The dirt road came to a fork, and Mina wasn’t sure which one to take. They both traveled in somewhat the same route. She chose the path that went right. After another hour, she was sure she’d chosen the wrong path. But wasn’t it better to keep going on the same path, instead of backtracking?

Mina’s feet were dragging, and she slipped on a muddy rock and twisted her ankle. Crying out in pain, she crumpled to the ground. Biting her lip, she tried to stand up and continue walking, but as soon as she put weight on her ankle, she fell to the ground again. Tears of pain and frustration rained down Mina’s face as she half crawled, half dragged herself along the road.

If she’d been one to curse, she knew she’d be calling Jared all kinds of nasty names. But instead she envisioned all of the terrible things she was going to do to him, if he ever dared to show his face to her again.

A crack of thunder made Mina jump, and she looked up as the clouds turned ugly and let out their fury in a downpour of rain. Wasn’t this just like her luck?

She half dragged, half crawled her way to the side of the road to take shelter under a tree. Her skin felt like ice, but her hatred of Jared kept her warm. Just when she was about to give up hope of ever being found, a light in the distance pierced the darkness.

She tried to yell, but her voice felt hoarse. The light grew bigger, drew closer, and became two lights. They were headlights. Mina used the tree for support and pulled herself up into a standing position so she could be better seen from the road. She could just make out a black Jeep coming her way. Mina began calling out and waving her hands through the darkness and rain, hoping the car wouldn’t drive past her. It wasn’t slowing down.

Panicking, Mina began hopping on one leg toward the road in an attempt to intercept the moving car. Just when she was almost there, she slipped and fell into the road, right in the direct path of the speeding vehicle. Looking up, she could see her death coming as the driver of the Jeep, hit the brakes. It spun out of control in the mud and began to fish tail, heading right for her!

Chapter 11

Crack! A large tree fell on the road in between Mina and the out-of-control Jeep. Mina screamed as the branches pinned her to the ground. She gritted her teeth as the Jeep spun sideways into the downed tree sending the tree and Mina sliding down the road in the mud. Thankfully, the trunk of the tree took the force of the car’s impact. The vehicle had sideswiped the large tree and looked to be in worse condition than the evergreen.

She heard a car door slam.

“Hello! Are you there?”

“I’m here!” Mina tried to yell back through the storm. She could barely see as broken branches and pine needles covered most of her body. She held up her hand in the air and someone began to clear branches off of her body. Laying there in the mud, during a storm, Mina couldn’t help but be thankful that she was alive. She really thought that she was a goner. Strong hands gripped her and helped pull her to a sitting position.

“Are you hurt anywhere?” the man asked. He looked shaken from the accident, but otherwise fine.

“My ankle, I twisted it,” Mina answered.

The man stopped and stilled. “What’s your name?” he asked.

Mina looked closely at her rescuer. He was of medium build, olive toned skin, with brown eyes and slightly curly hair. She didn’t recognize him. But a whisper of a voice told her to lie and do it well. “Nan Taylor.”

She watched as he ran back to the Jeep and called in to someone on his c.b. radio. She couldn’t hear the answer coming from the radio, but it was obvious that he was out searching for someone. Help had come. But what kind?

The man came back to Mina and helped pull her to her feet, being careful of her injured leg. He introduced himself as Karl, and helped Mina wobble to his car. He grabbed a rain poncho and flashlight from the back of the vehicle and walked around it, checking under the hood and under the rear of the vehicle.

Mina used the time to look around at the inside of the all-terrain vehicle, which seemed to belong to a survivalist. She could see a tent, coolers, and various large black bags. A feeling of unease came over her at the sight of the barrel of a gun sticking out of a bag, but Mina decided to push the feelings aside. After all, this man did save her, and he didn’t look to be carrying a weapon. Maybe he was a hunter and this was the off season. After a few minutes, he jumped into the car and clicked off the flashlight.

“I’ve got good news and bad news. The engine is fine, but we have a broken rear wheel axel, so we won’t be going anywhere fast, but at least we will be dry until help arrives.”

“Is help coming?” Mina asked hopefully. Her whole body was shaking, partially from shock and the other from cold.

“We will be fine.” Karl turned the key in the ignition and flipped the heaters on full blast. He reached into the backseat and pulled out a foil blanket that looked too thin to do any good. “Here, it’s a thermal blanket; it will use your own body heat to keep you warm. It looks like you’ve been out there a while.” He switched blankets with Mina and then threw the wool one on top of her lap.

Warmth slowly started to creep into her hands, but her feet and toes still felt frozen to the bone. “You sure are prepared for everything” Mina stuttered out. She looked at the car radio and the time read 10:30pm. Did it really take her all day to make it across the valley?

Karl pulled out a granola bar and a silver thermos, handing the granola bar to Mina. Her hands were shaking, and she gave up trying to open the package. She was so tired; all she wanted to do was sleep. She leaned against the window pane and watched the rain splatter against the glass, gather into large pools, and then slide down.

He got the thermos open and poured a cupful of coffee into the lid, handing it to her. Mina sipped the coffee and tried to listen to what Karl was saying. Her eyes were becoming increasingly heavy, and it was hard to concentrate in the warm vehicle.

“You must be the luckiest girl in the world. You know that, don’t you?” His lips pressed together. He studied her under heavy lidded eyes.

Mina wasn’t so sure it was luck. She made sure to take a good look at the trunk of the tree as Karl helped her into the car. The tree wasn’t hit by lighting. There was no evidence, of charring or it being cracked or split. The hundred foot tree was uprooted, but most of the trees roots were still buried deep in the ground. Something of extreme force hit the tree, causing it to fall into the road. Mina was almost positive it was Jared, but why?

The car felt like it was on fire and burning her up. She tried to move her hand toward the heater to turn it down, but Karl mistook her actions for wanting more heat. He turned the knob up and, Mina’s hand felt heavy and it dropped uselessly on her lap. She was having problems even controlling her own limbs. The intense heat emanating from the car’s heaters made it almost impossible for her to breath and she started to shiver again but this time from a fever.

She heard Karl speak to her, but she couldn’t respond, couldn’t move. She heard a chuckle and felt his hand touch her cheek and forehead. She felt the seat move and heard the sound of something being opened in the backseat. She passed out and awoke a few moments later to the sound of a siren.

Karl cursed out loud and picked up the radio again and he mumbled something into it about being “too late to be sure.”

Another vehicle pulled up beside them. More people piled out of the other vehicle. Her door opened, and she was moving through the air.