Voracious - Alice Henderson [27]
After repacking the map, tent, and clothes, Noah slung the pack over his shoulders, then buckled it in place.
They stood up, glanced around cautiously, and started down the mountain, the heat of the afternoon still building, humidity closing in around them, stifling and unbearable.
Halfway down the mountain, they stopped in a meadow to rest and eat and found a cluster of boulders to sit on. Catching their breath, they passed the water bottle back and forth.
“Sorry I lost all my stuff,” she said, feeling bad for drinking so much of his water.
“Don’t be sorry for a second. If you hadn’t dumped your pack, you’d probably be dead right now.” He took a long drink from the water bottle and surveyed the scene around them. They were hiking down through thick forest, where mosquitoes clustered, buzzing in her ears and biting through her clothes. She’d never experienced a summer so filled with mosquitoes. The muggy heat was perfect bloodsucker weather, and they repeatedly landed in her eyes and even occasionally came close to buzzing up her nose. They filled the hot air with incessant, whiny buzzing. Sweat poured down Madeline’s face and back, and occasionally mosquitoes stuck in the droplets of perspiration.
“You doing okay?” Noah asked, studying her face.
Madeline nodded.
“Is your head giving you any trouble?”
In truth the cut stung painfully, especially with the salty sweat seeping into the bandage, but there was nothing that could be done there in the backcountry that wasn’t already done. “It’s okay,” she lied.
“Let me see your eyes.” He scooted closer to her on the rock, placing a hand under her chin and lifting her face up so he could get a better look. He leaned in, peering intently into her eyes. “No dilation,” he said. “That’s a relief.”
Suddenly Madeline was aware of how close he was. His eyes were a bright green, and his breath smelled cinnamony and nice, his lips perfectly shaped.
“Everything okay?” he asked, making her realize how much she’d been staring.
“Yes,” she said, pulling away. “Glad there’s no concussion.”
“Any dizziness or blurred vision?”
She shook her head.
“Nausea?”
“No.”
“Good. Think you can make it down the rest of the way?”
“Yeah.”
He put the water bottle into a net pouch on the backpack and produced two granola bars. He handed one to her and stood up. “We’d better go. We definitely want to get down before it gets dark.”
Suddenly Madeline felt exposed, standing up from her cover among the rocks. “Does it get more … aggressive at night?” she asked, glancing around nervously.
Noah shook his head, and for a moment Madeline was relieved. Then he said, “It’s aggressive all the time.”
“Let’s go,” she said quickly and beat Noah to the trail.
Just before dusk, as they passed their last switchback and looked down a steep hill, Noah and Madeline saw the dusk-to-dawn lights burning at the Swiftcurrent Lodge and camp store. Beyond it lay the paved roads of Many Glacier.
Madeline breathed a sigh of relief. “We made it.” She was absolutely exhausted and so thirsty her tongue felt swollen.
“Now we can get that cut looked at,” Noah said.
Madeline felt the bandage. It was still affixed securely, and she was impressed by Noah’s field dressing ability. She smiled at him as they continued down the trail.
They passed the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn, continuing down the road past the entrance to the campground. Soon they reached the ranger’s station, a small log cabin set among the trees. All the lights were off.
Madeline walked up to the door, her head aching. She rapped her knuckles on the wood and waited. No one came to the door.
Noah walked up beside her, and she was aware of his closeness as he knocked even louder on the door. They stood together in expectant silence. “I don’t think anyone’s here this late,” he said finally.
She brought her