A Hero's Protection

Trouble

Caroline took a deep breath as she entered the car once again. She had been traveling for almost a month and a half with no success in finding Jennefer. During this time she traveled to all of the places that she and Jennefer had been to, but she was struggling to remember the next location. With the vehicle the ninja gave her, she had been able to travel much faster and covered much ground. She was sure she would find her sister, but what if she was on the wrong track?

Caroline started the car and drove carefully through the trees in the forest. She had taught herself how to drive, making it possible for her to travel to offroad locations. As she drove, the trees became closer and closer together till she could barely drive through them.

"Ug, I can't do this anymore." Caroline stopped the car and got out, breathing in the forest air. She began to talk to herself, a habit she had developed over the days alone. "I've been searching for a long time, why can't I figure this out? I've done everything right, followed the clues, stayed safe, even helped some people out."

Needing to move around to shake off her anxiety, she jumped up into the nearest tree and began to climb. It was very hard because there weren't very many branches, but Caroline was so concentrated on not falling that she forgot about what she was worried about.

As she reached the top of the tree, she found a thickish branch close to the trunk and sat down. Breathing heavily she looked at the landscape around her, which consisted of orange, brown, and red leaves hanging onto branches.

Caroline worried about the coming winter. She had enough supplies from the last village to last a while but when was the next town? Where could she go to find a village? She looked around and realized she had trapped herself in an unknown forest with no direction as to where the road was.

"Where are you Jenn? What unknown force has taken me away from you?" Caroline was about to jump down from the tree when she suddenly heard commotion under her. Silently she created a barrier and lay on top of it, lowering herself just slightly so she could see through the branches.

"What did you find, boys?" A low voice asks. Caroline sees three dogs sniffing her truck, clearly interested in it. A moment later their owner arrives, surprise and curiosity etched on his face. He looks strong with broad shoulders and a messy haircut. He's dressed in brown clothes like he's hunting. "I wonder who it belongs to. How did it get out here?"

"It belongs to me," Caroline quickly takes her barrier away and grabs onto the tree, swinging out of it and doing a flip to land on the ground. Caroline straightens up to look at the man and warily watches the dogs, who begin to growl. She positioned herself right in front of the door just in case she needed to hop in.

"Ah, a small girl. You can't be out here all alone, where's the rest of your pack hm?" says the man. He moves slowly forward and Caroline realizes how tall he is. All thoughts of this guy helping her vanish as she watches his actions. His hand moves towards his hip, where a gun is visible.

"I am sorry if I intruded or anything, but I really need to go. I was actually lost believe it or not. Could you point the way out of the forest please?" Caroline's voice was higher than normal and she turned her body ever so slightly.

"I don't think so," He responds, still moving closer. He was only a few feet away from her now. "You're trespassing on private property. I choose what happens here and I say this truck is now mine and you are going to face some consequences."

In one quick movement, Caroline opens the door of the truck and climbs inside as fast as possible. She didn't anticipate a dog being right in front of the door and she yells in pain as the dog clamps his jaws around her leg. The man whips out his gun and the other dogs quickly come closer to me, barking.