Previously - Garrett and Joey are on the trail of Zack and Sydney, and they visit the scene of the crime in Kenora before deciding to follow a police lead.
The Lake of the Woods was freezing. They had only found one paddle tucked in behind the yellow canoe, which Zack had given to Syd. There was a boat launch not far from the abandoned house where they had ditched the car, and they transferred their gear into the canoe and set off. Zack had rolled up his sleeves and paddled with his hands while Sydney steered and paddled from the back.
They paddled in the direction that they thought was south until the sky turned a glorious purple and then the deep black of night cascaded down on them. Zack’s hands and arms began to ache and hurt with the pain that only sustained cold can produce. Then, they went numb and grey and Zack struggled with gripping the sides of the canoe. The stars shone a vibrant light, twinkling over the moving water, and they paddled by the lit path of a gibbous moon. There was a maze of islands and inlets that they navigated through, and Zack just kept on pointing the canoe where he thought was south.
Zack guessed that it was close to midnight when he recognized that the canoe was taking on water. There must have been a hairline crack right along the keel or something, but it was too dark to tell. His pants got soaked and his teeth started to chatter and he started to alternate between paddling and scooping handfuls of water out of the canoe. The bags of money started to float around inside the canoe and their duffel bags lolled in the water.
Sydney groaned. “I’m tired. Do you know where we are?”
Zack grimaced and looked around. He recognized some of the constellations in the sky, Orion’s belt, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, but he wasn’t a Boy Scout. They could have been traveling to the centre of the earth for all he knew. “I think so, yeah. Just a little bit further and we should start to see the shores of Minnesota.”
“Won’t there be a bunch of border stuff? Drones and shit?”
Zack blew some warmth into his hands and bailed out some more water. “Yeah, but we will be small enough that it won’t trigger anything. We should be okay.”
Zack felt the canoe slow and looked back. Sydney held the paddle across her lap, but her face was obscured in the darkness. “That is bullshit and you know it, Zack. When are you going to stop just flying by the seat of your pants and actually come up with a fucking plan?”
Zack scoffed. “We are running for our lives if you haven’t noticed. Let’s get to the shore and figure it out from there. We need time.”
Sydney chuckled, but the canoe surged forward. “We’ve had time, Zack. You just didn’t do anything with it.”
They fell into silence and paddled endlessly through the night. Paddle. Bail. Paddle. Bail. Paddle. Bail. Zack’s head still ached from his run-in at the Kenora bank, and he knew that he wasn’t feeling right. He was probably suffering from a concussion.
As the sky began to lighten from onyx to a pale grey dawn, Zack spotted a shore.
“There!” He pointed. He could barely make out the trees lining a shoreline. A sliver of white flickering must have been waves lapping against the beach.
“Thank God!”
They found an energy reserve and furiously paddled for the shore. Zack’s back was slick with sweat and his shoulders burned, but he sat back and smiled as the canoe crunched into the rocky shore. There was a boat launch that Zack had noticed, and he tried to aim the canoe close to it, but far enough away that they might not be noticed by any early risers.
Exhausted, they stumbled out of the canoe and pulled it up into some bushes nearby. They hugged each other.
“Wooo!” Zack cheered.
Sydney slugged his shoulder. “Shut up! We just crossed the border illegally, idiot!”
“Right.”
They walked along the shoreline and up the dirt road that led away from the boat launch. There was an old blue Ford F-150 parked near a trailhead that went into the bush. Zack pointed and Sydney nodded. They crouched and made their way to the truck. After they investigated, they found nobody, but the truck was still warm.
Zack let out a relieved breath. His body had begun to shake with the cold uncontrollably. He needed to warm up soon. “What do you think: break in, drive to Florida, hop on a boat, scot-free?”
Sydney pointed to the license plate on the front of the truck. “I’m not so sure about scot-free.”
Zack squinted in the early light to read it:
Ontario - Yours to Discover.
“Son of a b—”
A twig snapped and the tell-tale sign of someone—or something—crashing through the woods came from the trail beside the truck. Sydney rushed over beside Zack and he directed her behind it. They crouched down on the other side of the truck, peeking around the box to see what was coming.
A tall and hefty man wearing camouflage and the neon orange of a hunter trundled out of the bush. He didn’t notice Zack and Sydney right away and he dumped a big backpack and his gun in the bed of the truck. He tossed a huge bird in behind, a turkey, Zack thought, and then marched around the truck—right into Zack and Sydney.
“Oh, shit!” the hunter said, stumbling back and holding a hand to his chest. “You scared the shit out of me!”
Zack shivered and smiled at the man. “S-sorry. W-we are l-lost.”
The man furrowed his eyebrows and scratched at his beard. “And cold as hell, by the looks of it. Where the hell’d you come from?”
“We got lost on a canoe trip,” Sydney offered. Zack collapsed onto the dirt road.
“Oh, damn! Stay with me, buddy.” The man jogged to the other side of the truck. “I’ve got a blanket in here and a first-aid kit,” he called.
Sydney nudged Zack. Zack looked up at her, dazed. “What?”
Sydney’s mouth hardly moved. “His gun.”
Zack sat up and held his aching head with an icy hand. The door to the F-150 slammed and the man hurried over and wrapped the blanket around Zack with strong arms. Zack felt sleepy and his eyes started to flutter closed.
“Are you guys hungry or anything? I could—”
Zack could feel the hunter tense. The strong arms slid away from Zack and he opened his eyes.
Sydney stood, pointing the shaky shotgun at the hunter.
“Whoa, now. Please. Let’s not do anything dumb here,” the hunter said.
“I’m sorry. We need a ride. Nothing personal.” Her voice was cold and flat.
Zack made his way to his feet. The hunter backed away and held his hands up. “Please. Don’t shoot.”
“Where are we?” Sydney asked. The gun didn’t waver. Sydney’s fingers opened and closed on the pump-action slide of the gun.
The hunter gulped and shifted his weight. “Maybe fifteen clicks north of Whitefish Bay.”
“That in Canada?” Sydney asked. The man nodded.
“Zack, can you grab our shit?”
Once the gun was pointed, Zack had a rush of adrenaline, so he was more than capable of the run through the early morning to the hidden canoe. He hurried off, his shadow long in front of him as he grabbed their wet bags and the plastic bags filled with money. The walk back was slower and more painful, but he loaded it all into the back of the truck.
Sydney held the gun to the man the entire time. When Zack had finished, she motioned with the gun. “You have a phone or anything?”
The hunter nodded and pointed to the backpack he had tossed into the truck. Zack grabbed it and tossed it onto the ground.
Sydney slowly backed towards the truck. “Call for help when we are gone. Very sorry about this, but…you know. Desperate times and all that.”
“I get it.”
“Keys?”
The man looked down to the backpack, and Zack searched a couple of pockets before he found them, attached to a church key bottle opener and a floating keychain that said “Marlin Bay Motorsports” that Zack had only seen on boat keys.
Zack hopped into the passenger side and opened the driver’s side for Sydney. She got in and passed the shotgun to Zack. It was heavier than he expected and he trained it on the man.
Sydney slammed the door and turned the key, the F-150 roaring to life. She dropped the shifter into drive and they slammed forward as the truck spun around, spitting gravel as they drove away, leaving the hunter alone in the woods.
Rather than going back north towards Kenora, Sydney turned further south once they made it back to Highway 71.
Once they were on the highway, Zack chuckled. “That was some big-balled—”
“I don’t want to fucking talk about it,” Sydney interrupted. Her jaw bunched and tears streaked down her face. She bounced on the bench seat as the truck sped down the pavement. Zack watched the trees zip by.
They drove in silence for a time. The heat blasted on Zack’s cold and aching body until his eyes slowly closed and sleep took him.
When Zack woke, they were coming into another town. Zack rubbed at bleary eyes and blinked. They passed a thirty-foot-high coin that was on the side of the highway.
“Where are we?” Zack croaked.
“Sudbury,” Sydney said.
“Isn’t that like a ten hour drive?” Zack asked.
Sydney didn’t respond, but the F-150 started to slow down, and Sydney pulled off into the parking lot of a semi-truck mechanic shop in the industrial outskirts of Sudbury. Zack looked over at her and she hung her head.
“…What are you doing?” Zack asked. There was a huge sign that said ADVERTISE HERE just in front of them.
Sydney’s shoulders shook with sobs and she shook her head. “I…I can’t do this anymore, Zack.”
Zack felt the blood rush out of his face. He licked at dry lips. “Do…what?”
Sydney looked at him with teary eyes. She took a big, shaking breath. “Get out.”
Zack stared at her.
“Get out.”
This caught my attention. I'm curious how the story develops from here.