Special Delivery: Special Delivery, Book 1 by Heidi Cullinan

Author:Heidi Cullinan
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2014-02-03T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

The road through the mountains was absolutely beautiful.

Mitch had warned it would take all day to get to Cortez, but Sam never loved a long drive more in his life. He snapped several pictures and even took a panoramic photo, but he knew none of the images came close to capturing what he saw with his own eyes. It was as if the world were smaller and bigger at once: the mountains made everything seem crowded close, but the sky expanded bigger than he’d ever seen it above his head. The towns they passed were charming, small and tucked like spare change into whatever corners they could fit. There were ranches, real honest-to-God ranches, with cowboys and everything. Wide, clear, rushing streams followed the road, their waters nothing like the mucky, muddy rivers back home. There were no irises, but Mitch did stop beside a large patch of columbine, which Sam was sure his mother would have loved. He dusted them liberally with her ashes.

The one thing Sam could have lived without were the winding roads.

Most of the time the highway was simply bendy, but as the day wore on and they snaked deeper into the mountains, the roads became narrower and higher against the sides of the peaks they climbed. Mitch pointed out the tree line to Sam, the place so high in elevation not even the evergreens could survive. Apparently the atmosphere was too thin. Sam was impressed by this, but in an increasingly less favorable way as that line crept closer to his own elevation.

“We’re okay, right?” He stared worriedly up at the bare rock and snow. “I mean—we can breathe long enough to pass through?”

“Don’t worry, Sunshine. There will be plenty of air.”

Sam tried to take reassurance in Mitch’s confidence, and he told himself that obviously they would not build a road so high travelers couldn’t breathe, but he found he nurtured a quiet panic the higher they went. They were in a national forest now, and while there were still homes and towns, they were fewer and farther between.

Then they passed a sign reading, WOLF CREEK PASS AHEAD: TRUCKERS CHECK YOUR BRAKES.

Sam turned to Mitch in alarm. “The sign— Did we—?”

“Did my brake check in Del Norte.” Mitch caught the look on Sam’s face, and his expression changed to surprise. “Sam—honey, are you okay?”

“Fine.” Sam tightened his fingers against his armrest.

But if he’d thought the road was winding before, he soon realized he hadn’t seen anything until now.

The road climbed the mountain, weaving back and forth like a ribbon along the side of a cake. It had no rail. Oh, sometimes there was a little metal suggestion, but mostly a sheer edge led abruptly into hell below. Rocks dotted the side of the road, several of them boulders. One was as tall as Old Blue. Signs advised motorists in all caps to WATCH FOR FALLING ROCK.

Mitch drove slowly now, keeping all his focus on the road and his driving as he shifted gears and watched gauges.

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