Chapter 2

Relief washed over Isaiah as he pulled into his snow covered driveway, and pushed the garage door opener that was tucked away in his visor. Normally, he hired Dave Gronter to snow plow his driveway while he was gone, but it was obvious he hadn’t been up in a day or so.

Isaiah shook his head knowing he already had a ton of stuff to do, getting in touch with those he’d been neglecting through his time on the climb and so on, so piling on shoveling the snow was not something he wanted to add to the list of chores. Whenever he left for such long periods of time, he would have to turn off his water pipes so they wouldn’t freeze over and he always kept at least two cords of cut firewood ready to go to heat the house.

He climbed out of his vehicle, holding the door open for Zeus to jump out. The large golden lab immediately ran out into the driveway trying to catch the heavy snowflakes. Isaiah gathered his bags of groceries and headed for the front door.

He and his brothers had built the house when he first bought the property almost a decade ago. After he and Matt conquered their first climb - Sinual Grande in the Andean Mountains - they were both picked up by huge companies for sponsorship such as Nike, Petzl, and Evolv. The both of them had made a fortune before they even turned 21 and started being featured in popular rock climbing and outdoor magazines.

The house was a two story; three bedroom custom built log home. It had a full wraparound veranda with three steps going up to the front porch. The door was flanked by two very large windows and from outside, it had a real rustic look and feel to it. Just the way he had wanted it.

“Come on boy,” he yelled out to the golden lab and watched him run up the steps as he opened his front door.

Isaiah flicked on the lights and looked around and stood at his entrance. His eyes fell back on a table near the entrance, with an old cord phone, a lamp and beside, the last issue of a magazine that he was in; all rounded off with a dirty coffee cup he completely neglected to take to the kitchen before he left. He chuckled, picking it up, inspecting the few coffee stains around the rim and on the inside, and placing it back down. He would deal with that later.

God, it was good to be back. He had built the house to be a completely open concept. He hated houses that had so many walls, closing off the rooms. Off to the right was the staircase leading to the second floor that overlooked the main level and directly in front of him was his living room with a rock stone fireplace that went from the floor to his ten-foot ceiling. In front of the fireplace was a sectional leather couch, and two single arm chairs. There was a rug on the floor, far away enough for the fireplace not to set it on fire, but not close enough that the rest of the furniture would not feel the warmth from the fire when it was roaring.

Isaiah slipped off his boots and hung up his coat and retreated past the dining room on the left and down the hall to the kitchen. He unpacked the groceries into the cupboards then went to start the furnace.

A moment later, he walked into his living room and stacked the fireplace with newspaper and kindling to start a fire. Isaiah grabbed a box of long matches, struck one against the red phosphorus strip. It grew to flame but instantly died and Isaiah threw the now dead match onto the pile of wood and kindling. Lighting up a second, this one caught. He brought it to the kindling and the fire roared to life, with the immediate heat of crackling wood and kindling, pleasing his ear. As the embers grew, he laid a few dry logs on top and stepped back, falling back into his large black leather sectional, throwing the Discovery Magazine on the table in front of him and flicked on his flat screen.

Zeus jumped up beside him and lazily laid his head on Isaiah’s lap. “Hey boy. It should get warm in here soon.” He said, stroking the dog's soft fur.

His cellphone chimed. Isaiah picked up the device to see who was calling. It was his mother. He looked at his watch. It was already going on 5 pm.

He pressed the button to answer and put the call on speaker phone. “Hey, mom.”

“Honey! You’re back!” His mother, Ana, said with excitement.

“I just got in five minutes ago,” Isaiah replied, smirking. Somehow his mother always had a way of getting in touch with him just as he walked in through the door. This wasn’t the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last, he was sure.

“Hey, son! We're so damn proud of you!” Nelson’s voice rang through the phone speaker.

“Hey, Mr. Discovery of the year! Congrats, man!” Lucas’s voice came screaming through his phone next.

Isaiah let out a loud laugh. “Thanks. Who’s all there?”

“Almost everyone. We’re only missing Jasper, but Lucas, Alex, Jaxson, Drake and some of the girls are here.” His mom said.

Isaiah heard everyone yell at once, “Congratulations, Mr. Discovery!”

He yelled back to his audience on the other end of the line, “Thank you!" Before turning the phone back to normal volume so that he could continue his conversation with his mom, “Hey, mom. Can I give you guys a call tomorrow? I’m beat and I’m just trying to get the house warm. I’m going to crash early tonight.”

“Of course honey," his mother replied. "We’ll talk tomorrow. Don’t forget to call. Love you.”

“Love you too. Bye guys.” He said and then ended the call.

Isaiah smiled to himself as he headed upstairs and changed into his flannel bottoms that sat perfectly on his hips and threw on a white shirt.

His family was always the most important thing in his life. They were all extremely close and kept in contact when they could. He might have wanted his peace out in Crimson Creek, but he would always be close to his family. They were important to him, as most families were in these furthest reaches of the earth.

He headed back downstairs and crawled onto the couch, flicking through the television channels until he found something good.

Isaiah sat there and stared at the screen until his eyes became heavy.

**

His eyes flickered open when he heard Zeus barking. It was aggressive, whining in between only trying to be protective of his master. Looking over, Isaiah saw the dog with his paws leaning up against the window in the dining room.

“Hey boy. Calm down.” He grumbled, rubbing his eyes. Isaiah looked down at his wrist watch. It was a little after 7 PM. He had managed to fall asleep on the couch.

Pushing himself up to his feet and off the couch, he made his way over to the smoldering fireplace and tossed a few more logs on the fire before walking over to the window and looking out to see what Zeus was barking at. Huge swirls of snow whirled around as he tried to see out to the road. The blizzard was in full force and he could barely see anything. Zeus began to bark again and he kneeled down to pet the dog. “What the hell is wrong with you?” The sleepy crankiness subsided for a moment as he tried to comfort his pet.

He walked over to the front door and opened it. The harsh winds instantly assaulted him, striking his face with ferocious intensity, before Zeus whipped past him and flew down the steps disappearing into the whiteout and blurriness of the flakes. Isaiah took a deep breath and his nostrils flared, picking up a strange scent. His senses immediately went into overdrive and an overwhelming feeling took over his body. He had never felt anything like it before. It almost felt like an ache and he didn’t understand what was happening. His muscles began to ache, with the harsh cold only intensifying.

Isaiah yelled out, “Zeus! Get your ass back here.” Isaiah’s agitation laced his words. He knew he couldn’t be angry at Zeus. It was in his nature to protect his master and he would do anything he could, even risking his own life in the process. He swiped a hand through his black hair and grabbed his boots.

“Fuck!” He growled as he grabbed and slipped on his parka. He ran down the three steps outside and down the driveway that adjoined to the main road. Zeus finally came into view about twenty feet away. He was sitting on his hind legs by the trench that ran alongside the road.

Isaiah jogged over and grabbed the dog by the collar and tried to drag him away when he noticed the dog refused to budge. He kneeled down and patted him on the head. “What is it, buddy?” He asked looking at the Labrador.

Isaiah followed the direction of Zeus’ eyes, noticing blood a foot down the trench, “What the fuck?” He asked, shooting back up to his feet.

He started carefully making his way down the side of the trench when his green eyes landed on a naked body. Isaiah moved closer and could see claw marks on the person's back and one leg had been badly torn with deep gouges. An overwhelming sense of urgency took control of him. This kind of peculiarity was nothing new in the deserted regions of Crimson Creek, but it was never something that he’d faced before. Fear gripped him, knowing that whatever did this, could still very well be around.

He kneeled down next to the body, placing his fingers on the jugular to check if they were still alive.

There was a faint pulse. Shallow, near nonexistent breathing, with light shivers that could have only been brought on by the cold. He rolled the body over and his eyes grew wide as saucers, “Jesus Christ!” He breathed. It was a woman.

Isaiah scooped her up, his hands under her legs and neck, cradling her in his arms. Her long black hair flowed around him in the wind. He whistled for Zeus to follow him as he trudged through the snow with the stranger in his arms. What the hell happened to this woman? Who would have done this? The thoughts of what could have possibly happened raced through his mind when he finally reached the house.