Survival Island (reality show)

16.Weird tracks

“You’re leaving me here?” Magnus asks him as he gets ready to shift.

“You’ll be safe. I’ll let the wolf sniff around, maybe he can find tracks or pick up a scent?” Sebastian tells him. “One hour, tops.”

“Be careful out there. Don’t fall in a trap.” Magnus nods to him.

“Thanks for caring. Please get some rest.” Sebastian smiles and blurs to the wolf form. The open admiration in Magnus’ eyes is a stroke to his wolf’s ego. The animal is as vain as it gets.

The white wolf pads around the corner and disappears fast into the jungle. He runs swiftly up the side of the waterfall to the site where he saw the other guy fall. Maybe there are some tracks to be found? Sniffing around the water’s edge, he can’t pick up a scent, but he sees a pool of blood on the stones. No need to jump over there and get his fur dirty, he can smell it from here. The amount is enough for a human to bleed out and die from it. Throwing the guy over the waterfall was covering up tracks, nothing else.

The wolf lingers on the high spot for a minute. The view is amazing, even at night. The silver shine of the river and the dark hues of the jungle trees make a nice contrast. He knows exactly where he left Magnus, he can recognize the rock formation. The fire can’t be seen from up here. The shelter is safe. The wolf pads slowly to inspect the shore of the stream up here. There is nothing out of the ordinary. Not even a footprint or a disturbance in the undergrowth. 

‘Whoever this guy is, he’s cunning.’ Sebastian comments.

‘I know. There is nothing for me to find up here. I’m going back down on a roundabout.’ The wolf tells him.

‘Hoping the guy was careless in the jungle?’ Sebastian smirks. He knows how his wolf thinks.

‘One can hope.’ The wolf answers and turns to the jungle. There is no distinct path, but he doesn’t really need one. He is agile enough to fit through the underbrush.

Running at top speed, the wolf makes a wide circle in the jungle and emerges back on the river bank a few hundred meters below the cave. There was nothing to be found. Is the guy some sort of shifter that can hide his scent and tracks? Every living being leaves some tracks, unless he is a bird. He struts back inside after a few more runs to make sure there is nobody else around. The wolf chuffs out a breath and lets Sebastian have his body back.

Magnus is curled up and sleeping as close to the small fire as he dares to be. He smiles ruefully and gets dressed fast. The night by the river is cold, even Sebastian can feel that. He feeds the fire a few more twigs and lays down to rest. They can afford to both sleep at the same time. The cave is secure and they are all alone in this part. Magnus needs a good night’s sleep and so does he. He can make his report in the morning over breakfast. He only hopes that there will be a fish or two to catch.

Sebastian wakes up at the first light and crawls out to see about the fish. He can swear his wolf initiated a dream about fish sticks for breakfast. How on earth he can accomplish that is a mystery. He doesn’t have a fryer, oil, and breadcrumbs, but his wolf finds the idea hilarious. He would be happy with a fire roasted fish, if he can catch it. All the shifting is taking a toll on his energy reserves. If he’s not careful, he might get stuck in one form.

He smiles wide as he comes back with breakfast, to see Magnus sitting on the ledge with his feet in the water. Is the guy trying to wake up or cool down? Is something wrong or is Magnus taking advantage of the river to ease the pain they both feel in their legs from all the walking? 

“Morning.” Sebastian chuckles. “I hate to tell you that breakfast is just more of the same. But at least the fish is fresh.” 

“Morning.” Magnus shakes his head. “I admire your sense of humor and your willingness to feed me.”

“Thank you. We need food. I have to eat more, if I want to shift. It takes energy I can’t spare, if we mean to walk any long distances today.” Sebastian tells his friend. “The first rule of shifters: to keep your animal happy is to feed it well.”

“What did you find last night?” Magnus asks him when they are ready to leave on the next part of the journey.

“Nothing much. There is a large pool of blood at the top of the waterfall. It belongs to our victim.” Sebastian says and sighs. “The other guy is a ghost. No tracks, no scent, no nothing. I know some shifter lineages can mask their scent, but I was sure I would find at least a footprint.”

“There’s nothing? Nobody stabs themselves and then jumps off of a waterfall. Someone was there.” Magnus is convinced.

“I know.” He nods. He pulls his map and traces a few paths he found last night. “We have a few options for today. We could take the path that goes straight from the waterfall, or this one here. It’s longer, but since it’s already day eight and we’re not even close to the end of this blasted island, we could take it.”

“I’m all for avoiding the most obvious choice.” Magnus nods. “The second path it is.”

“Good. Let’s get some water to go and get out of the open.” Sebastian agrees.

“It’s getting hot and it’s early morning. We have to keep to the shade.” Magnus says.

“You set the pace today. Please let me know if you feel tired or out of breath. We’ll just rest more.” He says and smiles at his friend.

“Would you stop worrying about me? I’ll be fine.” Magnus smirks and starts walking on the trail they selected.

Stubborn! Sebastian thinks, but he doesn’t say anything. He knows you can’t tell an ex marine what to do, especially when it comes to health. It’s as useless as barking at the moon. He will be the wiser one and not pick a fight. Staying silent and following at a moderate distance, he is conscious of his wolf scanning the jungle around them. They were both surprised to find nothing last night. The other guy couldn’t just vanish on them, he had to go somewhere.

“What’s that!” He exclaims suddenly and stops Magnus from stepping on the tracks.

“Oh. I missed that. What is it?” Magnus crouches down to see the weird prints in the dirt. 

“Paw prints.” Sebastian scoffs. So this is where the other guy came on the trail? Where was he before that? “The soil remembers. There is a faint scent I can pick up. That paw print belongs to a coyote shifter.”

“You’re joking? A coyote?” The Major asks, he is looking at the print with interest. “Really?” 

“Yeah. Now I know why there were no tracks. The damn bastard is light footed and slick like a snake in the jungle.” Sebastian shakes his head. “We have to be very careful. Coyotes are tricksters. It won’t be easy to catch him.”

“But you can take him out? Right?” Magnus inquires.

“Yes. He is no match for my wolf. He is smaller, lighter, and probably has no real fighting training. I can take him in either form.” He explains. “But your job will be harder and more dangerous. You will have to be the bait.”

“I can do that. I don’t like it, I hate to be a sitting duck, but this guy is a killer.” Magnus looks over at him. “He needs to be stopped.”

“Agreed. Now that we are on the same path, we need to be careful. And we can only set the trap at night. Unfortunately I stand out too much in all this greenery.” Sebastian tells him.

They continue for a while in silence, each thinking about the plan. Probably. He is, so a logical deduction would be that Magnus is, too. They need to find a suitable spot for the night. It would be great to have one side covered by a natural obstacle. He is fast, but even he can’t do anything if the coyote can sneak up on Magnus from behind. He is thinking if they come over a place like that earlier in the day, they might just settle in and stay a while. He is worried for Magnus as it is, now they have this additional threat to worry about.

‘You can’t change it now. He is a good friend to have.’ His wolf inserts.

‘Let’s keep him then. I would hate to see him get hurt.’ Sebastian answers.

‘I like him.’ The wolf ends their conversation. Yeah, he likes him, Sebastian thinks. They just might keep in touch later, but right now they need to get off of this island alive. And for that, he needs to focus on the task at hand. Find and neutralize that damn coyote shifter.

“I need to stop.” Magnus whispers. He can see his friend is tired, but he won’t call him out on it. No use in it, they’re friends, he can take his word for it.

“Sure. Did you see something unusual?” Sebastian asks, quietly.

“No. I just need to rest for a few minutes.” The answer comes as a surprise. He never thought the Major would admit to needing a break.

“You rest and I think I’ll get us a snack. I’m sorry it’s not chocolate, just protein.” Sebastian scoffs. 

He sees an old tree with bark peeling off in some places. That is a usual spot for finding fat maggots or tree worms. As repelling the thought of eating those things is, he knows they have to eat something. All the energy they got from the fish this morning is long used up by now. The mushrooms he can see are not a kind he knows, so those are out of the option. He doesn’t need hallucinations on top of energy deprivation. That is no way to stay alive out here. Not with this additional danger of a killer on the loose.

“Bugs? What’s wrong with the mushrooms?” Magnus complains.

“Are you willing to risk hallucinations? I don’t eat mushrooms I’ve never seen before. Bugs and worms might be gross, but they’re safe to eat.” Sebastian shrugs.

“Good point. I don’t have to look at my food.” Magnus shudders and holds out his hand for a few of the maggots.

“That’s the spirit. Keep it up and I’ll invite you for a barbecue weekend at my cabin.” Sebastian chuckles. 

He doesn’t like the idea of the maggots, but food is a must and that’s all they have right now. If he doesn’t think about it, he can’t taste it. His mind is blank while he eats his part of “lunch”. A nice and very useful trick he learned while hunting in wolf form. And he was never squeamish about food. He is willing to try everything, once.  

“We can move on. I’m just wasting our time, sitting around here.” Magnus stands to stretch out.

“Sure. Don’t think of it as wasting time. Rest is important, food is important. We are too far from the extraction point to make it there in the time we have to the first boat. So we have all the time to do whatever we want to.” Sebastian tells him.

“Wait.” Magnus turns to him.

“For what?” He is confused by the sudden stop.

“Not for what. For my brain to catch up.” Magnus looks at him. “It’s day eight. Where did we lose the time?”

“Detours, hiding in the canopies… The swamp took a lot of time. And this unscheduled rest I forced you to take in the cave.” Sebastian explains.

“I see. Then we better plan the ambush just right. We’ll be here for a while longer.” Magnus winks at him.