Page 24 of Lifeline

He laughed at that. “Wouldn’t that be a great way to get on the team’s good side? Make them come all the way out here to drag me back?”

“I’m sure they’d love that,” I said with a shake of my head. “Imagine Xander’s reaction.”

There was a pause, and I could imagine him shuddering. “Yeah, I think I’d take whatever horrible death awaited me than have to listen to that, thanks.”

“At least you recognize danger when you see it,” I said with a snort.

A few minutes later we found Mav, and he looked…amused? It was hard to tell what he was thinking, considering he had a face that looked serious even when he wasn’t. He was leaning against a tree, and I looked over to see a man sitting nearby, also under a tree, cross-legged and looking around curiously as if we were the interesting sight in the forest instead of him.

“Hello,” the man said brightly, and I blinked at his neon yellow shirt, stained pants, and boots, which were scuffed and covered in mud. There was a large pack on the ground next to him.

“Yeah, this guy doesn’t look very lost to me,” Aidan said, and I saw Mav glance at him, his brow quirking slightly as he saw the way Aidan was standing. “Don’t look at me like that; I’m fine.”

Mav grunted. “So he’s…apparently.”

“Sir,” I said, bringing the man’s attention to me, “can we get your name?”

“No,” he said brightly, “you can’t have my name.”

“Okay, why not?” I wondered.

“Because it’s mine.”

“O…kay,” I said and looked at Mav, who shrugged with both shoulders, which told me he was just as confused as I was.

Aidan gave a snort. “Okay, will you tell us your name?”

“Oh, sure, my name is Don,” the man said brightly, and I looked at Aidan in confusion, who snickered and shook his head.

“Okay, well, Don,” I began, not sure what had just happened, but whatever, we had his name. “We’ve had several reports that someone matching your description is out here, lost.”

“I’m not lost,” Don said with a wide smile, looking serene. “I come out here every year whenever I get time. It’s important to reconnect to our roots, don’t you think?”

“Your roots?” I wondered.

“It used to be that people spent most of their time out in the middle of nowhere, used to have to be connected to the earth they’re living on. Nowadays, though, it’s easy for people to just…forget about places like this and not realize how important they are. It’s why we let big companies and the government ruin everything natural,” Don said with that same serene expression that was bordering on creepy.

“My friend,” Aidan said with a snort. “Just how stoned are you? Just like…moderately? Or are we at cataclysmic levels here?”

Don thought about it long enough that maybe he had forgotten the question before he nodded. “Comfortably. I was listening to the forest before you guys showed up. Truth be told, I was still doing it with your silent friend here. He’s fantastic company when you’re trying to listen to the stories of the forest.”

Aidan met my eyes and smirked. “Cataclysmic.”

“Yep,” I said. “Alright, Don, well, it’s not a good idea to wander around this deep in the forest while, uh…intoxicated.”

“Intoxicated? I’m not drunk,” Don said and looked at me like I was the one who wasn’t making sense. Which, to be fair, I probably wasn’t in his pot-addled brain. I didn’t care if people got high in their free time, even if I didn’t, but I didn’t understand why people thought they were better at decision-making because they were stoned and not drunk.

“So, I’m gonna say, and hope this is correct, but, uh…we can’t force him back, can we?” Aidan asked, and when Mav frowned at him, Aidan snorted. “What?”

“No,” Mav grunted.

Aidan let out a breath. “Good.”

Mav’s eyes lingered on him for a moment before glancing down at the bag; I took the cue. “And, uh, what do you have that you brought with you?”

“Oh! Of course,” Don exclaimed as if he had been waiting for someone to ask.

It prompted him to list everything in the large pack, and I marveled at the ability of someone as high as he was to list what he had with the ease of someone completely sober and focused. I met Mav’s eyes as he rounded up his list, and I could see in his face he was thinking the same thing I was.