In Alien Hands: Meeting Merle

Lost, pt. 2 -Merle

We took the stairs up the hill again, and of course, she was gone. I could smell exactly where she had been, down to the spot she stood and called us before heading back down the hill again, still avoiding the stairs. Of course, she probably just didn't know they were there, but seriously? She had opted to slide down the hill instead of looking for a better way down. Humans amused me.

"She's gotta be looking for us." Grene rolled his eyes.

"Yep. Of course. Let's go find her." I chuckled, half amused by the situation. She couldn't have waited long, we only took a minute or two to get up the stairs and she was no where to be seen.

We took the stairs yet again, heading into the denser forest area. Her scent trail went right through the undergrowth, as obvious as ever. We followed her path at a casual pace, not really wanting to scare her further by dashing through the forest, twice her size, and coming right at her. She was skittish enough without a giant monster rushing after her in the middle of a forest.

Well, we didn't find her in the forest. By the time we had made it out, she was still no where to be seen in the little clearing. We did, however, run into a small family on the other side of the fence (which, by the way, was unscalable). This park was meant for humans, so two adult dog men running around alone was an odd sight around here.

"Do you need some help?" The father asked, cocking an eyebrow at me while his wife wrestled two pups.

"We lost our human. She's lost." I rubbed the back of my neck, glancing around on the off chance that she had turned back around and seen us or maybe heard my voice, without luck.

"We have a human! Back at home. He's a lot to handle and y'know..." he nodded towards the pups, "would you like some help?"

"Of course! We're going crazy trying to find her. She's skittish and it's her first time here." Grene answered immediately, before I even had a chance to make a decision. The small family immediately rounded the corner towards one of the entrances. I gave my brother a quick glance, to which he shrugged, before we both jogged over to the entrance.

"What's her name?" His wife spoke this time, the kids had run off and their father was chasing them down.

"Holli"

"We'll bring her to you if we find her first. What's your number?" I gave her my phone number, and she gave me a kind smile in return and turned around to follow her husband into the underbrush.

We kept looking, not even bothering to follow her scent trail anymore. It was becoming increasingly obvious she was wandering about the park. It would be easier to just walk about and hope she ran into her, instead of taking the same winding route she did.

In the end, we weren't the one to find poor Holli. I got a call on the phone from an unknown number, and answered it to hear the husband's voice claiming he had found her. I could hear sniffling in the background, poor Holli had been crying.

Several minutes later, the family walked up to us with my poor, exhausted human in their arms. She definitely had been crying, wiping tears in between weak struggles against my helpful neighbors. She stopped as soon as she saw me, reaching out and letting me take her back. She pressed herself against my shirt, still trying to calm herself down.

"She was on the bench over by the south entrance." He said, trying to hold his pups back from running back into the woods.

"Thank you." I said, stroking Holli's hair. She had started mumbling something in English, her face tucked into my shirt. The family slowly shuffled off and I followed my brother back to the entrance we had come in through.

Published 8/6/19

So sorry for the really late update and (most likely) lack luster chapter. Things have been crazy!