“He’s still going this way. Do you think he’ll camp where we do?”
“No. He’ll camp illegally. That’s why we’ll have to go into the bush to try and locate him.”
She thought a grizzly could carry all this gear and move faster than humans. She hadn’t gone camping in a couple of years. Hiking, sure, but not carrying this much gear. Though it was still less than it would have been had she had to carry all of it.
They paused to drink some water and ate protein bars. They hadn’t seen anyone on the path so far, but they were hopeful they would find Younger since they hadn’t lost his scent. It was hours old, so he was way ahead of them, probably because Grayson had needed to be looked at in the clinic.
It seemed to take them forever to reach the campsite. There were only two flat spots for camping; the other already had two tents. No one was around, and she figured they were all hiking. Thankfully, the two sites were separated from each other by trees so they had privacy.
“We have fresh water,” Kendra said.
“Yeah, some of the spots don’t. This is great. A beautiful view of the lake and mountains. It’s lovely.”
She wished they were on a camping date now, not just chasing down a fugitive. But of course, if they could catch him, that would make it even more worthwhile.
He helped her set up the tent, and he was a real pro.
She knew how to do it too, but he was just really quick about it. “I’m going to get some firewood.”
They already had a fire ring of stones waiting for them. No fire bans were in effect, so they could use it. But she also had a gas stove in case a fire-danger alert came up. Though with it getting ready to rain later tonight, they probably wouldn’t have any trouble.
“We’ll go together.” That was one of the things that took the most effort. Gathering firewood and keeping it stockpiled. She also figured the two of them could handle the threat from Younger better if they ran into him.
They went into the woods and started gathering fire material. She was picking up tons of dry twigs and smaller branches, while he carried larger logs. She didn’t smell any sign of Younger in this direction. They needed to follow the trail further when they began searching for him again.
Then they set up the twigs and sticks and started the fire. This was fun. It was still light out, being early summer, and she was ready to start cooking hot dogs, something she rarely ate, but they were great for a campout.
“When was the last time you went camping?” Grayson asked her.
They sat on the foldout chairs and roasted their hot dogs over the fire. The flames flickered, and the skin on the hot dogs bubbled up.
“I went a couple of years ago. It had been some years before that when I went with my sister before she was murdered. So it was hard for me to go alone, but I had to. I had a fugitive who had headed into the forest, but, like your one case, this guy wasn’t prepared to live on the land. The nights turned cold, and he had nothing to protect him. It snowed and sleeted, and he was soaking wet when I found him. He had gotten so turned around that he had planned to go back to one of the trails, but he couldn’t find it.”
Then they put the hot dogs on buns, and he added mayonnaise, mustard, and ketchup. She added just ketchup.
“He was lucky you were tracking him.”
“He was. He was freezing. He was lucky he didn’t lose his fingers and toes. He was dressed for warmer weather during the day and had no warm clothes for the night. No shelter, and no food. And he didn’t know how to build a temporary shelter or get out of the forest. He didn’t have any water and made the mistake of drinking from the river, which made him really sick. He ended up with E. coli and Giardia.”
“Which led to diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach cramps.”
“Yeah. Nausea and fever too. He lost a lot of weight and was terribly dehydrated.”
“Was he appreciative that you found him and got him medical attention?”
“No. He was totally pissed off that I caught him and turned him in.”
Smiling, Grayson shook his head and fixed himself another hot dog.
She ate another too. “I love them roasted like this.”
“Yeah, me too.”
She was ready to make s’mores also. She hadn’t had those in years either.
Grayson cooked two more hot dogs for himself, but she was ready for a s’more and began roasting a marshmallow, then stuck it between chocolate bars and graham crackers. When she took the first bite of hers, she moaned with delight.
Grayson smiled at her, and when he was finished with his last hot dog and she was finished with her s’more, he licked the chocolate off her lips. “Hmm,” he said.
