Stranded with My Stepbrother

Chapter 20

“Come on,” I said, getting to my feet. I’d been lying there, trying to forget what I’d done, trying to unsee the blood and the dented skull. I’d also been trying not to lose hope as Jocelyn and I made our way aimlessly through the forest.

But now there was hope in the form of a large truck.

I pulled Jocelyn up next to me and started walking in the direction of the sound. Even if we missed the truck—and considering how they zoomed along, we probably would—we would at least be able to find the road and wait for the next one.

Even if I ended up going to some Canadian prison for the rest of my life, I wanted to get Jocelyn to food, shelter, water, and, God willing, a hospital.

Pine needles pricked my feet as we walked, but I decided to call it a small penance for killing a man. I was sure my true penance would come later.

“It’s not far,” Jocelyn said. “I know it’s not.”

“No, I don’t think it is, either,” I agreed. I held her hand tightly. My world felt as though it was spinning out of control, and she was gravity. My only anchor in the storm.

Road dust in the trees was our first clue. The logging truck had pulled quite a cloud behind it. But we fought our way through and found the gravel road.

“You can’t possibly walk on this,” Jocelyn observed, looking at my feet.

“Probably not,” I agreed. “But we can follow alongside the road in the woods.”

Jocelyn nodded. “Good plan. Which direction, though?”

I looked down one way, then the other. “Christ, I don’t know. Right?”

“Yeah. Either we hit a logging camp or the main road. We’ll get help no matter where we end up,” Jocelyn decided.

She and I started down the side of the road, still nearly naked, like Adam and Eve coming out of the woods. I wondered if we’d find the dead man’s vehicle stashed somewhere. Maybe he’d have left his keys.

I didn’t see a vehicle along the road, but after a curve in the road, we did see a logging camp.

Stripped pine tree trunks were being loaded onto a long, chain-covered trailer. There was a building that was clearly the office, then a few scattered cabins around that, which I imagined housed the workers themselves.

“We made it!” Jocelyn said excitedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

I put a hand on her shoulder to stop her bouncing. It was making her boobs bounce with her, and I didn’t like the idea of her, even so innocently, putting on a show for other men. Jocelyn was MINE.

When we got close to the camp, a whistle went up, and the loading stopped with one log dangling on a chain in the air over the truck.

“What have we got here?” a guy in overalls asked, marching down the road toward us.

“Hello, sir,” Jocelyn said. “We had a boating accident during the storm the other day and we’re terribly lost. Could we possibly use... um... do you have like a phone that actually works up here or some way we could contact the authorities to come get us?”

The guy in overalls scratched his chin, looking at Jocelyn speculatively. I didn’t like it. “American?”

“Yes, sir,” Jocelyn said. “I’m Jacey, this is my stepbrother, Caleb.”

“Had to be American. Nobody else would walk around near naked in the Canadian woods,” the guy chuckled. “I’m Girard. Afraid we don’t have any working phone around here.”

“Who do you call in case of an emergency?” I asked, stepping in front of Jocelyn.

“We’ve got trucks. We drive to a hospital,” Girard said as though I was stupid.

“Could we get a ride to the nearest hospital, please?” Jocelyn piped up, peering over my shoulder. She was shooting me confused looks.

I knew I’d confused her, but I had a bad feeling in my gut. “Or maybe tell us how far to the main road?”

“You’re not walking to the main road barefoot, son. I’m surprised you made it here from the lake,” Girard said. “As for a ride, well, that’s complicated.”