Page 78 of Escaping Wildfire
“I’m starting to lose our scent. It’s really faint right here. I’m sorry, I’m a shit tracker.” She sighed.
“I’m not too great either, but there’s a cougar out here looking for us. We just have to get within their range, and maybe they’ll find us.” If only Noah was here with me, his tracking skills were great, and he had the most amazing sense of direction. I had brought my phone, but when I checked it earlier, I had no reception. I pulled it out again, just in case, but still no bars.”
“Would it be crazy if we climbed a tree to see if we can get cell reception higher up?” I looked over at Hadley with a shrug.
“Yes, actually, it would be.” She looked at me with a bit of a frown, and I chuckled.
“I just thought I’d ask, I wasn’t sure if we were desperate enough yet for that to sound like a good idea.”
“Not yet, but ask again in a few hours once I’m starving, and I might agree to climb a tree.”
We continued to walk towards the more mountainous region. Olivia said the cougars would escape through the mountains, so we thought maybe we’d luck out and run into them up here. I suddenly heard some rustling and got scared.
“What do you suppose that rustling sound is?”
“A mouse maybe?” Hadley shrugged, “It might also be a snake, though.”
“Snakes!? There are snakes here? Oh, great…I was hoping I left those behind in Texas.” I shuddered at the thought of snakes.
“A wolf shifter who’s afraid of snakes? That’s a new one,” she teased.
“Yeah, well, those things get scary back home…and they look gross. At least the rustling has stopped now.”
We walked on for a few more minutes before we decided to rest. The ground was starting to tear up our bare feet.
“Are you regretting helping out with this yet?” I said with a chuckle.
“Almost, but you can make up for it once we make it back to civilization.”
“Okay, I’ll be sure to do that.” I started to rub my sore feet as we rested. “Hey, can I ask what all that was earlier with your sister?”
Hadley stayed quiet, seeming to contemplate my question.
“It’s okay if you’d rather not say. I’m sorry I brought it up.”
“No…it’s not that. I was scared to say yes to coming because I didn’t want to upset my sister. As you’ve seen, she’s not the most pleasant of people.”
“Yeah, I’ve noticed.”
“She didn’t used to be that way, but she changed after her first attack. She came back different from the battle. Can you believe she used to be the sweetest person ever?”
“Not even a little,” I shook my head.
“She was.” Hadley had a faraway look in her eyes as she remembered how her sister used to be. “She’s a great fighter, but I don’t think she was actually cut out to be a warrior. War changed her.” She took a long pause before continuing. “I was scared to leave, but I also knew I had to think about myself in all of this, so I said yes…but then I got scared and thought maybe I should stay. When Scarlett came upon us, I mind linked her my plan, and well, you saw the rest.” She shrugged one shoulder.
“She was the one who told you to go, though.”
“Yeah,” Hadley nodded as a single tear rolled down her cheek.
“Don’t worry, Hadley, we’ll find our way out of this forest, and once we do, we’ll help Larkin take over as alpha. Then, you can help your sister.”
“I hope so.” She looked around again. “How long have we been out here?”
I looked at my phone, “A little over an hour.”
“That’s it? I’m starting to get hungry, so I thought for sure we had been out here for a few hours.”
“Unfortunately, not…or maybe fortunately as we’re still alive?” I fluffed my dress out around me in frustration. “Are we desperate enough to climb that tree yet?”