Search and Rescue headed back to the check point. Robert was nervous. He didn’t know what he was going to say to Heidi. When they pulled into the lot where the snow-cats were stored, Robert got a bad feeling. Something wasn’t right. When they pulled up and stopped, Robert jumped out of the cat and ran to the crew truck.

“Heidi, we’re back. Where are you?” He got on the truck and went to the back, but she wasn’t there. He even looked under the seats. He stopped when he found the green sweater folded neatly on the seat. “Damn it. She’s gone.”

“I didn’t believe her,” Tom remarked as he got in the truck.

“What.”

“She said she was going to walk out of here. She didn’t want to be an inconvenience any longer. I didn’t think she’d actually do it.” Tom shook his head. “She promised she wouldn’t leave.”

“Yeah, well so much for her promises. She promised me she’d stay with Charles.”

“Alright, lets figure out which way she went.” Tom called the crew together. “Listen up. Heidi is missing. I believe she thought she could walk out of here on her own. All of you spread out and look for tracks. Tell me which direction she went.”

Robert sat down on one of the seats. “What’s the point. If she doesn’t want to be here, why bother.”

“Get your head out of your ass, McCormick,” Tom snapped, “she’s a young woman, by your own words, has been through hell. She’s hundreds of miles from any place she knows. It’s freezing cold out there and if I recall, she wasn’t exactly dressed for cold weather.” Tom was getting more pissed off by the minute. “She said she was a bear. What kind?”

“A panda.”

“A what?” Tom growled.

“She’s a fucking panda bear,” Robert yelled.

“Get off your ass, McCormick. We need to find her and fast.”

“Why, what’s the matter.” Suddenly Robert realized his boss was worried.

“Panda bears don’t do well in extreme cold climates. If she gets really cold, shifting won’t help her at all, she’ll probably freeze to death.”

“Hey, boss?” Randy called out. “I think we found her tracks. She’s headed for the mountains.”

Tom and Robert jump into action. Randy showed them the tracks and sure enough, she was headed for the high country.

“Listen up. I need two of you to take the bodies into Deer Lodge. Call for a pick up.” There was an agency that dealt strictly with shifter deaths. “I want you to take all the evidence to the State Troopers. Take the truck. We’ll use the motorhome as a base of operation. The rest of us are going after Heidi and I pray we can find her fast.”

They moved the bodies to the short pickup bed at the back of the truck. Once they were loaded, the two crew members left for the town of Deer Lodge. The rest of the crew suited up for cold temps and they started to follow Heidi’s tracks. It was late in the day and they would probably be spending another night camping in the mountains.

                                                     *****

Heidi had been hiking for what seemed like hours. She had spent the first night sleeping in a hollowed log. She was freezing and she didn’t have any idea where she was. She needed to find some shelter before it got dark again. She was hungry, cold and needed to rest. She had been going up in elevation and she knew she was high up in the mountains. She found an outcrop of rocks that hid the entrance of a small cave. She had to crawl on her hands and knees to get through the mouth of the cave, but when she got inside, it got big. At least she could stand.

The survival kit had a flashlight. Once she turned it on, she could see around the cave. It went further back, but she wasn’t ready to go exploring. She needed to get warm. There was a lot of dry tree branches strewn around the cave that was perfect for a small fire. Luckily there were matches in the survival kit. Heidi gathered what wood there was and made a small fire and hoped there wouldn’t be a lot of smoke. There was enough draft to carry the smoke out the mouth of the cave.

The fire gave off a flickering light, Heidi could turn off the flashlight and save the batteries. She gathered wood by the light of the fire. She went back outside to find more. Once she had enough twigs and dried branches piled up, she searched through her bag to see what she had to eat. She had four dehydrated meal packs, that she had taken from the truck, but she didn’t have anything to melt snow in for water.

“Oh great, I didn’t know I was going to need a pot.” She said out loud. She heard a shuffling in the back of the cave.

“Hello, is there someone back there?” There could be a real bear back there or a mountain lion.  She didn’t really want an answer, but she got one. She heard a child crying. Heidi instantly turned on the flashlight and went to investigate. Huddle together in the back of the cave were three young children.

“Oh my god. What are you children doing here?” Heidi approached them and put her arms out. “Come here, I won’t hurt you.” One of the young boys ran into her arms. His face was streaked from tears that had long since dried up.

“You’re cold as ice. Come with me, I have a fire.” She picked up the young boy and looked at the other two. “Well, come on. It’s freezing back here.”

The other two got up and followed Heidi to the fire. They gathered around the fire trying to warm their hands.

“My name is Heidi. What are your names?”

The young girl found her voice. “My name is Elyse. That’s my twin brothers, Colin and Simon. The one holding on to you is Colin. He’s the youngest. Simon is five minutes older.”

“What are you doing here? How did you get here?” She asked as she put more wood on the fire.

“We were camping with our parents. We went out for a walk and we heard shooting. Our father told us to run and hide and if anything happened, we were to keep running. They killed our parents.”

“Who killed your parents?”

“The hunters,” Elyse answered. “Four days ago.” The little boy Colin looked up at Heidi and used his finger to say, come here, to get her to come closer.

“We’re bears,” he whispered in her ear.

“Colin, you’re not supposed to tell.”

“That’s alright. Your secret is safe with me.” She looked at Colin. “She’s right, you know, you shouldn’t tell, but I already know all about shifters.”

“You do?” Elyse was surprised. “How?”

“I’m a shifter, too.”

“I don’t believe you,” Elyse replied.

“Well, you’ll just have to take my word for it. I’m not about to undress just to show you, it’s too cold.”

“I guess you are a shifter or else you wouldn’t say that about your clothes.”

“And you’re pretty smart for a little girl. How old are you?”

“I’m six. Colin and Simon are four.”

 Okay, first things first. When was the last time you had something to eat?”

“Yesterday morning,” Elyse answered. “We found some winter berries.”

Colin looked up at her. “I’m hungry.”

“I have some food, but I need hot water and I don’t have anything to heat it in.”

“Colin has an old pot, he found it in the woods. It’s in the back of the cave. We told him to leave it, but he wouldn’t.”

“You can use it if you want. I don’t mind,” Colin told her.

Heidi handed Elyse the flashlight and told her to go get it.

Heidi got the children warmed up. At least they were properly dressed for the snow.

Heidi filled up the old pot with snow and set it next to the fire. When the snow melted, they would have water to drink.

She pulled the dehydrated meals out of her bag to see what they had. She needed to fix something for these poor kids. She had two beef stew packets, two spaghetti packets, four soups, some crackers and eight granola bars. She was thankful she had gone back and gotten the two extra meal packs.

She gave each one of the kids a granola bar. “Now, eat those slowly and drink some water. You won’t feel so hungry. When you’re done, I’ll heat the rest of the water and make us some soup.”

“Thank you, Miss Heidi,” Colin told her. “Are you from China?”

“Don’t be rude, Colin. It’s not polite to ask something like that,” his sister told him.

“Oh, I think under the circumstances, it’s alright.” She gave him a smile. “Yes, Colin, I am from China.”

“You’re pretty.” Colin gave her a big smile.

“Well, thank you, Colin. You’re kinda cute yourself.” He was sitting next to her, so she gave him a hug. “Now, let me see if I can fix us some soup. Would you like vegetable soup or tomato?” They voted on vegetable.

Simon didn’t say much and kept to himself. He just sat and stared into the fire. Heidi fixed both packets of vegetable soup so there would be enough for everyone. Thank goodness there were spoons in the packets.

“Alright now, I’ll share a soup with Colin, and Elyse, you can share the other one with Simon.” They quietly ate. The granola bars had taken the edge off their hunger.

“Can we have crackers?” Colin asked.

“I think we better save those, we don’t know how long it will take to hike out of here. We don’t want to run out of food. Now, I’m going to see if I can find more firewood in the back of the cave.

Heidi took the flashlight and walked further into the cave. There wasn’t much in the way of firewood, but there were bones. Either an animal died there or there had been an animal living in the cave. Whatever it was, she was thankful it wasn’t there now. She walked back to the front of the cave.

“Well, there isn’t any more wood. It’s too dangerous to go outside in the dark to look for more. We might have to cuddle up together to keep warm after the wood is gone.” She spread the blanket out between the fire and the cave wall so they didn’t have to sit in the dirt, plus it gave them something to lean against.

Heidi sat down and leaned against the wall. Colin cuddled up to her and Elyse was next to Colin.

“Simon?” Heidi held her arm out to him. “Come here next to me and keep warm.” Simon shook his head “no”.

“Please.” She wasn’t going to give up. He was missing his parents, she could relate to that. Simon finally moved over next to Heidi. When she put her arm around him, he buried his face against her. She could tell he was trying not to cry.

She waited for the other two to fall asleep.

“Simon?” She whispered. “Are you awake?”

He nodded his head.

“Simon, I know you’re trying to be brave, but it’s okay to cry. You have to get it out of your system or it will make you sick.”

“My dad told me not to cry when he sent us away.”

“That’s because he thought he was going to see you again. He’s gone now and it’s okay to cry for him.”

Simon looked up at her and she could see by the light of the fire, his eyes were pools of tears about to spill.

“Come here.” She pulled him tighter against her and the tears started to flow. Simon quietly sobbed as she held him. Elyse woke and looked over at her brother, but Heidi shook her head and whispered for her to go back to sleep. The tears finally subsided and Simon’s tired, sob racked body relaxed and he fell asleep.