Chapter 2

Dawn was beginning to wish that they were back in that prison type thing. This stupid forest was going to ruin her clothing. And her shoes… it would be best not to get her started on the condition of her shoes.

Connor, on the other hand looked completely comfortable. Something about the forest just seemed to agree with him. Personally, Dawn was betting that the forest was an evil sentient creature luring them to their doom. A little far fetched, but anything that ruined perfectly good boots had to be evil.

Not to mention their unhindered escape from… wherever that prison was. Something was definitely off about this entire thing. Of course, it could just be something about this entire dimension. But Dawn doubted that.

"Am I the only one who thinks that our escape was too easy?" Dawn asked.

"No. There should have been some sort of security system inside the vents," said Connor.

"You noticed t-EEEP!"

Not paying attention to where she was going, Dawn had walked over the edge of a steep incline.

Eyes wide, Connor dove after his companion. His hand reached out, grabbing her arm right before it disappeared from sight. Still sliding toward the edge, Connor tried to find something, anything to brace himself with.

No trees or rocks big enough within reach, Connor tried to come up with a plan. From what he could see, it was a long way to the bottom with quite a few sharp looking rocks on the way. He ignored Dawn's mumbles of "Don't let go. Don't let go." If he didn't do something, and soon, the results would not be pretty.

His plans were cut short rather suddenly. Connor nearly let go of Dawn's hand as he jerked to a halt. She reached up, her other hand now holding his wrist tightly.

Without looking to see who or what had stopped his fall, Connor lifted the arm holding Dawn.

Dawn felt herself being lifted. Ignoring her fear she scrambled back on to level land. She hated heights. Absolutely hated them!

As a child, she had climbed everything from trees to the cliffs by the beach. But after the whole Glory thing, Dawn had never looked at climbing the same. She knew her acrophobia was harmful, but Dawn just couldn't bring herself to care.

Still shaking, Dawn stood up. She dusted herself off and looked around. Connor was standing up as well. He had quite a bit of dirt down his front and a couple scratches.

"Are you two alright?" asked an unfamiliar male voice.

They both turned to look. A man in a uniform (forest ranger?) was standing up as well. He was tall with red hair. The hair was in a style Dawn had only ever seen in old pictures. No self-respecting male would wear his hair in such a way in her time.

Connor gave a curt nod. "Dawn?"

"I-I think so," she managed to stutter out. "W-who are you?"

"Roy Harper. I'm the forest ranger around here," he said.

Dawn almost missed the way Connor had stiffened at the name. Somebody he knew? She would find out later.

"I'm Connor Hawke and this is Dawn Summers," said her companion. "Could you direct us to the nearest town? Or a trail?"

"It's too late to walk to town today," said Ranger Harper. "If you come back with me, I can provide you with a place to sleep for the night and some food. I can take you into town tomorrow."

"Thanks," said Connor.

The cabin wasn't much, but it was solid and well built. Only two rooms and an outhouse out back. Not that Dawn cared much at the moment.

"Sorry about the mess," said Ranger Harper. "My wife is off visiting her sister in Fredomia. You know how women get when they're expecting."

"Is this today's paper?" asked Dawn.

"Yesterday's paper."

"Thanks," Dawn said sheepishly. "I like to look at the society pages. If you want, I could make dinner. It's the least I could do."

"Thanks, missy. There should be enough food for all three of us."

"Anything in particular that you don't like?"

"Don't care so long as it's food," said Ranger Harper.

"I'm a Buddhist," said Connor.

"Then no meat for you, right?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah."

"Why don't you two run off somewhere," said Dawn. "Men have no place in the kitchen."

Before leaving, Connor had glanced at the newspaper Dawn had pointed out. May 9, 1946. At least that explained why Dawn was acting that way.

"So what were you two doing in the forest?"

Connor turned to look at Roy Harper. The father of the original Speedy. The father of the man he considered to be an older brother.

What should he say? What could he say?