Chains

Chapter 11 - A Search Party

Jaxon

We've been hiding in the cave for a little over a week now. Lucy has been teaching me all about living in the wild and how to cover my tracks so nobody will know we're here if anyone passes by. I'm not very good at hiding my trail; Lucy follows after me covering up what I've missed, she has to make sure. I've learned to fish and am pretty good at that. Lucy gave me a line, a piece of hers, and showed me how to use it and store it when not in use. I've also been able to catch a few small animals on my own; I just have to let Jake take over and his instinct does the rest. Mostly I've caught ground squirrels but a couple of small rabbits too. Lucy showed me an ingenious way to dispose of the entrails, bones and skin so that anyone seeing them wouldn't think anything of it. She found a badger's den not too far away and we'd simply leave the remains in front of the burrow and it would eat them. Anyone seeing them would think that it was the remains of the badger own kills.

These small animals aren't much when split between the two of us, but compared to what I've been eating for the last several years, I feel like each meal is a mini-feast. We also eat a few edible roots and berries that Lucy collects while out scouting.

We are hiding in the cave right now. During Lucy's scouting rounds this morning, she spotted a search party from our old pack. We're currently in the entrance of the cave, watching the searchers as they check the area for signs that we may have passed through. We are using herbs and flowers Lucy gathers when she's scouting to make a "scent mask" that hides our scent. It's not as refined as the one she brought with her from the pack, but it's effective nonetheless. We use it every morning and evening. We mash all the herbs together, add some water and strain out the liquid. It's really easy and the herbs and flowers are plentiful. Apparently though, she says that not too many wolves know about this. That's a good thing too because if rogues knew about it, they would be able to infiltrate pack territories much more easily, and that could be deadly for any pack. I shuddered at the thought of that.

Lucy has worked hard to kept our camp free of signs that we are here, and she's really good at it. But all the other scouts from our old pack know all the tricks she knows too, if any any of them are here with the search party, they might still see the signs, well hidden though they may be.

One of the searchers has moved closer to where we're hiding and she's a scout. Just our luck. She's seated on a large boulder, looking around, noticing every little thing. I have to remind myself to breathe I'm so nervous. We both know her, her name is Katy. She's one of Lucy's former classmates and they were friends. I watch Katy take something out of a small bag she's carrying and start to nibble on it. From my position it looks like it might be one of those hard pack rations Lucy brought with her. They were all gone now. They're not all that tasty but they're nutritious. I wish I had one right now. At one point, I thought I caught a glimpse of her looking directly at our hiding place. I must have been mistaken, because she didn't make any indication that she saw us or knew that we were anywhere nearby.

After a while she got up and walked away, heading back towards the other searchers. Then they all moved off, heading in a direction that would take them away from us. We both breathed a sigh of relief watching them move off.

That evening after darkness had fallen, Lucy felt that it was safe for us to go out again. I made my way over to where Katy had sat eating her ration. What I found there confirmed that she knew we were somewhere close by. Her little pack of rations was sitting right there. Lucy agreed that Katy must have seen some sign of our presence; but she also said she didn't think any of the scouts would give us away. The older scouts had been friends of dads, and the younger ones were good Lucy's good friends. Lucy herself was close with all of them. She told me how the scouts were all angry at what the alpha had done to me; and they were not happy about how the alpha was just letting the beta take care of everything related to the pack. They had a ton of respect for the beta; he was doing one hell of a job without any help from the alpha and they appreciated everything he did for them, but it was still the alpha's job and he wasn't doing it.

Due to the searchers, we hadn't been able to hunt or fish today. Thanks to Katy, though, we were able to settle down for the night having each eaten a portion of travel rations; so we weren't terribly hungry. As I drifted off to sleep, I couldn't stop myself from worrying that my freedom was only temporary.