Faithful Shadow by Kevin J. Howard Page A

re-entered the campsite.
    “Nothing.” Stew was growing concerned. “Not a goddamn thing!”
    “Well they have to be around here somewhere,” Marco added, motioning toward the hot-pots. “You’re sure they’re not taking a soak?”
    “We just checked.” Sonia was annoyed, feeling as if he was calling them stupid.
    “They probably just went for a walk or something.”
    “Whatever, Marco. Doug isn’t the hiking type. He was winded just walking from the jeep to the campsite,” Sonia spat, her nerves taking hold of her anger.
    “Never underestimate the power of pussy.” Marco hadn’t wanted to smile, but he couldn’t help it. “It could make a thin man bench press a thousand pounds or a fat man run the Boston Marathon.”
    “Hey, this is serious.” Stew had lost his sense of humor for perhaps the first time in four months. He pointed at Marco and made damn sure he kept his shit in check. “I think we should just take an hour and wait. Give them a chance to come back to the campsite in case they did go for a hike or something.”
    “One hour, but I can’t wait too much longer. I’m on the schedule today for lunch,” Marco told them as he took a seat, pulling a joint from his pocket to pass the time.
    It had been barely ten minutes before Sonia started pacing, looking from the woods to her watch. She shook her head repeatedly and thought over and over how something bad must have happened. But what? Her stomach ached from last night’s beer and the lack of food, but she wasn’t even the tiniest bit hungry. She’d had enough. Her nerves were on edge from the unbearable uncertainty.
    “Okay.” Sonia slapped her legs as she stood, signaling the end to all this patience bullshit. “We need to get some help.”
    “Don’t get off kilter, girl.” Marco stood, shaking his head with annoyance. “Do you really want to call in the cavalry because two horny campers took a stroll?”
    “She’s right,” Stew added, looking distantly at the ashes from last night’s fire. “This isn’t just a simple case of drunken lovers taking a hike. First, we all heard Rowena make it very clear to Doug last night that there was no way he was getting into her pants.”
    “Oh my God!” Janice placed a hand to her mouth in shock. “You don’t think he, like, snapped and dragged her out into the woods to rape her or something, do you?”
    They looked at her with a shared expression of agitation, shaking their heads. Janice was a very sweet and beautiful girl, an impressive figure by anyone’s standards, but it was also well known that she was quite an idiot.
    “They’re not getting too far without their shoes.” Stew pointed over to their sleeping bags and all their stuff still sitting beside them. “Or Rowena’s glasses for that matter.”
    The last had been the most troubling. There was more going on than some kind of drunken argument or a stalker hoping to booze her up past the point of objection. Rowena had terrible eyesight. For her to wander off in the dead of night without her glasses would be completely out of character.
    “Okay, here’s the plan. We need to go back to the cabins. Marco and Janice can get to work. Sonia and I will go to the ranger station and get them out here. We’ll look for them all night if we have to.”
    “I want to help, but I have to work today, too.” Sonia put her head down, feeling helpless and lost.
    “I’ll come back by myself. It really doesn’t matter.”
    “Rowena had the keys,” Janice realized, her eyes going wide.
    “We can all fit in the jeep.” Marco did the mental count, four little pilgrims left.
    “We can’t leave her truck!” Janice raised her voice, feeling panic taking a tight grip over her emotions.
    “We’ll come back, now let’s go.” Stew was growing angry. They were lingering and arguing over stupid shit while their friends might actually be in some kind of trouble. Truth was, Stew didn’t entirely dismiss Janice’s concern over Doug’s