The forest was deathly quiet, except for the echo of quick footsteps trudging across the snow-covered ground. Ryu stopped for a minute to catch his breath.
"How far did that psycho run!" Ryu gasped.
"Really far, apparently." Yoh answered.
"We'd better hurry." Horo Horo said while looking up at the sky, "I think it might snow again."
Ren rolled his eyes, but Yoh knew better. Horo Horo came from the Ainu tribe up in the frozen regions of Hokkaido. Being able to read nature's signs like a book was necessary for survival for his people.
"Well let's get a move on, shall we?" Ren growled.
Ren must have thought better also.
It felt like hours passed before suddenly Horo Horo stopped abruptly in front of the group. He peered at the ground carefully.
"I think there's a footprint." Horo Horo said quietly.
"About time." Ren said.
"You know this is your fault, Ren."
"WHAT? How is it my fault?"
"You kept calling Faust names!"
"So? I was only telling the truth."
Suddenly, a beam of light shone at them. A sound of footsteps approached them.
"Hello?" a voice cried.
"Who's there?" Yoh answered.
A man in a puffy blue jacket walked over to them. He examined them with the flashlight as he adjusted his cowboy hat.
"My name's Officer Peter Jones." The man said after a minute passed.
"Are you looking for someone?" Yoh asked.
"I'm sort of lost, to be honest. I was with my recovery party, but a storm blew in and separated us."
"We can help you find your way back if you like."
The others in Yoh's party stared at him.
"He can help us, you guys. By any chance," Yoh started to ask, "have you seen a tall blonde man run by? He's wearing a really large raincoat with an ugly hat, has blue eyes with really dark bags under them, really skinny, has a bandage wrapped around his shoulder, and is probably laughing and giggling like a schoolgirl."
The policeman paused to think.
"Well, I saw something like a lab coat hanging off from a tree. It was pretty torn up though."
"If he's running around naked, I'm going back!" Ren huffed.
"If he is, in a few hours he'll probably freeze to death." Officer Jones said as he rubbed his arms.
"Where did you see the coat?" Manta asked.
"Oh, over there, about a good ten minutes from here." Officer Jones pointed behind him.
Ten minutes turned into half an hour before they found the coat. It hung limply from a pine tree, torn and bloody.
"Hopefully he just took off his coat." Yoh winced.
"From this spot, your friend shouldn't be that far away." Officer Jones said.
The group spread themselves out slightly, hoping Faust was nearby, even if he was laughing at them like it was all a big game. Time passed, and hope wore thin.
"You think he ran further, Yoh?" Ryu yelled.
"I'm starting to think so." Yoh yelled back, "Let's take a break."
The group sat around under another pine tree.
"What time is it?" Horo Horo yawned.
"It's about 1:30 in the morning." Officer Jones answered.
"Can't we look for him in the morning?" Ren asked.
"No, he'll die out here." Horo Horo answered.
"And we have to take the policeman back to his group." Yoh said.
Just what I needed, Ren thought.
Suddenly, Amidamaru came by, from being sent out to search for his master, floated carefully to Yoh, avoiding the gaze of the police officer. He poked Yoh to get his attention.
"Yoh, I think I found something." Amidamaru whispered.
"What?"
"It's a campsite. It looks like it's been abandoned for a good while, but maybe Faust is hiding there."
"Alright. We can check there."
Yoh turned to the rest of the group.
"Hey guys, let's go that way." Yoh pointed, "I got a feeling about it."
The group arrived at the campsite. It was eerily quiet, except for a slight breeze that whistled through the torn tent that stood alone. Ashes from a extinguished campfire blew away once in a while. A stench floated in the atmosphere.
"It smells like something dead!" Manta cried.
"It's probably Faust." Ren answered.
"It smells like something decomposing." Officer Jones said as he approached the tent. He rapped the side of it, and called to it. When no one came out, he opened it. He stared and stepped back.
"No one's here." Officer Jones quickly said.
"Really?" Yoh asked as he walked over.
"Please don't."
"Don't what?"
"Look."
"Why not?" Yoh said as he pulled back the tent door.
He suddenly realized why Officer Jones wanted to leave so soon. Two corpses were laying side by side. They were barely starting to rot, since the cold weather impeded the natural "cycle".
"They've been...torn up." Yoh winced.
"I think I know one of them." Officer Jones said as he proceeded to have a closer look at one of the bodies, "This one is the police chief's daughter. She's the main reason I'm out here. He sent us to look for her after she disappeared. A hiker found this campsite with a camcorder laying around, and we tried coming up here according to what he told us."
This is bad, Yoh thought, That thing already killed two people. But it's probably done it before.
He knew that if Faust was going to be found alive, they would have to hurry.