Fire Chief's Lost Baby

Chapter One

Isla shuffled through the slushy snow covering the ground. The trees grew thick around her, spacious trunks filling her vision ahead and behind. She leaned heavily against the nearest spruce tree, one shoulder digging into the bark and chest heaving. A twig snapped behind her and she jerked upright, twisting so sharply that she stumbled and fell back to the ground.

Isla surveyed the forest where she had just walked, eyes sharp for any sign of pursuit. Aside from the silent sentinel trees and brush sticking out of the slowly melting snow, Isla could see nothing. A doe darted from behind a large bush and leapt over a fallen log before sprinting from sight. Isla heaved a sigh of relief and felt her shoulders sag, gaze falling to the red-tinged footprints that led into the distance.

After a few minutes composing herself, Isla struggled to her feet, one arm balancing against the spruce tree and another clutching her bulging coat. She set off again, limp even more pronounced after her scare and fall.

Several minutes later the trees began to thin and Isla's heart leapt as she realized she may finally be coming to the end of her long walk. She stumbled several times as she struggled past the smaller trees that stood in her way. The few hundred yards that she crossed took much longer than it ought; Isla took many chances to lean against a tree and catch her breath. She contemplated sitting in the soggy slush for a short break several times over the course of her laborious trek but knew if she sat down she wouldn't be getting back up anytime soon.

The trees gave way to saplings and the saplings gave way to bushes and Isla tripped as she stepped suddenly onto a gravel path that could possibly be described as a road. Scrambling to her feet, Isla retreated to the cover of the largest bushes just to the side of the road. Following along the edge of the bushes, Isla continued trudging along the path.

Isla's sense of time had skewed until she wasn't even sure what time of day it was. The sun lay low on the horizon but didn't seem to budge in the sky, and that was only when it peeked through the grey clouds enough to be seen. The thick clouds filled most of the sky, casting a pallor hue on the earth. The snow that Isla sloshed through had half melted, leaving more grey on the ground to mirror the sky.

Isla looked back down the road in the direction from which she had walked and then back in the direction she was headed. The road was deserted and had been for the entire time she had been traveling on it; an hour or two by her best estimation.

As she approached a thicker clump of shrubby bushes, Isla sank to the ground and propped herself against a tree to rest for a moment. She tilted her head back against the smooth bark and closed her eyes, allowing herself time to process some of the raging emotions she was experiencing.

Several tears leaked from the corners of her eyes before she could catch them. The utter isolation of the wilderness she trekked through began to weigh down on her. The last few days had been a flurry of intensity and Isla hadn't had much opportunity to sit and think, only act and react.

Isla reached down and pulled her injured leg up across her knee. She first examined the wound on the bottom of her foot. She had stepped in glass in her escape the day before and the foot had not stopped hurting since. Isla had tried her best to dig the glass out of the cut, but any sort of first aid performed in the back seat of an old Honda Civic is not likely to be first class. The bleeding had slowed but not fully stopped during her walk through the woods and Isla worried that glass may still be lodged in the wound.

As Isla relaxed her leg and let her foot drop, she noticed swelling around her ankle. A quick prod confirmed that the ankle must be sprained as pain shot up her leg. Isla knew the injury would slow her down but the concern felt muffled and not as urgent as she assumed it should.