Survival 101 - (The Search for Mike)

Survival 101 – The Search for Mike March 4th 2006 Blog Entry 2

Once Alice and Nick left the house, Damien looked over at his packmates with a worried expression. Mike may have had a tendency to leave without much of a word, but it had been a few days now. Something just did not feel right about the situation. Something was obviously amiss. The large man was not about to go into the woods and leave his packmate behind, as much as he could not stand the old man. So Damien set off to Bolder, where Mike had resided before coming to Denver and forming the pack.

It was a good, long drive, but one that would turn out to be much worth it in the end. Mike's home was still surrounded by the police's yellow tape as if it was a danger zone, but no one was around to guard the small residence. It was all the better for Damien, and easier for him to access the house. Like a respectable man, he went to the front door and knocked his large fist on it. As expected, there was no response. He looked around quickly to find any sign of a spare key, and as predictable as Mike could be, the key was right under the welcome mat. Damien attempted to use it on the door, but it would no go into its rightful hole. Looking through the lock, he found something seemed to be stuck inside of it, or perhaps something had been melted inside. He slammed his shoulder into the door, but it never moved, as if the door itself - it was an old door and should have shattered easily with Damien's weight and brute force - was made of metal or had turned into a wall on its own. He even looked inside the house from the front window, but found nothing suspicious. The inside was rather clean.

After much inspection, Damien wondered if there was not a door in the garage that would lead inside the house itself. Of course, the garage door was locked, but it only made Damien smile as he was about to prove how strong he could be. He settled his large fingers between the concrete and the garage door, braced himself, and the door was easily forced up and opened. Smirking, he stepped into the garage, finding, as expected, a door leading into Mike's kitchen. He tried the key on that door, and luckily, it not only fit in the hole, it turned and unlocked the door.

What he found when he opened the door was completely shocking. Whatever he had seen through the windows from the outside had been an utter lie: The inside of the house was a complete wreck. The broken and upside down furniture, and the patches of blood clearly indicated a fight had taken place. He moved his fingers in the still damp blood, tasting it momentarily. It belonged to Mike. Mike and two others he did not know about. He went about his search, finding little to nothing more to reconstruct what had happened. It seemed as if a wall had been created to block the front door, the one Damien had not been able to bust opened. The lock had been melted down as well, enabling anyone to use a key to enter the residence. By the door, he found an opened newspaper set on that very morning's date, and Mike's coat, which had seemed to be charged with electricity; the fabric inside stuck together in complicated and heavy folds.

Keeping the taste of blood on his tongue, Damien took both items – they had little significance, but somehow, Damien felt the need to take them with him - and throw them into the SUV, before turning into his Urhan form in hopes to trail the scent the blood had given him. Unfortunately, the clues did not go any further then the road itself. From what he could find, however, Mike was gone, but still alive. What he managed to gather from the rest was that one of the two men he had managed to somewhat identify had not survived and had been dragged out.

Damien found it best to return home at that point; return home and let the others know what he had found and maybe get new theories from what could have happened...

One way or another, his search was over, and Mike was still not home.

To be continued...