Fiend in the Forest: A Small-Town Mystery (The Lost Gorge Mysteries Book 2) by Lee Dawson

Author:Lee Dawson [Dawson, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Elite Edition
Published: 2022-10-17T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Ryan held on with an embarrassingly tight grip to the man driving the snowmobile. Mina had been correct with her warning about Sean Orrick and his driving skills.

Sean was quick to explain the slower the machine goes, the harder it is to control. “Needs the momentum,” he’d explained, “to really bank the turns.”

Any more momentum and Ryan would throw up. Once he realized he wouldn’t die, or if he did it would be quick, he started to relax his clench.

They rode for about an hour up snowmobile trails marked with tall skinny poles. Mini replicas of the Cats used to groom the ski resort crawled along the trail, smoothing out the series of bumps the snowmobiles left.

Eventually, they ran out of level ground and the trail went up. Sean paused along the side of a mountain and killed the engine before pulling off his helmet, revealing a face mask where only his eyes and a tuft of red hair poked out. Ryan pulled off his own helmet, his head still vibrating from the roar of the machine. The two machines behind them, loaded with Squatchers and supplies, stopped as well.

“The trail gets bumpy and really tight around this corner. The groomers don’t come past here.” Sean said. “If you have a problem with heights, I suggest you close your eyes.”

“I’ll be all right.”

“Sure, you will.”

They started back up and the snowmobile crept around the blind corner. Ryan had lied. He now had a very big problem with heights.

The mountain fell away, leaving a trail only a few feet wide and a cliff hundreds of feet to the bottom. The machine itself took up the entire width of the trail and, at one spot, the right ski dangled over the edge. Ryan so wanted to close his eyes but they, along with the rest of his body, froze in place. As death came closer, he would see it coming.

This ungroomed part of the trail had a series of bumps and dips left from other sleds. Each time they dropped down a bump, the back track of the snowmobile slid back and forth. Ryan gripped the bars on the side until he realized if the machine slid, he didn’t want to go with it. He tried to force himself to relax, but force and relax do not go together.

Fifty excruciating yards later, the trail widened. Sean pulled off and waited for the rest of the group to come around. “That gets the old heart pumping, doesn’t it?”

Ryan didn’t reply. He dismounted and sank into snow up to his knees, which concealed the fact his legs had no strength in them. Another machine came around the corner and pride kept him from laying prostrate on the snow offering thanks to God. His relief, however, was cut short when he realized that stretch of trail would have to be taken again on the way home. Maybe they could be helicoptered out, he half-seriously wondered.

They waited as the snowmobiles made it around the cliff: one carried Phil and the other Lane Jenkins, Bigfoot Hunter.

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