They set up camp that night not far off the trail, a grand view of a dry valley at the edge of their tents. They’d refilled their water at Whitewater Creek a few miles before and were somewhat saved from the wind in this little alcove. All things considered, it had been a solid thirteen-mile day, even with the side trip to the dinosaurs.
They managed to get through another chapter ofAlannaafter dinner, before they both collapsed into their tents.
After his nightly prayers, Alexei settled into his sleeping bag. Tried to clear his mind. He was 95 percent successful, except for that thing Ben had said earlier, the one thing, out of all the strange, unexpected things that had happened today that Alexei couldn’t stop thinking about.A trail family can be one person. It felt engraved on his organs at this point, even if he still couldn’t articulate, precisely, why it affected him so much.
Still, he didn’t think that was the reason he couldn’t sleep. Even in the warm safety of his wildly expensive sleeping bag, the trail plagued him tonight. His face felt more sunburned than usual, or maybe overly whipped from the wind. The discomfort of his angry skin made it hard to fully give in to his exhaustion; every small move seemed to scrape at him, his nerve endings raw.
He was grateful to be here. He was getting used to the desert.
But tonight, he missed his bed.
Alexei wasn’t sure how long he tossed and turned.
How long he had submitted to restless sleep before the howling started.
It was so loud, he jerked awake, breathless and confused.
Alexei had heard coyotes at night on the trail before. He understood this was a common occurrence in the desert.
But this noise seemed soclose, close enough to raise the hairs on Alexei’s arms, the back of his neck. Like it was stalking down the trail, headed straight toward them. Alexei’s blood swirled in a panic, pounding against his temple as another long, mournful call sounded straight to his gut. Had they left out any food? No, of course not, they—
Crunching. Outside Alexei’s tent.
There was no doubt in his mind now, he wasn’t making this up, he had spent all his time worrying about bears and instead—
“Lex.”
Ben’s voice was low and wheezy, and Alexei nearly screamed.
“Lex, let me in.”
There was a frantic punching of Alexei’s tent. A small screammighthave escaped Alexei’s lips for real. And then, instinct moving his limbs more than coherent thought, Alexei unzipped the flap.
He barely had it halfway open before Ben tumbled inside.
“What thefuck?” Alexei managed before Ben’s elbow smacked him in the jaw.
Alexei didn’t have time to even contemplate how easilyfuckhad just flown out of his mouth—even in adulthood, he had never gotten the hang of cursing—because then Ben’s knee was in his gut, and Ben’s legs were—God, Ben’s legs were everywhere, dangerously close to dangerous things, and his arms were frantically,loudly, trying to rezip Alexei’s tent. When he finally accomplished this feat, Ben flopped around and down with a thud.
Their heavy breaths filled the air, a practically tangible presence. Alexei couldn’t see anything very well, considering it was some godforsaken hour in the middle of the night. But he knew from the heat of Ben’s breath that their faces were very, very close. There was nowhere else for their faces to go.
REI did not lie, at least, when they called this a one-person tent.
“What are youdoing?” Alexei hissed, pulse racing.
“Um.” Ben swallowed. “There’s something out there.”
“Yes, and if it didn’t know where we were before, itreally knows now.”
Ben’s breath hitched. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Fuck. I was scared. And…I guess I panicked.”
Alexei huffed out a sigh, unsure whether he should punch Ben or, perhaps, hold him forever.
“Listen,” he said instead, forcing his voice into a calmer octave for Ben’s sake, “coyotes rarely attack people. Okay? Just think of them as, like, wild dogs.”
“Dogs that soundreally fucking scary.”
Two minutes ago, Alexei’s own nerves had been rattled in a way they had never quite been rattled before. But he couldn’t help smiling. Soothing Ben—it calmed Alexei, too. His blood pressure simmered to a slightly less lethal level.
