Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Silver Lining

Grant’s perspective:

The turmoil of the day and my time spent with Emily have my bones aching with exhaustion. We’ve finished our last trek for the night. Emily and Gabby are already out. I want to sleep, but I should stay awake. I have to keep my eyes and ears open. Another party could be waiting for us. I can’t drift off. I can’t let exhaustion overtake me.

* * *

The nasally voice of a preteen boy rings, “Come on, dude. You gotta keep up.”

“I’m tryin’,” comes a familiar huff.

I watch as two familiar, shaggy-haired young boys, naked as the day they were born, run under me into a row of tall, thick redwood. I know this place well. It was our refuge during those first several years of exile from the world.

Not only do I know the location, I know this very moment. I was taking Bram on one of our first hunting expeditions in the wilds of northern California. It was his first time to take down a deer, pretty much on his own.