My Silver Mate

Disappeared

[Dylan]

“Hey! You there!” a voice shouted, and I froze as I looked around. I spotted a uniformed man standing outside of a large cabin. I had been so lost in thought that I hadn’t seen him or the cabin. “Where are you going?”

“Oh, I was just going to go up for a walk,” I lied as casually as I could. He immediately shook his head.

“Not today,” he said as he came toward me. “Wait…where is your car?” he looked past me, and I panicked. Where was my car? I didn’t have one. No, I couldn’t say that.

“I walked,” I continued to lie. “I left my car back at the diner,”

“That is a bit of a walk, who are you?” he asked as I glanced at his name tag. Ranger Holls.

“I…ah…I heard about this place from a buddy of mine,” I said as I thought about how I was going to get myself out of this mess. I should have entered the forest from the West. “This little town of Oakville and…well, I’ve been looking to start over somewhere…you know? A fresh start so I thought…well, I mean, I came to check it out and when I was at the diner, I heard some people talking about taking a hike up here…” I wasn’t sure if I was believable or not, but Ranger Holls was hanging onto my every word.

“And so, you just left your car there?” he asked, and I sighed.

“It is such a beautiful day,” I said, and that wasn’t a lie. While it was still early, there wasn’t a cloudy cloud in the sky. “In any case, I wasn’t actually planning on going for a hike…just wanted to check it out,” the ranger looked thoughtful for a moment, and then he nodded.

“Sure, but like I said not today,”

“Why? If I may ask,”

“We…ah…have a missing girl,” he said, and I could instantly tell that he didn’t want to give out any more information. I was, after all, a stranger.

“Oh no,” I said, and I didn’t have to fake the horror. While I knew exactly where Samara was, I couldn’t let this ranger dude know. “Any idea what happened?” I then asked.

“No, the group reached me about an hour ago and I sent them into town to see the Sheriff so that I could get the forest cleared out,”

“Oh…” I had no idea what more I could say or do, so I just stood there and it was extremely awkward.

“But…I’m getting ready to organize a search party. It may not be the walk you had imagined, but if you are interested…” his voice trailed off and I quickly nodded. It would be fruitless, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.

“Of course, I will help any way that I can,” I said, and then we both turned as we heard a vehicle approach. Four vehicles. Two police cars, a Landrover, and a mini-bus. I was surprised by the sheer number of people that got out of those four vehicles.

“Holls, we have another two mini-busses coming in to help search,” a man said, and judging by his uniform, I had to assume this man was the Sheriff. His blue eyes landed on me, and he frowned. “Who are you?”

“I’m Dylan,” I said as I held out my hand. “I’m here to help,” I threw a quick smile at Ranger Holls, who nodded.

“Sheriff Cambridge,” he said as he shook my hand. “We are looking for a young lady by the name of Samara Da Luca,” Sheriff Cambridge said loudly as he addressed the whole group. I spotted Wesley and Heather, who held onto each other while their friend, Ben stood aside. He looked the worst, and I frowned as I studied him. “She went missing last night while camping with her friends,”

“What happened?” I couldn’t help but ask as I stared at the Sheriff.

“We assume that she got up in the middle of the night to do her business and possibly got lost or hurt…or both,” he said, just as another two more mini-busses arrived. Once everyone had grouped together, myself included, the Sheriff and the Ranger gave out strict instructions. The police officers as well as trooper guides would lead the groups out into the forest to search for Samara. I hadn’t been grouped with the lovely couple, Wesley and Heather, but Ben was in my group. I wanted to get close to him, but I wouldn’t be able to do that without blowing my cover.

“Let’s head out!” one of the troop guides called out and we started to move. Luckily the sun was out, and the light made it easier to see and look around.

“Samara!” members of the group called out and as we slowly split from the other groups, the seriousness of the situation hit me. What had that Alpha been thinking? What would he do? Surely, he couldn’t think that he could kidnap Samara and that the humans wouldn’t go looking. I had no idea, but as I followed behind the group, I had to wonder where all of this would lead. Was I wasting my time here? I had the medallion, and I couldn’t do anything about Samara. I sighed softly as I considered making a run for it.

“Who are you?” I looked over to see that it was Ben who had addressed me, and I wondered if it would even matter at this point. I didn’t belong here, and I needed to get back as soon as possible. Especially now that I had the medallion.

“I’m Dylan,” I said. “And you are?”

“Ben, Samara’s boyfriend,” he said softly, and I frowned. Samara had a boyfriend? A wave of jealousy hit me, and I growled low in the back of my throat. Luckily Mr. Ben didn’t notice but he seemed distracted and, just like that, my plans once again changed. A few more days wouldn’t hurt.