Eternal Love

Chapter 20: The search continues

Sheila, her friend and the two hunters continued on through the last few miles of the deserts of Nevada in a matter of a couple days. They arrived at the Rocky mountain line and Sheila realized they were in Wyoming. This, fortunately was a short state from west to east; so it shouldn't take no more than a week to get through. The hunters weren't so sure, but they gave her the benefit of the doubt. They had never been out of California; so all these lands were new to them.

These two hunters were intelligent and seemed to have photographic memories. They could recount to her and her friend every detail of the journey so far. Sheila was comforted by this. She knew she was in good company. Her friend thought so too.

They got a few miles up the Rocky mountain and decided to make camp at a sturdy clearing they found. They stopped and set up camp and the hunters went to gather more wood for the night. Sheila and her friend got busy making a dinner of potatoes and bread; they were going low on the provisions. The hunters agreed to go hunting early in the morning; before sunrise. It was the best time to find good game.

The night fell upon them and as soon as the moon rose; the nightly howls and grunts began. The hunters and her friend were a bit bewildered by the sounds; but Sheila reassured them it was only curious wild animals. There was a abundance of them in the Rocky mountains, of all kinds. They all settled down a bit and enjoyed the rest of the night. Sheila thought the best part of it was looking up at the stars and thinking Thomas must have been looking at those same stars at that very moment; she could've sworn she felt his presence within her.

The next morning, Sheila and her friend woke up to the two hunters whooping and hollering in satisfaction. They had got a good size buck: at least a two hundred pounder: that morning, hunting. It seemed to Sheila and her friend it was a older one, but it didn't matter. Food was food. The meat may come out tough, but it would fill them full and that's what really mattered.

After breakfast, Sheila and her friend packed up the rest of the meat tightly. They wanted it to last as long as possible. The hunters also had scouted a safe trail to follow east through the mountains that morning, while they hunted. They had marked the trail with blood stained marks on the trees along the path. The hunters assured a concerned Sheila the blood was deer blood; just to ease her mind.

They continued on down the mountain path. By the end of the day, they reached the first valley. The hunters went out again, as they did so many days before. Sheila and her friend set up camp again. The hunters came back sooner than usual; which concerned Sheila.

Her friend told her, after she spoke to the hunters, that the hunters had found a camp of what they called "demons" a few miles south of where they were. Sheila assumed they probably saw a camp of lycans, but told the hunters to take her to the camp anyway; just to be sure. They hiked a few miles south until they got to the camp. There was a small fire in the middle of three tents surrounding it. She didn't see that anyone was there, however.

After glancing inside the tents and checking the surrounding area; they decided to go back to their camp. When they arrived; they saw their camp had been torn through. Sheila's friend was nowhere to be found either. The hunters went out to look for her friend while Sheila gathered up what was still in good condition. After a few hours, the hunters returned with a frightened woman.

Sheila realized it was the chief's wife, her friend. Her friend told her that the camp was attacked by something that moved so fast; all she saw was everything destroyed around her. Sheila thought maybe her friend was too shook up to tell her what really happened. She suggested the hunters stay up and keep watch, while they slept. The night went on uneventful; which made Sheila wonder what was really out there.

She thought for sure whatever it was would come back throughout the night; but no one came. The hunters said nothing had happened except for a couple curious coyotes coming by. Sheila told them to keep watching anyway; she didn't want them to be caught unaware one of the nights during their travels. The hunters walked a half a mile ahead of them, just in case there was something ahead. For a week, nothing happened and they didn't see any sign of the other camp either.

They got through the Rocky mountains and came out to a small city in the valley. They called it "Denver". Sheila hadn't realized how far south they had wandered in the mountains until they arrived in Denver. Thanks to the strange events with that other camp; they had wandered ten miles south of the trail they were following. Sheila suggested they hire a guide when they got to town. She decided they were too far out of familiar territory to continue on by themselves.

They found a guide, whom Sheila could sense was a lycanthrope as she was, and hired him. He was a younger man and had a sweet smell to him that reminded Sheila of the lavender that used to grow in her little garden back home. He said he could take them as far as the state line, but couldn't continue past that point. They were fine with that, Sheila had said she was fine with that and they continued on their way.

A blizzard had blown in when they were halfway to the state border; which put a hold on their journey. The storm lasted for three days; yet seemed to feel twice as long to Sheila and the rest of her search party. They mostly ate, drank and slept those days away; except for the brief conversations from time to time. On the fourth day, the storm had finally subsided. They packed up and continued on their journey.

They finally arrived at the Nebraska and Colorado State border; which relieved Sheila. The journey through the long valley had been very trying. She was looking forward to setting up camp and getting some much needed rest. However, there really wasn't anywhere safe enough to set up. There was farms all around the prairie; which made it difficult to find a place to camp without getting run off.

They traveled on for the rest of the day and found a small creek that had nothing but green valley open and unowned all around it. The sun had gone down and they set up camp a few feet away from the creek. Throughout the night, they would hear dogs howling, but never coming close to the camp. Sheila was okay with it as long as they didn't come near the camp. Her friend however was a little bewildered by it.

Sheila assured her everything would be okay and let her friend fall asleep in her arms. Sheila softly sang the Ute song her friend loved so much until she fell asleep. Sheila got up, covered her friend with a blanket and went to her own tent. By the next morning, Sheila was feeling much better.

Having had the rest she needed for full energy to come back to her; Sheila was ready to go for a few days. Her friend, however had looked as though she was up all night.