Struggle

   They saw the remains of her broken campsite from the brow of the canyon. They'd just reached the top from a three and a half hour uphill climb. Dust stuck fast to both their face and reddened cheeks.
     "Okay, we made it. She's gone, unless her corpse is buried in the rocks or dumped below somewhere." Jeff said it in a withdrawn voice almost wishing any of the two prospects were true.
     "Well, I hope she's alive somewhere." Remarked Dan. "Let's check the campsite for any signs of what might of happened."
     "Look, total evidence of a struggle." They scrutinized deep disturbances of gravel bits on the coarse granular soil. 
     "Look here, Dan. Gotta be dried blood, ya think?"
     A thin crusted splotch of rusty dark stain covered the surface of a large stone. 
     "Could be hers or the attacker. Most likely hers based on the screams we heard the other night though."
     "Look over here, Jeff beckoned his friend again. This time in a clustered growth of manzanita shrubs. A small bible perched suspended from the branches of the smooth, red barked plant. Its pages lay open, ruffled and stark naked to the sun. The afternoon's breeze gently fluttered them open and then reversed to their previous positions. Both of the men stared dumbfounded as if staring at an  unveiled object of rare beauty.
     Jeff reached up to snag it in a firm but delicate grasp. He softly read the first passage that caught his eye: ". . . beware your enemy the devil, who goes about seeking whomever he may devour . . . " He felt an ominous rush and lightly brushed closed the compact book's onion skin pages and with its small, black leather binding. 
     "I used to have one of these. The complete old and new testaments in a miniature version. Lost it years ago in these same mountains." He stuck it in his cargo shorts' pocket. "Bet she'll appreciate gettin' it back. I never recovered mine. Hope it fell into appreciative hands."
     The two spent an hour examining the camp site. They had located her tracks leading into camp. They noted various patterned tracks throughout the grounds, but strangely only one set belonging to only one person; a small foot print, size about seven, barefoot and booted. If she'd been violated based on her screams of distress, where were the set of tracks of her presumed violator?
     "Strange, Dude, don't ya think. We see a struggle, but she couldn't have struggled with herself. Maybe she was having a nightmare. Maybe on drugs, hallucinating, a bad reaction."
     "Maybe. But then, how 'bout the blood, the screaming that went on forever, remember? Way across the canyon with us feelin' helpless to help her. No, I don't buy it. The screams were way prolonged. Bloodcurdling. No way. Something was in this camp that night. Something otherworldly, paranormal." 

     Jeff stared up and toward the northwest.                "Her tracks came in to this camp from the canyon like ours did. Those same prints are leading out of here. I say we follow 'em."
     "Dude, how far you aim to follow her? We might mind our own business."
     "Well, I gotta know whether she's alive or needs help. She can't be too far ahead of us. I'm curious."
     "And I'm hungry an' tired. I'm not sure I'm in a Good Samaritan mood right now."
     "You can come, or you can stay here. I would think that after last night's attack on yourself, you'd take it personally and wanna help another person whose probably been attacked by the same entity as the one that jumped you."
     "You mean that angel, demon thing I don't remember about?"
     "Yeah, you got it. Wanna look at those bruises on your face again, the scratches on your arms . . . ?"
     "How do I know you didn't jack me up yourself?"
     "Oh yeah, Dude, yeah, I did it, . . . right." Jeff responded sarcastically and with a bit of mounting impatience. "Yeah, I gotta habit of taking advantage of people as they sleep. I'm outta here. Laters!"
     Jeff bolted suddenly, leaving his long-time friend standing dumbfounded. Dan had a sudden, vague recollection of the night Jeff alluded to. He sensed a dull flashback of a foul smelling, hairy, utterly strong creature who had mounted him in sleep. He felt a tinge of mingled fear and abhorrence as if he'd been sexually violated.  

     "Maybe my mind's repressed the memory." He mumbled to himself and sprang to follow his friend.
     He caught a tall, shadowy image off to the left side of his periphery. It flashed spontaneously to the turning of his head and disappeared into the slope. Shortly thereafter his nostrils picked up the distinct odor of sulfur and rank human sweat. It rekindled the faint memory of what Jeff had alleged earlier.
     "Hey Jeff!" He called out to his friend who was now thirty five uphill strides ahead of him. "I got a baby sister back home."