Hard to be sure.
I scooted backwards. Was it going to eat me? I held out the bearspray, ready to aim and pull the nozzle…
“Tower Seven, this is Tower Eight. Come in.”
I screeched.
This time, I couldn’t pass it off as anything remotely rugged. The bear spray fell out of my hand when I jumped, startled, and rolled.
Right off the edge of the deck.
“Fuck!” I yelled and scrambled after it, only pulling back right before I crashed through the dangerously loose railing.
SCRITCH SCRATCH SCRITCH SCRATCH SCRITCH SCRATCH
The terrifying creature pitter-pattered away and shimmied back down one of the tower’s wooden stilts, frightened off by my scream.
Or maybe I’d asserted dominance.
Yes. I’d go with that.
The flash of its tail just before it disappeared stole any of my remaining dignity, however, as I was finally able to identify the life-threatening predator that’d nearly eaten me on my first night in the middle ofNowhere.
“Goddamn raccoon,” I grumbled.
Fuck.Now I had to schlep all the way down the stairs to retrieve my only method of defense. Although I wasn’t sure what good it would do, when the tower seemed more intent on chucking me over the railing than anything else.
“Tower Seven, this is Tower Eight. Do you read?”
I jumped again, reminded of the voice that’d startled me in the first place. Now that I wasn’t about to leap out of my skin, I noted the feminine voice was kind, and maybe a little worried.
The two-way radio crackled again as I hurried back inside. “Tower Seven? Are you there? You didn’t check in on the main radio channel, and we’re getting worried. Do you read?”
I sat at the desk, reached for the small handheld device, and held down thetalkbutton. “Hi, I’m here.Uh. Copy. So sorry, no one was on the main channel earlier, so I thought we weren’tchecking in until tomorrow morning. I must’ve switched to a different channel by accident. Over.”
I cringed. I didn’t want to start off being the problem child of the group, and I was rusty on my radio chatter etiquette.
She responded a few seconds later. “Copy. No problem. There are still a few who haven’t checked in yet. You’re not the last. I mostly just wanted to make sure everyone was situated, so I surfed a few channels to find you. Call me an old worrywart, but you just can’t be too careful. We all need to look out for each other. Over.”
I softened. She sounded mature. Matronly, even. Some in the park had been lookouts longer than I’d been alive. “Copy. Thanks for checking in. Yes, we all need to be careful, especially with… You know. I’m Reece, in Tower Seven.Uh, I guess you know that. You said you’re Tower Eight? Over.”
“I’m Janine,” she answered. “Yeah, Tower Eight. Hello, neighbor. Aren’t you a hike in location? I’ve always wondered what that tower’s trail is like. You get settled in okay?”
Soshehad the full lake view. I mirrored her relaxed posture on the radio-speak. “Congrats on the assignment,” I said, a tinge of jealousy in my voice. “What a view. Yeah, I hiked in and am all settled, but the trip nearly killed me,heh.”
I cringed again. That joke wasn’t funny anymore. For a lot of reasons.
She chuckled anyway. Good. I didn’t want a stuck-up coworker. Neighboring lookouts often communicated and worked together to lock in the position of a fire for a speedy response. It would be best if we got along, or it could be a long five months.
“Don’t have to tell me,” she said. “I had a hike-in for nearly two decades. I’m an old biddy now, though, so I’ve spent the last few years at a drive-up location. Practically feels like retirement!Witha view!”
“Sounds well deserved,” I said with a smile.
“Oh, we’ll get along just fine. So you’re all good, yeah? No ghosts?”
I burst out laughing. Fucking hell, if only she knew.
I wasn’t going to bethatguy, though. Who knows what she’d think if I spouted off a bunch of nonsense about a ghost frightening me over the railing and then saving me before I tumbled to my death.
