"Ok, here's what we're going to do." Andy said quietly, trying not to panic. "I'll go down to the crevasse and try to find Sandra, you go up the path and follow the panther." "Are you shitting me? I'm not following that panther." Daniel snapped. "I'll probably get torn limb from limb, or worse." "Do YOU have a better plan??" Andy yelled at Daniel. "Fine. But if Sandra doesn't come out OK, I'm blaming you." With an indignant sneer, Daniel started up the trail.
Andy watched Daniel go. Then he turned and walked slowly over to the edge of the crevasse. Wispy white smoke was curling out of it. Stopping right on the edge, he took a deep breath and looked down. While the bottom of it was dark (no telling how deep it was), the walls of the crevice seemed to glow with a hellish red light. Gulping, Andy took a step back. He didn't want to think it, but there was probably no way Sandra survived a fall like that. He backed up another step and heard a deep growling noise. Gulping again, he turned around. A large Rottweiler was standing not too far up the path. Around it's neck was a metal ring with some device with a blinking red light on it. It growled again, baring it's sharp teeth. "Uh, nice doggie..." Andrew said nervously, and took a step back. The Rottweiler took a step forward, tail wagging, snarling now. Andrew took another step back. For just a moment, the wind stopped whistling through the trees and the mountain was silent, just a man and a dog under a yellowish sky. Then the dog barked loudly and started charging toward Andy. Screaming, he turned tail and took a step forward, but his foot hit nothing and he tumbled helplessly into the crevasse. As the air whistled past him, just before he hit something soft, he saw the Rottweiler looking down at him. Was it smiling?
That's when everything went black.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daniel kicked a rock and watched it go flying into the bushes. What an idiot Andy was. Here they were, stuck on some god-forsaken mountain in a foreign country, with Sandra missing. When he got back from here, he was going to give Andy such a whack.
Half a mile up the trail, he came upon a signpost. One pointed to the left and said:
SUMMIT
The path winded farther up the mountain and out of sight.
The other pointed to the left and said:
TRACKING STATION
This path lead into the bushes.
Daniel was about to go right when he saw the metal ring. It was much larger than a dog collar. Some sort of metal device was attached to it. There was a light on it, that must have blinked once, but it wasn't now. The ring appeared to have been clawed off by something with sharp claws. A few midnight black hairs were stuck in collar. Was the panther wearing this? Then he saw the tracks. The panther's prints came from the right and continued down the trail. Another set, on top of the first, came up from the path and went toward the summit. If the panther was trying to escape, why had it gone back to the summit?
Feeling puzzled and a little frightened, Daniel sucked it up and started up the path toward the summit.