Chapter 2

The City had been kind and generous to Frank, but the contrast between his office desk with its hubbub and the tiny cabin, hidden in the forest and many miles from any form of civilization provided the level of relaxation that he needed. At thirty eight he was successful, his first IPO more than three years in the past and two new developments under way which were likely to be even more lucrative and possible targets for a buyout. One of those was proceeding normally, backed by a good team and a marketable product which made angel money readily available. The second, a more daring yet far more lucrative venture, had issues. It was this weekend that would determine the strategy for the next two years. Code had been dropped off two weeks late, QA testing was throwing up issues never before encountered, vacation had been taken by two key people at a time when it should have been cancelled and investors were beginning to ask more detailed questions. The code push to production was scheduled for tomorrow evening.

Then there was Cynthia and Andrew. The lady with the large breasts and pretty face, and the man with advanced obesity but outstanding coding skills. She in charge of project management, and he a senior developer. Over the past three months since she had joined, the office had ‘met itself to death’ with meetings called by Cynthia to discuss future meetings, stage gates, SDLC, objectives, post-mortems, lessons learned and esoteric possibilities. Andrew had happily joined in, no doubt relishing the way Cynthia’s blouse moved as she waved her arms to punctuate her consultant-speak statements. The team had counted the number of times she said “in terms of” in the last weekly QA meeting and Andrew’s inappropriate tweet last week about her had caught the press, attracting unwanted publicity and wasting hours of management time. Andrew would need to deliver or go. If the code release was uncoordinated then she would have to go as well. It was a huge business risk to have two key staff like them in such a small startup, especially if delivery was in question. Rounding the corner of a very old stone wall he saw his second home in the distance and office thoughts were banished.

Purchased unseen except for an emailed image and specification, it had turned out to be one of his most successful investments. ‘Off the grid’ was a phrase used by too many real estate brokers in place of ‘where nobody wants to live’, but this property truly was disconnected from the pace of life, totally in harmony with nature and the seasons, emulating life how it must have been a century ago.

He walked the few hundred yards with increased enthusiasm, relishing every tree, every turn of the track as the wooden trunks of the log home came into view. He regarded the roof carefully and was pleased to note that it appeared intact, no tree limbs piercing the fabric which was certainly a risk in the area and something that he would not have been able to immediately fix. He retrieved the key from behind the water butt and opened the door. It all looked just as he had left it three months previously: sparse, functional, clean and tidy. Leaving his backpack on the kitchen table he walked into the bedroom and opened the window. A breeze picked up and blew through the cabin, ruffling the curtains by the door. He checked the small bathroom and flushed the toilet, conscious of the use of water each time he pushed the lever.

Back in the bedroom he took off his hiking shirt and shorts, then dropped his underwear onto the pile and wandered outdoors. The sun dried the sweat from his naked body and he smiled at the feeling of the breeze as it explored around his cock and balls. Life was certainly wonderful.

Back inside after a quick break for lemonade Frank checked the radio and inspected the batteries for deterioration. The kerosene lamp needed refilling which was to be expected after all these months, and he made sure a couple of candles were positioned around the cabin for emergency use. Matches and a lighter were also placed so they could be found when darkness descended.

He took a plate from the cupboard above the propane cooker and laid out some bread, cheese and pickles. With a refill of lemonade he made his way out to the back yard and sat on the old wooden seat, looking out through the trees into the distant grey-green mountains. Setting aside his plate he slowly ate his lunch, absently playing with his limp cock as he listened to the calls of the larger birds. Just as he picked up his glass to wash down a mouthful of bread and cheese he heard a short, high-pitched scream. He froze, his eyes darting around at the gaps in the trees, up to their tops to see which way birds might fly. Nothing. He held his breath and listened without moving then resumed eating and casually toying with himself. The scream had definitely been human rather than a bird call or large animal. Not a scream of imminent danger, but an indication of pain and suffering nevertheless. He smiled, wondering if someone had discovered that the code drop had failed regression testing in QA. He could afford to wait another three months for the revision but he wasn’t telling the team at this stage.

A second scream was followed shortly by a third, and he placed the source as slightly to his right, maybe a couple of hundred yards away. That, he thought, was a real nuisance. Part of him felt that he should simply ignore it and consider it nothing to do with him. Another part knew that he should offer help if he could, given the absolute remoteness of the location. The continual sound of muffled cries from within the trees convinced him that she should get closer and see if he could locate the source. Returning to the cabin he dressed with great annoyance, clipped a knife to his belt, locked the door and returned the key before setting off down the sloping back garden towards the source of the screams. He walked carefully, avoiding sticks and loose gravel as the river came into view. Crouching down behind a tree he waited and was rewarded by a shout, probably from a girl and about fifty yards away. With the undergrowth to give him cover he moved forward, looking up occasionally to try to get sight of her. Finally, as the river unwound through a bend to his right, he saw her, crouching amongst the boulders, just at the edge of the water. He noted two backpacks and so was more cautious as he moved closer again.

Thirty feet away he stopped and watched as the young girl seemed to be talking to another person who was partially hidden by the large, grey rocks which lined the banks. She was squatting and had a cloth in her hand which seemed to have blood on it. She cried occasionally and seemed to keep looking around for inspiration or help. Her movements were hurried, anxious and without a purpose. Then he heard her shout the word ‘Bri’ which he assumed was the name of the second person. Frank turned around and slid down the trunk of the tree that hid him, thinking.

He had seen a young girl, and presumed there was another youngster called Bri somewhere, who was probably injured through his own actions rather than from an animal attack. To help them would be the normal thing to do but his resources were limited and he had so much looked forward to having a few days on his own at the cabin, relaxing and wandering around naked without interruption from anyone else. He turned back to her and saw she had long hair and wore shorts and a T-shirt. She also looked to be young and in reasonable shape as she didn’t have that obese outline that half of the country’s children seemed to possess nowadays. On balance he decided to skirt back to the other side of the river and approach them from above so he could determine whether to become involved or not.

Moving carefully, he crossed the river at a natural bridge almost a hundred yards further up river and gained the path above their location. Crouching again, he saw the figure of the boy, lying between two rocks with his feet in the water. He didn’t seem to be moving. That was a bad sign and Frank certainly didn’t want to become involved if the boy had died. There was no phone at the cabin, no roads, no electricity, nothing that might provide life-saving help in an emergency. With just his head poking out over the top of the bracken he watched as the girl used a cloth to wet the boys head. There was movement and eventually a groan. Frank noted the boy’s shorts had fallen to his knees and that otherwise he seemed to be naked at the waist. The sun glistened in the girl’s untidy blonde hair and she had a slender figure that barely dented her T-shirt. He was impressed though as she carefully lifted him up and got him to sit upright on a nearby rock.