Scar Tissue by Allison McDonnell

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Sure enough, Danziger returned that evening with another satchel full of food. And a healthy attitude to boot. He was more surly than ever and he refused to speak to anyone as he hurled the bundle of fruit onto the main table of the meal tent before stalking out. He skipped dinner entirely, choosing instead to barricade himself in his quarters for the evening with only True as his approved company. What finally drew him from his exile was his previously self-scheduled night and subsequent graveyard shift which all but assured him that he'd continue to remain isolated from the others.

Of course, after watching Danziger over the past several days and in light of Julia's earlier run-in with him, both the doctor and Devon decided that it would be best to stay their present course and watch the mechanic's every move very carefully. However, the pair jointly decided that biding their time and appealing to Danziger's sense of reason was no longer possible.

Thankfully, after speaking with True, their original plan had evolved to include a few subtle but extremely important changes. And based upon the little girl's revelation about John's frequent side trips, it was clear that they wouldn't have to wait long for him to leave camp. They would very soon be able to learn the location of the food source, as well as confirm the lengths that Danziger was willing to go in order to provide it for them. And they would finally have the ammunition necessary to put a stop to whatever was causing Danziger's startling decline in health.

The following day, Danziger remained the stalwart creature of habit he'd become. As the darkened night sky transformed into a dull but slightly better lit shade of muted gray, he relinquished his guard shift to Mazatl with barely a word. The mechanic's now expected surly expression and exhausted mannerisms were out in full-force as he chose to bypass the meal tent for breakfast and, instead, trudged through the compacted snow and mud directly back to his quarters.

Less than two hours later, True burst through the double doors of the BioDome, nearly out of breath as she approached the lone occupied table at which Devon, Julia, Alonzo and Bess were seated. She'd obviously interrupted a private conversation because all four of them ceased their speaking, but that didn't bother True at all. In fact, she barely noticed it because she had much more important matters on her mind. And she got right down to business.

The graveness and the resolve on the little girl's face was almost a mirror image of the expression that her father had often displayed. Two words encapsulated all that they'd needed to know.

"It's time."

__________________________________________________

Thankfully for Devon and Julia, the sleet storm had stopped the prior evening, so all that the pair had to contend with was a twenty mile an hour wind and the various dangers of hypothermia due to the icy temperatures. And most importantly, they had to elude detection by Danziger as they followed him.

John had at least a ten minute head start on the women which mattered little, thanks to the beacon which True had inserted into the lining of his Ops jacket when his attention was diverted elsewhere. In fact, it was better for all of their sakes if they relied solely upon the equipment to monitor his moves. Devon readily acknowledged that she lacked the ability to adequately track Danziger, a talent that had seemed to come naturally to the mechanic. As such, she used Danziger's sporadic bootprints as nothing more than reinforcement that the equipment was doing its job and they were indeed headed in the right direction. And it was imperative that they remain out of his line of sight until he reached his destination.

Based on Danziger's prior expeditions, both public and private, it was deduced that the location would be no more than an hour or two's journey by foot each way. Of course, it had been further hypothesized that Danziger was employing the same spider cave that they'd previously used to travel to the East coast ocean and this was where he was foraging for food. And the path that Devon and Julia were currently following all but confirmed this theory. They were heading directly for the cave.

However to their great surprise, when they finally reached the expected location, Danziger's footprints bypassed the enclosure entirely. Instead, the path continued onward over an adjacent hill and then another fifty or so yards before the prints vanished into a nearby copse of trees. Instinctively, Julia had begun to follow the snowy tracks before Devon stopped her.

"Wait a minute," the leader directed, using the homing device to perform a slow sweep of the surroundings before pointing it toward the mouth of the cave. There was an immediate reaction from the equipment.

"He went this way."

Julia arched her head back in confusion. "But the tracks lead into the woods."

Devon took a few moments to examine Danziger's footprints and the general scene more closely. A wry, almost satisfied smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as the puzzle pieces fell into place and she realized what John had done.

Hmm, she thought, perhaps I'm not such a bad tracker after all.

"It's a trick," she revealed, zeroing in on the perfect boot indentations leading up to where they were currently standing. "Look at the way his footprints are here."

Devon then directed the doctor's attention to the trail leading into the forest. "Now look at them from this point on."

Julia squinted in curiosity before quickly comprehending that there was a slight distortion of the overall shape of his boots. "They're different."

Devon shook her head. "Danziger's not stupid," she declared, beyond furious, yet slightly in awe of the mechanic's shrewdness. "He had to figure that we might follow him, so he walked to the woods and then he backtracked here using the same steps to throw us off."

The leader's eyes ventured downward to their feet and she noticed a three foot wide line of flattened and displaced snow which started at John's prints and ventured off in a completely different direction.

"It looks like he dragged something over this entire section leading right into the cave."

Julia nodded in affirmation. "You're right," she remarked, amazed. "Danziger literally covered his tracks."

"But not well enough," Devon responded.

Julia let out a dismayed sigh. Until that moment, she had held out a sliver of hope that she'd been wrong and that Danziger hadn't lied to her. This was the first time that she could ever remember being truly disappointed in him.

"So he's using the spider tunnels after all."

Devon's reply was deceptively neutral. "It would seem so."

"So what do you propose we do now?" the physician was almost afraid to ask. After all, if she was deeply discouraged by John's behavior, she could only imagine the emotions that Devon was currently grappling with.

Devon's determined expression relayed loud and clear that she had already settled on what she deemed to be the appropriate course of action.

"We go in there and wait patiently for him to come back," she decreed.

"And then I'm going to kill him."

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