Chapter 14 Where Did He Go? Merna was fine with getting the group to their initial setup of the tents. In the clearing, the moon was visible to the group. “Markous!” Steve was the first to yell. Merna looked up at the clear sky and pointed, “we don’t have much time!” She squalled. Camile thought briefly, “originally it took us fifteen minutes to get to the site. In theory it should only take us fifteen minutes to get back. We have roughly two hours to get to the road.” One at a time, everyone took their gear off their backs. Steve looked inside Markous’s tent, “he isn’t in his tent!” Emma sounded frustrated, “where did that ... Markous go?” “Do you think that …” Camile started to say. “that he is dead?” Merna shook her head, “no! We have been given until the moon is at its highest!” Steve growled in frustration, “where the ... did Markous go?” Pierre was searching the ground, “I think he went into the woods!” He yelled as he entered the tree line, still visible to the group. Steve lowered his head, “why would he do that?” “There are several reasons why Markous does what he does, and we will never understand until he lets everyone know.” Emma said to Steve in a calm tone. Steve huffed and puffed, “that sounds like him!” Merna glanced at Camile, Emma, then Steve, “everyone ... quiet please!” She requested. Sounding concerned, “What?” Camile was the first to respond. “I think I heard something!” Merna said as she kept on looking around the location in circles. Everyone is silent, listening to the surroundings. Merna’s head shot in the direction she heard a noise coming from, “do you hear that?” Steve looked puzzled, “I hear nothing!”Merna looked concerned, “I thought … Maybe I was wrong! I don’t hear anything now.” Camile was the next to speak, “Does this not alarm anyone? We haven’t even heard a bird or small creatures. It is night time and we should be hearing insects by now and yet there is nothing.” “It is only mid June, maybe it is the time of year!” Emma pointed out. Pierre returned to the group, “Camile just pointed out something that we should have realized the second we entered the woods." Realization hit Pierre like a ton of bricks. "We all were too busy in our own thoughts to recognize the obvious. Woods are always filled with small rodents. I should have picked up on this. I was just so aggravated at Markous that I did not see it.” “Everyone sees but we don’t always see the whole picture.” Merna pointed out to the group. “But that isn’t what I was talking about, don’t you hear the laughter?” Everyone shook their heads, letting Merna know she was the only one at the time to hear the laughter from the edge of the tree line. Taken back, "Can't you see them?" Pierre inquired. "Even though I do have the gift of sight ... if an entity or spirt doesn't want me to see them ... they can hid from me. Hearing them is different! If they make any kind of noise, I will hear them!" "So ..." Emma asked the group, “what are we going to do now?” Her hands were on her hips. Merna brought her attention to Emma, “we are going to find Markous, he is somewhere in the woods.” Merna studied the tree line again. "There is no way we can get out of this without the fool!" “The woods … that is like finding a needle in a haystack?” Steve remarked. "We were gone for what seemed like hours!" Steve dragged his fingers through his hair, "the more we stand here, the more time that is going to slip past us!" Placing his hands on Merna's shoulder, “I can track him down …" Pierre stopped talking as he glared in the direction of a low growl. "Merna do your thing while I relocate the foot prints.” Pierre said to the group. "What was that?" Camile pointed in the direction the growl came from. With a shaky voice, "maybe it was Bronks!" Pierre was still glaring in the direction of the noise, "that was not Bronks!" "A wolf?" Steve's tone showed his fears. "No!" Pierre said slowly holding on to the o.“Since you are going to found Markous footprints,” Merna asked, handing Pierre the flashlight. “You will need this!” Pausing, she turned her head to Steve, "That was no animal that is known to the physical world ... that would have been one of them!" Taking the flashlight, "I will try to be as quick as possible! Do your thing, and then we will get the fuck out of here!" Placing her arms around Pierre, "becareful!" She whispered. Hearing another roar, everyone jumped with uncertainty. Pierre only nodded yes and was getting ready to return to the woods. "This can not be happening!" Steve muttered. Yelling, “Guys, we have another problem?” Steve’s voice had panic in it. Spinning around, “what?” Pierre did not see what Steve was talking about. Everyone brought their attention to the location that Steve had been pointing to. It was the area where everyone dropped their belonging. "Serously!" Emma yelled, "My things ... I just bought all of those items!" She cried. "This is not happening!" Camile ran her hands down her face, "What are we going to do?" She started to slowly stroll over to where the bags had once been. "What about the rest of the food and water?" Merna's hands were over her mouth, "Oh this is not good!" She placed her hands on the top of her head, "how could we be so careless?" "On the upside..." Steve began, exhaling, "we no longer have to carry around heavy equipment!" Steve was breathing rapidly, "it is only items! Items that we can replace once we get out of here! Not a big deal ... right!" Seeing red, “Son of a …” Pierre started to say. “BISCUIT!” Merna yelled.