Big Man’s Claim by Wylder, Penny (new ebook reader TXT) 📕

With one jerk, I'm not moving. Looking around under water, my pack is caught on a fallen tree. The surface seems so far away. My eyes are open, but no matter how much I stretch my arms, I can't reach the top.

Fuck! Come on!

My heart is racing and my lungs burn for oxygen. Frantically, I pull and yank on my backpack, trying desperately to free myself. It's useless. Everything in my body aches, my chest screaming for a breath.

Leave it, Melody!

Wriggling my arms free, I abandon my bag and kick as hard as I can to the surface. Inhaling air and water, I'm taken back under again. This isn't how I pictured this trip. I imagined serenity, quiet, peace, time to myself. Not this. Not death.

Is this how I die? Is this it for me?

The thought causes adrenaline to surge through my veins, giving me the strength to swim harder. I can see the sun sparkling in the sky as I'm thrown back and forth by the angry currents. Kicking my legs, my foot gets caught between a rock and a tree.

I'm losing the strength to fight. I'm tired and aching, rapidly becoming disoriented, and not sure I have much more left to give in this struggle. Yanking my foot free, the water shoves me forward, causing my head to smack on another rock.

No! I'm not dying today! Not like this.

Using every last bit of strength I have, I swim as hard as I can to the surface. My face pops free, and I inhale the biggest breath I can. And as if someone is looking out for me from above, a thick branch suddenly appears out of nowhere.

Grabbing on tight, I'm dazed and woozy as I pull myself back to the shore. Giving myself one last push, I throw my body onto the bank. My fingers dig into the dirt as I cough hard, trying to catch my breath. In between breaths I cough up river water, burning my throat as

Buttercup's right there, licking me and barking at the same time. He's pushing his nose against mine, and running circles around my body, splayed out in exhaustion. With my face in the mud, I muster enough energy to give him a light pat on the side.

“All right, boy, I'm okay.”

It hurts to breathe. My chest is on fire with every breath, and every muscle in my body aches. Lifting my face, the world starts to spin, so I drop my cheek back into the mud.

“Ugh,” I groan, rolling onto my back. Pushing myself up, I rub my head where it hit the rock. “That sucked,” I say to my dog. “But I'm alive. Thank God I'm alive.”

I've never had my life flash before my eyes. But it did today, and I'm so thankful to be sitting in the mud, breathing the fresh air, and feeling the sun on my face.

Hanging my head, my breathing is getting more normal. And that's when it hits me; I'm hours from my car, with no food, no water, none of the provisions I brought. They're all on the bottom of the river.

“Fuck,” I say out loud to myself.

It'll be dark soon, and there's no way I'll ever make it back to my car before the sun goes down. Grabbing a handful of dirt, I chuck it into the water and scream.

“Ah!” I'm fucking angry. Pissed at myself for being so careless and stupid.

I shouldn't have gone this way. The second I saw the trail was narrow and slick, I should have gone a different way. But I was too stubborn and overconfident. I thought I had it, that it would be fine.

Well, it's not fine, and now I'm screwed.

Buttercup is still barking. He's manic, wildly barking over and over again as he runs around me.

“Calm down, Buttercup, it's fine. We'll figure it out.” My ankle starts to throb, so I reach down and rub it gently.

This makes things even worse. Not only do I have a knot on my skull, but I can already tell by the tightness of my boot that my ankle is starting to swell. A swollen ankle is only going to make getting out of here harder.

Buttercup barks louder as the hair on the back of his neck stands up. “What is it?” I ask, looking around. “There's nothing here.”

A sliver of fear scales my spine. We are in the deep woods where the wild animals aren't a few furry critters. There are deer, moose, wolves, mountain lions, and even bears.

I've never seen Buttercup like this. He's always barked, just like any other dog might bark. A cat, a squirrel, another dog, all of them can get him going, but not like this. This is different.

Shit, my bear spray was in my bag.

A branch breaks in the woods behind me. It's faint, but I hear it loud and clear. My heart starts racing, and the hair on my arms bristle. I'm easy prey for any predator. I can hardly move, there's no way I can get up and run.

Slowly, I reach out and grab the closest stick I can find. It's not very big, but it's enough to jab at an animal and hopefully scare them off.

Unless they're starving. A starving animal will fight for food.

And right now, I'm a sitting duck.

Taking in a deep breath, I let it out slowly, trying to calm my nerves. Listening carefully, I don't hear anything moving at all. The forest is unusually quiet. That's not a good sign. If the birds aren't singing and the small animals aren't rustling about, that means there's something out there lurking.

And as I try to be still, pulling Buttercup in under my arm to try and stop him from barking, another branch breaks.

I'm not alone.

2

Branson

What the hell is that?

Tilting my head, I listen. There's barking in the distance somewhere, and not just any barking, it's frantic barking. It's hard to tell where it's coming from at first. The bark echoes around me, coming in from