Delta's Dawn

Daniel is beyond furious, “Let me go, he's lying.”
“He's crazy!”
“Son, I know other ways to make a man talk and your daughter needs you right now.” The truth of that statement has Daniel snapping his head over to the corner, where Abby is standing. Against his wishes, she followed her Gramps into the barn in time to see her Dad punch Zach. Pale and trembling, she had never seen her father so angry.
“I’m all right, let me go.” Daniel is trembling with rage as he walks away. “Abby?” She rushes into his arms and cries.
“Where is Delta, daddy? I’m scared.” He hugs his daughter tight and squats down to look at her.
“Right now, Delta needs us to be strong, so we can find her. You are her hero, Abby. Without you, I wouldn’t have known where to look. You go wait in the truck while I talk to him.”
“Not happening, Dad.” In control now, she glares at her Dad and tosses her blonde hair over her shoulder.
“Fine, but stay back,” he grumbles.
Chase flips over a bucket for Zach to sit on and is looking down at the boy who is clearly in way over his head. “Money talks boy, if you do.” That certainly got his attention.
“How much?” He asks spitting on the ground near Daniels' feet. Abby is shocked that he would be that stupid. Chase whispers a number, and he leans back with a grin.
“I did it as a favor to my cousin. The lady is fine. Mel wanted her to miss her date with you,” he glares at Daniel.
“Mel?” Daniel asks shocked.
“Yeah, Melody your front desk clerk, remember her. The one you don’t even know exists. I don’t know what she wants with an old man, but she has a thing for you. She called and asked me to pick Delta up and drop her off in the forest. It’s no big deal.”
Security moves the second Daniel roars and leaps for him. “You fool! You left her in the middle of the rut season in a national forest with no cell phone, water or protection! Anything could happen to her up there!” The four men are struggling to hold Daniel back. All two hundred and twenty pounds of his muscles are aching to pound him into a heap.
Chase jumps up and shoves his son back with a hand to his big chest. “Enough! We need to find her before dark.” Daniel struggles to control himself and backs off for the moment. Abby grabs his hand, and he looks down at her. Her fear for Delta is as strong as his. She knows what the forest is like this time of year.
“Delta needs us, Daddy,” she urges.
“Take him to the police station and find his cousin. I want details!” Chase orders as Zach leaps to his feet.
“Hey, you said money…” Chase turns and lays him out with one punch.
Everyone freezes in shock for a moment.
“Stupid son of a bitch!” With that Chase stomps past everyone and goes outside. Abby whoops and drops her dad's hand to follow him. Daniel laughs as one of the guards, dumps a bucket of water on the boy.
He sits up coughing with a bloody, broken nose and Daniel stomps over to him. “Tell me exactly where you left her.”
Zach coughs and stammers out the answer.
“Hear me, boy, if one hair on her head is scratched, I will find you and finish what we started.” Straightening up Daniel hurries to find Delta.
Common sense tells her to stay put and wait for help, but Delta's worried. None of this makes sense, and if she goes over the morning, she can see the red flags. She decides to start walking down the mountain. Delta follows the jeep trail back down to the road. Looking both ways she struggles to remember which way to go. Her watch shows ten fifteen. “Why would he do this?” There's no sign of his jeep or any cars for that matter. After waiting for another hour with no signs of life, she decides to walk some more.
Remembering a sign on the way that said Phillipsburg. “I wonder if the town I saw from the top of the mountain was Phillipsburg.” Which way was it? “Left?” She leaves the road and heads in the direction across the green valley into some pine trees.
Delta walks for two hours through thick pine trees before she decides to admit defeat. “Now what?” She's completely lost. “I must have taken a wrong turn, Sasha.”
Sasha snorts as if to say, ‘Of course you did.’ Now her head is pounding, and her mouth is dry. The change in elevation and stress is getting to her. Sasha lays at her feet while she sits on a log and thinks.
“Okay, I'm lost. No one knows where we are, except that little shit that left us, and I don't have a cell phone to call for help. Survivor training 101 is to stay put and wait for help. That's not happening here. My next option is to try to find the nearest town.” Standing up, she decides to stop panicking and look at her surroundings. In the shadows beneath the trees, she can see a break in the trees ahead. It looks like a valley or clearing at the very least.
A sound in the trees behind them has Sasha leaping to her feet and growling low in her throat. The fur along her spine stands up, and she sniffs the air. Delta freezes trusting her dog's instincts, as images of a bear flash through her mind. After a few minutes, she hears nothing.
“Come, Sasha.” She hurries towards the clearing hoping to at least be able to see something. In the distance, she spots what looks like a granite path and a sign. Breathing a sigh of relief, she urges Sasha along with