Disclaimer: The same old stuff. I don't own anyone from CSI. Only the characters I made up.
Rated: T
A/N: Sorry for the long delay again. You know how real life can be. Thanks for reading along. I hope you're all still enjoying the antics of Bruno and Scooter. As always this story is not beta'd so any and all mistakes are mine. Enjoy.
Chapter 7: A Camping We Will Uh-Oh part 2
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Meanwhile at the campground…
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"Mmmm that smells good." Grissom complimented as he breathed in a deep whiff of Sara's homemade vegetable soup. After fighting with what Grissom now called the 'god forsaken canvas death trap' all afternoon, the tent was now erect and he felt like he could eat the whole pot of soup.
"Gil, go get the boys and send the kids back to their folks while I fix their bowls would ya?" Sara grabbed a travel bag containing the dogs' food and began scooping a cup into each dish.
"Sure, where are they?" he scanned the horizon.
"They're over in the field. You should see them right th…" Sara's index finger hung limp in the air a moment before slowly dropping to her side. "Where'd they go? They never wander off." Sara's eyes darted from left to right. A feeling of panic started to fill her. "Where are the kids?"
"Maybe the kids' mother came to get them and the boys followed them back to their campsite? Come on, let's go check. I'm sure they're there." Grissom suggested.
"We have less then one hour of daylight left so I'm going to make this fast." Ranger Jones spoke loudly for the group to hear. "We are looking for two young children who were last seen playing with two dogs here in the field and are believed to be lost somewhere in the woods. First child is named Connor, age 8.…"
The search group of about 30 individuals listened intently to the campground's park ranger. When Grissom and Sara got to the family's site and found neither the children or the dogs, they joined together with the parents and searched the entire campground calling the kids' and dogs' names. When that failed they immediately headed for the security station at the main gate and alerted the ranger on duty, who then called the local authorities. Since the children had only been gone about an hour they could only spare a couple of officers. For all they knew the kids were within eyesight of the campground and could show up at any moment.
"OK folks. Let's get going and find those kids."
"Wait!" a young man in his early 30s hollered, "What about a helicopter with infrared cameras if we can't find them by nightfall?"
"Unfortunately that option is not available. The closest station is in Vegas. On a good night they could get a chopper here in 2 ½ hrs.(the campground was 5 hrs. drive from Vegas) but they're experiencing severe thunderstorms which are not expected to let up till morning." the ranger replied sadly, "Alright lets get going. You all know what to do. Time is running out."
The sun appeared to be half sticking into the nearby mountain as the dogs followed the kids along the trail.
*grumble grumble grumble*
"Connor, I'm hungry." Jenny rubbed her growling stomach.
"I know Jenny. I'm hungry too, but we don't have any food to eat."
"Do you think we're almost there?"
Connor stopped and looked around. There was still no sign they were even making any progress. For all they knew they could have been walking in circles or even in the complete opposite direction of the campground.
"I don't know Jenny."
Looking up at the sky, Connor let out a sigh of defeat. There was no way they could keep continuing on when they still had no idea where they were, and the sun was almost gone. They needed to find somewhere to sleep.
A slight breeze blew past and sent a quick chill up Connor's back. They needed to find a place to protect them from the night breeze.
Connor scanned around, looking for anything that could provide suitable shelter for the night, when something caught his eye. Something kind of round and dark.
"Come on, this way."
As they drew closer, the hole got bigger.
It was a cave.
"Perfect" Connor thought. It would protect them from the wind and rain if any should fall. "Come on Jenny, in here."
The cave was not huge but it was plenty big to allow them to stand with at least a few feet to spare or more. It appeared to be deep but they dared not go any further then the mouth of the cave for fear of getting lost. Not to mention it was pretty dark and they had nothing to light the way.
Jenny sat down against the wall of the cave and hugged her knees to her chest. Even though the cave blocked any breezes from them, it didn't fully protect them from the chill of the night air. Scooter saw the little girl shiver and walked over to lay beside her. Snuggling his body as close as he could.
"Do you think they know we're gone?"
Connor stood at the cave entrance and watched the last of the sun disappear into the horizon, picturing how much trouble they were gonna be in when they got back.
"Yeah" he sighed, "they know."
Feeling a chill run up his spine again, he walked over and sat close to his sister. Bruno followed him and snuggled his body tightly to Connor, just as Scooter did to Jenny, thus enveloping the children in a blanket of warm fur.
One by one a big yawn escaped their mouths and within minutes the exhausted travelers were sound asleep.
"ROARRRRRR!"
The group of four jumped in unison as the sound startled them all awake.
"AHHHHH!" Jenny screamed as she spotted the big black bear just outside the mouth of the cave in the early morning sunlight.
"ROARRRRR!"
Strings of saliva could be seen dripping from the bear's jaw as he roared angrily at the uninvited guests in his home. In a flash both dogs were on their feet. Knowing his reflexes were not as fast as they used to be, Scooter used his body to nudge the children back and away from the bear while Bruno stood between the group and the large beast. His hair stood on end along the middle of his back, his teeth bared, ready to fight.
Bruno growled at the bear, warning it to back off but the bear didn't budge.
Bruno lunged and snapped at the bear's front feet. The bear roared back in anger and swatted at the dog. Bruno ducked and dodged the swipe, then took another snap at its feet. The bear stood up on its hind legs trying to intimidate the 'pest' at his feet but Bruno refused to back down.
"Go away you stupid bear!" Connor yelled. He found a stick on the cave floor and attempted to help Bruno but try as he might, he could not get past Scooter who refused to let the children get close.
As the bear took another swat at Bruno, the dog ducked then darted between the bear's hind legs. As soon as he got through he turned and bit the bear's hind end, causing the bear to drop back on all four feet and spin around. Bruno wanted to lure the bear away from his friends so they could escape to safety.
Again Bruno snapped at the bear's feet and retreated. Taunting the bear to follow him. The bear tried again to swat at the dog at his feet and again Bruno ducked, dodging the bear's claw. Bruno took another lunge at the bear's feet and jumped back, but as he landed his right hind foot stepped on a rock and he lost his balance, falling on his belly.
The bear raised his claw to strike.
"NOOOOO!" the kids screamed.
*BANG!*
The bear roared as he felt something pierce his right thigh.
*BANG!*
Another shot rang out.
During the bear's distracted state Bruno took the opportunity to get up and dart out of the way. At the same time the kids and Scooter slipped from the cave.
The bear turned to run off into the woods. He got no further then a few feet when he collapsed on the ground. Two tranquilizer darts sticking out of its hindquarters.
"MOM! DAD!" the kids yelled as they spotted their parents behind the ranger, rifle still aimed at the bear in case it stirred.
Scooter joined Bruno at his side as they watched the kids dash over to their parents. As the kids jumped into their arms, two familiar faces came into view.
*WOOF! WOOF!*
The dogs sprinted over to Grissom and Sara and jumped around their feet excitedly. Grissom and Sara knelt down and each hugged a dog around the neck.
"You know if we weren't so happy to see the four of you safe and sound we'd ground you two for a year?" Sara told the dogs.
Bruno and Scooter arched an ear at each other in confusion.
Ground them? What's that? They've heard that line before but still had no clue what it meant. Grissom and Sara couldn't help but laugh at their expressions.
"Is the bear dead?" asked Jenny, still holding her mom tightly.
"No dear, its just sleeping. The rangers will take it deeper into the woods and release it so it hopefully doesn't run into humans again." the mother answered, "Now lets get back to camp where we can discuss how long you'll be grounded for. I think 10-20 yrs. Sounds good."
"But the dogs aren't getting grounded" Connor whined, having heard Sara's comment.
"That's cause they're dogs and don't know any better. You do." the father lectured.
"Awww man" Connor whined.
"So how far away were the kids from the campground?" Greg asked.
"About 8 miles. They weren't that far really but they were smart to stop when it got dark when they didn't know where they were. We must have been just two miles east of them when we had to suspend the search due to darkness. I don't think anyone slept all night worrying about them." Grissom said.
"You guys were pretty brave huh? To take on that bear?" Nick scratched Bruno behind the ear.
"Our little heroes" Sara chuckled as the gang looked at the newspaper clipping in the album.
Local dogs save lost children from bear attack the headline read.
In the picture the two dogs smiled with medals hung around their necks. The children on either side of them and the mayor of Las Vegas behind them.
"Where were you two when I needed saving last week?" asked Greg.
"That was a rat Greg, not a bear" Cath pointed out.
"Hey, it was a very big rat" Greg stated.
The gang all laughed at Greg's defensiveness.
"Come on Greg. Flip the page. Let's see what's next." Brass ordered.
Greg did as he was told and turned the album page.
"Awwww" the gang chorused in unison at the next picture.
"Look at the two of them" smiled Catherine.
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TBC…
A/N: Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Reviews are greatly appreciated and I hope you'll leave me one. I'm running out of ideas for the duo so if anyone can think of a suggestion I'd love to hear it. If I use it I'll give you credit for the suggestion. Thanks again for reading.
~Neelloc12~
