Boy, you oughta leave this town

Ignore the title; just some song lyrics I'm listening to for lack of anything. Part one for a writing comission.

The sound of leaves under light footfalls, accentuated by the occasional snap of a twig, joined the other noises amidst the trees as the sun reached its peak.

 

Sunlight dappled the ground in light and shadow in the Colorado forest, showing clearly the tracks of deer and fox across the makeshift path. More of a slightly cleared area than any sort of actual trail, undergrowth covered it to an extent where the two who walked along it was often going out of their way to step over the foliage and push limbs out of their way.

 

Any person standing at these tracks would begin to hear faint voices as the two men rounded a subtle bend in the trail, elder obviously in a fairer mood than the minor.

 

Aside from their low toned conversation, the two were surprisingly quiet as they went along. What noises they made were masked by the shrill calls of surrounding birds and low hum of cricket chirps.

 

Dante would’ve been far happier hunting alone, but there was something about the raw wilderness that soothed him, no doubt a result of his shifter blood. It was one of the few animal mentalities he found helpful.

 

Glancing over at the scarred mess walking beside him, the shifter smiled slightly. Turned out the kid wasn’t lying- he was a plenty competent hunter in these woods. The kid had been reluctant to come along in the beginning, but the Alpha had been more than enough convincing to get him to join Dante. Now he seemed resigned to the task, and looked to be enjoying himself more than he was ready to admit.

 

It was the least he could do. The two older men were stuck with the kid �"with nothing to gain from it- until his brother came to retrieve him again, though both would be lying if they said they sincerely believed the boy had called anyone.

 

On top of being stuck with the nuisance, the shifter could sense a storm coming, despite the lack of clouds in the currently bright sky. The animal’s reactions, the humidity in the air…most likely nothing large; simply enough rain and thunder to be annoying. The area would be muddy and bad for traveling- most likely the two men would stay put until a day after the boy was gone, before moving on again on drier ground.

 

And if the boy wasn’t gone by then…well, they’d cross that bridge when they got to it.

 

~~

 

Unsurprisingly, Greg was the first awake, soon after prodding the shifter into wakefulness as well. The two were quick in their movements, used to the tasks that came with the morning.

 

Whether the sound of food cooking or the noises that came with the falling rain woke the youngest, he couldn’t tell.

 

Grimacing at the foul taste in his mouth and the soreness that came from sleeping on the ground, Nikolai sat up, watching Dante as he sat near the small fire, sheltered from the sprinkle of rain.

 

“Finally joined the land of the living, I see.” The man said, gaze not leaving the flames.  

 

The other didn’t care to answer. Instead, he looked away, outside of the crudely-covered area and into the rain.

 

There was something oddly calming about watching it as it began to fall hard, hitting the ground in a rythmatic beat. How it just seems to wash everything away; troubles, worries, thoughts, happiness….the raindrops just carry them off.

 

He still managed to get wet, even beneath the edge, but didn’t bother to move. The air was cool and humid as he sighed, watching the trees, normally ablaze with color, now muted against the pewter gray of sky. It felt so good, seeing the rain, after being so unused to thunderstorms in his scorching hometown.

 

It was almost peaceful.