"Last night I thought I saw something on the bank, watching us as we crossed the lake," I said, moving close enough to Coal that Laurie wouldn't overhear. He nodded.
"And did you think that it was aware of us?" he asked, his gaze flickering around even quicker than before.
"I had the feeling I was being watched," I said.
"Damn, I'd hoped it hadn't noticed us," he muttered. "Kaloo!" The big dog turned her head towards us with her tongue lolling to one side. Taylor was still bumping along in the litter behind her. Coal reached out a hand and laid it on her head. "Go home girl," he commanded. After a pause, Kaloo took off into the dense evergreen at speed and disappeared from sight, taking Taylor with her.
"Where is she going?" I demanded.
"She'll get him to safety, can you manage a run?" Coal asked.
He checked his many weapons were all securely strapped down. I evaluated my body, feeling the aches and fatigue from walking for two days straight over uneven ground.
"If it's necessary," I replied, though I didn't relish the prospect.
"Laurie, how are you doing, do you think you can run the last leg?" Coal asked her.
"What's happened?" she asked, her gaze sharpened and her hand moved pointlessly towards her empty gun holster.
"Nothing yet, can you run?" he asked again.
"Yes," she said without pause. It was easy to forget sometimes that Laurie was a trained soldier.
Coal took Laurie's pistols out of one of the many hiding places he had about him and handed them back to her.
"I guess this means I trust you, don't make me regret it," he said, meeting her eye as he released his hold on the weapons.
"You won't, I'm a great shot." She smiled as she fastened them back into her holsters, looking instantly happier than she had all day.
"Stay close, shout if you start to get left behind," he said as he turned away from us.
"Okay," Laurie and I replied together.
With that he took off, forcing his way through the resisting forest.
Roots and fallen branches littered the forest floor. While they had been a nuisance when we were walking, when running they were just plain dangerous. Vines and leaves slapped my face and tugged my hair as we pushed on and I didn't have the energy to keep knocking them aside.
The dim light didn't help either and within moments my fear had turned into aggravation. I concentrated on Coal in front of me and Laurie's deep breaths behind.
Ten minutes passed and all I could feel were my lungs and legs burning in protest. My feet were so numb that I only noticed the ground when I started falling towards it. I stumbled again and again but somehow didn't actually hit the dirt.
The same snarling that I'd heard from the night before cut the air somewhere behind us.
"Is that what we're running from?" I gasped between breaths, pressing a hand to my side to try and sooth a stitch that was screaming at me to stop.
"Yes," Coal replied. He didn't even sound out of breath which made a little voice in the back of my head groan at the thought of what a sweaty mess I was.
"It didn't sound too close," I managed.
"Let's just hope they're all together then," Coal said. I noticed that he didn't say whether or not that was very likely but he pushed forward harder, increasing his speed again.
"How - many?" Laurie panted.
"Twenty. If we're lucky," he said.
"What are they?" I gasped.
Another screech cut the air, this one was much closer.