The Hunted Read Online Free Page B

just about every way. Trust me. The park would never let that kind of thing happen nowadays—a bear like the ones in that book would be taken out of Glacier so fast it’d make your head spin. Today’s Glacier grizzlies are truly wild, which means they steer clear of humans, just the way nature intended. Like I said, leave them alone, and they’ll leave you alone.”
    Biting the edge of her lip, Ashley said, “OK.”
    â€œGood. And I hope you’ll also understand that when I tell you not to do something, it’s for a reason. You’ve wasted a lot of energy over this. It could have ruined your stay in this beautiful park.”
    â€œYou’re right,” Ashley agreed, relieved she was being let off the hook. “Thanks, Mom.”
    Olivia sat forward again and buckled her seat belt. They pitched and swayed the next four miles in silence, Ashley ever more queasy, Jack deep into his own thoughts. Suddenly, his father announced, “There’s the sign—Quartz Creek Campground. Hey, kids, try reading that out loud five times really fast.”
    â€œQuartz Creek Campground,” Ashley began, “Quartz Cweek Cwampgwound, Courts Cweek Cramp—I can’t say it! Jack, you try!”
    Jack’s tongue felt all turned around inside his mouth as he tackled the phrase, but he didn’t mind such silliness. He was glad the storm between him and his sister had blown over, that they were laughing and back to normal, with nothing more to worry about than keeping the mosquitoes away. He was still smiling as he grabbed his soda can from the backseat, where Ashley lingered while Steven and Olivia got out to unlock the chain stretched across the entrance.
    â€œHey Ashley, why are you sitting in there? Aren’t you getting out?” Jack asked, gulping down the last of his soda. Warm fizz bubbled against the back of his throat.
    â€œSure. Now that you and I have a second alone, I just wanted to say one thing.”
    â€œWhat?”
    Ashley leaned over so that her braids skimmed the backseat. Her face was so close to Jack’s that he could feel her breath on his cheek. “I’m going to act just as nice to you as I ever did, but—” She took a breath. “I will never, ever tell you anything again as long as I live.”
    With that, she gave him one last look, got out of the car, and shut the door so softly it hardly made a sound.

CHAPTER FOUR
    â€œE ach of you kids grab a flashlight. Stand at the edges of the flat area. Hold the flashlights toward me so I can see where to back in.”
    Dusk faded quickly into darkness as Steven pulled forward and backward several times, trying to position the trailer. Finally he got it on a nice, level spot. Then, by flashlight, he disconnected the trailer hitch and drove the Jeep out of the way, parking it next to a tall stand of Douglas fir.
    â€œNow the hard part,” Steven announced. “Wish we’d gotten here sooner so we’d still have a little daylight. Oh well….”
    Jack and his dad worked as swiftly as they could. After they lowered the bottom section of the camping-trailer door, they released the latches that held the top down for travel.
    Meanwhile, Olivia had crawled inside the Jeep. She pulled boxes from the tailgate and turned to hand them to Ashley, except, where was Ashley?
    â€œHoly cow! What was that?” Jack exclaimed. Out of the corner of his eye he’d caught sight of a dark shape exploding past him into the trees and had heard the snap of branches as the shadow disappeared into the underbrush.
    A beat too late, Ashley answered from the darkness, “It was nothing.”
    â€œWhat do you mean nothing! It looked like a big dog or—”
    â€œI saw it too,” she said. “I was almost right next to it. It was a…baby deer.”
    â€œAre you sure?” Jack didn’t know exactly what he’d seen rushing past him, but it hadn’t