Wes Coffey

Adrenaline will carry you farther than you think.

We got up the other side in maybe twenty minutes.

Country that should have taken us an hour.

The voice called from the drainage behind us three more times while we climbed.

Each time it was our dad.

Each time it was wrong.

Coal, coal, coal.

We got over the top of the second ridge as the last light was fading.

Cole looked at the compass and said he thought we could angle southwest and hit the trail we'd come in on, maybe two miles south of where it split to our camp.

Two miles was doable, we could be on the main trail in an hour if we pushed.

The woods were quiet now, no voice, no rocks, nothing following.

I want to tell you I felt relief, but I didn't.

I felt the opposite, because when they stop letting you hear them, that means they're not worried about you hearing them anymore.

That means they don't need to herd you.

You're going where they want.

We pushed southwest for about 40 minutes, full dark now, headlamps on.

Cole in front, me behind, both of us with rifles up.

We came to a small clearing, maybe 10 yards across.

In the middle of it was my brother's pack.

Cole had his pack on his back.