Rigby looked hurt at the name-calling. “Apricot is a good guy. He’s been raised by hand since birth so he just thinks humans are llamas. Take it as a compliment.”
Dex and Twatwaffle gave each other the eye.
“Here Rigby,” Christina said, giving her father the reins to a brown horse named Bandy. She quickly mounted her giant coal-colored horse, Taffy, a draft horse mix judging by the faint feathering by its hocks. I felt really small and a bit silly standing by the horses with a curious llama at my side, loaded up with packs like a mule.
The sound of crunching tires and a roaring engine filled the trees around us and Rigby announced, “Ah, and here is Mitch. Late as always.”
A rugged-looking jeep with hefty wheels came climbing around the corner and came to an abrupt stop beside the Highlander. I watched the scene curiously, wondering about the “weirdo” and I soon saw why Christina called him that.
Mitch was a 6’2” behemoth of a man, and because he was dressed head to toe in camo gear, he had this look of just escaping from a military compound. It didn’t help that he was wild-eyed, with an ugly scar down the side of his face and that his head was shaved down to a sharp crew cut with an extreme widow’s peak. The more I looked at him as he came closer and his eyes fixed on my body like a falcon, the more I thought he wasn’t a “weirdo” and just a “scary ass motherfucker.”
“Where’s mine?” he commanded to Christina, not paying the rest of us any attention.
“She’s tied up,” she said, nodding to the gate where the third llama was waiting, packed and ready. Christina’s voice grew noticeably smaller when she talked to Mitch and I couldn’t blame her. I felt myself shrinking as he hulked past, his startling blue eyes flitting to mine now and again. He gave me a ghost of a smile. I didn’t know whether to take that as a friendly thing or to be creeped out.
Even Dex was watching him curiously, brow furrowed in thought.
“At least I didn’t get Jackass over there,” Mitch said, nodding at Twatwaffle and Dex while untying his llama and leading it over to us.
“Jackass is a good name too,” Dex conceded.
Rigby cleared his throat. “Perry and Dex, this is Mitch. He leads the hunting tours out here. He’ll be accompanying you on your expeditions.”
My eyes widened and flew to Dex. His expression was blank but I knew this was also news to him to.
Rigby caught our exchange. “Obviously I’m not going to let you take my precious llamas out into the wilderness by yourselves. You’ll need someone who knows the land. Mitch knows these mountains like the back of his hand.”
“Damn right,” Mitch agreed, giving us both a stony glance. “You’re in good hands with me. Either of you know how to shoot?”
I swallowed hard, feeling Dex’s eyes on me. “I do. But just a handgun.”
“Just a handgun?” Mitch repeated. “I’ll teach you more than that. It’s a great time to bag some bears. The more hunters, the merrier.”
“We’re really only interested in bagging Sasquatch,” Dex spoke up.
Mitch laughed. I never thought a laugh could be frightening. “Oh right. Fucking Bigfoot.”
“He’s a skeptic,” Rigby explained. “Now come on, we oughta head out before it gets too dark. That’s when the beasts show up and we don’t want to be unprepared.”
Rigby led the way with Mitch behind him, snorting his disbelief. I let out a deep breath, feeling strangely on edge about the next couple of days, and followed behind them. Dex struggled with Twatwaffle/Jackass/Apricot behind me while Christina brought up the rear, taking it extra slow with her horse so she wasn’t riding up the llama’s asses.
The walk to the cabin was long but peaceful. We started out along the road for a bit, heading down the mountain and then cutting across a high ridge. The path was fairly wide but the sharp drop to the one side made my insides curdle. The view was gorgeous, a fairy-tale image of splintered peaks and waves of undulating trees but my stomach wouldn’t let me enjoy it. Tonto was a big help though and when I was walking too slow, she’d take the outer side of me, shielding me from the drop.
It wasn’t as cold as I first thought, but after about 45 minutes of walking, I couldn’t feel my fingers through the gloves and kept dropping Tonto’s lead. Then a light snow began to fall, covering the crunchy snow in a dusting of powder. Occasionally there would be a thump of falling snow from the heavy fir trees, or a bird might have flown out from a nearby bush, but other than that it was totally silent. Our talking was down to minimum since it was hard to converse when we were traveling single file, and the llamas barely made any sound as they glided through the white.
As nice – but cold – as the journey was, the cabin was a sight for sore, snow-blinded eyes. Though it was smaller than Rigby and Christina’s cabin, I thought it was better. It was just so classic, a one-level with snow-covered flowerboxes beneath the windows and shiny icicles hanging from the roof above the porch. It immediately reminded me of the cabin my family and I used to stay in when I was a little girl. The memory of cross-country skiing with my mother and coming home to my father stoking a roaring fire made my heart split open.
“You all right, kiddo?” Dex asked softly, placing his hand on my shoulder and squeezing it.
I sucked in a breath at the memory and flashed him a quick smile. “I’m fine. Just…reminds me of something.”
He nodded, eyes kind and knowing.
“So this is your new home base,” Rigby said. He and Christina were tying their horses to the nearby hitching post.
“It’s lovely,” I told him honestly.
Christina came over and took the llamas from us. “There’s no TV though. Kinda sucks if you ask me.”
“I’ve got p**n on my phone, I’m fine,” Dex answered.
I elbowed him while Christina giggled at his remark.
“No reception,” Mitch countered with his hard face trying to suss Dex out. He didn’t realize Dex was joking. Then again, I wasn’t sure either.
I gave Dex a sharp look making sure he didn’t say anything else controversial. It was fine when he was acting like this around me, I was used to it, but Mitch looked like he’d pound his head in over nothing.
“Where do the llamas stay?” I asked, trying to change the subject. Christina and Rigby were quickly removing the packs from the animals.