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I nod and give him a wider one. “Not as much as I do.”
That seems to perk him up. It’s weird that he’s so worried. Between the two of us, I’m usually the one who worries all the time. He’s the one who always just takes life one hour of fun at a time. I can’t wait for us to go back to that.
“I’ll wait for you outside,” he says, opens the door and leaves me alone.
I get dressed hurriedly and join him. Everyone else, including all the volunteers, are already gathered around the fire pit, where a couple of embers are still glowing under the huge heap of black ash. They’re giving off no heat though and the wind blowing off the river carries the smell of winter. And its cold.
Miriam glances at me as I exit the trailer and go stand next to Eagle by the fire pit.
“So we are all gathered,” she says. “We will search in teams. Rick will take two of the volunteers and go north, Darius another two to search east, Sharina and I will drive back towards the reservation, Lily will stay here with one of the volunteers and Eagle you can take another volunteer and drive out towards the nearest city, which is about a hundred miles due south.”
“No,” Eagle says. “Lily’s coming with me.”
That set determination in his voice, and him trying to dictate what I will do, used to annoy me no end back when we were still just friends. It annoys me now too, but at the same time, there’s no way I’m just sitting around the camp while everyone else is out searching.
The blonde volunteer steps forward. “Two of us can stay here, no problem. I don’t know how much use any of us will be in the search anyway.”
The other volunteers all grunt and nod in agreement.
“I don’t know how much use he will be either,” Darius says, pointing at Eagle. “But we’re very short manned as it is.”
I feel the air around Eagle tighten and sharpen the way it does when he senses a threat.
“I’ve tracked and hunted men before, if that’s what you’re getting at,” he says in a low, calm voice. “Successfully.”
“No more bickering,” Miriam says commandingly. “Fine. Lily and Eagle will search the road towards the city. Two volunteers will stay here.”
She pauses to look at each one in turn. “We’re searching for any signs of my black pickup, the car Tina was driving. She might’ve gone off the road, or she might’ve just kept driving. We have no reason to believe she met foul play. I have already alerted the tribal police and the tribal council of Tina’s disappearance. They will be searching as well. Now let’s get going.”
“And pack provisions,” Rick says. “There’s no convenience stores where we’re going and it’s going to be another hot day.”
How he can tell that, given that I’m practically shivering from the cold is beyond me.
Everyone starts preparing and talking among themselves. Eagle turns to me, wraps his arm around my shoulders and leads me back towards our trailer.
“Thank you for not arguing with me about us staying close together,” he says. “I don’t know what’s going on around here, but I do know I don’t want to let you out of my sight.”
Wow, a thank you and none of the condescending, “I’m here to keep you safe”, bullshit.
I turn and give him a peck on the lips, since that’s the best way I can think of to respond.
“I love you too, Eagle,” I say and smile as his eyes go very wide and very soft at the same time. “And I want to keep you close too, so nothing happens to you either.”
He grabs the back of my head, his long, strong fingers tangling up my hair as he pulls me closer for a real kiss, the best one yet, the one that says, loud and clear, that we’re a team. Always have been, always will be.
* * *
EAGLE
I wanted to take my bike, but they convinced me one of the cars was a better idea, just in case we find Tina and must drive her somewhere. Unfortunately there was no arguing with that logic. As for the soundness of the logic that we have any chance of finding Tina in this wild vastness… that’s up for debate. I didn’t get into it. Nor have I been thinking about it much.
Lily told me she loved me and she’s now sitting next to me, her wild natural, wholesome smell filling the cab and that has kept most of my focus. But we are on a mission.
Nothing but untouched grassland stretches out on all sides of the narrow country road. We’re in a tan-colored SUV with Colorado plates that belongs to one of the volunteers and is not making the best noises as we drive, especially when I accelerate, which I keep doing since there’s literally nothing but grass and sky to see here. Hopefully the car will survive this trip and at least the gas tank is nearly full.
“That’s the ridge where we saw the headlights, isn’t it?” Lily says, leaning forward in her seat and pointing out at a spot in front of us and slightly to the right.
I slow to get a better look at it. “Maybe. It’s hard to tell.”
