Behind Us

The flames danced as if celebrating the end of a long day. His feet, out of their boots and warmed by the fire, felt relief at long last. Hiking this trail was a dream that he had looked forward to for months. As he sat, his legs too felt caressed by the heat. The slightest movement of his leg within his pants shifted new skin to touch the pants, which felt burning hot. But God did it feel nice.

Bones seemed to be enjoying herself, too. Bones licked at her paws, which were calloused by the strenuous hike, but she also seemed to be having a marvelous time. She relished in the rejuvenating heat of the campfire.

Although he was the only one around probably for a hundred miles, the night was alive with music. The fire itself sang a tune as it danced upwards along the logs. He could hear the chirping and singing of various insects. Wind rustled along the tops of the trees, which he could hear coming from far away before any breeze ever reached him. The cold air felt good on his back. It always seemed to provide the perfect pause of burning from the fire. Over and over again in perfect cycles, cold wind would arrive just when the heat of the flames became unbearable. The hot, cold, hot, cold, was therapeutic to his body and his soul. He in his camping chair, and Bones right beside, both seemed to lull into a peaceful sleep at the same time.

He awoke in pitch-black darkness, shivering from the night. The smell of smoke was looming. Out of habit, he blinked strongly a few times, hoping for some adjustment to the darkness. There was no distinction between when his eyes were open or closed. Total darkness. As he moved about, he could hear Bones starting to stretch, stand up, and prepare to follow him wherever it might have been that he was going. Dogs, he thought to himself with a mental chuckle, it doesn't matter where you're going... they are coming with you.

"Well, baby girl, we might not make it through the night without this fire," he said aloud, rubbing his arms with his hands. The cold wind was coming like before, but without the heat from the campfire, it was far less bearable. He rummaged through his backpack and found his flashlight. Even with it aimed towards the ground and on its lowest setting, it seemed to blind him with its intense brightness and lit up everything all around them.

He knew that if he were a more responsible camper, he would have prepared enough wood for the fire ahead of time. Today's hike was particularly grueling though, and sleep overtook him without much chance of a fight. He did regret not getting wood first. He beamed his flashlight in a few different directions, trying to see which way would provide the most fuel for the fire. He set up his camp a good 50 feet from any shrubbery in a rocky clearing because he knew he was in the mood for a big, wildfire. Now though, he saw the folly in this plan. He decided upon what he was reasonably sure was south and headed that way. Bones followed close behind.

As they walked, he felt - something… some type of… feeling? He did not understand what this feeling was. It did not quite feel like anything he recognized. Hunger? No. Fear? No. Exhaustion? Yes, but no. The only way to describe it was... instinctual.

As his mind rattled on with inner monologue, he stumbled so hard he nearly fell. He did not need to look down, as he was annoyingly familiar with the sensation of Bones walking too slowly in front of him. "Watch it, beautiful." He stepped around her, but she instantly maneuvered herself in front of him again. However, she was not in line with his body as if they were both traveling in the same direction, but instead, twice now, she had put herself in front of him, perpendicular to their direction of travel. Then, she turned and faced him directly, standing with intensity. "Baby girl, what are you doing?"

She looked into the thick brush. He peered in as well. It looked full of great firewood, which seemed more important than ever, as he was now freezing. He could feel the cold of the stones he walked on through his boots, so he knew Bones must be cold too.

"Don't worry, princess. I'll get the fire going again soon." He started to walk forward, but Bones did not move. She stared. Her mouth hung open, but she was not panting. In fact, she wasn't making any noise at all. As he realized this, he also noticed that, well, nothing was making any noise. The wind had stopped brushing the trees. The crickets and croaks ceased. He made an intentional effort to hear. He listened for anything. It was as silent as it was dark and cold. He was reminded of the feeling from earlier. He felt it again. Now, he felt afraid, too. He knew that they were two distinct feelings, but he could only name one.

He wanted to speak again to Bones to calm her. To calm himself. But words did not come. He shined his light into the trees. All seemed perfectly serene. Some grass, some trees, some wood, some rocks. Perfectly boring. As he tried to challenge the fear in his stomach, he lifted his foot to step forward. His unnamed feeling surged through him with such ferocity, he placed his foot back down without making a noise. He instead lifted his foot again and stepped backward. Bones took a few steps backward too, not looking away from the trees.

He may have been dense so far, but that was as clear a message as he needed. Bones carefully trotted ahead of him and glanced back to ensure he was close behind her. She would run ahead of a few paces, turn and wait, and continue as he met with her. Now that he was clued in that something seemed off, her behavior was much

clearer. He started to jog along, moving as quickly as he could while staying mindful of the noise. His eyes darted around the stones on the ground, careful to only step on those which seemed most settled.

The light bobbed around, not really aimed anywhere. It was plenty bright enough to see everything. Keeping the light aimed forward as they fleed, he turned his eyes back. Nothing. Just boring old forest. His heart pounded though, painfully. He was trying to breathe only through his nose, but it still sounded loud to him. Even though they were moving much faster, it still seemed to take much longer getting back to the camp than away from it. He glanced behind himself with every few paces, just sure he would see something.

Finally, with the camp just ahead, he felt a wave of relief. He allowed his trot to slow back down to a walk. Bones was much better at being quiet than he was. His fears quickly washed away now though, and he felt slightly silly at how he let his imagination get the best of him. Relaxed, he said, "you big baby. You really got me worked up there. Let's just sleep cuddled up in the tent and we can do the fire tomorrow." His footsteps became heavy as the fear left him, and the sound returned to his gait. The rocks near camp were much smaller - more like gravel. He was sure this was a recently dried creekbed with sediment for flooring. He'd have to be careful of flash floods.

The sound of the tiny stones grinding and gnawing at each other brought him an odd sense of comfort. Except for when he abruptly stopped walking in his tracks, but he still heard one small crunch of rocks come from directly behind him.