Page 2 of Saved By the Soldier

He keeps looking in my direction, so I keep very still. I don't want to be caught by him because I know he won't hesitate to kill me. As they all start talking again, I slowly stand and move further away from them. If they see me, I'm dead.

After creeping through the forest, I know I’m far enough away to breathe loudly again. I feel sick. I think I’ve had too much adrenaline. I certainly won't be sleeping here. I need to keep moving even though the night is drawing in fast. I find a clearing and hope to God Viktor and his team stay away from this area for the night. I’ll move further away from him in the morning. I only need a couple of hours' sleep and then I'm good at going again.

I make my tent, it's small, just enough room for one with my sleeping bag and rucksack. I climb inside and zip it up, hoping I can sleep. I love the sounds of the wilderness when I'm camping, and tonight is no exception. The birds are cheeping, the surrounding trees are moving, and I hear animals moving around. Slowly, I fall asleep to the sounds, and I drift off to sleep.

2

LUKE

I'mglad to be home. By home, I mean my cabin up in the mountains. It's a wooden cabin that I built when I came out of the military. I'm not good at being in the town all the time. I come here to have space, quietness and just to be alone. When you're serving your country, you’re thrown in with other men. You live together, you work together, and sometimes I just need some time on my own. My dad helped me to build it. We needed a helicopter to drop the wood in for us and some of the larger equipment because it's a forty-five minute walk from the nearest car drop-off to the cabin. Now you understand what I mean when I say it's remote.

I close the door, lock it, and put my bag in the bedroom so I can unpack it later. I haven't been here for a few weeks and there's a lot that needs doing before I rest tonight. I hear there's a storm coming, and I want to make sure I have enough of everything to just bunk in for the next few days without worrying if I have enough wood or not.

Opening the back door, I grab my axe from behind the door and step outside. It's fresh. I'm not going to lie, but I know thatin a few minutes of swinging the axe, I’m going to be sweating and hot.

It's hard swinging the axe and getting the wood to split in two and it takes a few goes, but after ten minutes I’m on a roll. Another half an hour, my T-shirt comes off. The sweat is dripping from my forehead. It's a great workout, but I still need to get more so that I can last a few days without cutting the wood. I'm lucky that I got more wood from the timber yard the last time I was here, so I have plenty to cut.

After an hour of cutting the wood, I go inside for a drink, grabbing a towel at the door to wipe the sweat off me. My breathing is labored, and my heart is racing, but I feel alive at this moment in time, and that's not been something I've felt for a long time. Since I left the military, in fact. I would’ve stayed in the military until I retired. That had been my plan. But unfortunately, fate has other plans. I was involved in an IED explosion with my teammates. We lost one, Peter, three were injured but could walk away, then there was me. I was left with one of my legs hanging on by a blood vessel. One wrong move and I could’ve bled to death. The medics were great as they got me on the Medivac, who took me to Germany. I was there for over eight months. They amputated my leg, but at least I got there without tearing the blood vessel. Thank God, although there were days when I wish I had died.

Mom and Dad have been great, but sometimes it gets too much for me and that's why I built the cabin. I'd live here permanently, but I have to have physio every week and it's a pain in the ass walking the forty-five minutes to the car and back again when I'm finished. So, I stay for a few days and then head back into town for a couple of weeks.

I bring some of the wood into the cabin, stacking it carefully by the wood burner, and some on the shelf at the back door. I know when the snow comes, it might be so deep that I can'topen the back door, so I need to make sure to get as much of the wood in that I can.

I put a few logs into the log burner, light it, and then close the door. The log burner heats the whole of the cabin, including the water, so that I can shower and cook. Finally, I take a seat and look out the floor to ceiling windows I have in the sitting room. I can sit here and watch the surrounding nature. I notice when the trees have grown or the animals have been nearby, there are usually nose prints on the windows from the bears and wolves.

When the place is heated enough, I go into the bedroom and unpack my stuff. I don't have to bring enough, because every time I come here, I add to the collection so that I don't need to bring anything in the future. My wardrobe is now full, so next time it will be just food I bring. Walking into the kitchen, I unpack the food that I brought with me. Being in the Army, I've learned to cook and feed myself, however if I was stuck on the mountain or in the forest, then I’d know how to survive with no food in my backpack. My survival skills are second to none, so I don't fret about being out here alone.

I can see the weather changing when I sit down with some food that I made. The wind is picking up, and the snow has started to fall. I smile. It's so beautiful and I love to watch as the snow piles up on the ground and moves up to my window. The highest it’s ever been is about six feet, but that was after an enormous snow storm. It was the first time I thought I shouldn't be here. But I knew it was going to go down again after a few days and I could get out and home.

I check in with base control. There is a place in town where they run the radio for anyone hiking in the mountains. They advise to check in with them when you go up the mountains and they give special radios that are satellite and not telephone network.

"Hey Frank, just letting you know I'm up at the cabin. I'm here for a few days. I see the weather is changing quickly, I should be okay but if I'm not then I can let you know."

"Hey Luke. This is the beginning of the storm. It looks to be lasting three days with no let up. Keep yourself safe out there."

"Will do. Let me know if anyone is in trouble or you need my help up here. You know I like to help when I can."

Frank's radio cuts in and out. The service must be getting hazy with the amount of snow that’s falling.

"There's a woman who has gone up there for a couple of days, she's up there trying to find the Blue Wolves. I think it's a myth myself, but she was all wound up about it. She rang just there to say she's fine and staying overnight in her tent. I'm worrying about her, Luke."

"You know I'll go and see where she is if she needs help. Just let me know."

"Will do. Keep safe, Luke."

"You too, Frank."

I sit back on the chair in the sitting room and watch as the snow falls, throwing more logs on an hour later. The peace of the cabin and the surrounding area calms me down. Since I only have one leg, I guess mountain hiking is probably not the best sport to be in, but I'm not normal. Not anymore, anyway. I can feel the stump of my amputated leg throbbing with the surrounding cold, so I throw more logs on and then make sure there’s enough on until the morning.

Sometimes I don't get into the bed but fall asleep here in front of the fire. It's warm, and comfortable. What more do I want?

Waking up,the first thing I do is look out of the window.

"Holy fuck, that snow was heavy."

It's a couple of feet up the window, but some of it looks like it drifted with the wind. Even so, it's not a good place to be. I think about the woman who is in a tent. Hopefully she's okay and Frank talked her into going home and trying another time to find the illusive Blue Wolves. I'm not sure why she’d even want to find them. They are the rarest wolf pack, but only one person has ever seen them. For all we know, it could be an old wives' tale, so who is she and why would she risk her life to see them?

I make myself some breakfast and then sit down to watch the snow. I have a book to read if I want to later, but I'm content watching the snow. Some animals move past the cabin, and they always look in the window, which I love.