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Post by Severin on Jun 17, 2007 15:21:18 GMT -5
He looked at the bloody dogtags, watching as hopes of finding Jake in one piece quickly shot down. But it didn't mean anything until there was concrete evidence. There was nothing to suggest that blood was even his. He walked over to Ana, taking the dogtags. "If he bled, why isn't there a blood trail?"
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Post by ana on Jun 18, 2007 11:15:41 GMT -5
"I don't know. The lack of footprints made me think it might have been an animal that took him. Maybe that's why he was running because he was being chased by something. But then why would he stop?"
Ana started to pace the area again, searching for something that she knew wasn't there because she'd spent the better part of an hour looking earlier. But she had to do something. This feeling of helplessness that she had didn't sit right with her. Plus she couldn't face looking at Gwen right now because she knew how worried she was too. They both seemed to be at each other's throat over eveything else except the one thing that they both cared for. Part of Ana just wasn't ready to acknowldge that they even had that in common.
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Gwen Havers
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Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 18, 2007 11:53:22 GMT -5
"But an animal would leave some sort of print, right? Or some other evidence?" she offered, even though everything was still pointing to whatever killed the pilot being the reason for Jake's disappearance as well.
"And the blood... it could have been from his shoulder wound, couldn't it?" she suggested.
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Post by Severin on Jun 18, 2007 12:17:09 GMT -5
"And the blood... it could have been from his shoulder wound, couldn't it?"
"Precisely. It's most likely a person was involved, an animal would leave much more of a sign. Someone went to some trouble to cover their tracks." he said. And then he realized something. "Wait."
He quickly moved past Ana, and crouched again, beginning to root around the dirt and grass. "Maybe he was leaving a trail."
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Gwen Havers
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Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 18, 2007 20:37:33 GMT -5
"Maybe he was leaving a trail."
"What sort of trail?" she asked, looking intently at their surroundings but having no real clue what to look for. "If he was conscious and leaving clues behind...well, that would be a good thing, right?"
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Post by ana on Jun 19, 2007 12:39:53 GMT -5
"If he was conscious and leaving clues behind...well, that would be a good thing, right?"
"Yes and no." Ana stopped searching and stood in the middle of the clearing. "Yes, because it means he's alive. But if he felt the need to leave some kind of a trail, then that does mean he's in some kind of trouble. Which actually isn't that surprising for Jake... but still, it's not good."
She wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand, concious that the movement caused her shoulder to ache still. Their search of the area wasn't turning up anything new so Ana had to think of a fresh approach.
"I found the tags over here." She stepped off in one direction. "They were under these leaves." She pulled back the shrubbery that edged a rough pathway. "I'd say our best option is to start looking in that direction. Hope we get lucky."
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Post by Severin on Jun 19, 2007 12:43:00 GMT -5
"I'd say our best option is to start looking in that direction. Hope we get lucky."
"In my experience, there's no such thing as luck." said Severin, standing and holding out the dogtags for Ana to take. "So we're looking for a trail now. I'm not sure I need to tell you it's also important who took Jake. Someone who could be a danger to others at the camp."
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Gwen Havers
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Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 19, 2007 14:18:10 GMT -5
"I'm not sure I need to tell you it's also important who took Jake. Someone who could be a danger to others at the camp."
"As if they didn't already have enough to worry about," she sighed. "You think we were wrong to assume this island was uninhabited?"
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Post by Severin on Jun 19, 2007 15:24:35 GMT -5
"You think we were wrong to assume this island was uninhabited?"
"Maybe. Still, I think it's more likely someone back at camp has caused trouble. We do have a few unsavoury or suspicious characters." he said, looking around at both of them. He moved in the direction that Ana had pointed out, crouching slightly as he did and keeping his eyes peeled for any trace.
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Post by ana on Jun 19, 2007 17:41:25 GMT -5
Ana remained where she was while Severin and Gwen headed off. She stood for a moment, turning the dogtags over in her hand.
If something had happened to Jake....if someone had hurt him, she'd....
Ana swallowed her anger and carefully wiped some of the blood from the tags so she could read the name better.
Dammit Jake what were you doing out here on your own......?
Taking a deep breath, she slipped the chain around her neck and followed after the others.
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Gwen Havers
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Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 19, 2007 18:46:06 GMT -5
And later that afternoon...
Gwen felt like she'd been walking for ages, and yet not getting anywhere. Blindly following what Severin seemed to think was a trail but not having seen any more evidence of Jake or whatever took him. "Have you found anything else?" she finally asked, breaking the oppressive silence.
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Post by Severin on Jun 20, 2007 12:38:45 GMT -5
"Have you found anything else?"
"No." he replied, sighing a little and standing. After too much searching, there was no real evidence to where Jake had disappeared off to. "I haven't found a thing. Perhaps I was mistaken."
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Gwen Havers
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Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 20, 2007 12:42:49 GMT -5
"Well, we just keep walking then. Something's bound to turn up," she said.
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Post by Severin on Jun 20, 2007 12:46:53 GMT -5
"Well, we just keep walking then. Something's bound to turn up,"
"Not necessarily." he said, trying to be careful about implying their search was pointless. "Or maybe he's simply deeper in then we first thought."
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Gwen Havers
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Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 20, 2007 12:54:04 GMT -5
"Then every minute we spend here is taking him further away. We just keep going till we run out of daylight," she declared.
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Post by Severin on Jun 20, 2007 13:09:04 GMT -5
"Well, then all we can do is keep walking." he replied calmly. "Unfortunately, there's no way to know if we're even going in the right direction. We could be going even farther away, there's no definite way to know."
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Gwen Havers
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Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 20, 2007 13:25:49 GMT -5
"You also said there's no such thing as luck, and I prefer to be optimistic," she countered, starting to walk past him.
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Post by Severin on Jun 20, 2007 13:28:39 GMT -5
"Well, I don't believe in luck. Which is why we shouldn't depend on it, which is what we're doing by marching into the jungle blindly." he pointed out, trying to be gentle. Then, he cautiously said, "Maybe it would be better in the long run to turn back."
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Gwen Havers
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Post by Gwen Havers on Jun 20, 2007 13:35:39 GMT -5
"Maybe it would be better in the long run to turn back."
She turned on him with a look of disbelief. Sure, it was the perfectly reasonable and rational thing to do. But it would be like giving up, and she wasn't willing to do that. "No," she declared, shaking her head. "No, we've come this far; we're not going back."
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Post by Severin on Jun 20, 2007 13:39:59 GMT -5
"No, we've come this far; we're not going back."
He approached her. "Well, what can we do?" he asked. Gwen would have to see it was the most logical course of action. Still, people rarely took the right course of action. They listened to their emotions.
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