Endangered

By Tyler Grant

A birthday hike in the woods goes terribly wrong for Ally and Roy when a sudden fall takes away her ability to walk. Buried five miles deep in the dense Black Hills of Washington State, they struggle to survive the elements and the natural predators of the environment.
Will they survive?
After encountering a cougar and a four-hundred pound black bear in a fight over territory and food, Roy and Ally are injured, and on the run.
Will they reach civilization? Or will the effects of dehydration and extreme pain finish them off in a cruel but natural order?
Endangered is the ultimate scare factor in terms of reality turning hostile in paradise. Don’t miss this wild new short thriller by Tyler Grant.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tyler Grant
• Release date: May 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463351086

Tyler Grant

Tyler Grant is the author of dozens of comedy, suspense, and horror stories, including the popular “Tyler Grant’s Series of Voices”. He holds a Master’s in English and worked as a news journalist for six years prior to writing short fiction and novels. You can follow him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Tyler-Grant-Books. Be sure to like his page, and follow for updates regarding his latest work. Grant lives in Washington State.

Book preview

Endangered

A picture containing drawing, food Description automatically generated with medium confidence

Copyright © 2020 Tyler Grant

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 9798648908703

DEDICATION

MATT AND SIERRA

Author’s note

Endangered is based on a hike I took with my wife in April of 2020. We really did go out on her birthday, venturing into the deep woods behind our property where cougars and black bears have been commonly spotted. Although we didn’t come in contact with either of these creatures, we did struggle to get out alive.

My wife broke her tailbone when she slid off a log, crossing a creek. I had to carry her on my back for several miles until we reached the road that led back to our property. On the way, I slipped and damaged a previously injured knee. For a minute, I wasn’t sure we were going to make it. It was hands down the scariest day of my life. She’d been completely immobilized and nearly passed out from the excruciating pain of the ordeal.

This said, Ally and Roy, the characters within this story, do not accurately represent my wife or I in this work of fiction. It is, after all, a work of fiction. What happened to us was just the seed for what this story grew into.

I wrote Endangered in a sort of fever, pounding out the first draft in one long sitting after midnight. Over the following weeks, I touched it up, adding details for the reader’s entertainment, and then showed it to my wife.

She gave me the green light to publish, and so here we are.

I hope you enjoy this short thriller.

-Tyler Grant (Olympia, WA, May, 2020)

1

Behind his property, Roy found a trail that wound out of sight of his neighborhood in the Alpine Hills. He’d never been much of a hiker, but this newfound treat captured his attention, and for two weeks, he took a nightly walk, pushing a little deeper into the forest each time he left. It was good exercise, and a lot more fun than sitting on the stationary bike and watching reruns of bad cop shows, barely burning enough calories to afford him his nightly serving of ice cream and peanut butter, which he couldn’t live without.

Roy’s wife, Ally, was turning thirty. It was a milestone she would happily ignore, and yet at the same time, Roy knew that if he blew off the big day, there would be hell to pay.

So what would he do?

On the night before her birthday, Roy traveled deep into the woods, not stopping until he’d hiked roughly five miles up a deer trail. He’d been gone for close to three hours and knew he had a long walk back, but there was gold at the end of the trail. A beautiful four-tiered waterfall coming down from what he assumed was an upper tributary to Beatty Creek.

Roy, who hadn’t come up with a good idea for what to get Ally yet, thought that packing a backpack and a bottle of wine into the woods with her to this spot would make for a wonderfully romantic evening. He might even get lucky, which hadn’t been the case in almost two months.

The next morning, he woke Ally with eggs and toast in bed. They drank coffee, watching an old movie she’d seen a hundred times, talking very little.

When the credits rolled, Ally asked, sounding skeptical already, So what have you got planned for today?

Not too much, he said honestly, then embellished, just the best night of your life.

Oh, Lord, she said, rolling her eyes, showing an almost imperceptible smile.

Roy thought he was off to a good start and moved in to kiss her lips but got her cheek instead.

By early afternoon, Ally was dressed in spandex and a light windbreaker because April in Washington could be pretty chilly and wet. She donned the new Nike running shoes Roy had given her as her Big Gift.

She hadn’t been thrilled by this.

They started out on the trail, Roy carrying the backpack filled with their supplies, and Ally with no knowledge of what was ahead of them.

After a quarter mile of trudging through soft muck, she asked, Is this where you’ve been going every night?

Yup.

Roy heard her slap the back of her neck, the season’s early mosquitos already out and about.

Should’ve bought a can of bug spray.

Why couldn’t we just go to dinner?

C’mon, Babe, this will be fun. I promise.

I don’t want to go too far.

It’s not too far, he lied, hoping he could get her up the five mile trek so this whole thing didn’t blow up