Makayla Phillips had one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on her smartphone. She typed, "No Mom. I'm not on Dad's side. I'm on no one's side," and threw the phone into the passenger's seat.

The split second her eyes were away from the road, a massive mountain lion pranced across her path. The sleek blond creature stood and stared at the on-coming car with gleaming, yellow eyes, its breath foggy in the cold winter air. She swerved. Thoughts of her parent's impending divorce evaporated as her world moved in slow motion. 

She twisted toward the other side of the road and the front wheels caught a patch of black ice. The car careened over the embankment. Her heart flew into her throat. They say your life flashes before your eyes when you're about to die, but all that Makayla saw in her mind was her gay assistant helping himself to her half-a-size-too-small-for-his-feet collection of designer shoes. Horror gripped her chest as the BMW sedan continued down a steep gravel hill, skidding sideways.

There was nothing she could do but hang on for dear life. Her driver's side door fast approached a stand of old growth Douglas fir. This trip had been nothing but one disaster after another. Gaining momentum, the car impacted. The air bags deployed, and she was out cold.

Makayla woke, drooling on an airbag. Sore, disoriented, she popped open her seatbelt lock. The driver's door was wedged against a massive tree. The entire car tilted at a forty-five degree angle, making it difficult for her to get her bearings.

She needed to call for help. Where was her phone? She scanned the car and found it against the back window. Hefting her ample frame through the front seats, Makayla went dizzy and was forced to stop moving. The world tilted around her and threatened to go black again. She put her hand to her temple and felt a massive bump forming on her skull. Reaching as far as her arm span would allow, she inched the phone toward her with her fingertips until she could grab it.

She turned it over and inspected the cracked screen. Shit, shit, shit. She pressed the power button. Nothing. Panic rose from the pit of her stomach and whooshed around her foggy head. She sucked back tears and pulled herself to an awkward sitting position in the passenger seat. Her fingers trembled as she pried off the back of the phone and replaced the battery before putting it together again. She took a deep breath and pressed the power button. Nothing.

"No!" Fuck.

She grabbed her coat from the floor, pulled it on, and shoved open the passenger side door. It took all her strength to push against the force of gravity pressing down on her. When she had the door open enough to climb through, she had to suck air into her chest in order to prevent passing out again. The dizziness subsided, and she climbed through the door. The gravel hillside that had so graciously carried her down the steep slope, was still several feet below her.

She'd worn jeans and tennis shoes while at her parent's house. No one went around in pencil skirts and pumps in that part of Oregon. Her addled brain congratulated itself for being so practical. She took a deep breath and dropped to the rocky ground below.

Makayla held on to the car as the gravel below her feet poured downward. She made it just beyond the car before she was carried in an avalanche of rock further into the forest where she was deposited, on her behind, into the dense undergrowth. The jagged stones cut into her jeans, and she had to pick them off as she stood. Once on solid ground, she looked back up the hill. She was several hundred feet down a steep slope with no way of getting back up and couldn't see any way out. To her right was another steep drop. To her left was a half frozen pond. The only direction she could go was straight into the forest.

She picked her way through the bare winter branches of bushes and young evergreen trees. The sharp lemon scent of fir needles filled her nose as she gripped the branches for support. She found a deer trail near the trunk of an old tree. Taking the path, she stumbled forward. Her head throbbed and her sense of direction whirled. Where was the car?

Stopping to catch her breath, Makayla leaned against a tree trunk for support. The cold air made it through the thick layers of her down parka and she shuddered. Her hands felt numb. She could see her panting breath.

She whimpered. Makayla was not accustomed to being so vulnerable. She was a take charge kind of woman who knew how to get things done. She'd been hiking before. Makayla was a Oregonian for God's sake. She'd just never done it with a mild concussion, in the middle of winter, in the middle of nowhere.

Her vision doubled, and she stumbled forward. It was like that one time she'd tried mushrooms in college but far worse. Her frozen feet hit the ground one after the other, sending shock waves of pain up her legs. She pulled the parka hood over her head and shoved her numb hands into her pockets.

A deer bolted in the wood, a branch broke, and a moaning cat growl cracked through the frigid air. Makayla's heart nearly stopped beating. She panted, trying to stay calm. Predators were hungry in winter. Her mind ran over the things she'd learned as a child. What do you do in case of mountain lions?

She yelled and flapped her arms. Dizziness blacked the edges of her vision and she felt herself wobble. She coughed from yelling, her lungs sore in the cold. There had been a light snow a few days ago that had mostly melted off, but the forecast had predicted a record storm.

With the strength of her determined will, she pressed herself onward into the forest, smacking sticks together to make aggressive sounds. The cracking of her sticks pierced her ears. All she wanted was a warm cup of cocoa and her favorite flannel pajamas. Another whimper escaped her lips.

Stopping for a moment, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and checked the power button again. Still nothing. There has to be civilization around here somewhere. Right?

She had gone to visit her parents who lived near Mary’s Peak and had taken the long road back to the highway. She was technically still in the national forest. The idea that no one would find her sent a shiver of dread up her spine. She should have stayed at the car. She turned around, trying to remember what direction she'd come from.

Which way was north? Moss grows on what side of a tree?

The sun was obscured by a thick layer of gray storm clouds. There was no way of knowing where she was going or where she had been. She screamed in frustration, making her head ache.

Makayla crossed her arms across her REI parka and wept. She kept walking, but she wept. One foot in front of the other. Just keep moving. She would get out of this. She just had to try harder.

As she came to a steep gully, she heard a crack in the forest behind her. Her already ragged breath grated in her chest. She looked around for signs of the predator. Flailing her arms around her head, she screamed. Her foot slipped under the momentum of her flailing and her arms wind-milled as she fell backward down the ravine.