Chapter 442 Cave for Shelter From the Rain
Seeing this scene, Sonia instantly froze and then hurriedly caught Toby, stumbling backward before stabilizing herself in the process due to the added weight.
“Toby, what’s wrong?” Sonia asked after holding him up. But Toby did not respond, merely leaning on her shoulder with his eyes closed, seemingly asleep.
Sonia guessed that he had passed out because his head was badly injured, and he claimed to be dizzy, so it was only a matter of time before he fainted. Yet, Toby couldn’t walk on his own, so he had to rely on her to bring him out.
Taking a deep breath, Sonia turned around, then half-carried and half-dragged Toby forward. They were heading toward the south, where the woods were not as dense, so they should soon be able to get out of the woods. As soon as they got out of the woods, they should be able to find some people. While walking, Sonia turned her head to look at the man lying on her back. Her eyes were serious as she said, “Toby, I will definitely get you out of here.”
After saying that, she turned her head back and continued walking forward. For every few feet, she would drop a strip of cloth, leaving a mark for the people who came to find them. Originally, she intended to tie these strips of cloth to the branches of trees so that if there was any wind, there was no worry about them being blown away. However, she could only do that if Toby himself could walk. Now that Toby could not walk, she had to carry him, so naturally, she did not have the capacity to tie the strips of cloth. Hence, they could only be thrown on the ground, but she hoped they were not blown away by the wind later.
After a long time of walking, just when Sonia felt tired, lightning flashed across the sky suddenly. Sonia trembled with fear, then she stopped slightly and looked up at the sky. The sky had darkened as huge dark clouds cast shadows on the earth. Coupled with the continuous thunder, it brought a great sense of gloom.
It’s going to rain, and it’s a heavy one!
Realizing this, Sonia was seen with a troubled expression because if it was raining, they could not continue to move forward. When it was raining, it was very easy to fall while walking on a mountain road. Toby, at this moment, must definitely not risk a fall again. To make things worse, she could see the sky getting darker by the minute.
Although she didn’t know the exact time now, her phone and the electronic devices on her, such as her watch, were all taken off by Declan’s people the moment she was kidnapped and thrown away. As for Toby’s phone, she also guessed that it was not around as well. Otherwise, at the lake just now, Toby would have taken it out to contact Tom, and it was impossible for him not to do anything. Thus, it could only be either the phone was lost in the lake, or the phone had broken down after being in contact with water and could not be used. As for Toby’s watch, it was impossible for her to look at it now with him on her back, but she could roughly guess that it should be around 6.00 P.M. or 7.00 P.M. at this time.
It was dark, and it was beginning to drizzle, so it seemed like they really couldn’t go any further. They had to find a place to hide in the rain, or they definitely wouldn’t make it through tonight and would be frozen to death. She was cold because of the wet clothes on her, but with Toby lying on her back, she could still endure it. But Toby had no one to help him, so she could not imagine how cold Toby was feeling now. However, where in the world should they seek shelter from the rain for the night?
Sonia bit her lip and looked around. Fortunately, not far ahead, there was a cave. “Great!”
Seeing that cave, Sonia was greatly surprised, and her eyes instantly lit up with excitement and hope. “Toby, we have a place to shelter from the rain for the night!” Sonia turned her head, exclaimed to the man on her back, and then quickly brought him toward the cave.
Soon, they arrived at the cave. As soon as the two of them went inside, it began to pour outside. As Sonia listened to the sound of rain behind her, she sighed. She realized that they were really lucky because it did not rain this hard at the beginning, but only when they entered the cave. Thus, she felt that this was also considered God’s favor.
Piecing the puzzle together, she could not help but smile a little, but soon she realized that the cave had more than shelter to offer.
Oh my!
There was firewood, clothes, and pots and pans! There was also a pile of dry straw, as well as two somewhat old quilts.
How could there be these things here?
Could it be that this was a cave where homeless people lived? No, it could not be, for which tramp would live in the mountains where there was almost nothing for miles? Besides, in her impression, those who were homeless lived in messy and dirty places, and there would be many cardboard and plastic bottles as they would collect those to sell for money. However, it was not so here. The cave was very dry, and there was no garbage. Although the quilts looked a little old, they were definitely not dirty. So the owner of these things should not be a homeless person, but as for who they were exactly, Sonia also did not bother to think about it.
All she wanted to do now was simply to unload Toby and then check how the injury on Toby’s back was. Therefore, she dragged Toby to the pile of straw. The straw was very flat and evenly spread, so it was probably where the people who lived here slept. After placing Toby on the straw and stretching her own sore neck and body a little, Sonia went to look for tools to make a fire. Since it was so cold, she had to make a fire to keep warm, or the night would be too torturous. Their wet clothes must also be dried, or they would be sick if they wore them any longer.
While looking for tools to start a fire, Sonia found a faint layer of dust on the quilts, as well as on the pots and pans in the corner. She reached out and wiped it, then took advantage of the last bit of sky that had not yet gone completely dark and looked at the dust on her fingers. Finally, she smiled. “Great.”
Then, she blew the ash off her fingers. Now, she could be sure that the people who originally lived in this cave had not come to stay for some time, as the dust was proof. This made her breathe a sigh of relief.
Phew! It’s good to know that no one lives here currently.
Initially, she was actually worried that if someone did live here, that person would come back later and kick them out. At the same time, she was afraid that the person living here was some kind of wanted fugitive, which would be even more frightening. However, now that no one was there, she was relieved.
Soon, Sonia found a lighter and then went to carry a pile of firewood to a place where there were signs of a previous fire to light the fire. The firewood was dry and was easily ignited, and in no time, the fire was roaring. Sonia had put a lot of firewood into the fire, so it burned very brightly, and the light illuminated the entire cave. With that, the cold cave had a little more warmth and felt less intimidating.
Next, Sonia blew the dust off her hands and stood up, left the fire, and went next to the quilt, then picked up the two sets of clothes next to it, ready to change for herself and Toby. After all, they could not always wear wet clothes as it would bring them a fever. The two pieces of garments were camouflage clothing, and they were different sizes. From the sizing, they looked to be a male and a female. So, the original occupants living in this cave were two people?
Without thinking much, Sonia picked up the larger camouflage uniform and unfolded it. Seeing the label sewn on the left breast pocket of the clothes, she became even happier. “It was a forest ranger who lived here,” Sonia murmured.
It turned out that the ones living here were not vagrants, let alone fugitives, but two rangers instead. Thus, she was more relieved because then, even if the people living here came back, she didn’t have to worry about any danger nor being kicked out.
With that, Sonia returned to Toby with the camouflage clothes. She sat down and first reached out to touch Toby’s forehead to see if he had a fever. She was relieved to notice that his temperature felt normal, and then she began to help him get changed.
