The woods smelled of smoke and charred flesh, desperation mingled with the scent of freedom and hope.
Ed held Nancy tighter on her leash as he walked through the dark forest, letting her hunters nose lead him where his human eyes couldn't see. The shapes that had blurred past his hut had thinned from the torrent to a slow trickle and then to the odd straggler and the echoes of gun-fire had long since faded.
To Ed that meant that the worse was still to come, the inevitable whir of helicopter blades and shrill sirens would begin to fill the air foreshadowing the frantic search� no, hunt that would occur in too short a time and so he had precious seconds before the woods would fill with the baying of dogs and the sounds of motors ruining the stillness of the night.
"Faster girl," he urged and the bloodhound quickened her pace dragging him along for the ride. His aged bones protested the quick movements and he cursed his body for growing old without him, the grey hair for sneaking in amongst the brown and muscled physique of his youth for turning on him. His thick, heavy denim jeans and washed out checked shirt protected him from the elements as he fought his way through the familiar undergrowth, the years of tending the woods as gamekeeper becoming an asset as he searched.
The acrid smell of smoke filled his nose as he came closer to the blazing inferno showing even between the dense foliage of the forest. The flickering flames illuminating the night as clearly as the sun did the day.
His torch shone on the ground, the grass broken and damp, trampled by heavy feet and made sodden by perspiration and blood.
Too much blood.
"Anythin' girl?" he whispered even though there was no one around to hear him.
Nancy suddenly pricked her ears, her sudden attention telling him more than words ever could and he grabbed her leash tighter, letting her lead him further into the forest, closer to the burning wreckage of that place.
Ed was so intent on following the bloodhound that he almost didn't hear the telltale whir of rotor blades signalling that his time had run out and it was time to get home now.
He was about to turn and pull the dog back when he saw it. Half buried in the lush vegetation of the autumn to come. The leaves draping over the fallen figure like a natural blanket, in crimson and green. The green being the only natural colour.
At first Ed's mind couldn't comprehend what his eyes were seeing but as the torch shone brightly on the slick redness, the details came into view.
Long matted raven-hair, skin so pale it was almost translucent and a movement so slight that, at first, he thought he'd imagined it.
But there it was again, a slight rising of the chest; it was alive.
Ed crouched down, cursing his arthritic knees, and pushed the matted hair away from the bruised face, saturated by still seeping blood and dust; a female face, her lashes dark half-moons against her face.
With a brief exhalation Ed shifted his arms so that one lay under her shoulders and one under her knees and he heaved.
For such a tall girl she weighed next to nothing and Ed cradled her against his chest, trying to stop her head from lolling over his arm. Her head splayed over his heavy forearm exposing the back of her neck and the telltale barcode tattooed on her delicate nape.
"I got ya," he murmured. Nancy whined and his head snapped up as he heard shouts in the periphery of the woods.
They were coming.
"Home girl," he called and Nancy bounded ahead, leading the way while Ed followed hurriedly with his precious cargo.
They didn't have to fight the undergrowth, almost as if the forest knew the urgency of his getting back quickly and they dodged the screams of sirens and crunch of footsteps so elegantly that they were at the edge of the woods before Ed knew it.
His car lay by the road, hidden in the undergrowth and it was the work of a minute to lay the girl comfortably on the back seat.
Ed hurried around to the driver's side, pausing briefly to stare back at the forest where the fumes of smoke rose haughtily over the dark trees, like an elegant Queen dominating the landscape.
The searchlights had come out and the distinct sounds of dogs and soldiers could be heard in the distance searching for their quarry, their prey like hunters in the night.
Ed swallowed.
"Wherever you all go; where ever you all are. Heaven help you and stay safe."
He climbed into the car and let the taillights trail behind him down the road.
THE END.