Running in Circles

Untitled Part 7

"El impulso de sobrevivir es de gran alcance, ¿no/si?" = "The urge to survive is powerful, no/yeah?"

Eliza's heart sped with both rage and concern upon seeing Lafayette's terribly crippled state. She found relief in that Lafayette was alive but unconscious, but it was temporary; Regan wasn't with him, and neither were any of the others. She felt the familiar warmth of anger rise to her face as she gripped her hunting rifle tightly from atop the horse she had chosen. The horse was pawing at the ground and squirming nervously as if it knew what was to come out of the woods when the Rangers she sent in finally found them, but Eliza knew it was folly to think such a thing.

The first thing she noticed was that the forest was completely silent, and the only thing that kept her worried thoughts at bay was the crunching and snapping of the twigs and leaves under her squad's feet. There were no gunshots or shouting, which is what she would expect if the group was in trouble.

"You really care about them, eh?" Hailey's rough voice sounded from beside her.

Eliza cast him an indifferent glance and frowned. "Why the fuck do you care?"

The man laughed. "No need to get so defensive, boss. It's not a secret."

Her brows furrowed. "Where did you get those?"

"Oh, these?" Hailey gave an odd smile and held up the pack of cigarettes in question; one of them was hanging from his mouth, but he had yet to light it. "Found 'em."

Eliza shook her head in disappointment. "You know you're not allowed to have those, Hailey."

"Well, ma'am," Hailey sighed deeply, "we all know you're not above breaking the rules once in a while, either, eh?"

Her glance twisted into a glare, and she lowered her voice in a harsh whisper, "How the hell do you know about that?"

"Heh. Doesn' matter, 'Liza. You've got a soft spot for that kid." He held his hand up in defense before she could retaliate. "Now, don't get me wrong; that's a good thing- for you, anyway, but it could get you into some real trouble."

All Eliza could do in response was scowl at the elder man, but the squad's attention was shifted from their squabble when "Nessie"- the nickname that the other Rangers had gifted the girl due to her belief in supernatural creatures; her real name was Anne- shouted, "Hey! Look'it this!"

Nessie smiled widely and turned to show the others the bag she was holding by a strap with one finger. None of them recognized it; Eliza would know if it had belonged to anyone in Regan's squad. As Nessie rotated the bag, she saw the distressed, white logo on the side and aggressively ripped it from the woman's grasp. She felt through the thin fabric that something solid rested inside, but she said nothing and slung it over her shoulder to carry with them.

"Aw, what was that for?" Nessie whined.

"None of your business, Anne." Eliza strode forward to the front of the group and declared, "I'll see if any of the others recognize it when we get back, but, right now, we have to look for Regan, alright?"

And look the squad did; Eliza knew where Regan would be stationed, so getting to the cabin wasn't the problem, but arriving there and finding the place littered with the corpses of people and the few horses the squad had brought with them was the problem. Both luckily and unluckily, Regan was no where to be found; they knew where Lafayette was, of course, but there was another missing, who was one of the five stationed at the cabin. Two had been identified as deceased, two were alive, but the fifth was missing. Eliza raised her radio to her mouth, "Is Lafayette awake yet?"

"Even if he was, Doc's still stabilizing him," was the standby's answer. "What'd you need him for?"

"Never-mind," Eliza dismissed the question and sighed impatiently.