"How much longer 'til we get there?" Johnny asked barely keeping his frustration in check.
"Just around those trees," Byrnes replied. He knew the men were anxious to continue the search in an area they thought their friend might have been in. Hell, so was he! In the time since they'd started this search he'd started to wonder if the paramedic were mistaken or got drunk and thought his friend had been with him. The blood along the river's edge could have come from any number of creatures, only one of them was human.
The firemen had been very quiet since they'd started out in the morning. He knew they were battling between losing hope and holding on to it with every ounce of strength they had. Byrnes had been on enough of the searches to see all the signs. As a result he took nothing they said personally.
"Jaime!" Byrnes called out as they rounded the turn. The others should have gotten there ahead of them. They should also be much drier. Crossing the river again hadn't been a lot of fun, water was still squishing between his toes as he walked.
"Over here!" his young partner called from the far edge of the small clearing. The three firemen were standing nearby.
Finally together again, the A shift of Station 51 looked at each other without saying a word. All of them held a look of quiet desperation. The two Forest Rangers huddled together to examine the markings.
"How are you guys holding up?" Mike asked. He could see the fear Johnny was trying to hide. He could feel it himself when he spent more than a few moments thinking about the chances of finding Roy before he bled to death or was found by a hungry animal. Unconsciously, a chill passed through his body and he shoved the morbid thoughts away.
"Okay, how about you?" Hank answered for both of them.
The three firemen shifted a little and nodded their heads that they were okay too.
"Jaime thinks that the marks we found are from some kind of homemade stretcher. I looked at them too but they just looked like scuffs to me," Chet said just to fill the silence.
Before the firemen could continue their conversation, Byrnes and Jaime moved over to join them.
"I think Jaime's right," Byrnes stated. "We can see where someone cut down branches and tore out vines. It looks like whoever it was made a travois and dragged a much heavier person. We're going to move over to the area where the tracks disappear and begin a grid search."
The senior Ranger paused to glance up at the sun. "We have about three hours of sunlight left. We'll have to meet within two and a half hours to set up camp if we don't find them."
*****
After a quiet meal of salad and eggs, Michael crushed some of the left over ones and moved over to the still mostly unconscious Roy. He'd melted some butter with the eggs so that they would be a little easier to take. He wasn't sure if this was such a good idea but he knew the man needed sustenance. Broth might have been a better idea but they didn't have much but vegetables to make it with.
"Do you need any help?" Samantha asked. She'd just rinsed the dishes and had sat watching her father. Her dad was many things but indecisive was not one of them. She'd seen him hesitate before the man. It wasn't an action she really wanted to see again.
"Ah," Michael temporized while he thought. "Yeah, do you want to hold him up or feed him?"
As much as he preferred his daughter had as little to do with the man as possible Michael knew that he couldn't hold him up and feed him at the same time. He could try leaving the man lying on the ground but he'd be more likely to choke if he did.
"I'll feed him," Samantha offered. Not really liking the idea, Michael lifted the man up and rested Roy's upper back against his chest, he supported the man.
"Don't feed him too much at one time. The last thing he needs is to become hydrated from throwing up," Michael said as he watched his daughter carefully spoon the mush into the man's slack mouth.
"I've done this before," Samantha muttered. Her father has shown up at the cave more than once with gashes, broken bones and occasionally gunshot wounds himself. Not often but usually around the time of hunting season. Carefully she put a small dab of eggs on the spoon and slid it between Roy's teeth.
At first the yellow mash just sat in Roy's mouth. As the seconds turned into a minute, Samantha was starting to panic just a little bit when the man reflexively swallowed and the mash disappeared. A small groan escaped but the food didn't come back up.
By the six spoonful, Samantha had the feeling she was pushing her luck. Roy was taking the food faster but when she placed her hand on his abdomen she could feel the contents roiling around.
"I think that's enough for now," Samantha stated as she moved away. One of the cardinal rules of living in the cave was that you never left uneaten food around. If the flies didn't find it and lay their eggs, the predators of the woods would catch the scent and come looking. Rather than waste it though, Samantha put the bowl down in front of Kita and let the dog finish it off.
Laying Roy down as gently as he could manage, Michael checked his bandages. The wounds were still as clean as they were going to get. Tentatively, Michael placed his hand on the man's head. He still had a fever. Damn.
"Do you want to put the kettle on? We need to make him some willow bark tea," Michael asked his daughter. Taking one of the clean bandages, he soaked it in the cool water in the back of the cave, rang it out a bit and placed it across Roy's forehead. If it got too bad they'd have to consider taking him to the stream and submerging him. That would be the very last resort. Michael didn't want to take the chance of them being found, even if it meant risking their charge's life unduly.
"Sure," Samantha replied quickly. Kita had finished the contents of the bowl so she was rinsing it out. "But we're going to need some more fire wood before too long."
"Maybe tonight, after it gets dark," Michael temporized. He'd see then but only if it was absolutely necessary.
*****
"Over here!" Mike Stoker called out. The group had been searching for hours but he'd finally found the grooves again. In moments the others were surrounding the area of moss the engineer stood on.
"Great!" Bryce responded as he and Jaime knelt down to examine the marks more carefully. The two Rangers conferred as the firemen stood about holding their breath to hear the results of their tracking ability.
"Well??!" Hank Stanley couldn't take it any longer. He was surprised that Johnny hadn't been the first one to demand an answer. A quick glance at his youngest paramedic and the A shift Captain realized that the younger man was nearing a state of shock. Just what they didn't need. Hank turned his attention back to the Rangers for the moment. He'd deal with Johnny once he had as many facts as were available.
"This is definitely the same tracks," Jaime announced. "There's a woman and a dog. It looks like the woman is the one pulling the stretcher."
"And how exactly do you know all that?" Chet demanded. His patience was wearing a little thin too. Give him a straight forward fire any day of the week. This wandering through the woods was too far beyond his usual way of life.
"The foot prints are small, indicating a woman or a child. If it were a young child there would be no way for them to pull a stretcher with a full sized man on it. The dog prints are following to the side of the stretcher. If it were a wolf the tracks are more likely to be in the middle of the trail while it followed the scent," Jaime informed them. He looked up at the firemen and assessed their mood immediately. This search was taking more out of them than they were willing to admit.
"What would a woman be doing out here in the forest?" Marco asked. None of this was making sense to him. If they didn't find some definitive information soon he wasn't sure what they were going to tell Roy's wife. The two paramedics were supposed to be home tonight.
"It's a big park with a lot of caves for people to take residence in. We try to keep them out because not all of them are stable. Unfortunately there aren't enough of us and with the mild climate in California we collect more than our fair share of homeless people," Byrnes responded. He was following the trail, knowing that the others would come along behind. They had just about an hour before they would have to settle in for the night.
"Hey, Johnny, are you all right?" Hank asked as he sidled up beside the dark haired paramedic. They were the last two in the ragged line following Byrnes. He'd made sure of that so he'd have a chance to talk to the younger man without too many ears.
"Huh?" Johnny responded. He'd been in his own little world, trying to figure out what he was going to tell Joanne when his captain had asked the question. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Hank persisted. Johnny wouldn't look him in the eye so he knew the man was lying.
Johnny took several more steps before answering. His automatic response had been to insist he was fine but he knew he wasn't. He was staring at the possibility of losing his partner square in the face. His stomach hadn't stopped churning since he'd awakened in the morning. Try as hard as he could, Johnny couldn't quite stifle that sob that slipped between his lips. "I just want him back, safe and sound."
Not knowing what else to do, Hank placed a reassuring hand on the slightly shorter man's nearest shoulder as they tried to catch up to the others. Unconsciously, Johnny placed a hand on top of his captain's and heaved a sigh that came from the soles of his feet. Some of the turmoil in his stomach subsided. They were closer. That was all that really mattered.