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He powered up the hill.
Was Mary starting to rouse? Since the rain began, Halo had felt like she was putting more energy into holding on to him. He was back in his childhood living room for a moment, watching the Wizard of Oz on the telly with his family. Dorothy lay in a stupor amongst the poppies. The good witch sent some kind of precipitation down to awaken her. Snow? Rain? And Dorothy had come back to her senses. Maybe this rain was cleaning the air of the volatile oils.
Moments later, Mary lifted her head from his shoulder.
“I’ve got you, love. Are you with me?” he called over the sounds of the storm.
“What’s happening?” Her voice warbled in his ear.
“Just hang on a bit longer.” Halo was putting all his energy into following the shirt, dodging the hazards, and getting them closer to the car. “I’ll explain everything.”
She wiggled in his arms. “Can you let me down?”
Halo didn’t answer. If he set her down, he was afraid they would slow, and this situation was just too dire.
He’d felt fear on the battlefield, but that was completely different. He had a team, tactics, and a sense of the necessary steps to take for survival. But now, all he could think was that Mary needed medical assistance, needed help that he couldn’t give. And his terror was that he wouldn’t be able to keep her safe.
Her rousing enough to speak didn’t abate that in his system.
The rain was less intense, and Halo tried to take advantage of the reprieve by moving as fast as he could. Another fear was that, just like in Virginia, being sopping wet in dropping temperatures put them at risk for hypothermia.
If I can just reach the car.
Halo turned his head to the left when he heard Max. It was his “Come here!” bark.
Should he trust Max or the shirt?
When Halo whistled for Max, the wind snatched the notes from his lips. He waited for a fleeting lull and sent the whistle out again.
A moment later, Max streaked into view.
Max sat in Halo’s path, barked, and then bolted away again.
Halo kept moving toward the car, following the shirt. Mary was his priority. Max was skilled and strong; Halo needed to trust his dog.
Leaning forward to keep his balance on a sudden slope, Max darted back into view. Max had been lying on the bed of Labrador tea alongside Mary. Did it have toxic effects on dogs, too? Was Max hallucinating?
Max sat in Halo’s path and dropped something from his mouth to the ground.
In the dim light and falling rain, Halo couldn’t make it out.
Max picked it up and dropped it again.
Halo squinted down. “Max, hand it to me.” Halo momentarily took his hand away from Mary’s leg, and Max put a child’s shoe in his hand.
Max had never brought him a random object, even when they trained for search and rescue. If an object was found with the missing person’s scent, it was vital that it not be moved. Max had been trained to leave the object, find Halo, and signal a find. So, this behavior wasn’t something that Halo understood. He lowered Mary to the ground, steadying her as she caught her balance and watched. She seemed okay to stand. He put his hand inside the shoe. And while wet through and through, it was still warm.
It was a tiny girl’s shoe.
“What is it?” Mary asked as she dragged the shoe into her own hand. “Oh. Why is there a child’s shoe in the woods?” Her words were still slurred.
There was a flash where the stakes came clear at once. He needed Mary to be safe and safe was not here. If this shoe meant a child was alone in the woods, Mary would not leave the woods without the child. Halo had no idea how Max had arrived in front of him with the shoe.
Max’s bark was sharp and insistent. He started off in the direction he’d come from, traced back and repeated.
“We’re going after him,” Mary said, spreading her arms wide for balance. “Oh, I feel so strange.”
“I bet you do.” Halo caught her under the arm to keep her from sinking to the ground.
