Her companion with the dyed streaks, rigidly silent until then, finally entered into the conversation.
“You have great food at Lee’s Wok. I’ve gotten deliveries from there more than once. I recognize you a little now. My name is Erin, and this is Lynn,” the woman with the red-streaked hair introduced, stepping forward as a new series of tears began to roll down her face. “Right now, I am very, very happy to meet the man responsible for the food at Lee’s Wok, more than you can ever know.”
Lee smiled awkwardly, as Erin suddenly threw her arms around him, and proceeded to give him a tight hug.
“She tends to be emotional,” Lynn remarked curtly, and Lee could see that Lynn was not at all pleased that Erin had completely let down her guard. “But we’ve been through more than a little so far.”
“Very nice to meet the two of you,” Lee said. “I’m Lee, and this is Ryan. I think that we are going to need each other’s company, once we’ve compared the stories of our last few hours.”
To Lee’s surprise, Lynn seemed very enthusiastic to the idea. “We’ve already seen more than our share of things around here,” she said, giving a slight shudder as she inwardly made some sort of terrible recollection.
“We’ve seen some really strange stuff too,” Ryan said pensively, speaking up for the first time.
“Then you know that all this might be really, really dangerous, and that we need to be very careful,” Lynn replied, looking about her, as if for emphasis. “I don’t want to run into what we ran into just moments after coming here.”
“I don’t think that these would do much good at all against what we almost got caught by,” Erin added, holding up her crude weapon. “It was horrible.
Ryan commented, “Then we are going to have to stay real alert, all of us together.”
“First of all, we are all in the same boat. We don’t have any idea of what or where this place is,” Lynn said. “We were just out camping in the woods with our friends, down by the Gorge. The fog rolled in, just like you said, and Erin and I were suddenly alone in this place. Our friends and the camp were gone.”
“I have no idea why,” Erin said with evident frustration. “We didn’t do anything to deserve this.”
“What were you guys trying to do just now?” Lynn asked.
“Just trying to find out more about this place,” Lee said. “And beginning to think about what we need to do for food and shelter.”
Erin shook her head in agreement. “Like we’ve been doing, only we were forced to move pretty quick after getting here.”
Lynn proceeded to relate the tale of their harrowing pursuit by the flying creature in detail, including the unexpected intervention by the unseen, roaring beast, and leading all the way up to the most recent moments where they encountered Lee and Ryan.
“Well, what do you think we should do? As in right now?” Ryan inquired when the women were finished with their account.
“I think the same things you two were about to do, just as a quartet now,” Lynn said. “We don’t have that many options. We need to figure out some kind of place to settle in when night comes, and we need to think about finding some kind of food.”
“I don’t even want to think about what comes out at night around here,” remarked Erin somberly.
“Good thing there are four of us now. We can set watches with two at a time,” Ryan observed.
“Each watch can be done with one of us, and one of the two of you,” Lee quickly suggested, “if that would make you feel more at ease.”
“Thank you,” Lynn responded appreciatively.
“Well, then, let’s try and find some food, and find some more things out about this place,” Lee stated, before adding, “but hopefully no more creatures.”
“We’re in full agreement with you there,” Lynn said.
After a few moments’ discussion, they decided to start off in a direction that neither party had previously been going in. They made sure that it was one that definitely did not go anywhere near to the area where Erin and Lynn had encountered the fearsome woodland denizens.
Lee already had a good mental image of the flying beast that had pursued them, and he was not sure that he wanted one of the roaring creature that had inadvertently saved the two young women. It was abundantly clear that the young women did not want to risk an encounter with their unseen savior. Added to the flying creature that Ryan had seen from the treetops, at close range, it was indisputable that the forest sheltered some very dangerous residents.
In low voices that were near to whispers, Lynn and Erin spoke further with Ryan and Lee about their experiences. Lee was very glad for the new companionship, and felt a little better about their chances in a larger group of four. The two women seemed to have wits enough, though Lee’s first impressions were that Lynn was the more focused of the two.
Having already traveled far that day, it was not all that long before the entire group possessed throbbing leg muscles that seemed ready to take on the consistency of jelly.
After recognizing that each of the others was in such a condition, they all finally decided to stop and search for a place to settle for the evening. They had not been lucky enough to blunder into something more familiar, like a building or a road, and it was becoming evident that they would be spending the night in the wilderness.
Lee thought back to the day’s trek as the shadows began to lengthen. The distance that they had covered had been fairly substantial, likely far more than he ever would have thought himself capable of.
The rest of the day had gone mercifully without incident, free from the unorthodox creatures that they all had encountered after emerging from the fog into the strange forest. For Lee it was a tremendous relief, though he knew that the two women probably held much more gratitude for the absence of encounters with strange fauna.
The landscape had continued to remain much the same. It seemed like an endless series of slow rises and dips in the ground, surrounded by trees and brush that obscured any distant view. The continuous litany was broken only by the occasional encounter with a stream or creak. The air remained refreshingly clean to breathe, and the only sounds to reach Lee’s ears were those of birds and their own footsteps.
The light of day continued to slowly decline, as the deepening pools of shadows expanded and started to fill the woods. Lee realized that the growing gloom in an unknown world would be much more menacing if they did not soon fabricate a makeshift shelter.
After the group had agreed upon a place that looked favorable, Lee instigated the formation of a basic shelter that took little time to erect. Using some long branches and a bevy of grasses, they worked together on fashioning a lean-to shelter at the base of a steeper hill. When finished, Lee saw that the small shelter had the added benefit of being relatively concealed.
Even with the shelter accomplished, Lee had some growing concerns as it came to light that the two women were relatively inexperienced in survival issues. He had hoped otherwise, given that they had been camping when the fog had enveloped them. As the women discovered the same general fact about Lee and Ryan, that they were not naturalists or versed in wilderness skills, a definite anxiety began to rise within the group.
Erin and Lynn’s camping and hiking experiences had involved large numbers of people, equipped with plenty of modern conveniences such as sleeping bags and waterproof tents. The majority of their excursions were into the Gorge area in the Daniel Boone National Forest, with clearly marked trails and highly trained rangers in the vicinity.
Lee and Ryan’s wilderness had always consisted of a jungle of concrete, metal, asphalt, and large numbers of people.
They were all finding themselves to be far out of their element, but Lee could see that necessity was quickly bringing them together for mutual support.
After some more conferring, it was decided that Lee’s earlier idea of using one of the women and one of the men to serve in watch shifts would be implemented. The pair on watch, as well as those sleeping, would be situated within the little enclosure, so that none of them would be left too exposed out in the open.