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Damn it. This is how people die in the woods. We should have turned around and followed the trail we knew back to the parking lot. Clover should have admitted how much trouble she's been having with her knee before we started.
I spin in a full circle, scanning the forest for any sign of life. It gets darker by the second, so that by the time I'm back to my original spot, it's nearly pitch black. Clover's still jogging in place next to me, but she's shivering.
"There!" She shouts. "I see a light."
There's a warm glow in the direction she's pointing. It could be a campfire or a house. It could be a motion detector light on someone's expansive property. "It looks like it's less than a mile away. Why didn't we see a house before the sun set?"
Her sigh sounds so weary. "Maybe it was behind the trees. Do you have any better ideas?"
I think it over for approximately thirty seconds. For all we know the road could be closer than that light, but I have no idea what direction it might be in and I'm not a fan of the idea of wandering around in the dark blindly. "I've got nothing. Let's go toward the light."
Clover doesn't laugh or mock me for making a dumb joke, which makes me even more worried about her. A quiet Clover is a scared, hurting Clover.
***
The closer we get to the light, the larger it gets, but there are no other signs of life. No crackling fire, no shouts of laughter, no engine sounds. And every step we take, I wonder if it's the wrong one, the step that people who tell our story later will shake their heads over and say, 'if they'd just turned back' or 'if they'd just walked ten yards in the other direction."
I use the flashlight on my phone to guide our way and check for a signal every few feet. Nothing. I groan.
"What is it?" Clover asks with real fear in her voice and I feel like a dick.
"I was just thinking how much shit Grant's going to give us if he has to rescue our asses."
"He can give me shit for the rest of my life if it means I get a meal and warm, dry clothes soon."
I grunt in assent.
"Fuck," Clover says from behind me.
I spin and reach for her, but I'm already too late. She hits the ground hard.
"I'm fine," she says. "Stop shining that in my eyes."
"Shit. Sorry." I lower the flashlight and crouch next to her. "What happened?"
"I think I stepped in a hole or a dip in the ground."
She pushes to a stand and I move with her. She winces once she's on both feet. Her eyes shine with unshed tears, her teeth gritted hard.
"Will you let me piggyback you now?"
I know it's bad when she nods. She doesn't even jump up onto my back like the last time I carried her. She waits until I've crouched low then climbs on. "I'm sorry," she says in a barely audible voice. "This is all my fault."
"It's nobody's fault." I'm frustrated and maybe even a little mad at her for not admitting how much trouble she was having with her knee, but I can tell she's even angrier at herself. I'm not going to pile on while she's down. "Every decision we made, we made together. It's a combination of bad luck and poor navigational skills."
I move as fast I can over the uneven terrain, getting smacked in the face by low branches more than once because I'm using my flashlight to watch where I'm putting my feet.
By the time gravel crunches under my shoes, Clover is shivering on my back. Apparently, I don't have enough heat left in my body to warm her up.
Ten feet away is a small cottage. If you'd asked me before, I couldn't have described a cottage to you, but one look at this house and I'm certain that's exactly what it is.
It's got a stone exterior and is only wide enough for a front door with windows on either side. It looks like it might have upstairs rooms, based on the dormer windows in the roof.
There's just the one light, shining through one of the front windows, and no vehicles in the driveway. "Time to make some new friends," I say.
Clover lets out a sigh that sounds like relief. "It looks like a fairy tale cottage."
"The kind with a wicked witch who wants us for dinner or the kind with a hidden princess?"
