Dark shadows creep across the gently sloped hillside, racing anti-light, mixing with the dark places under dead fall brush and stumps.
The motor sounds are getting louder, and so I move back towards the forest true, dense though it be, it is my only true hiding place from this approaching unknown.
I have to get on my hands and knees to go deeper in, and now I am following a rabbit trail or something, maybe a deer path. It goes low and I’m on my stomach now, soft dirt getting all over my hands and body, then I’m on a trail.
The sounds of the people are gone now and I see that the well worn trail is heading west towards the coast, down the hill towards civilization. I make a decision, with approaching darkness I go ahead.
The trail is good, I trot along between the ferns, huckleberry bushes and Salal, but soon I’m facing a wall of blackberries and a small place to crawl through again.
What direction am I facing now? How far from the clearing am I. Into my pack I go digging for a flashlight.