Hawk's Nest
The end of July in the mountains is beautiful. It's not too hot during the day or too cold at night. I enjoyed watching the scenery around me as I glided my canoe into a cove and beached it. The location was perfect for a campsite. As far as I knew no one lived there and I sincerely hoped not. I was as far out as I wanted to be and I really didn't want anyone knowing I was here.
My trip had started back in Las Vegas. I had acquired two fake licenses and the credit cards to go with them. I had used one set to travel to Florida and then used the other to fly back to Utah. When I arrived in Saint George I rented a car and bought equipment and drove into the mountains. The mountain range I chose had very few people living around where I was headed. In the words of Marlena Dietrich "I wanted to be alone." As I had paddled across the lake to my campsite I had passed a beautiful log cabin house. It sat back from the lake behind a dock. There was no boat and no vehicle there so maybe it is a vacation home. I didn't care. I didn't expect to see anybody for the next ten days.
I set up my tent and fished for a while. I had brought food with me but wanted to live off the land, so to speak. I caught a nice trout and fixed it for dinner. While I waited for my fish to cook I set out my sleeping bag and hung my food in a tree, just in case there was a hungry bear around. I started some tea water and sat back to relax. The fish was delicious. I had brought a good book with me and read until the campfire started dying out. I crawled into my sleeping bag for the first relaxing night of sleep in a long time.
This was my life for the next four days. When I was bored I took the canoe out. I couldn't get enough of the gorgeous terrain. I took pictures to show, to show who? I was never going back to the life I had left.
Two days later I heard an airplane go over. It was a single engine plane. I didn't think much of it. No one knew where I was. I had heard them go over at night a couple of times. This time was different. I heard the plane come back to the lake and it landed somewhere down lake from me. I began to get worried. What if they had found me?
I left the campsite and moved back into the woods. If they were looking for me I was going to make it more difficult for them. I took my Camelback, some food and a blanket, I also took my Sig Sauer and the hunting knife my "husband" had given me. He was the reason I was here. He was the reason "they" were here as well. He wanted me back. I didn't want him back.
I remained hidden for the next two days. The men he had sent lived in my campsite, nice of them, and waited for me to come out. Have a nice wait.
They finally got tired of waiting and came looking for me. I kept moving at night when they went back to the camp. After three days I was beginning to run out of food and water. I needed to be able to catch a fish and refill the Camelback. I also began to not feel well. I was queezy and I was running a fever. My medical supplies were in the tent.
When they left camp the next day I snuck back down and went to the tent. One of them must have watched for me. The next thing I knew they both were there and I was trapped. I reached into my back and pulled out the Sig. My equilibrium must have been off because I only grazed one of them but got the other. The grazed one came at me and I fought him off for a while. My hunting knife came out. I'm not really good with it. I've had no training but I must have got a good one in. He came after me like a raging bull and I got him again, but as he fell he pushed me back against a rock, knocking me out.
I don't know how long I was out. When I came to it was pouring rain and I was out of it. I just wandered about for hours.
I finally came to the log cabin and knocked. No one came to the door. It had gotten much colder and was raining but there were some small ice pellets as well. I needed to get warm. I tried the door knob and it was unlocked. I went in. I found a warm blanket and went into the bathroom to strip down. I wrapped myself in the blanket and sat on the couch. I don't remember anything until I woke up later, much later.