was to turn right onto an unlit, unmarked road.
Which was how I ended up paused at this intersection, wondering if this was my literal and metaphorical crossroads.
Iwasdoing the right thing. I had to be.
I’d come so far, done so much to get here, but turning right seemed daunting. There was a clear difference in the roads. The road to the left that led to the ski lodge was recently plowed. The snow currently coming down left a light dusting on the asphalt. The road to the right hadn’t been plowed. At all. There were faint tire tracks that helped lead the way. With the setting sun, it was definitely the more eerie of the two paths.
But what choice did I have? I couldn’t bring the kids to a ski lodge. I glanced behind me, down the mountain road. We’darrived later than I had expected to. I could turn back, but to where? Maybe there was an inn in town that we could check into for the night? I hesitated at that thought. I didn’t want to show our faces in town if this was where we were permanently going to be hiding out.
I looked to the right and prayed Corbin knew what he was doing. What could possibly be up the mountain that could help me and my kids? And yet, it was that thought that made my decision for us. Who would ever think to look for me, a city boy, up a Montana mountain?
I turned right.
Chapter Two
Adam
The vehicle handled the snow well. I’d grown up in northern New Jersey and lived my entire adult life in New York City. I knew how to handle a vehicle in snow, but, the higher we got, the thicker it became and, the darker it got, the worse my visibility became.
My fears slowly began to creep in again.
I was doing the right thing. Wasn’t I? God, I hoped so.
The road became too hard to see, the tire tracks I’d been following were long covered. I was driving barely ten miles per hour. Enough to continue upwards and slow enough to hopefully see whatever was directly in front of me.
But after a near miss with a tree, I had to stop. I had no choice. This was no longer just snowing. This was a blizzard. And we were stuck. I couldn’t risk taking the car any further without knowing where I was going. Jack had said to just keep driving and Corbin would find me.
What an idiot I was to listen. I looked out of the car into the white abyss and doubted all my life choices.
After putting the car in Park and activating the parking brake, I turned on one of the burner phones. It powered on butthere was no signal. My head hit the headrest in frustration. Of course, there was no signal, because that was just my luck. So I could say I had tried all my options, I turned on the remainder of my burners to verify they did not have signal either.
I twisted in my seat to stare at the two joys in my life. I was terrified for them. I knew what would happen to me if I was caught. I knew what it had meant when I’d run with them. But these two innocents were everything to me. How could I live with myself, how could I call myself a man, a father, if I’d just stood there and done nothing? If I hadn’t run, Lydia’s fate would have been sealed.
Running then had been impulsive, but there’d been no time to follow our plan. There’d been no packing, no preparing. There’d been gunshots then grab, run, and go. Whatever had been previously packed in the diaper bag had been it. I’d grabbed a change of clothes for Lydia and myself, and the postcard. We’d jumped in my car, already fitted with car seats, thank God, and we’d gone. I hoped the ensuing chaos that had covered our escape would give us enough of a head start to avoid being followed. I’d dumped my wallet—minus the measly amount of cash I’d had on me—and my phone in a dumpster within the city. After a quick stop at a pharmacy to pick up my first burner phone and a coloring book for Lydia, we’d left.
The wind howled outside. It reminded me of wolves. I knew we were safe in the car. Animals wouldn’t be out in this weather either. They were clearly smarter than I was, blindly following instructions from a man I hadn’t seen or heard from in eighteen years. I could chastise myself all day, or night, long but that wouldn’t save us. We were warm for now with the car running. We had protein bars, baby formula, and water. The kids were bundled up after our trip to the park. We’d be okay for a little while.
But once we ran out of gas, there’d be no more heat.Without gas, we also couldn’t move once the storm cleared. And who knew if the car would even be able to move once the storm cleared. Snow was coming down fast and hard. We’d soon be buried in it. Even if the snow stopped, I had no idea where we were or where to go from here. Corbin’s instruction to keep going and he’d find us seemed so silly now. Why hadn’t I asked for more information? Why hadn’t I demanded he meet us in the town? Why hadn’t I stopped atJack’s General Storeand discovered if that Jack had been the Jack helping us?
Three hours later, the kids slept blissfully unaware that we were almost out of gas. My body shivered as if anticipating the cold we were about to face.
I crawled over the center console. Henry was sleeping the sleep of the exhausted infant. I prayed he kept sleeping. I prayed we weren’t going to die here, buried in the snow and never found. I prayed I hadn’t saved my kids only to lead them to a frozen death.
God hadn’t been a part of my life since I’d left home. My very Catholic mother was only able to get me to Mass on the holidays, but I only went for her comfort, not for mine. Yet, I prayed. I was a good man, a good person. I loved my kids more than life itself. I needed to save them. I needed to be strong for them.
I watched like a condemned man as the gas gauge slowly crept past the E. I took Lydia, waking her slightly, and brought her to my lap. The kids would need my body heat. Henry’s coat was on the floor. I grabbed it and laid it over his sleeping form.
Then I sat back and waited for the inevitable.
The pounding on the window scared me so badly that I jumped, waking Lydia completely. My heart thudded louder than a drum. We were in the middle of nowhere on a mountain in the middle of a blizzard. Had someone really just poundedon the window or had I imagined it? What if it had been a branch and a tree was about to fall on us?
The pounding happened again. This time, I saw movement outside my driver’s frosted window. Lydia, quiet as a mouse, moved off my lap and back into her booster seat. I could see the caution and fear in her eyes. I squeezed her hand reassuringly.
Carefully, I moved myself back up to the driver’s door. I knew opening the door would let out the heated air and let the cold in, but what choice did I have? What if the pounding was Corbin and he’d found us as promised?
I felt bad for doubting my best friend.
Making sure Lydia was as covered as possible, I opened my car door. It took some effort, as it was mostly frozen closed. I had to put all my weight into it to get it to budge. I could tell the person on the other side was pulling as well.
