“Uh, no. No sign of any normals.” Officer Connor said confused. He was only searching for the two Lawsons and Bower. What boy?
As a werewolf, Evan Lawson tried to use his acute hearing to listen in on both sides of the officer's conversation, but the were was wearing an earjack to prevent that.
"Okay sir. Both the female and the suspect need medical attention," reported Officer Connor. "As soon as I have the scene secured, I'll join the search for the kid."
"Kid? What kid?" asked Evan, while still holding his daughter close and protectively against his furry body.
"The Town Chancellor reported that some normal named Eric Anderson—"
"E-Eric?" asked Spencer, looking up at the officer, before she screamed in pain from her wounds.
"Okay. She needs to stay in her were form as long as she can. At least until after the doctors treat her at the hospital. We've already made arrangements to sneak any patients there under the Feds noses for emergency treatment if necessary," explained Officer Connor. "But are you hurt sir?"
"No. I came in at the tail end of this battle," began Evan. "The fighting was all between my daughter and that no good bastard, and I'm extremely proud of you honey," he added, before kissing the top of Spencer's furry head. "But what's this about Eric Anderson?"
"You know him?" asked Officer Connor.
"He's a... close friend of my daughter's," was Evan's only reply, while holding Spencer as close as he could without further hurting her.
"Well, the Town Chancellor reports that the kid got wind of what was happening, grabbed a baseball bat, and is now somewhere out here hoping to help her."
"Oh... Eric..." moaned Spencer with a smile on her muzzle, before she passed out in her father's arms.
MEANWHILE...
Eric Anderson thought he was doing good when he first set out from the Lawson house. Thoughts about Spencer's safety and a longing to help her were the only things on his mind.
The trail was easy enough to follow in the beginning. The smaller set of tracks that he thought were made by Spencer's hybrid cat paws were followed by a much larger set of paw prints that he figured was the werewolf paw of her father.
But while Evan Lawson was tracking his daughter and the hated Jeremy Bower mostly by scent, being a normal, Eric had to rely on good old fashioned human eye sight and logic.
Spencer kept backtracking, double backtracking, and looping around previously traveled trails in hopes of losing Jeremy.
However, even though she was unaware that he was out there too, Spencer also unfortunately lost Eric Anderson as well.
Eric stopped to look at his wristwatch. Technically he should of had well over an hour of daylight left before sunset, but with the thick canopy of trees around him, it almost looked like full night now.
He tried his cellphone again, but had no signal bars, for Eric was in a "dead zone" with no cellphone reception.
As much as Eric wanted to help Spencer, and maybe figure out exactly just how he felt about her to begin with, he realized that this was not one of his better conceived plans, and that he should turn around to head back.
Unfortunately, he didn't know which way "back" was.
Zipping up his jacket because it was starting to get chilly, Eric sat on a nearby fallen log.
He placed the aluminum baseball bat he "borrowed" from Ben Twist between his legs and leaned against its hilt like a weary old man against his cane.
GEEZ! No food or water. Not even a map or compass. If I'm not in love with Spencer Lawson, then I'm a complete idiot! complained Eric.
I may be smart, but my love life certainly stinks. No one back in Minnesota. Then Julie Stovall here, and now this...
My folks have been happy since they met in college, even before becoming werefoxes and establishing such a strong life/mate bond. Nate's been having girls chase him since he was my age, even before he became a werewolf. What the hell's wrong with me? he asked himself, while using a jacket sleeve to wipe his eyes.
Julie kept pressuring me to become her were-merman, then cheats on me because I wasn't "ready". If I ever do more than kiss Spencer, we have absolutely no idea what kind of were I'd become, unless I'm already a were before then somehow, but even that plan has flaws in it. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to get up in the morning!
Eric sat there on the log for awhile, wallowing in self pity, when he heard a noise.
He stood up, poised to use the baseball bat as a weapon if necessary, as a figure approached.
Without a flashlight, he had to wait until whoever it was came closer to see who it was.
As the figure drew near, it stepped into a stray shaft of sunset, and Eric saw it was...???
(List of possibilities below, but Spencer Lawson isn't one of them, since she's getting medical treatment at this time.)