They Left a Wildlife Officer Tied to a Pine-But the Grizzly Reached for the Rope Instead of His Throat

ridge far to the east. Huck lifted his head but did not rise. The voices moved away across the drainage, thin and wild, interested in their own lives. I was grateful the night did not need another villain.

An hour may have passed. It may have been twenty minutes.

Pain distorted time, but training kept returning me to small tasks: check the beacon, flex continue reading …