Sam was already in Baby, Cougar and Coyote were in her car and it was already running. Roy jogged to his car, I got into mine and backed her up so our trunk lids would block the view from the hotel while he moved his stuff over. Sam didn't say anything, I got back out and popped the trunk. Roy moved fast so it wasn't more than minute later when I closed the trunk while he got into the backseat. I got back in, pulled in behind Coyote and we headed out.

She led us up some roads that led farther into the hills where the bodies had been found and finally pulled off and down a dirt road that led a few miles into the forest. We came to a small river, she parked and they got out of the car. The three of us followed suit, she opened the trunk of her car and Cougar started gathering things while she pointed across the river in a northeast direction. "I dug around on the net looking for unlisted hiking trails and such by where the bodies were laid out. A seven mile hike from the main trail was going to take way too long and I really don't want to spend the night out here."

I grabbed my 1911, the machete and a few other things while she talked. "Can't argue with that."

"There's supposedly a small trail that starts across the river that's about a two mile hike to where we need to be. Hope those tennis shoes are waterproof Roy."

"Give me a second. I brought different clothes" He reached into a bag and pulled out his boots and pants from his Arsenal suit.

I had to stop myself from saying anything too harsh, "You brought that?" Who the hell puts their "secret identity suit" in the trunk of their car?

"Not the whole thing, I'm not an idiot. The pants are setup to hold weapons like knives and those darts, plus they're leather so will work pretty well out here and the boots are waterproof and quiet. Sort of like the moccasins they have on."

"Oh, makes sense then. Good call."

He changed out of his jeans and tennis shoes, Coyote and Cougar hung a bunch of pouches from their pants and around their necks, I was guessing herbs for whatever she thought she was going to need them for and Sam and I loaded up on weapons. Roy slung his quiver across his back, picked up his bow, closed Baby's trunk and we followed Cougar across the river. As soon as we hit the woods all those fun things I'd picked up in Purgatory came back, looking up, checking out shadows for any movement, listening for twigs snapping, lack of animal sounds, trying to avoid stepping on branches or leaves as much as possible. The woods were damp so that helped keeping the sounds of our feet down. Cougar and Coyote were in front and I leaned closer to Sam's ear. "Watch where they walk, try to hit the same spots. Keep the noise down." He nodded. I drifted back to the rear of the group, Roy was to the right and slightly ahead of me, Sam to my left and Cougar and Coyote were ranging back and forth in the front.

We'd covered a decent amount of ground when Cougar froze and threw his right hand up in a fist. He pointed at something on the ground and motioned to Coyote, who took a step closer to him and looked down, she nodded and motioned for us to get closer to her. We all joined her, "Trap," she said then picked up a pretty thick branch and shoved it into the ground hard, a rope wrapped around the branch and yanked it up into the tree.

Well that made things more interesting, "We sure that's not just a hunting trap for deer?" I whispered.

"Usually you don't try to yank a deer into the trees," Coyote pointed out.

"True."

Cougar inched his way forward, made it about five feet and waved us on. We joined him and he pointed to the trees on either side, pointed at each of us in turn, spread his hand apart, looked at Coyote and shrugged. He wanted us to spread out and wait to see if anyone came to check the trap.

"That probably would work better if one of us screamed like we were caught." I suggested, still in low tones, he looked a bit surprised that I'd understood the sign language, turned slightly to the right and pointed to the ground again. I picked up on the outline of the rope underneath the leaves and nodded. "Well?" I asked Coyote.

"Pick a direction guys," she replied. "I'll trip that in a few seconds"

Cougar moved and I swear just melted into the woods to the right of us. I was watching him and I still didn't see where he went or hear a single sound, which made me pretty happy he was on my side of this fight. I'd hate to have him actually pissed off to the point where he'd decided to hunt me. That probably wouldn't end too well for me. Roy went left and did a pretty good job of fading into the shadows, Sam went forward and ducked behind some trees.

"I'll play bait," I offered. "You hide. Just don't leave me hanging up there."

"Not the plan," she snapped, "Don't argue. I'll trip it we both hide."

"Cougar said these guys are trained in the old ways. If people are watching this somewhere or waiting to hear it go they'll know the difference between a branch going up and a full grown person. They obviously aren't right here or they would have attacked already. I'll go up, we wait a few minutes, if no one shows, cut me down and we move on."

"And if someone does show up? You'll be a sitting duck up there if someone decides to take you out without getting close." She was keeping the worry off her face but her eyes told a different story.

"I've got a gun and I'll have a pretty good view from up there. It's not the first time I had to take things out while hanging upside down. Don't ask. You know I'm right, move."

"Dean!" Sam hissed from behind his tree.

"It's fine. We're wasting time." I took a step forward. The rope locked onto my ankle and I shot up. I didn't have to try to yell. Even though I knew it was coming it's still a bit surprising when that happens. The rope snaked up the side of the tree, I slammed into the trunk and crashed through a few branches before I was dangling, swinging from side to side and slowly spinning in a circle. "Son of a bitch that hurt!"

Fun fact, snares don't tend to stop tightening, especially when suspending about two hundred pounds eight or nine feet off the ground. There are reasons I tend to go for boots with higher tops and have a blade strapped to my ankle. Those things tend to stop ropes from cutting off circulation to your foot in situations like these. Not all the monsters in Purgatory were just about mindlessly attacking anything that moved, some of them liked to prolong the kill. Fun fact number two, it takes about sixty seconds of blood running to your head before you start to get a headache. I started hollering, "Hey! Help! Anyone out there! Help!" I struggled against the rope, pulled myself up as much as I could and in general made as much noise as possible. Fun fact three, sixty seconds takes a damn long time to pass when you're hanging upside down from a tree branch. It felt like ten minutes before they showed up but I knew it was probably more like three. I saw four guys heading towards me from the side of the woods Cougar and Coyote were on. They were Native and dressed similar to Cougar. They all had long hair, bows strapped across their backs and moved like they'd been born to the woods. I wasn't sure if Coyote and Cougar had seen them so I figured I'd give them a heads up. "Hey! You guys over there!" I pointed towards the direction the guys were coming from, "Little help here!"

The one that was in a dark blue shirt and black pants pulled his bow off his back, nocked an arrow and pointed it at me. "Whoa, whoa! No need for that guys. Wait, are you Indians? What the hell is this? It 2015 not 1815. You guys have some unresolved issues or something?" I've always held the firm belief that pissing off things that are about ready to kill you keeps you alive longer. Most of the time they just can't keep their mouths shut and have to say something back to you.

"Shut up." Blue shirt ordered. "These are our woods, not yours."

"Yeah, last time I checked they belonged to the state of Colorado, but hey, if you pay your taxes I guess you technically own them. Care to cut me down?" Why the hell wasn't Coyote doing anything?

The rest of them gathered around me and looked up, "What do we do with him?" The one with the beige shirt asked.

"He's too old for the next stage." Blue shirt replied, "Kill him, cut..."

An arrow flew out of Roy's side of the woods and nailed blue shirt in the back, straight into his heart, he dropped like a rock. I craned my neck and saw Roy stand up, nail beige shirt with another arrow to the chest and duck back behind a tree. The other two bad guys yanked their bows off their backs but before they could take any shots Cougar had somehow morphed out of the woods and took the one with a green shirt out with a knife to the throat while Sam lunged from his hiding spot and shoved a knife into the last one's neck, then yanked it out and let the guy drop.

"Catch him," Cougar said to Sam.

"Got it." Sam got beneath me and I watched Cougar wrap his hands around the rope right before Coyote severed it with a knife. Cougar lowered me down, Sam grabbed my shoulders and guided me to the ground. I worked the snare off my ankle and looked over at Roy. I don't know how many people he's killed so far but he mechanically yanked his arrow out of the guy's back, wiped the blood off on the dead man's shirt and stuck it back in his quiver. I knew better than to compliment his accuracy.

"May have been nice to ask one of these guys where she is," I suggested.

"They don't need to talk to tell us that," Cougar countered. "Ready?"

"Yeah."

No one said anything as we left the four bodies behind and followed their tracks deeper into the woods.