Spotlight: Never Lost by Aaron C. Anderson
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General Fiction
Date Published: October 23rd, 2025
Publisher: Acorn Publishing
Zane Carter and his sons, eleven-year-old Ty and thirteen-year-old Joseph, venture one hundred miles into the Idaho wilderness with only a knife and the knowledge of their Nez Perce ancestors. Danger awaits at every deadfall and lurks in every snowy shadow as the boys hunt, fish, make weapons, and build shelter, learning to survive, taking only what they need from the land, and leaving no trace.
During their eighteen-day journey, Zane’s determination to fulfill a promise to his grandfather, an Indigenous warrior who exemplified the tenets of a wise and spiritual existence, is thwarted by a fatal encounter that transports Zane into an ancient realm as he straddles the thin line between life and death.
He wonders what has become of his boys. Have they learned enough patience, resourcefulness, and courage to complete this rite of passage? Will they make it out of the wildlands alive? Or will the unforgiving forces of the natural world take them too far from home to ever return?
Excerpt
Zane and Joseph moved with casual precision, slipping along at a slow fluid pace like cats on a prowl. Joseph watched his father trotting before him.
He never trips, and he never gets tired, Joseph thought. What do you see? What do you hear? What does great grandfather tell you as you run through these woods? His own thoughts startled him. Do I really believe Dad can hear great grandfather?
“The way that Dad and Mom see things is so different. They both tell me that I will be a great man one day. The trouble is they seem to have opposite plans for me. I just wish Mom would come out here with us. Things have a way of becoming clear out here in the mountains.”
He returned his attention to what was happening around him, just in time to miss running into his father as Zane made a U-turn in front of him. Not knowing if his father had seen an animal to shoot or not, Joseph stopped as quietly as he could and watched for a signal as to what to do next.
Zane took a couple of steps back then sat down cross-legged, facing a small tangle of bushes. He placed his spear beside him and put his hands on his knees. Joseph, not knowing what to do, sat down about three feet away from his father. Looking at his father’s face, he knew he shouldn’t speak, but he sure wished he knew what was going on.
After a couple of minutes of silence, Joseph heard a crash in the bushes his father was facing. It sounded like something was tearing them apart. When the disturbance started, Zane began speaking Nez Perce in a calm soothing voice. Joseph was surprised how much he could understand. He still didn’t speak the language very well, but being around Dad and Tom, he had become able to understand the essence of the words spoken in his presence.
“How are you, my little cousin?” Zane began. “I had hoped I could find you. With your knowledge and your wisdom, you walk this forest unmolested. You know more about this place than I will ever know. There is a wise old warrior that walks with the spirit of a black bear. More bears have fallen to your spears than will ever fall to the spears of man. Tell me, my little cousin, if this bear is my enemy, where do I strike? Tell me, my little friend, and I and my sons and their sons will sing of your wisdom.”
The fat, old porcupine stepped from the brush toward the murmuring sound of Zane’s voice. As he stepped into the open, not six feet from Zane and Joseph, Zane’s voice fell silent. The porcupine rose onto his hind legs and tested the air with his nose. The changing breeze gave Zane and Joseph away. The porcupine dropped to his feet, lowered his head, and flared his forest of deadly spines. Spinning in place, he whipped his tail, and a few errant quills pierced the low branches as he exited back into his bushy sanctuary.
Zane sat for a moment, and then he gathered the half dozen quills that had been left behind. He wrapped them in a length of leather and stowed them in his shoulder bag.
They continued their hunt in silence. Fifteen minutes later, they slipped carefully into a shallow wash. Occasionally creeping up and peering into the adjacent hollows, they worked their way along looking for game.
After a while Zane and Joseph were looking at a small clearing while lying on the edge of their hidden path. When Joseph was satisfied that there were no animals visible, he started to back off so he could proceed down the small gully. Zane put his hand on Joseph’s shoulder and pointed to a clump of tall grass tucked into some brush at the edge of the clearing.
Joseph looked hard, then spotted a flick of movement. After straining to determine what he was seeing, it was as if his eyes came into focus and the head of a mule deer appeared in the grass. It had been there all the time, perfectly camouflaged, lying in the grass and chewing an afternoon snack.
As they watched the deer, a cottontail rabbit hopped out into the clearing. Then another appeared on the edge, not twenty feet from where they lay hidden. Joseph drew back an arrow and let it fly. The rabbit was hit squarely. It rolled once and died kicking in the grass.
The mule deer’s head perked up at the sound. Next to it another deer head popped up. The second rabbit ran to the edge of the clearing and froze, looking at his fallen friend. Joseph drew back another arrow and sent it after his second victim. It struck the rabbit in the back leg. It spun around and started to run as best as it could.
The deer and Zane all sprang to their feet at the same time. The deer spun to run as Zane hurled his spear. The seven-foot dart flew straight, striking the rabbit mortally to the ground. Joseph grinned at his father.
“When you threw, I thought you were going for that big doe that was closest to us. I can’t believe how fast you got that spear into the air. You could have got that deer.”
Zane grinned back at his son as they walked over to the first rabbit that Joseph had hit.
“I probably could have. They were pretty lucky you weren’t hunting deer, too.”
Zane picked up the rabbit and pulled the arrow that had pierced both lungs and the heart.
“Perfect shot.”
“Thank you, gentle cousin, for your gift of meat.”
Joseph took the rabbit and the arrow.
“Boy, I hit him square, didn’t I? I wish I would have hit the other one better.”
“They were both great shots. I only know a handful of men that have gotten two rabbits in one day with a bow they made in the mountains.” Zane handed Joseph the second rabbit then carefully cleaned off his spear.
Zane and Joseph field-dressed the two rabbits then tied them to Joseph’s shoulder bag.
“Dad,” Joseph asked as they looked in the direction of their traps, “what did you learn from the porcupine?”
“What did you learn, Joseph?”
Joseph stopped walking and looked at his father. “Dad, I learned that I have a lot more to learn.”
Zane smiled. “That’s what I learned, too, son.”
Both smiled and continued on, each fading into his own thoughts.
When Zane and Joseph picked up the snares, one was tripped but empty.
“Nice job on these,” Zane said as he dispersed any sign of the traps. “You and Ty have done a great job on this trip. You are ready to do this alone.”
Zane thought for a moment, then added, “When that time comes and you are out alone, remember, it seldom goes this easy. Sometimes you have to work harder and smarter, but you’ll be okay. Soon you will find a strength that only a handful of men now have. That day you will be a Nez Perce warrior. From that time a thousand braves will stand beside you wherever you go. Hunyawat will give you a Wyakin, a protecting and guiding spirit. Your Wyakin is a private part of you. From that time, you will lose your childhood fears. You will be a great man among our people.”
The sun was setting as Zane and Joseph were walking back to camp. The birds sang their last chorus of the day, and the evening chill began to sweep across the landscape. A squirrel took one last look around before disappearing into its tree-top nest, thankful for the last moment of another glorious day.
“Do you miss anything when we come on these trips?” Joseph asked.
“I miss your mother, and I miss hot coffee and hot showers and clean teeth. But mostly, I miss your mother.”
Zane and Joseph both laughed.
“Me, too,” Joseph agreed.
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About the Author
After high school, Aaron Anderson set out to see the world, embarking on adventures through North America, Europe, and North Africa. He enjoyed traveling as a bicyclist, motorcyclist, train passenger, and even as a hitchhiker, reveling in the excitement of the unknown.
At the age of twenty-two, Aaron returned to the US and worked on oil rigs in Wyoming. He later became a carpenter and eventually a real estate appraiser. However, his true passions have always been writing, developing powerful friendships, and exploring new country.
During the 1980s he and his two sons hunted, hiked, and camped throughout the western states. Here, his love for the natural world and respect for Indigenous people prompted him to write his second novel, Never Lost.
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