Chapter XXVI

Caitlin awoke just before dawn. She could feel Duncan's even breathing behind her and knew he was asleep. It was cold inside the small cave but not unbearably so. She lay in her husband's arms and listened to the sounds outside their refuge. Although it was still dark outside some of the morning birds had already begun to sing. And there was another sound. A sound foreign to the mountain forest. It was the low drumming of a helicopter and although it was off in the distance it signified that the extraction team was still searching for them. She dozed on and off until sunlight although attuned to every sound outside the small cave. At first light she gently nudged Duncan awake and then, being the easier of the two to crawl to the opening, did so to survey the situation outside.

As Caitlin looked out the opening of the small cave, Duncan stretched his cramped legs. He watched her in silent admiration still unable to believe she was back in his life again.

Caitlin turned to see Duncan watching her. "What?" She asked, feeling a little self-conscious.

Duncan shook his head with a smile. Then gave a nod toward the outside. "What's going on out there?" He asked.

"they've got the helicopter out but it's quite aways away," she answered and pointed in the direction they had come.

Duncan nodded as he moved toward the opening of the cave. "Good. They're following the misdirections. We better get going before they figure it out."

"Duncan," Caitlin said, "where? We can't run from them forever."

Duncan reached past her and pushed the brush away from the opening. Then he made eye contact with her. Seeing the worry and fear in her green eyes, he reached up and, using the back of his hand, gently caressed her cheek as he said smiling, "We won't have to." He leaned forward and gave her a gentle, quick kiss. "Come on. Let's get going,' he said softly and put his hand on her shoulder, gently turning her toward the cave opening.

Duncan followed Caitlin out of the cave, replaced the brush and used a piece of it to brush away their tracks. "Head up," he directed and followed close behind Caitlin.

The climb was a gradual one for some distance then leveled out. Duncan took the lead at that point, taking Caitlin's hand as he broke into a run.

Caitlin did her best to keep up but the thin air and the fact that her head was beginning to throb again began to slow her down. After she had stumbled a couple of times she let go of Duncan's hand and stopped, bending over, placing her hands on her thighs and tried to catch her breath.

Duncan stopped and looked up through the trees at the sky and the position of the sun. it was mid day and they had been running for at least four hours. He went over to Caitlin and leaned down, putting his hand on her back.

"You okay?" He asked, out of breath himself.

Caitlin didn't answer him right away as she desperately tried to slow her breathing. Finally she nodded a couple of times.

Duncan looked around, getting his bearings. As he surveyed their surroundings he listened. So far the only sounds he heard were those of a Blue Jay, a Woodpecker and his wife's labored breathing Figuring they had increased the distance between themselves and their pursuers, he led Caitlin over to a log and said, "sit here and catch your breath,." which she did.

When Duncan remained standing Caitlin looked up at him. It was obvious he had other plans. "What?" She asked. "Where are you going?'

Duncan smiled as he said, "just stay put. I'll be right back." He took a couple of steps then looked back. He pointed to her, warningly and repeated, "stay put."

Caitlin drew her knees up and folded her arms, laying them on her knees, and rested her forehead on her arms. She tried not to think, even though the temptation to try and put everything that had happened to her since arriving at the meadow in some kind of order and analyze it was strong. She was afraid that if she gave in to the temptation the effort would accelerate the throbbing in her head.

Duncan searched the foliage for edible berries knowing they both needed to replace some of the protein the were using up. When he had gathered a couple of handfuls each he returned to Caitlin's side. As he approached her he saw how she was sitting and wondered if her headache was returning. If it was then she might go through what she had gone through before and that would mean that she would be destined to repeat it over and over until they found out what was causing it. And even if the cause was found there was no guarantee that they would be able to stop it. As he sat on the ground next to her he forced those thoughts out of his mind.

"Here," he said, removing a couple handfuls of berries from his pockets and handing them to her. "Eat these."

Caitlin raised her head and silently accepted the berries. She slowly ate what Duncan had given her without any argument. As she ate the last few in her hand she looked over at Duncan. He had eaten his and was looking around. She watched him, memorizing his features. She had forgotten him once before and she didn't want to ever again. She still had a lot of holes in her memory as Caitlin, as we as several as Kelly and there were still a lot of memories of both lives that were criss-crossing each other, confusing her. She wanted to make sense of them...to figure out what had happened to her and, most of all, stop the people who had done this to her and to Duncan..

Duncan felt her watching him and turned to look at her. He saw the look in her eyes and knew what she was thinking so he put his arm around her shoulders, laid his hand on the side of her head, gently pulling it to his chest.

"It'll be okay, sweetheart," he said softly. "It'll be okay." He hoped he wasn't wrong.

After a few more minutes of resting, Duncan removed his arm from around her shoulders and got to his feet. As he held out his hand to help Caitlin up, he said, "Come on. We need to get going."

Caitlin took his hand and as she stood up she asked, "where are we going, Duncan?"

Duncan pointed toward a low ridge in the mountain and said, "just over that ridge."

Caitlin looked in the direction he was pointing. "Why? What's there?" It was obvious he had a plan.

Duncan took her hand and started walking fast in that direction as he said, "someone who might help us." At least he hoped that they would.

»Pacific Northwest Mountains 1995«

Duncan and his friend, Charlie DeSalvo, while traveling through the mountains, have car trouble (Charlie's Jeep breaks down) and they end up camping out overnight. In the morning they meet a young Native American girl and a baby she claims is hers. She begs them to help her escape her father-in-law who wants to take her baby from her. They believe her story and try to help but soon learn that the baby isn't hers, that it belongs to the man chasing her, Avery Hoskins. Duncan gets her to return Hoskins' son to him and he tells Duncan that he owes him one.

After a short distance Duncan picked up their pace and they began running again. By nightfall they had finally reached the top of the ridge.

Duncan didn't want to stop now that they were so close to possible help, but Caitlin was exhausted. She had stumbled several times and she was in obvious pain. Unfortunately they had run out of forest cover and the remaining terrain was wide open. Even though they still hadn't heard any helicopters, he knew it was just a matter of time and he still was afraid they'd have high tech gear for locating them at night.

When they came to a stream, Duncan located a small grove of young poplars and he led his wife into it and stopped. "We'll stop here," he said.

Caitlin found a sandbar in the stream, dropped to her knees, cupped her hands together, scooped up some water and drank heartily. When she had drank her fill she stood and looked around.

Duncan looked around for anything edible but was unable to locate anything. He finally returned and knelt by the stream, quenching his own thirst.

Caitlin had located a large rocky outcropping where she had sat on the ground with her back up against the rock. She watched Duncan drink. When he had finished and stood up, turning to face her she asked, "how much farther to where ever it is you're headed?"

Duncan came and sat next to her. "Probably five miles or so," he answered.

"I'm assuming it's downhill?" She questioned. "Like in that little valley?" She pointed behind them with her thumb.

Duncan nodded. "Actually it's before the valley."

Caitlin sat up and turned completely around to face him, sitting cross legged. "The why don't we just keep going?" She asked looking him directly in the eye.

Duncan looked at her, surprised at her suggestion. He could see in the fading light that she had lost the color in her cheeks she'd gained after reviving and the dark circles under her eyes were returning. It was obvious, also, by the way she squinted slightly, that her head was aching again. He would have figured that the last thing she would want to do was continue on.

Caitlin saw his hesitation and even though not actually reading his mind, knew what he was thinking so she said as an explanation, "this," she waved her hand indicating the grove of trees they were sitting in, "isn't much of a shelter. Any heat sensing devices could locate us." She looked up. "And I doubt we'd be shielded from a high density spot light, either." She looked back at her husband. "We have no shelter from the elements and some of the clouds I noticed earlier looked kind of threatening. There's nothing to eat and we don't dare build a fire which may make us vulnerable to any cougars, bear or coyotes and we have no weapons. It's downhill so it won't be that hard." She stopped and took a breath. "I just think it would be better, since we still haven't heard the choppers, not to sit and wait, but just go on." She raised an eyebrow in question when she saw that Duncan had a strange smile on his face, one she couldn't read. "What?" She asked.

Duncan listened to Caitlin's monologue, first with curiousness, then with amazement and finally pride and as he listened and watched her a smile came to his face. For the past three years, he had been convinced that he remembered every aspect of his wife's personality, but now he realized that hadn't been completely true. He had forgotten how...when a situation got tough, so did his Caitlin. The more tense the situation, the more dangerous, the stronger, calmer and more clear headed she seemed to become. Just as she was now.

In answer to her question of "what?" he simply shook his head, reached up and gently moved a strand of her hair off of her forehead. Then he asked in a soft and loving voice, "what about your headache?"

Caitlin blinked in surprise. She had not even mentioned that it had returned and had been careful not to show any sign of it, not wanting to worry Duncan (or at least she thought she had).

Duncan's smile grew and he nodded as he said, "yes. I know it's back."

She wrinkled her nose at him and pretended a sneer. "It's going to get worse whether we stay here or not. And I don't know about you, but, if I'm going to go through what I went through last week, I'd rather know that we are closer to finding out why than we are now."

Duncan traced the line of her jaw and his eyes grew misty. Caitlin looked at him and asked, "what? What's wrong?"

Duncan shook his head again. "Nothing. Nothing at all," he said. "I guess I had forgotten just how amazing you are."

Caitlin blushed, and lowered her eyes shyly. "Yeah, right," she said. "I'm just being logical."

Duncan nodded, placed his index finger under her chin and raised it up so he could make eye contact. "I know," he whispered. "Most women would be basket cases by now."

Caitlin's eyes twinkled mischievously as she said, "In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not most women."

Duncan couldn't help but grin. It was the kind of answer you'd expect from her. He nodded, "yes. I have noticed. Which is one of the many reasons that I love you so much." Duncan winked.

"Okay. Can we dispense with the mushy stuff for right now?" She said partly teasing. "I vote we go on to where ever you're taking us."

Duncan smiled and sat forward. "Alright. If you're sure you feel up to it."

Caitlin got to her feet to prove the point and Duncan followed. "So which way?" She asked.

Duncan took her hand and said, "we follow the stream a ways. If my bearings are right we should come to a bridge. The road that crosses that bridge will take us to a friend's house. I think he'll help us. He sort of owes me one."

"Is this an Immortal friend?" Caitlin asked as she strained to see where Duncan was placing his feet in the darkness.

"No. Avery is mortal," Duncan answered and in anticipation of her next question said, "It's a long story. I'll tell you later."

Caitlin conceded, content to concentrate on where she was stepping. She didn't want to turn an ankle, possibly breaking it, which would seriously slow them down until it healed.

To Be Continued