Page 104 of Valley Girls
“Here.” The man moved the glasses.
A thin trail of rope came into focus. At the bottom, two figures in shadow.
She couldn’t tell who it was.
Overhead, a chopper thumped. She pulled down the binoculars and handed them back to the man, tipping her chin to watch the chopper fly overhead. Its belly was white and the grass shuddered around her.
“Rilla,” Thea called.
Rilla turned and headed back through the grass to her sister, standing in a sloppily tucked shirt and a ball cap. Lauren was beside her.
“What were you doing today? Any climbing? Hiking?” Lauren asked.
Rilla gritted her teeth. “No,” she seethed.
“She can come with me,” Lauren said to Thea.
Thea blanched.
Go where?
“She needs to go home and do her homework,” Thea said.
“I’ll watch out for her,” Lauren said. “It’ll be good.”
Thea softened. “Well, okay.”
What? Thea just gave in like that? Rilla had never seen that happen. Ugh.
“Rilla,” Thea said. “You can go with Lauren, Walker, and Kamika. They need a body. Listen. You do what they say, okay? If you don’t, you’ll put everyone’s lives in danger.”
Rilla glanced between Lauren and Thea. “Okay?” She’d heard of climbers who were around Yosemite being used as volunteers in SAR events when they needed extra help, but she’d never thought she’d be included in that.
“Go get some boots on, and pack a daypack for yourself,” Lauren said. “Pack a rain jacket, food, water, headlamp, extra batteries, and a basic first aid kit. Go as fast as you can and meet me at the trailhead for Mirror Lake. We’re just going to hike up to the start of the canyon, but it’ll be dark and tough terrain.”
“Okay!” Rilla turned and ran off across the Valley.
Within twenty minutes, she’d changed, packed her bag, and started running through the early twilight to meet Lauren.
“There you are,” Lauren called as Rilla huffed to a stop. Walker stood behind her, and a young ranger whom Rilla only knew as Kamika. “Okay. We’re looking for a hiker, male, age twenty-five. Medium height. Name is Mike. He was wearing ...” Lauren peered at her notebook in the last bit of light. “Ugh. Red shirt. He left Olmstead Point yesterday.” Lauren flipped over her notebook. “He was last seen leaving the Olmstead Point trail to head into the canyon. Rangers have entered from there, but so far haven’t found anything. We’re basically doing a containment search. We’re going to be hiking up to the entrance to the canyon—only a few miles past Mirror Lake, but a talus field they might have gotten stuck in. After that, we’re going to hold tight at the canyon output and wait for the rangers from Olmstead Point to join us.” She flipped her notebook closed and pulled her headlamp onto her forehead. She glanced at the group. “Ready? We’re in teams.”
Rilla’s heart thumped in her throat, like the first time she’d started across the Valley for Half Dome. And the first time she’d gone with Caroline on lead. She tightened down the straps of her backpack and slid her headlamp on her head.
“Walker, you’ve got Rilla,” Lauren said. “And I’ll be with Kamika.”
Rilla swallowed and looked to Walker, but his face was serious, watching Lauren. “We going off the trail at all?”
“No. Just sweep the left and we’ll do the right side. We’ll take turns calling. When we get to the talus field, we’ll spread out a little more.”
“What do I do?” Rilla asked quietly.
“Just walk in front of me,” Walker said. “Make sure you look into the woods to your left and on the trail in front of us for the hikers. Go slow. That’s it.”
“Okay.” She nodded.
He turned and looked to Lauren. “We good?”
She put her thumbs up. “Let’s do this.”
