The Hike(38)

After the meadow, they would have to snake a path through the woods to get to the place they planned to spend the night. No chance of falling any distance in that part, but it didn’t mean there weren’t any other dangers lurking in the woods at night. He would have to be vigilant. He had to look after Cat.

They were never meant to be doing this in complete darkness.

The beam from Cat’s torch was helping a little. They’d been lucky, too, that the sky had remained cloudless, and the moon was casting a much-needed, yet muted, glow. But there were pockets of pitch-blackness that would make anyone’s imagination run riot.

They forged on ahead. Cat shone the torch into the trees, but Tristan grabbed her hand, directing the beam down to her feet, where it shrank to a bright-white dot.

He held a finger to his lips. ‘Shh.’

‘What is it?’ she hissed.

He said nothing. Waited. And then watched her face as she heard it for herself. A twig snapping. A faint rustling in the trees.

He held his breath, waiting for another sound. But none came.

‘An animal?’ She tried to sound hopeful. ‘Could be a deer?’

Tristan sniffed. ‘Or that shepherd weirdo is still about.’

Cat wrapped her arms around herself, and the torch beam disappeared behind her. ‘Why would he be? He’ll be in his hut, or his house, or wherever it is he goes at night.’

He looked into the trees, but couldn’t see anything other than blackness.

An owl hooted, and he flinched. Fuck’s sake. He was getting jumpy now.

‘This is madness,’ Cat whispered. ‘We can’t stay here overnight. How far is it to the shelter?’

He kind of agreed with her, but they didn’t have much of a choice now. She shone her torch around, and the beam caught on a signpost that they’d missed earlier. She stepped away from him and walked closer to the sign, shining the beam towards the top, where arrows pointed to the left, the right and straight on.

‘Cat . . .’

‘Look. Which one of these takes us back down? This one says forty-five minutes. We can do that, can’t we? Even in the dark?’

He walked up behind her and pulled her arm back, dropping the beam down again. ‘It’s too risky. It’ll be pitch-black on that descent. You need to abseil down a bit using chains. No way we can do that right now.’

She shifted away from him, shone the torch back on the sign. ‘Abseil? Are you sure?’

‘I researched this all, Cat. Like you asked me to. It’s the quickest route, but it’s slippery and hazardous, even in the daytime. We’re both exhausted. We need to rest a while, then tackle it at sunrise.’ He wrapped his arms around her waist, nuzzled her ear. ‘You need to trust me on this.’

He felt her sink into his arms.

There was another rustling in the trees, but it sounded like, whatever it was, it was moving away from them. Definitely an animal, then. Spooked by their presence as much as they were by it.

‘Was that him in the bar, by the way? Ginny seemed pretty certain.’

‘Nah,’ she said, turning around to face him. ‘I told her she’d got it wrong.’ She looped a finger around her necklace, lifting the pendant out on top of her t-shirt. An unconscious gesture, one that he’d noticed her doing before.

He reached out to touch it, just as she slipped it back inside her t-shirt. ‘What’s with the necklace? I haven’t seen you wear that before.’

‘It’s new.’

‘Ginny had a new necklace on too. A flashy one with a green stone. You two go for a girly shopping day, did you?’

‘I didn’t even notice she had a new one.’

He frowned. ‘Only you two would decide to wear fancy new necklaces on a day out hiking.’ He shook his head. ‘Women. Anyway,’ he continued, ‘we should get going. If that freak is hiding out in the woods, we need to get some distance between us.’

Tristan grabbed the torch with one hand and took Cat’s hand with the other, and led them into the forest. He flicked the torch off and they stood still for a moment. The darkness had swallowed them whole; the moon was unable to penetrate the dense canopy of trees. All he could hear was the sound of them breathing, and then, after a moment, the quiet sounds of the woods around them. Things skittering in the undergrowth. The air was damp and dank, as he flicked the torch on again and led her deeper into the trees.

‘It’s not far. Stay close.’

He did his best to ignore the multitude of noises that seemed to be growing and pulsing around them. Like the one that sounded like a distant scream, that he told himself was just another bird.





Thirty-Two

He enjoyed the darkness. He enjoyed acting on instinct. Seeing where the path might take him. But he knew exactly where he was going right now. It was a well-trodden route, despite the rougher parts that might make the average day-hiker a little wary. Some people ran this route. It wasn’t that hard.

But the little flock of sheep were making hard work of it. The young blonde whining her way from start to finish.

Well, not anymore.

He’d thought about hiking down to where he was sure she must’ve fallen, maybe to make sure that she wasn’t coming back. But there was no need. That fall was enough to end anyone.

He’d been a little surprised that it had happened there. Couldn’t work out if it was intentional or a nasty accident. Wrong place, wrong time.