Chapter 2 - Alone
A/N: Thanks again for your help, Meemzz. Without your couraging words this story probably would still rot on my tablet.
17th September 1827 - unorganized Territory Wyoming somewhere in the Teton area
Wade Wilmington was in pain. Every move he tried to make hurt. The hole in which he had fallen was about ten feet deep and here he lay on the cold muddy ground. The mud hadn't prevented him from the heavy impact with the rocks underneath the thin layer of old leaves.
Wade looked around. The walls were slick and there was nothing to hold on to climb out of here. His breath became visible in small clouds. He had to get out of here. He would freeze to death before he got the chance to die from hunger. He had underestimated the cold weather in Wyoming. The former farm owner was used to temperatures around 60 degrees at least around this time in Connecticut, but Wyoming taught him how wrong he had been in more than one way.
He had started to explore their new home every day a little bit further. Today, he had been on his way northwest as a black bear had crossed his way. Without any reason, it had attacked. Bonnie had whined and rose so that Wade had trouble staying in the saddle. The bear had not been impressed by the horse and swung its paws at the horse. Bonnie had been hit to her flank and took off. Wade had had the choice to jump from his horse and take it on with the angry bear without more than a knife or to cling to his horse and see where they would end up.
Unfortunately, Bonnie had been out of her mind from pain and panic and had buckled him off a few miles further. He had lost his orientation during the wild ride and as he got kicked off he had rolled several feet until he just fell into this pit.
He needed to find a solution for this problem. Wilmington was not willing to die yet. He had to find a way home on his own. His boys waited for him. No one would find him here. So waiting for help was no option. This land was so lonely you could start to think you were the only living soul on this planet.
He tried again to get up. "Ahhh…" No way! His leg was broken, he was sure of that. "Fuck!" Frustrated, he leaned his head against the stone wall on his back, running a hand over his face and his mustache.
'A fine Guardian I am,' he thought sarcastically. Instead of leading the community of hunters, he was sitting in a trap. He nearly heard Mike in his head, scolding him for his stupidity. Stubborn as ever, Wade had vehemently defended his decision to move with the future of the Brotherhood to Wyoming. Wade knew it had cost Mike a lot of self-control as his Knight to let him as well as the boys go. Would his friend see him now, he would tell him once again how stupid this all was. But Mike wasn't here. He was alone here. He had no other option at the moment than to pray. "Oh Lord, please, send an angel from above to save me. My boys need me. Amen."
Wade had trust in the Lord, but he knew the good old man liked to help the ones who knew how to help themselves. So he kept brooding about a way out of here. Searching his jacket bags for something useful he emptied everything on the muddy ground. Daylight would fade in about two hours. Then it would be only a question of time until he would freeze to death. He tried to concentrate, but the pain from his leg did its best to distract him from finding a solution. Wilmington studied the items. Matches, a bandage, and little tinder for a fire, but where there is nothing to keep it burning it was a waste of time and effort to even build one. What else - his pocket watch, a knife, powder for his rifle, which still stuck useless in his saddle holster.
An idea formed through the mists of pain. Maybe he could create something like a signal with the powder, but how should he bring it out of this hole for anybody to see? He dismissed the idea. A smoke fire? He could burn parts of his clothes. His scarf and gloves maybe. But the fire would not have enough strength to burn the material without more wood.
Wade moved a little to the side which caused a lot of pain. "Argh, ok, first of all, I have to take care of this broken bone." He had nothing but his knife to use as a shin. Holding it in place to stabilize his leg he rolled the bandage around the blade. It steadied the break at least a bit. Cold sweat formed on his forehead and Wade shivered. He was thirsty. Exhausted he closed his eyes, resting his backhead on the wall again.
There was only one other thing that could help him out of here. He had no other option but to try it, though he was nearly sure it wouldn't work in the state of pain he was in.
*** WWT - Prequel ***
"Where is dad?" Eleven-year-old Daniel Wilmington shielded his face to search the horizon for his father. He wanted to be here in the afternoon. Now it was only an hour before sunset. Daniel began to worry.
His cousin, Cole Tanner, walked over to him. He and Samuel were about to repair the roof of the soil cabin they had built first when they had arrived three weeks earlier. Soon the rain had found a way through the soils and they had to rearrange them often. Before the winter would set in they had to build a wooden cabin. Wade had cut logs with Samuel the whole week for the walls.
"No sign of him?" the thirteen-year-old asked.
"No. Should we start searching for him?" Daniel tried to hide his fear but as usual, he wasn't able to hide anything from his cousin.
"Wade had ordered us to stay here. He will come," Cole answered calmly.
But Daniel saw the fear in Cole's eyes too. He kept brooding about what could have happened. "Maybe he is hurt? Or he had problems with Bonnie. We saw some bears in the area, too," Daniel listed the possibilities for Cole, getting more concerned with every idea that popped into his mind.
"We can not leave. What if Wade comes home and we are gone, searching for him? He will come soon. He would leave nothing untried to come back home. I'm sure of that." Cole patted Daniel's small shoulder, giving him a fake smile.
The boys waited patiently for another hour. The sunset came early in this area, for the big mountains surrounding the valley which gulped the sun like monsters today. The whole area lay in an orange twilight. Still waiting, Daniel sat on the stack of firewood, staring into the area. His fear increased with every further minute.
In the distance, he suddenly made out a movement. It was a horse. Finally, Daniel thought and climbed off the logs. "Sam! It's Dad! Look!" He signed in the direction where the horse neared the soil house. A shiver ran over his spine as he saw the animal was without a rider.
It trotted to them but shied away as Sam approached the animal. The boy caught the loose hanging bridle reins and stopped Wade's horse. "Shh, Bonnie. Easy, good girl," Sam began to calm her.
Daniel stood there unable to move, staring at the deep cuts on Bonnie's flank, while Sam had a hard time calming the mare.
Cole approached them. He had been inside to prepare supper. "What …? Where is Wade?"
All three boy's exchanged anxious glances. The fact that Wade's rifle was still in the saddle holster and the injury on Bonnie's side told them there had been an incident with a bear or a supernatural monster.
Daniel wasn't able to hold back his panic and fear anymore. He felt it rushing over him like a riptide. "We should have started searching for him earlier. Oh God, what if he is dead?" He felt a big lump forming in his throat. He had never before felt so scared. His father got lost. He hadn't noticed that he had started to hyperventilate until he felt his cousin's calming embrace.
Cole's words sounded far away, "Easy, Daniel. Calm down. Breathe easy for me. C'mon, look at me, buddy. We need to think straight now. Please, we can not worry about one of us in addition. Daniel, did you get me? That's an order!"
TBC
