AWAKENED

CHAPTER 6 - Dreadful Encounter

After putting my idea into action—using the shovel, machete, and spare blanket to set up a perimeter defense of sorts—things seemed to return to normal.

Snow fell every day for a solid week. Each morning, Jinx and I monitored Eve's health and the unborn twins. Then we set out on our routine patrol, including a thorough inspection of the power line, all the way to the river where the wooden wheel churns through the frothy water. Using a long branch I hacked into a paddle shape on one end, I clear several inches of tapered snow from the line. It's a morning ritual. The snow falls, and I brush it away. Since my rifle doesn't have a strap, I have to set it down while I work. My nerves bunch into knots every time I think about a monstrous creature sneaking up on me, a predator I can't see coming, one Jinx doesn't see either.

At the river, I pause and imagine the morning sun warming my face. With the frozen precipitation on the ground, the boulders protrude like rocky islands from the whiteness. It doesn't take a scientist to realize the temperature is well below freezing. Even with my hooded parka, a shiver creeps into my bones and makes me draw in tighter, bracing against the cold.

Water slaps the paddles, turning the wheel. The rapids roar, filling the open space between the mountainside and the hills and valleys across the river. If the predator that made those tracks was lurking in the shadows, it would be impossible to hear its massive paws clomping through the snow.

Torn between thoughts of savage beasts and my pregnant wife, I tell Jinx it's time to head back to the cabin. I don't enjoy being away from her. The drone swivels and begins its effortless flight, hovering six feet above the ground as it moves up the mountain.

I tell myself a search for more tracks would be pointless unless the creature was still in the area. Last night's snow would have covered up everything. If I get myself killed out here, Jinx would be Eve's only defense. Better protection than me, but I want to be around to know for certain she's safe. If I'm dead, I can't do that. Besides, I think drawing a tighter circle around the homestead will serve as a more helpful strategy. I keep pondering how close the animal came to the cabin, and it steals my breath, like I can't quite inhale deep enough. Treading uphill doesn't help matters, but that's not the root cause of my trouble.

The anxiety tries to suffocate me. To take my mind off the needling pinpricks in my chest, I look at the power line again. This time as I go, I notice something I didn't consider a problem before. The cable runs through a tangle of branches, hugging close to the trunk, about ten feet off the ground. But that's not what bothers me. It's the compacted snow that's hardened where the limbs twist around each other. The crevices where the branches touch create a surface area for the ice to pile up on and freeze, trapping the power line in its clutches. I could break it loose, but it might damage the cable.

I stare up at it for a few seconds, and I'm about to ask Jinx for a risk assessment, but the thought of Eve in the cabin alone sets my feet into motion. At the top of the steep incline, I pause and catch my breath. This time, I don't know if it's the anxiety or the laborious climb, but it takes a few seconds to ease up. I cast a glance on the ground along the length of the porch, forty feet across the front. The snow lies undisturbed, helping reduce the tension in my shoulders and neck.

Jinx waits at the door.

A moment later and we're in the cabin, but Eve isn't around. The fireplace burns the last of the logs from this morning, the embers red hot and crackling. A smoky fragrance permeates the living area and kitchen.

"Eve?" I say.

I check the two bedrooms and the bathroom. Those are the areas not part of the open floor plan. Eve isn't anywhere in sight.

After passing through the back door, I enter the cave with Jinx on my heels. Beyond the main tunnel, I come across the Animal Barn and get a clear view of the rear of the cave, containing the Embryo Lab and its cryogenic storage cabinets.