Quest: 1.14 (Week 2-Late Phase (Pt.2))

--- Jon ---

--- Afternoon ---

“Well, you know there’s a lot of scenic places if you know where to look.” He eventually answered. “So why don’t we take the kids to see one of the more memorable sights.”

“What are you thinking?” Andy asked with a bit of intrigued.

“How about we show them Wolf’s cliff?” It was one of the few Blackwell landmarks everyone remembered after seeing it.

“That’s not exactly a natural wonder.” Andy pointed out.

“Maybe not all of it,” He admitted. “But it is one of the wonders of Blackwell, and like half of it is natural.”

“Fine, but you’re the one who’s going to make sure there’s no teenagers there.”

He gave the older counselor a curious look.

Andy laughed at him for some reason. “Right, I guess you don’t know about that.”

“About what?” He asked a touch worried.

“Nothing, nothing.” Andy waved him off. “Still, it’s better than what I could think of, so I guess it won’t hurt to check it out at the very least.”

“Yeah, and since it’s got such a great view we can even take a lunch break there.” He smiled. “I mean it’s great picnic spot.”

Andy gave a snort of amusement for some reason. “Yeah, it really is.”

With that settled their group set out into the forest on the hour hike it’d take to get to the cliff, though once they were close enough to actually see the cliff Andy had them pull over for a short break so that the kids could see the rock formation that looked like a wolf howling into the air.

“Hey Jon,” Andy called him over as the kids looked at the rock formation, “why don’t you run ahead and make sure it’s actually okay for the kids to be there.”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” He asked, still confused as to what Andy was worried about.

“It should be fine; I mean it’s what three o’clock?” Andy checked his phone to be sure. “Yeah, three… and the place doesn’t usually get busy until sunset, but I figured it’s probably better to check all the same.”

“Check for what?”

Andy gave a chuckle. “You’ll know what I’m worried about if you see it.”

Frowning he shook his head before just shrugging it off. “Alright.”

It wasn’t too much of a run to make it the last little bit to the entrance of Wolf’s Cliff tunnel.

Originally the cliff had been a natural cave that had slowly been weathered open as rain hit the oddly shaped cliff, slowly burrowing a tunnel between the actual cliff and the base of the rock formation. Later on, -(and sadly before nature preservation was a thing)- the locals decided to open the tunnel up wide enough to let tourists through, while also expanding the cliff enough for people to actually be safe enough for people to gather there.

Making his way through the tunnel’s incline he idly noticed the various paintings on the walls, most of them stylized in a way to make it look like the local native Americans had put them up. Even if they’d been forced out of the area a good fifty years before the cave had been expanded.

Pushing away his thoughts on that he caught sight of the light at the end of the tunnel as he made his way onto the main viewing platform of Wolf’s Cliff. And as he stepped onto the platform he caught sight of the view overlooking the wilder half of Blackwell county, bordered by the rock formation’s cave opening.

(This really is a great picnic spot.)

Remembering what Andy wanted him to do, he took a look around the cave before spotting a pair of teens sitting close together, having a picnic.

(Eh, nothing wrong with that.)

Deciding there was no reason the kids shouldn’t be allowed to see one of the more memorable views in the county, he turned to head back to the group. Only to freeze as he once more caught sight of the teenagers who now had their arms around each other as they began to-

(So that’s what Andy was worried about.) He realized with a growing blush. (And… they’re lying down…)

--- Late Afternoon ---

He shook his head before giving the area another once over.

(Okay, I don’t have a lot of time so I should check out what stands out the most… the patterns on the ground, and the tracks.)

With a plan in mind he moved over to the darker patterns, trying to figure out what exactly the swirls of burgundy and black were.

The most obvious ones were clearly burn marks of some kind, (meaning there was a fire here at some point…) which was concerning. The fact that it was localized to one spot did little to calm him of the matter.

It took him a moment to place what the burgundy marks were, at least until he rubbed them off of the bits of grass that they’d stuck to, at which point he couldn’t suppress his grimace as he rubbed the substance off on his pants.

(Guess that explains where the rest of the blood went…)

Taking a back from the blood and ash, he looked the space over noting how some of the grass had been broken, and how the dried blood seemed to surround the bits of charred earth, as well as the fact that both seemed to drag off to the side a bit.

(Okay, looks like the fire was set after whatever was bleeding hit the ground…) He tried not to think about the fact that whatever had been bleeding had also been alive when it was set on fire.

He pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to ignore the fact that in all likelihood whatever happened here was looking like something straight out of a horror movie.

(Ugh, this is just giving me more questions…)

Deciding there was nothing he could do about it; he turned and made his way to the tracks before inspecting them.

(Alright…) While he new a little about the local fauna, he couldn’t for the life of him recognize the footprints of whatever had made these marks in the dirt. (All I know for sure is whatever this is has paws and fairly large claws…)

He tried to remember what animals in Blackwell had paws.

(Let’s see, bears? No, these are too small and numerous. Maybe wolves?)

Shaking his head, he went ahead and followed the tracks a bit further. Making sure to note the way that even more of the burgundy and black patterns he’d found at the clearing were scattered here and there along the path.

After an indeterminate amount of time he found his way to a cave, one with more than enough dried blood spatter and burn marks around the cave entrance to make it abundantly clear that something happened here last night.

He took a glance at the sun and back towards the camp.

(If I hurry I’ll make it back to the camp with a decent amount of time before it gets dark, but I still don’t know what really happened last night…)

He ran a hand across the back of his neck as he turned back to the cave entrance.

(Then again there’s no telling how long it’ll take if I do search the place… And that’s not even including the fact that something might’ve escaped the quartermaster’s apparent extermination…)

(So… is it worth it?)

--- Night ---

“If you want I can stick around for a while.” He offered.

“Huh?” Jill blinked.

“No, I just figured getting stuck here all night with a bunch of sick kids isn’t going to be fun, and maybe I can keep watch for you so you can try and get some sleep, or something…” He couldn’t help but rub the back of his neck as he tried to explain.

Jill gave him a smile as he rambled on. “Yeah, I’d appreciate that. Thanks.”

Welcoming him into the cabin, Jill guided him to a little area next to the sick beds where the various kids had all fallen asleep.

“Well, this’ll be our post for the night.” She told him gesturing to a pair of chairs.

He sat in one of them and spun it a full turn. “At least they can spin.”

Jill gave him a scoff of amusement. “Yeah, that is a plus.” The counselor shook her head before spotting something on the counter. “Oh, and there’s an idea.”

“You were interested in helping out around the cabin, so maybe this’ll help you out some.” Jill explained as she picked up a book and handed it to him. “Or at the very least it’ll give you something to do while you’re stuck here.”

“Alright, thanks.” He nodded, taking the first aid manual.

They chatted for a bit after that, though it wasn’t long before Jill was yawning.

“You want to go ahead and get some sleep?” He offered.

“Don’t get how you’re not tired.” Jill complained into a yawn.

He shrugged. “Eh, sleep is for the weak.”

“Guess that makes me weak.” Jill laughed, before giving him a more serious look. “Now, if any of the kids need anything don’t be afraid to wake me up, understand?”

“Understood.” He nodded back.

“Alright, then I’m going to try and get a bit of sleep.” Jill told him as she made herself more comfortable in her seat.

Deciding that there wasn’t anything better to do he went ahead and flipped the book Jill had given him to a random page. One explaining how to make and use a splint.

(Maybe I should start caring around something with more padding…)

Eventually, he noticed Jill had finally nodded off in her chair, though she seemed a bit cold given how she kept shifting despite her slowed breathing.

Shaking his head, he put the book down and made his way over to the sick beds to grab her a blanket off of on

“Jill?” A sleepy voice called from one of the beds on his left, where a young blonde girl, barely ten years old (if that), was sitting up tiredly.

“Sorry to wake you little one, I was just grabbing a blanket for Jill. You can go back to sleep.” He told her softly so as not to wake the other sick kids.

“Thirsty…” The little girl told him.

“Oh, um…” He glanced back at Jill.