Chapter 5 - Sanctuary in the Pines
The cabin smelled of cedar resin, dry pine needles, and fifteen years of abandoned silence. Perched on a granite outcrop overlooking the deep ravines of the Appalachian foothills, it was accessible only by an unpaved logging road washed out by seasonal flash floods.
By midday, the rain had stopped, replaced by a dense mountain fog that clung to the treetops. Adrian sat on a rough-hewn pine bench, his shirt off. Elena worked with antiseptic wipes and fresh gauze from an old military first-aid kit she found in the pantry.
"Two stitches tore," Elena noted, her voice tight with suppressed anger and fear. "You're bleeding into the subcutaneous layer. You need antibiotics, Adrian. Real ones, not field rations."
"I need twenty-four hours," Adrian replied through gritted teeth as she swabbed the wound with iodine. He didn't flinch.
In the corner of the room, Mia sat on a braided wool rug, playing with an assortment of polished river stones Julian had collected years ago. She had finally realized her parents weren't coming back. The questions had begun on the drive up.
"Where is Mama? Why is Daddy's phone off?"
Adrian had looked into those huge, luminous hazel eyes and felt his soul split open. He couldn't lie, but he couldn't break her either. “They went on ahead, little bird. They asked me to look after you until the road clears.”
Mia looked up from the stones, holding up a smooth, rounded quartz. "Look, Uncle Ade. It's an egg. A baby dragon lives inside."
Adrian forced a warm, gentle smile to his lips—a gesture so foreign to his scarred face that it felt like an unfamiliar dialect. "Keep it warm, Mia. Don't let it freeze."
"I won't," she nodded solemnly, tucking the stone inside her tiny corduroy pocket.
May you like
Elena finished taping the dressing and sat back, her hands covered in surgical tape residue. "I left my phone behind at the diner three towns back. But Sterling has private trackers. When Julian’s estate went into probate, he seized the corporate satellite logs. If this cabin was listed as an asset, they’re already en route."
"Let them come," Adrian said quietly. "On concrete, they own the law. Up here, physics owns them."
