Coming Home to the Mountain: Complete Edition

11. Mac

CHAPTER 11

Mac

T he thing about hunting when your heart’s not in it?

You’re kinda bad at it.

I tracked some deer, got a good mark on one of them, but hesitated. I didn’t feel like dealing with carrying the meat back home, the skinning, and all the other effort that came afterward. As I reminded myself that’s what I’m here for, it was already too late and the deer was prancing away.

If I were hunting for sustenance instead of sport, I guess I’d try harder, but for now? I’m heartbroken enough to return to the cabin empty-handed.

I just want to see Merit again. I’ve given her plenty of time, and maybe she can tell me what’s wrong now.

Pushing through the front door, I stash my rifle in the safe. “Merit, I’m back.”

There’s no response, but something smells good.

I walk through the cabin toward the smell. There’s boiling water in a pot on the stove with soggy potatoes in it, and next to that, some very burnt chicken in a cast iron pan. I turn the heat off, now very concerned.

“Merit? Are you here somewhere?”

Did she fall or something? She’s young, yes, but if you crack your neck or spine on something, that’s not going to matter one bit. I go through the house, calling out her name over and over, getting more worried at the lack of response. She isn’t in the bathroom, or my room or any of the other bedrooms.

Could I have possibly misread her so badly? Would she just abruptly take off in the middle of the day, with the stove on no less?

Panic takes me, but I soon notice something askew. Her clothes. Her shoes.

The former are drying on the line outside – she’s been wearing my shirts, oversized on her, and I love it. And her shoes are beside the front door. Why on earth would she take off without them? You don’t exactly want to be running through the woods of the Pacific Northwest barefoot and pantless.

A chill runs down my spine when I come to a realization.

Her family.

I have no idea how far away their compound is. For as much wilderness training Merit had to get her here, no one taught her any reliable way to measure distance so she never told me how far she’d come. The compound could be one mile away or fifty, and I doubt Merit covered her tracks well enough when she was running away in the middle of the night that they couldn’t follow her.

Fortunately? We’ve been unfortunate before.

After the whole incident surrounding Rye and Prairie, Rye got a little paranoid for her sake, and got some cameras installed on the hunting cabin. Purely outdoor-facing, one for the front door and a few for the back. I thought it was a bit of overkill, even joked that it was more likely we’d catch a glimpse of Bigfoot than see anything of actual use to us. But I guess I have to give Rye credit on this one.

I head to the laptop I brought with me and login to the camera system to check what they’ve seen. It only keeps a week of video, but that’s way more than I need. I zoom through the logs, and find today’s history, starting after I left. Checking the front yard, nothing. First camera on the back porch is nothing, second one points at the hot tub.

Damn. I forgot there even was one pointing there. I’m thankful no one regularly checks the feed, because I’d hate to have my brothers or father see what Merit and I have been doing there the past few days.

There.

The image is grainy, but I see Merit step onto the back porch, taking in the view. The timestamp is about ninety minutes ago. Seeing her on the screen just reaffirms what I know. I love her. And I need to tell her that. That no matter what happens, I love her, and would do anything for her.

The audio picks up a man shouting. Two men emerge from the forest, and Merit takes a defensive pose.

“You ungrateful little cunt,” the older of the two men calls out.

“Dad?” she replies, her voice meek.

“I try to protect you from this accursed world, and you run from me!”

“And you run from my love!” the younger man shouts from behind him. He’s kinda squat, and I can tell he’s pimply, even through the reduced quality of the security camera footage.

“I don’t want anything to do with the compound anymore, Dad. I’m out. Disown me if you want, but I’m not going back,” she says defiantly, but the two keep walking closer.

“You’re my daughter, you have no choice in the matter!” he says. “You belong to me, and you’re coming back right now.”

“I’m an adult! I can do what I want, it’s a free country!”

“A country that’s rotten to the core and one I don’t recognize! You belong to me, and you belong to Gregory – you promised yourself to him.”

“You made that promise, not me,” she says, stepping back, but he’s up on the porch now.

He grabs her by the arms and she tries to wiggle away, but his strength is too much. My fists ball watching the scene.

“Besides, we can’t have you talking to anyone about us. You know too much, Merit. You’ve seen too much.”

“Let me go. You can’t do this.”

“If I can’t do this, then why am I doing it? You’re coming back. You’re marrying Gregory. You’re going to be a good wife and mother, like you were always meant to be.”

God, it took everything to not punch the screen pointlessly. She’s meant to be my wife, the mother to my children, a choice she makes of her own free will.

“We’ll have so much fun together, Merit!” the young man exclaims, then lets out the most weird-sounding laugh. I can get why Merit wants nothing to do with him, and he’s barely said anything.

I’ve seen enough. I slam the laptop closed and grab my phone, dialing up Graham. He picks up after two rings. “Mac? You’re usually a texting guy, why the phone call?”

“Because bad shit’s happening. I need Johnny Law on my side.”

“Well then, what’s the situation?”

I grab my rifle out of the safe and sling it over my shoulder, then head for the back door. “I met a girl up here, brother.”

“Mmhmm,” he says. “You do know police officers and judges are different things, right? I can’t marry people. You need to go to a courthouse. Or I guess a ship captain.”

“Haha, no. This is serious. She’s been kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped? Okay, I get it now. You got any clue by whom?”

“Not entirely. Her name is Merit. Merit Monroe. She was on the run from her family, who are in some sort of prepper cult.”

I head into the forest. As half-hearted as I was tracking deer earlier, my heart is fully in this, keeping Graham on the line as I look for footprints and a trail.

“Did you say Monroe? And a prepper cult?”

“Is that important?”

“Mac, there’s a Monroe family with multiple warrants out for their arrest, and the FBI is after them too. They’re a part of a group that calls themselves the Free State. They’re a thorn in our side at the Home PD.”

“So you know them?”

“Know them? I’ve been doing what I can to bring them down. They’re dangerous arms dealers, among other twisted affairs. Do a lot of business on the dark web. They’re very bad is what I’m trying to say.”

“They kidnapped the woman I love, so I’m not in need of more convincing.”

He sighs. “That’s how it is, huh? An active threat does present an opportunity we’ve been waiting for. I’m going to make some phone calls. Don’t do anything stupid in the meantime, and I’ll be in touch.”

“Thanks, Graham. Always knew you being part of the fuzz wasn’t such a bad thing.”

“At least maybe you’ll stop referring to me as various pork products now.”

Our call ends.

As much as I want to leave it to the professionals, I can’t. As much as I hate having anything in common with Merit’s father, I can’t bring myself to trust the bureaucracy. Graham could get through in an instant or be on the phone for hours, and the latter is unacceptable. I grab my rifle from the lobby and head out the back.

Dad taught me how to track deer and moose. How to find their tracks and the disturbances in the forest that reveal their paths, how to spot their droppings. Unless these Free State people are bigger weirdos than I can imagine, that last bit won’t be much help, but the former? The former could be useful. I just have to trade hooves for footprints.

Boots in the mud, boots in the dirt. Broken branches. Some familiar bare footprints. Were they in that much of a rush they couldn’t even let her put on some shoes?

I find some tracks near the back porch and as I follow them, I pull out my phone again. Despite the urgency, this isn’t something a man faces alone. I’m a decent shot but the gulf between me and Rambo is pretty vast. I need backup.

“Bart, you there man?”

“What’s the problem, Mac? You’re usually a text person and not a call person.”

Do all my brothers think that? Eh, guess I am. “Shit’s hit the fan, Bartlett. I need backup from you and the boys. All of them, the Rowdys and the Roughs.”

The Rowdys are my mother’s family, my uncle’s kids. They’re almost as close as siblings, and that’s saying a lot with how close me and my brothers are already. Growing up, we looked forward to every holiday get together that we had. My father has always said we can look to the Rowdys if we need more help than what the immediate family provides.

Bart pauses. “Shit, what’s with the call for the cavalry?”

“The woman I love is in danger.”

“That is definitely cavalry-worthy.”

No doubt, this compound I’m going to has more than one cruel old man in it. Merit told me there are four families and some scattered single people. Five Rough boys are worth a lot in a fight, but I’m not going to play games with our lives and I’m not going to play games when it comes to Merit. If I’m bringing the hammer down, I’m going to bring it down hard.

“Not too different from Rye’s whole thing with Prairie. Bunch of assholes thinking they can control the lives of others.”

“I hear you. I’ll get right on it.”

“Make sure they’re equipped too. Something besides rifles.”

“I run a hardware store, not an armory, Mac.”

“Sledgehammers, hatchets, and any machetes you got will do more than fine, my dear brother.”

He chuckles darkly. “Consider it done and on the house.”

“Thanks a ton, Bart. You and the boys are lifesavers.”

I hang up, more than certain Bart will come through for me.

Merit, I’m coming for you.

I just have to hope that her father doesn’t have too much petty vengeance built up inside of him.

When all this is said and done, though, I’m certain of one thing.

I’m going to tell her I love her, flatly and honestly, with no ambiguity.

It’s something I should have done as soon as I realized it.