Ninety Degrees Out

Anya Amudson sauntered across the runway, her long strides eating the distance between the hospital tent and the lodge. The sun was heading toward the ridge to the west, high cirrus clouds catching the last rays of the day. Like everyone else, she checked the condition of the antennas arranged around the radio shack. Silently she thanked the foresight of the Stargazer family for making sure their communications network stayed up and they could talk to each other.

As she started toward the lodge veranda, Tank ran full out past her toward the creek and Twig canyon. What had the dog upset? She pulled her pistol out of her waistband and checked to see if she had one in the chamber. Pulling the slide back she chambered a round and flipped the safety back on. It never hurt to be prepared.

She saw her son sprinting after Tank and continued across the hillside and down toward the creek. She noticed Chuck and Jerry cantering toward the creek and nodded. Akira and the kids were already out on the deck. It looked like everyone was on alert. It was nice to know the dog’s barking and disappearance upstream toward the new swimming hole on the creek was bringing the correct response.

As she walked up beside Erik, she noticed Tank coming back down the path from the pond.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Not sure, Mom. There’s something up the creek, but Tank is back and sitting there. He’s not worried.” Erik pointed toward the mastiff. “We’ll just have to wait. He doesn’t get upset anymore now that he knows about Ursa and the cubs. Not like the first time he spotted the bears.”

“I know, it was pretty comical, but I hear splashing in the creek. You want to go up the path?” Anya asked.

Chuck and Jerry swung off their horses. “What do you think boss?” Jerry drew is side arm and checked to see if it was loaded.

Chuck looped the reins for both horses around the bottom branch of an alder. Turning, he patted the rump of his mount and went over to stand beside Erik.

“Doesn’t seem like anything dangerous. So just keep those pistols in their holsters.” Erik flipped the safety on his Eagle back on. “Stay here, I’ll go up and see what’s causing the fuss.”

He worked his way through the forest along the creek side, peering through the blueberry bushes growing along the banks. His eyes popped when he spotted a soaking wet woman walking in the center of the channel. Who was this? And why did she look like she’d been through a war?

Her hair was blonde and long. It dripped water droplets down the front of her almost transparent white tee shirt. He could make out her bra and the distinct bumps of her nipples as they pushed against their restraints. She couldn’t be more than thirty but the bruises on her arms and her face brought instant sympathy. Who had been beating on her?

As he continued to observe, she dropped to her knees and settled into the clear water, ducking under. What was she thinking? He saw her rubbing her head, like she was shampooing her hair. Really, she was clean enough. Was she okay? He didn’t want to startle her. She looked like she was unarmed, so no problem there. Tank pushed by him and gave a soft woof.

“What do you think dog? Is she a problem or is she looking for help?” He reached down to stroke the mastiff’s head.

Erik pushed through the bushes onto the sandy bank in the curve of the creek. A quick scream from the blonde, had him shaking his head. Why was she frightened?

“Ma’am, I’m not going to hurt you. Are you okay?”

“I’m not sure.” Her voice was hoarse, and she reached up to touch her throat. He noticed red finger marks on her neck. “Please don’t hurt me,” she begged.

“You’re safe here,” Erik told her. “Come on out of the creek.” He extended his hand as he went down on one knee on the narrow sandy beach.

“They chased me. I had to hold my breath in the pond until they left. One nostril over the water, with the other one plugged. I had to float there like I was drowning. They can’t swim in deep water.” Her voice got quieter, hoarser with each word.

“You’ll be safe here.” Erik extended a hand toward her as she waded through the deeper still water close to shore.

“Thank you,” she whispered, her hand touching her throat as she spoke. “It hurts.”

“We have a doctor here.” He bent forward to clasp the hand she extended, and quickly decided to reach for both her arms instead. “I’m going to help you up onto the shore.”

She sagged into his arms like a sack of potatoes. Her wrist bones a sharp reminder of her malnourished state. Her hip bones stuck out over her cut off shorts liked doorknobs.

Erik softened his tone as he asked his next question. “What is your name? I’m Erik. I’m a deputized trooper.” He stressed his next words as he repeated, “You are safe here.”

“I’m Meg. I need to tell you what happened.” She sounded desperate as her eyes rolled back into her head and she slid halfway back into the water.

“Chuck, Jerry, get up here. I’ve got a problem.” Erik yelled as he eased into the creek beside her and cradled Meg’s head. She couldn’t weigh a hundred pounds.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

“Mom these kittens stink.” Ari’s wrinkled nose proved the point.

“They do. I think Chay is going to find out their mother died. I just hope it wasn’t an illness that can spread, or that the kittens have already caught.” Alicia hoped not, but it was a horrid possibility.

“Do we have any medicine for them?” Ari’s questions were going to lead to a hard lesson in survival.

“I doubt it. People medicine doesn’t work on animals and babies this small are really easily hurt by using the wrong ones.”

“So, they might die no matter what we do?” Ari wasn’t wrong.

“I’m sorry, Ari. I hope it’s just dehydration and lack of food. We can fix that, but if they have an illness, we have to be aware of the worst outcomes. And we have to document everything about these babies. We’ll be treating them as an experiment of sorts.” Alicia’s started her mental checklist. Hopefully, Uki had a working laptop she could borrow for the spreadsheets.

“But Mom, they’re so cute. We have to save them.”

“We’re going to try our best. I can’t promise they will live.” Alicia winced as she spoke. Her poor baby was going to have a hard time of it if she couldn’t deliver.

“Well first things first. We’ll see what Uki and Ariel have in the pantry. We probably need condensed milk, oil of some sort and maybe if we can find some ground up meat, we can try that. After they eat, we’ll rub their tummies, so they poop and pee before we give them a bath.”

“Gross Mom.” Ari made a face as they walked into the log house.

“Yup, if you are going to work with baby animals, get used to it.” Alicia said and called out, “Uki, Ariel, where are you. We have a problem.”