Chapter Seventeen
The next morning Trudy shoved some bottles of water, a ham and cheese sandwich, and some snacks and fruit into the front pocket of her backpack. After lacing her boots and putting on a lightweight jacket, she swung the bag over her shoulders, the camera around her neck, and stepped onto the porch.
The sun hadn’t risen enough to break through the morning mist. She hadn’t seen Link this morning. After the fourth condom bit the dust, he’d left, saying that even though Coop and Jade obviously knew what was going on between them, he didn’t feel comfortable sneaking from her room in the early hours.
When she got to the kitchen, Jade, with a grin on her face, told her Link had already left for chores. He’d been hoping to get them done early enough to cut hay in a field down the road.
Keeping her head down while she’d made her sandwich, she hid a smile. Was it the same field of the infamous truck debacle? While he was out there would he recall the evening?
She followed the trail past the barn, each step a reminder of the past night. She was sore. Deliciously sore. Sore in ways she didn’t think was possible. Sore in ways she wished she could stay around longer to repeat. After contemplating taking out Cinnamon, she decided against it. If she was sore walking, riding a horse would have been worse.
A yawn escaped. Maybe she’d have to find a place to take a nap later. They hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. She hoped to spend the entire day wandering.
Fifteen minutes from the buildings, the trail curved to the east. Her breath caught. Laced between fenceposts, tall plants, and scrub trees were hundreds of spider webs all dripping with dew. The rising sun’s rays filtered through the webs. She’d never seen anything like it, and needed to start taking pictures before the scene disappeared.
With each picture, she adjusted settings to capture nature’s beauty. The legs of her jeans grew damp as she walked through the tall, misty grass.
She lowered the camera. Where were all the spiders that made those webs? Each one seemed devoid of the arachnids. Her heart raced and throat closed. Were they crawling on her? She dropped the camera against her chest and slapped her hands down her jeans. If there was one thing she hated, it was spiders. Being more concerned with snakes, she hadn’t thought about what other creepy-crawlies were out here.
If anyone was watching her dance around trying to make sure none of those creatures were crawling on her, they’d laugh their heads off or think she was a crazy woman doing some type of exotic dance.
When she was sure nothing was crawling up her shirt or in her hair, she continued down the trail, staying away from the spider webs.
The dew and mist burned off as the sun crept its way up the sky. Before long land was dry, making it easier to travel from the trail. She cut across a field, catching shots of butterflies, bees, dragonflies, and a few other insects she’d have to research, since she’d never seen them in Wisconsin.
This time when she spotted a hawk, she was ready, setting her camera on continuous photo. Each frame captured the scene as the hawk soared and glided, then swooped down to the ground, coming up with some type rodent in its mouth.
The coup was a fox leaping in the air as it attacked its meal, again taken frame by frame. She couldn’t wait to get back and see the shots on her laptop.
The shade of a lone tree beckoned her. Like the first day on Link’s property, the temperature had risen as noon approached.
After using the pee-like-a-man device, she rinsed it out with a bottle of water and put it in a plastic bag. An investment in several of these was certainly in her future. One for her purse, her backpack, her car, and maybe a few for gifts. Why hadn’t anyone told her about these before? Jade had said it was invaluable when out in the field, miles away from the house.
After eating half her sandwich and an apple, she trekked on. An hour later, she stood and turned in a circle. Vehicle tracks crisscrossed an area of sand and left marks in the grass edging the sand. Was this where she’d seen the dust trail her first day out here?
She followed the tracks until the land began to look familiar. Wasn’t this where she first met Link? Where the snake had met its fortunate demise? Any sign of the reptile would have been washed away by rain or taken for an easy meal by a predator.
Now that she had an idea where she was, she followed the path she and Link had taken back to her car, except now the path had been made wider by vehicle tracks. Obviously, someone had driven through here in the past week. Rustlers?
When the low, scrub bushes they had ridden past when they found the cut fence came into view, she knew she wasn’t far from the road. There was the fence on the ground, split in two. What the hell? She was sure Coop said he’d fixed it.
A rumble, similar to the one she and Link had heard the other day, came to her. The ground vibrated against her feet. A plume of dust floated into the sky. This wasn’t a hay field and it didn’t sound like a tractor coming toward her.
Shit. The rustlers? But they weren’t supposed to come back here. The noise grew louder. She searched frantically for a place to hide. Would those bushes conceal her? She had no choice. They were better than standing in the middle of the path like a statue, waiting for them to run her over.
Thorns tore at her shirt when she dove beneath the bushes. Her camera dug into her chest before she whipped it over her head and tucked it under her arm. With seconds to spare before what sounded like several four-wheelers arrived, she pulled off her backpack and slid deeper on her stomach into the brush.
The engines slowed, then came to a stop.
“I tell you I saw something flash.”
The voice sounded familiar.
“And I tell you it was just the sun reflecting off the fence. Do you see anyone?”
The second, deeper voice also sounded familiar. Where had she heard them before? Her cell phone vibrated in her back pocket. Thank heavens she’d turned the ringer off. She’d learned early on to set it to vibrate when out taking pictures. She’d lost too many good ones when her cell phone rang.
“I don’t care what you think it was, I’m going to look around.”
“You’re an idiot. No one could hide out here.”
“What about those bushes?”
“Hell, a mouse couldn’t hide in there. So, just shut up and wait on your machine for him to arrive with the truck so we can load up those cattle. This is the last damn time I’m doing this. I don’t care what he says.”
Arrive with a truck? How long was she going to be stuck here? Thank heavens she’d gone to the bathroom before. Unfortunately, thinking about going made her need to go. Dammit.
Closing her eyes, she prayed the truck would show up soon and they’d leave. A whiff of cigarette smoke blew toward her. Her mouth grew dry. There was no way she could reach her water bottle without them seeing her. But if she couldn’t see them, chances were she was well hidden from them.
The men continued to argue about everything. Whatever man number one said, man number two disagreed with. They sounded like an old married couple. A few times she nearly laughed at the idiocy of their conversation. What men argued about which hand soap smelled the best? Or the value of high thread count in sheets?
Her phone vibrated again. Dare she attempt to pull it out? What if it was Link trying to reach her? That would be about as helpful as... Wait, what if she texted him? Let him know where she was? She’d have to make it brief. She eased her arm from beneath her chest and reached around to remove her phone from her pocket. Thankfully he had insisted on exchanging numbers last night.
Raising up on her arms to type would certainly garner their attention. With elbows bent and tucked beneath her, she placed the phone on the ground near her face, and swiped with one finger to wake it up. Using both hands to type would be difficult, so she hit the message button by his latest call and began one-finger typing.
Rustlers. Snake. Cut fence. Hiding bushes. Help.
Would that be enough clues? She hoped so. She hit send.
The ground beneath her trembled again. A vehicle was coming from the other direction. The rustlers’ truck?
“He’s coming. Let’s get these turned around before he gets here.”
Didn’t these guys ever use names? Just one name was all she’d need to identify them—if she got out of here before they returned. The four-wheelers roared to life. The truck came closer. She covered her ears against the noise.
Dust blew into the bushes, filling her nose and eyes with specks of dirt. Luckily the roar of the engines covered her cough. The noise grew distant, but she waited until it was only a hum before crawling from beneath the bushes.
Instead of standing and stretching like she wanted to, she remained seated. What if they had someone standing watch? Link hadn’t responded to her text. What if he hadn’t seen it?
She reached into the bushes and pulled out her backpack. Even though the bottled water was warm, it soothed her parched throat. A snack bar stopped her stomach from growling, something she thought for sure the men would have heard.
How long should she wait? If she started walking and didn’t make it to the road before the rustlers were done and they came across her, she’d be in big trouble. Maybe it would be better if she went back into the bushes. Damn, she wished she knew how much time she had. How long did it take to load cattle? Probably depended on how many they were stealing.
To be on the safe side, she slid back under the bushes, this time making herself more comfortable, if that was possible with thorns poking her in the back. An ant crawled over her hand. She flicked it away. Did they have fire ants in Texas? What about tarantulas? Scorpions? On top of being hot, sweaty, and dirty, her skin crawled as if every Texas arachnid was crawling all over her.
Was the tickle on her back a spider? The itch on her leg a fire ant? Certainly, the twinge on her neck was a centipede or scorpion. When she realized how crazy she was acting, she understood how people went off the deep end.
How long had it been since the rustlers drove away? She checked her cell phone. It had been at least half an hour since she’d texted Link, and still no response.
The heat, lack of sleep, and nerves all helped to make her sleepy. She lay her head on her folded arms as her eyes drooped closed.