Lost at Running Brook Trail by Sheryl A. Keen Read Free Book Online Page A

have just waited where we were, but there is no use debating that now. We have to find someplace to sleep.” Elaine looked again at the river’s fissures. They were joined by numerous creeks, including the one they had stopped at. That seemed so long ago.
    “There are no buildings out here.” Susan wondered how Elaine could be so calm about everything. She acted as if she made these kinds of decisions every day.
    “When we got those letters, they told us we would be camping, so I guess we’re really going to camp, but in the old-fashioned way.”
    “But we aren’t prepared,” Susan said apprehensively.
    “Circumstances do not always prepare us, so we do what we must.” Elaine was surprised to hear herself talking like that. That was her mother’s voice and tone, not her own. How had Marjory Johnson hiked out here with her into the forest?
    Kimberly took out the Storm again. It was the same story. No signal. No port in this storm. She couldn’t bear to contemplate sleeping on the hard dirt with nowhere to put her face but some grungy place.
    “We could stay here,” Susan said.
    Elaine and Miriam exchanged glances.
    “This isn’t a sheltered spot; we can’t stay here,” Elaine said.
    The thickets to the right crackled. All four heads snapped around in the direction of the sound. A brown animal with antlers could be seen among the bushes, its eyes black, shiny and intense.
    “Deer?” Kimberly said both hopeful and uneasy.
    “Looks like a deer,” Miriam said.
    “Now a deer, then something else. Let’s get out of here!” Elaine said.
    They passed some boulders and driftwood covered with bright green moss.
    “They could still find us,” Susan said.
    “That would be great,” Elaine said, “but just in case they don’t, we need to find where we will sleep while there’s still light so we know what the place looks like. It’s hard for them to find us if we keep moving, but if we don’t move now; we won’t have anywhere to sleep if they don’t find us. Catch 22.”
    They took a trail away from the river that narrowed and became steeper with every step. Some parts were overgrown with bushes and all sorts of entanglements. They had to use their hands for bushwhacking.
    Elaine led the way. No one had appointed her leader, but at five feet, nine inches, she looked like one. Tall, athletic and agile, she blazed a path through the dense forest as best she could.
    Susan, who was struggling at the back to catch her breath and keep up, looked ahead at Elaine with admiration. To Susan, she looked like a bronzed Amazon, and the sweat on Elaine’s face only served to add a sheen of resoluteness to her actions.
    “Watch your face!” Elaine shouted back to them. She held branches and brambles, lest they flew back and slap someone’s face.
    “I prefer to watch where I put my feet.” Miriam held on to the branches. She had Kimberly behind her, and Miriam thought it might be fun to let the branches fly. Good sense prevailed. It would hold them up if she had to stop and have it out with Kimberly, who would know that her actions had been deliberate. Plus the path was steep and was taking much of their energy.
    Miriam held the branches for Kimberly, who took them gingerly, as if they would bite.
    “Hold the things as if you have life in your hands!”
    “You think I want strange things pricking me or my beautiful skin marked up by these strange bushes?”
    Why didn’t I whack her with the branches? Miriam thought. I still have a chance. There’s always next time.
    Susan battled the vertical slope. The others had to wait for her to catch up before even handing off the branches to her.
    “Hurry up,” Kimberly said.
    “Just wait,” Miriam replied on Susan’s behalf. Susan couldn’t speak. She didn’t know how the three of them could climb this path and still carry on a normal, calm conversation. After the long walk on gravel, this hill was taking the life out of her knees. She didn’t think she’d had to