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Thankfully, Leif or Johnson or whoever packed our backpacks had included a roll of Duct tape. I used it to tape the flashlight to my side, so it was angled down at the path. It was fully dark out with no noticeable moon, and Farraday had been leaning on me for the last two hours.
When I saw the lights of the compound, I knew I could make it. They must have seen my light as we approached, Leif and Johnson ran up to greet us with the others following behind. "What the hell happened, Everly?" Leif asked, as Johnson picked up Farraday and carried her to the compound.
"She was gored by a wild hog. It's infected. She's running a fever."
"How are you?" he asked.
"I'm fine. We got the shirts."
"Of course you did. When was she attacked?"
"Last night. Can I get some water? I gave mine to Farraday."
"Here, Belle, one of the other trainees said, holding out a bottle of water to me.
"She needs a hospital," Johnson said when we got inside. "I'll bring the truck around."
We all walked into the lounge area where Farraday was lying on the sofa with her wound unbandaged and an icepack on her head. Leif check out her leg. Leif picked her up to carry her out. "Wait," she said. "Everly."
"I'm right here."
"Thanks for everything. Sorry I was such a bitch to you before."
Leif handed me his keys and said, "Follow us in my truck. We'll talk about what happened once Farraday's taken care of."
At the hospital, we settled into a corner of the waiting room. It wasn't long before Leif and Johnson joined us. "The doctor is checking her out now. Everly, tell us what happened."
"Yesterday was good, we got to our campsite and had everything set up early, so we headed off in search of a stream to replenish our water. Farraday was walking back from a nature call when the hog appeared. It ran right into her legs throwing her into the air. When she landed, her leg caught on the hog's tusk."
"Did it tear a hunk out of her leg when it ran off?"
"I didn't run off. I shot it."
"You shot a wild hog?"
"Yeah. They aren't protected or anything are they?" I was pretty sure I'd seen a show on TV about wild hogs being a pest animal in Texas. "It was attacking Farraday, so I didn't think about whether I should shoot it or not."
Leif walked over and put an arm around me. "It's fine, Everly. Wild hogs are a pest here. There's no law against shooting them. Go on with your story."
I explained about lifting Farraday’s leg off the animal's tusk, watching as some of them grimaced at the thought. "We didn't have much in the way of first aid, so I bandaged it as best I could, and we went back to our campsite. This morning, I went and got the shirts and then we headed back. During the day, she got a fever and her leg started turning red around the wound."
"Chance was right, you're unbelievable," Leif said. "I was worried when you didn't get back on time. I sure didn't want to have to tell Chance something happened to you on my watch."
Farraday's wound was cleaned and stitched. They gave her some strong antibiotics and released her. We said our goodbyes in the parking lot and Johnson drove the trainees back to their hotel. Leif and I climbed into his truck. "I know you must be hungry. Is it OK if we stop for dinner on the way back?" he asked.
"Sure. I'm not the cleanest, so don't pick anyplace too nice."
He cranked the music up and didn't speak again until we were parked in a parking lot beside a steak house. I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching us. I felt like something wasn't right.
When the hostess led us to a table, I choose the seat that faced the rest of the dining room. Leif sat across from me. Once we'd ordered drinks and dinner, Leif asked why I'd chosen this seat. "I wanted to be able to look at the other diners. Since we left the hospital, I've had the feeling someone's watching us."
I could tell by Leif’s smirk that he didn't put much stock in feelings. I've learned to pay attention when something feels off. While Leif made small talk, I tried to figure out how anyone related to the issues back in Wilkins' Gap could have possibly followed me here. It didn't seem likely. While we waited for our check, I excused myself and headed for the ladies' room.
I was just about to step out of the stall, when the door that led to the hallway opened and closed. One person walked in. "Everly, it's Helen."
"Helen?" I said stepping out of the stall. "What are you doing here? How did you find me?"
"I still have friends in the agency. Be careful. Someone thinks you or one of the others in your group, know the location of the missing bigfoot. They'll do anything to get that information from you."
"Helen, I know that observing a family of bigfoot would be a big deal, but I don't see why BITES is willing to go to such lengths to protect the information. They've tried to kill us."
"They want their experiment back. I have to go," she said, thrusting a folded piece of paper into my hand and rushing out the door. I should have followed her and tried to stop her, but I was so shocked to see her, that I just stood there. I ducked back into the stall. Helen had handed me a single page note and a flash drive. I put the piece of paper in my bra and the drive in my makeup case inside my purse, before rushing out and looking around for her. I walked up to the hostess station and asked if she'd seen anyone matching Helen's description. She hadn't.
Leif walked up behind me. "Is everything OK?"
"I'm not sure," I said.
"Are you ready to go?"
I nodded and followed him to the truck. I had the sense that someone was still watching me, but I didn't see Helen or anyone else. As Leif drove back to the compound, I started to type a text message to Chance a couple of times but talked myself out of finishing it.
"Are you sure you're OK?"
"I'm fine. It's just been a really long couple of days. I need to sleep."
"You can sleep in tomorrow morning. I'll check on Farraday before she heads home."