Car Trouble: A Cassidy Callahan Novel. Kelly Rysten

took a day without food to convince me I better think about snaring something to eat. Thankfully I still had a few days of backpacker food at camp and wouldn’t go hungry tonight.

      Suddenly Shadow broke from his down/stay and raced across the clearing scattering the deer, his focus on a dark brown blur in the brush. The only thing I could think of that was dark brown up here was an occasional elk or bear, however it wasn’t noisy enough for either animal. I heard Shadow’s deep growl and when I found him he stood glaring and snarling at a large junkyard dog. It was a motley mix of large dog breeds and it was skin and bones. My temper flared because I knew someone had abandoned it to survive in these hostile mountains.

      “Shadow, heel!” I commanded. He didn’t budge. I approached the emaciated dog. I’d have caught and fed it and brought it back to town, but as soon as I stepped forward Shadow rushed it, nipping at its legs, sheepdog style. He thought he was protecting me but Shadow was a herder, not a fighter. The other dog attacked Shadow with a vengeance but only managed to grab a ruff full of fur. Shadow thrashed, paws scrambling around in the loose rocks and sand, trying to get his footing and run away. I stepped forward and this made Shadow even more frantic. The two closed in a huge snarling mess. I wasn’t going to let this dog kill Shadow. Shadow suddenly broke free and dashed behind me. The big dog lunged. I raised a hand in front of my face to block the dog’s charge and it latched onto my arm. I didn’t pull back. To pull back would mean losing a pound of flesh. I felt the teeth biting in and instinctively followed the dog down. I found a spot with my free hand where I thought I could try to pry at his mouth but the huge jaws wouldn’t budge. Shadow came racing back snapping at the dog from all sides. He was fast and this distracted the dog long enough that he loosened his grip. I pried again and was given just enough room to pull my arm out. I jumped back, pulling my hunting knife from its sheath. Shadow rushed the dog again trying to drive it away from me. The dog lunged again, this time latching onto my leg just above the ankle. I stabbed at it with the knife, causing the dog to pull back and rip my leg. I stabbed again feeling red-hot anger, not at the dog but at some inconsiderate person who had driven a good animal to be so dangerous. The simple act of turning a dog loose had now turned into a deadly battle. I hoped to be the winner. I had to. I thought about who would come looking for me up here. Rusty first. He knew where I was, but I wouldn’t do that to him. I was going to beat this dog. I was going to haul it back to town and find out if it was micro chipped and I was going to find the owner and… and what? First things first, Cass. Go for the jugular. This knife is sharp, you can beat this dog. Just do it! The next time it lunged I brought the knife down and sliced up as hard as I could. I felt the blade bite and drag and the dog stumbled back and dropped, looking at me with sad eyes. I looked back, just as sad for having beaten it. I couldn’t watch. I turned away as the dog died there on the mountainside.

      I examined the damage to my leg. I was really in trouble this time. It was definitely a case for stitches. My arm had been bitten in a long arched line of puncture wounds, but my leg appeared to be worse. It was bleeding freely. I thought back to the first aid classes I had taken while in the Marines, but I didn’t have much to work with up there on the mountainside. Applying pressure to the wound, I waited for the bleeding to slow. A large flap of skin left the muscle exposed. I needed to bind it, stop the bleeding, and hike out with the dead dog. Looking at the large dog, I didn’t think I could do it. Even in its starved condition the dog weighed half as much as I did. I used the knife to cut the legs off my pants to shorts length, and then shredded the material into wide bandages. I pulled out my cell phone but there was no reception. I tried calling Paul at the ranger station anyway because all the rangers there knew me.

      “Paul, this is Cassidy. I don’t know if you can hear me but I have a problem. Can you send someone up here? Directions: go up Creekside trail two miles and then head up the canyon where the two creeks come together. I need a first aid kit and some muscle.” I didn’t know if anybody heard my message, which meant I was still on my own. I pulled the flap of skin over the wound and then bound the area tightly with the strips from my pants legs. All this took hours to do. The fabric of my pants didn’t tear or cut easily. That’s what I got for buying sturdy camping clothes from Army Surplus. They had weave that went in multiple directions so they didn’t tear. By the time I finished wrapping the wounds I noticed the sun was dipping. I’d spent time hiking, stalking, fighting, bandaging and I’d somehow used up a whole day. I pushed myself to my feet trying to figure out what to do about the dog when pain shot up my leg. Oh great, this was going to be one painful hike out. I tried walking but it was too much. I searched the dog for a microchip. If the dog was dead it wouldn’t be hurt by my search and I still meant to contact the authorities about it. Hauling it out wasn’t an option in my present condition.

      The more I moved, the more my leg hurt. I finally set my sights on just reaching the hideout again. There were other hungry critters out here and I didn’t want them smelling the blood on me. After dealing with the dog I wasn’t ready to face a bear or mountain lion. The hideout was the best place for me and if worst came to worst I would be stuck there for two nights. Okay, the hideout first, Cass, then tomorrow the trail.

      “Shadow, heel,” I commanded putting him in working mode. I stood to hike down the mountain and my leg buckled. Shoot. Hiking was out. I looked around for a branch to make a crutch but none of them looked like they would work, and I didn’t have time to sit around whittling. I inched my way down the mountain any way I could without putting weight on the bad leg. Sometimes that meant crawling, sometimes hopping along. I put my weight on it occasionally but the pain quickly stopped me. Darkness fell and I was still a long, painful distance from the hideout. I got out my cell phone again and tried Rusty’s number. Reception or not, I had to try something.

      “Hello Rusty? Can you hear me? Please say you can hear me. If you can, then please call Paul and see if he got my message. If he got it don’t do anything. He’s got it under control. If not I could really use some help up here. Don’t try to hike the canyon at night. I’ll try to get to the hideout tonight and then make the trail in the morning. I need a first aid kit. If you can get your hands on some painkillers I’d appreciate it. I can’t believe I’m asking a cop to bring me drugs.”

      Shoot. I sure didn’t want to do that to him but I was beginning to doubt if I was walking out of here. I could deal with the pain once I was on the trail but getting to the trail was going to be hard. In the starlight I crawled along until I met a drop off. It was a rock I’d climbed up easily on the way up. Now it looked insurmountable. Going down was always harder than going up and it was night. On the bright side, rock climbing was more feel than sight. I just wondered if this was a rock that I could descend with only one good leg. Nope. The more I thought about it the more convinced I became that I couldn’t rock climb to get down. It would mean hanging by my fingers until my good foot found a hold. I searched the area for an easier way down but every place I looked had a long drop off. I was stuck for the night. In the morning maybe I’d be able to follow Shadow’s route down.

      I curled up with my back against a large rock, my hunting knife in my hand. I tried to sleep but the binding hurt my leg and I worried about what I would be facing the next day. I wondered if anybody knew I was out here needing help. I couldn’t count on it. I had to keep going until I got to the Jeep. I’d do that first thing in the morning. Then I’d have to drive the Jeep. That would be painful too. Shit and double shit. I was deep in it this time.

      Shadow found a place to curl up and slept where he could see me. I really wanted him to lie beside me because I could have used the warmth but Shadow never was very cuddly. I slept fitfully. I awoke in the night shivering but it wasn’t dangerously cold so I just tolerated it. When I could see well enough to make my way down the canyon I headed out again.

      “Let’s go home,” I told Shadow hoping he’d go into automatic and lead me down the canyon. He showed me the way he got past the large rocks. I sat and scooted down a trough worn through the rocks by thousands of small flash floods. My leg screamed at me with every movement. I looked down the canyon for the pine tree that marked my camp. Yes, I can do this, I thought. Just head for the lone pine tree.

      Thirst drove me to the creek but the detour cost me. The way down the canyon was rougher around the creek, so I lost precious time. I made my way back to easier terrain and forced myself to walk downhill. When the