Chapter Thirty-One
The summer passed in a blur of vacationers, sunshine, and lazy afternoons sitting in the shade. Fall was a welcome surprise, and they spent long hours hiking through the woods with Bear, enjoying the changes in their world. The shift in the weather brought a rush of viral illnesses and Matt found himself busy in his doctor role for once. A few days passed where he and Jasper missed their walks together.
One afternoon, Eli arrived at the clinic, Bear on his heels. “Is Jas here with you?” he asked, glancing around.
“No,” Matt replied. “Why do you have Bear?” An uneasy feeling settled over him.
“I found him at the edge of the woods, barking. He never leaves Jasper’s side, normally.”
Matt left what he was doing, and he and Eli checked the house, finding it empty.
“When did you last see Jasper?” he asked Eli.
“We studied for an hour together this morning. And then he went back to the farm.”
“Let’s try there. He’s probably looking for Bear while we look for him.”
But Jasper wasn’t at the farm. Tanya had been the last person to see him.
“He said he was going for a walk. I saw him heading along the red trail,” she said, pointing.
The trails were color coded to help the tourists stay on track, trees along the path had red rags tied around them.
“He can’t have gone far,” Steve said.
“Maybe Bear ran off?” Eli suggested doubtfully.
The uneasy feeling in Matt’s stomach was only growing stronger.
“The red trail divides into two. Let’s split up into two groups and check both. We’ll grab some radios, torches, and rope just in case.”
Granger and Don arrived as they were getting ready, and Don took over the organizing. “We’ll run this like a proper missing person drill. Even if Jasper’s fine, it’s good for us to get some practice.”
Their two groups set off while Don went to get others to search the adjacent trails. Matt walked with Bear, keen to see where the dog would lead them. He was too young to know how to track but Matt pinned his hopes on Bear’s bond to Jasper guiding them. When Bear took the left fork in the trail, Matt and his group went that way while the others peeled off to the right.
As they walked, they called, stopping now and then to listen for a response. The only thing they heard was the second group northwest of them also calling. At least the day was dry, and they had plenty of daylight left, though it had rained heavily for the two days prior and the ground was soft. Matt took a look at Bear again, noting how muddy his legs and paws were.
“He was somewhere off the trail,” he said, mostly to himself.
“Why would he go off trail with the ground so waterlogged?” Steve wondered. “It’s just asking for trouble.”
Jasper knew that. They’d had enough slips and falls to have learned caution.
“Maybe it was Bear?” Eli suggested. “Jasper told me he’d been chasing rabbits and squirrels lately. Said it was hard to get Bear to heel once he’d caught the scent of something.”
That made sense. Jasper would definitely wander off the trail to get Bear.
“Here,” Steve said suddenly. “Tracks, leading off into the woods. Definitely human. And dog, too.”
Matt followed where he pointed, seeing boot prints interspersed with paw prints. Eli called it in on the radio and they started yelling again and single file followed the trail, Matt taking point.
“There’s a steep drop ahead,” Steve cautioned, and he and Matt switched places. If Steve knew the terrain better, it made more sense for him to guide them. “Damn, Bear’s tracks lead right to it. Jasper? Jas!”
Silence met their calls. A cloud crossed the sun, throwing them into shadow and both Matt and Steve pulled out their torches and switched them on.
“He went around this way,” Steve said, tracing the path with his torch.
Matt played his torch ahead of them, near the ridge. “Look, over there, see the way the earth is disturbed. The tracks lead right to it.”
A scenario began to form in his mind and he didn’t like the sound of it. “If Bear was on that ledge when the earth started to slide…”
“And Jasper came to rescue him…” Steve looked from Matt to the ledge then cautiously edged his way closer. Matt did the same, giving the unstable earth a wide berth and shining his torch over the side.
His flashlight illumination a foot. “Jasper?”
He leaned over further, feeling Eli grab hold of him to anchor him. “I see him, he’s not moving.”
Straightening up, he turned to Steve. “We need to get down there.”
Eli got back on the radio while Steve pointed further along the ledge. “Quickest way would be to follow the ridge around, it starts to slope downward and level out. Safest way would be back to the trail, down towards the river, and loop around.”
Matt thought quickly. “Then we split up. You and I take the quick route, the rest the safer one. Someone stays on the path to direct the rest when they arrive.”
Steve led the way and Matt tried to focus on where he put his feet and not on how still Jasper was lying on the ground below. A fall like that wouldn’t necessarily be fatal but a twisted neck, hitting your head on the way down, all simple things that could make even a short distance deadly.
They made it down and hurried to where Jasper was lying. Matt reached for his neck first, feeling for a pulse, relief hitting him at the steady beat against his fingers.
“He’s alive,” he said to Steve, pulling back a little to take the rest in. Jasper was lying face down. There were no obvious injuries until Matt moved around him, catching sight of blood near his temple.
“Hit a rock when he fell,” he said, feeling gently around the sight of the injury.
Jasper stirred, murmuring something.
“Jasper, don’t move okay, stay nice and still.” Matt slid his hands into place to hold Jasper’s head and neck still. Just because the head injury was the only thing he could see, didn’t mean it was the only thing wrong.
“Huh? Matt?”
“Stay still, Jasper. I’m here.”
“What…”
“You fell, hit your head. Don’t try to move yet, okay?”
“My head hurts. There’s something pressing on it.”
“Yeah, you landed on a rock.” At least he sounded coherent, that was something. “Does anything else hurt?”
“My left wrist, I tried to grab onto a branch to stop myself falling.”
“You remember the fall?”
“It was Bear. He ran after something, a squirrel again. Then I heard him yelp and saw him start to slip. He was too scared to move. So I picked him up and lifted him free, only my feet slipped from under me and bam, I fell.”
“How about your back or legs, any pain in them?”
“No.”
“What about numbness, pins and needles?”
“No.”
“Okay, Jasper, I need you to stay really still. I’m going to let go of your head and Steve is going to take over. Then I’m going to check you over and see if it’s safe to move you. Can you repeat that back to me?”
“You’re going to let go and I need to stay really still. Steve is going to support my head like you’re doing now while you check to see if it’s safe to move me.”
Already, Matt’s fears were easing. Jasper was very lucid, very aware of what was going on, with no sense of confusion. And no neck or back pain.
He switched places with Steve, then checked Jasper’s back and neck, before moving on to his arms and legs. Every check was encouraging. He had no significant pain, he had sensation, he had movement. When the others arrived, Matt got them organized and they rolled Jasper onto his back so Matt could check out his head injury.
“Hey,” he said, when they were face to face. “You gave us quite the scare.”
“I gave myself a scare,” Jasper replied, making faces. “My head feels big.”
“It’s not so bad. Just relax for a minute, okay.”
Don arrived with a first aid kit a few minutes later, giving Matt everything he needed to do his last few checks.
“So far, so good,” he said, putting away the pen torch. “Do you feel up to sitting?”
“I think so,” Jasper said. Steve and Matt knelt either side of him, supporting him as they got him upright.
“Okay?” Matt asked, as Jasper’s eyes closed.
“Yeah, just a little dizzy.” Jasper opened his eyes and smiled at him, then the smile disappeared. “Wait, where’s Bear?”
“He’s here, Jasper,” Eli said, leading him over. Matt had to grab hold of the excited dog to stop him jumping on Jasper and toppling him over.
“Hey, boy. Sorry if I gave you a scare.”
“If you gave him a scare?” Steve asked, with a shake of his head.
“Sorry for scaring all of you,” Jasper added sheepishly.
Don knelt next to them. “So, what’s the verdict, Doc? Do we need Rescue out here and a transfer to hospital?”
Matt shook his head, watching Jasper’s shoulders sag in relief. “No, we got lucky. Superficial head wound. Mild concussion at most. Though I’ll be keeping a close eye on him for the next twenty-four hours.”
“I am right here,” Jasper protested good-naturedly.
“And you very nearly weren’t,” Matt replied. “Today’s word of the day is lucky.”