Into the Cold

Scruffy and unkempt, Caleb stared down the sight of his rifle, on the other end was a mountain goat, balancing precariously fifty feet above him on a rocky outcropping. With a last steadying breath, he exhaled and pulled the trigger.

As the animal tumbled down the incline, Caleb smiled in satisfaction, relishing the smell of gunpowder and the resonating echo of the shot.

Shouldering his rifle he took a long drink from his flask, savoring the burning liquor as it slid down his throat.

Since walking away from his old life, he’d become a much more efficient and deadly hunter. He wasn’t just hunting to eat, now he was hunting to kill, not just the animals, but the rage inside himself.

As he began the arduous trek down to retrieve the goats skin and horns, he looked up as an airplane flew overhead, its flight path taking it in the direction of his valley.

It wasn’t a bush plane he’d seen before, and it looked as though it was getting ready to land. Had the troopers come to talk to him? Maybe the pilot’s family had hired a salvage crew to retrieve his body.

Cursing his luck, he decided to collect the entire animal instead of just the trophy parts of it.

Anyone who came this far into the bush would be horrified to see he’d only taken the most valuable parts of the animal not the meat.

In Alaska it was a crime to waste an animal like that, and until he'd come back without Amelia and given himself back over the alcohol he'd honored that law.

Since then he'd just left the carcasses to rot.

After three hours of hard climbing, Caleb finally reached the goat and with practiced fingers had it prepared and ready to transport it back to his cabin within the hour.

He knew there was no rush. Anyone finding the cabin empty should honor the code of the wilderness and use nothing more than they needed until he returned.

With the weight of the ram on his shoulders, he felt a little like his old self, though he was far from the place he’d been before Amelia entered his life.

Being out in the wilderness, hunting without mercy had eased some of the pain he felt at her loss, but Caleb knew he would never completely heal from her leaving him.

Her departure was different from when Lizzie left. That had hurt, but he’d know it was best for her and their daughter, but Amelia’s had broken him in ways he’d never known he could break.

Step by step, he trudged home hating whoever it was who was forcing him to return to the one place in the world he didn't want to be.

Hearing a propeller her looked up to see the same plane now flying away from his valley.

"Dammit," he cursed, thinking how good it would feel to shoot the bastards down.

He'd hauled this stupid animal for miles and whoever it was just fucking left.

He thought about just dumping the animal and heading back out, but realized that if her was this close he might as well stock up on ammunition, supplies.

Reshouldering the animal he started the trek again, wanting to get to the cabin, grab what he needed and get the hell out again.