27. Searching for Lincoln

Luna was trying to think of ideas on where her missing little brother could be. The rocker girl was pacing to and fro for any clue on where he could be right now. It seemed like she was getting nowhere with all this worrying, and began thinking of what horrible things that can happen to her little brother. First, she thought of him like being mauled and eaten by a bear or a mountain lion. next, she thought of him getting hit by a large truck out of nowhere.

"Man, what am I going to do? I can't just call his name and save him from the dark." Luna said. Now she almost felt like hyperventilating. However, she felt her shirt grabbed with a large amount of first, it was Lola that grabbed her and slapped her in the face "Snap out of it, woman!" she exclaimed. "Pull yourself together!"

Trying to calm down, the rocker sister was trying to catch her breath. "You're right. Sorry 'bout that." and she began brainstorming again. "Okay, well first things's first, did any of you dudettes find any clues on where our bro is?" Sadly, all of them nodded a no to her. However, Lana did remember something at the top of her head.

"Wait!" the tomboy exclaimed. "I just saw a few muddy footprints in the front."

It gave everyone a rather puzzling look on their faces. "Mud?" Lola said

"Well yeah, I have a mud hole to play in whenever I feel like it."

"Figures."

"Do you think we can follow the trail to where he might be?" asked Lori

"We'll have to see for ourselves." Lucy noted. All of them went outside and focused on the mud trail that their brother left behind. "Hmm, it looks like Lincoln was hiding under the house, right under the porch there."

Everyone gave a concerned look again. "Lana, you got a good sense of smell like a bloodhound, right?" asked Lynn

"Right?"

"If we lose track of Lincoln's footprints, use your nose." said Lola.

"Gotcha." then Lana led the way down a few blocks, but it was just then, the footprints came to a dead end on a sidewalk, leading it to the forest not far from the suburbs. "Crud! the mud's gone dry here." she cursed "Who knows what can be in those woods?"

"Well, I remember on the camping trip with Clyde that he was attacked by a pack of wolves." Luna speculated. Then her eyes perked up in horror. "Oh no! What if the wolf pack wants revenge for killing their leader? Oh god this is so bad." then she was about to panic again, but once more, Lola had to slap her to make her come to her senses. "Right sorry, trying not to panic at the disco here."

"Hmm, do you still have that shotgun for when you killed it?" asked Lori

"Yeah. I better go back home and get it." then they all rushed back to their house in a snap, and Luna hurriedly went through her drawer, and pulled out the exact same gun that she used to kill the alpha wolf just before it could kill Lincoln. "Here, now I just get the pellets for this baby, and..." then she readied the gun by putting the pellets inside of the weapon. She cocked it, and said to herself "Got it!"

"Wait, is that really a good idea just to carry a gun like that in the neighborhood?" Lucy pointed

"I know it doesn't look right, but Lincoln's in trouble out there."

"Right!" all the sisters agreed in unison. Then they all rushed back to the forest entrance, right where Lincoln's trail went cold. It looked a little eerie, but they all had no choice, they got a brother to save, no matter how scary this little piece of forest looked for them

Meanwhile, Lincoln was still sad at believing that Luna doesn't really love him anymore, and walked in a sad posture, still holding his backpack behind him. He was thinking on how he can make a living out here, and looked for any shelter for him to stay in.

"Grr, how is a boy like me supposed to find a new place to live in this place?" Then he kicked the dirt out of frustration.

He searched high and low for any place to call his "new home" like creating a bunch of leaves and branches as a tent, but the wind would always blow them away. Next, he tried using a bunch of small rocks as a tent, but they all collapsed on him like toy blocks.

Just when he was about to give up hope, he found a small cave that looked like the perfect spot. Cautious, Lincoln tried to see if there was no predator or dangerous animal living in it. "Hello?" He called out. There was no answer, for the only thing that came back was an echo in his voice. "Hello?" He called out once more.

A small smile of hope appeared on his face, and decided that this small cave will be his new home. Boy oh boy, if only Lincoln would know what Luna was talking to Sam about on the phone earlier.

For his sake, he hoped that no predator ever lived on this place. This forest was probably big enough for a small city to fit into like Flagstaff or Yakima. Now that he had a shelter to stay in, the next thing he did was create a fire for him to keep warm through the night.

Thinking about how he should create it, he saw a few branches and twigs on the ground. Of course, there were some rocks on the ground to to keep flames from spreading. "Okay Lincoln." He said to himself. "Give the branches a nice, good rubbing to create a perfect fire."

While scratching the branches together, he tried to make a success for over an hour, but it turns out he could never create a fire.

"Ah man. Who knew creating a fire would be this hard." Then he through the twigs away in frustration. "Grr. Okay, okay, I guess I should go to plan b: food." Then he went o to his backpack and pulled out a few pizza slices, two apples, and a banana. "Okay, But I might as well look for some food if I run out of these."

walking back into the wilderness, he looked around for anything nice and delicious to much on. So far, he found nothing. Of course, he wouldn't be able to hunt an animal, because he didn't really have the proper tools and equipment to do so. Maybe there would be a few berries to munch on.

All of a sudden, he saw a big, brown figure in the bushes and shrubs, and he hid back in the cave. The figure revealed to be a large, bull moose. It's antlers looked really scary and it was munching on some grass.

Lincoln became a little scared, and kept himself hidden from the beast, for he heard of how dangerous moose can be to humans. It stood still for a moment, and walked past where Lincoln was hiding in.

Man oh man, this moose like really terrifying, mostly the horns helped him with that image. Still, it made a small grunt and walked away.

Lincoln panted and sighed on relief. "Whew, That was a close one." He thought to himself. Now he can go back to finding some food for himself. He had to travel half a mile and found a small lake. "Hmm, I wonder if I can drink from this lake?" He thought. Nodding to himself, he said "Nah, it's not really clean."

Something suddenly poked him, and it turned out to be thorny berry bushes. Lincoln smiled, knowing he has found food. He plucked some raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries from the bushes and put them in a small pouch.

"Well, that's taken care of." He said proudly. Looking st the lake waters. He couldn't help but look at the sparkling waters, glistening under the sun. He thought if there would be any fish in this one for him to eat. Of course he didn't have a fishing pole, so he would have to do it by hand.

Lincoln stared into the lake for quite a long time, and decided to go back to the cave after he had his fun. Sitting at a corner, he ate the juicy, delicious berries and they tasted so good. Yes, they were literally ripe for the picking. "Okay, maybe I can make a fire again after i'm done."

The berries were so good, and tried to light up the bonfire again. He tried it for ten minutes, and again, to no avail.

"Aw man." Lincoln became frustrated again. "Grr! Man! How am I ever gonna make it living in these woods? But... it's a shame that Luna isn't here with me. She doesn't really want me with her anymore."

After trying to get his head straight, he decided to go and think things over.

hanging next to a tree, he was thinking out loud "I don't think Luna would ever actually said that about me." Then he began to miss his family, feeling like crying again. All of s sudden, when he was getting back to the cave, Lincoln heard a small growling noise, and became scared. "Hello? Anyone there?" He asked.

His hands began shaking and shuttering in fear. He heard the growling noise again, and slowly backed up a few paces. Bumping into a rock, Lincoln slowly turned around and what he saw made his heart beat like a drum.

A large, golden mountain lion was sitting right in front of him. It didn't look very menacing, but Lincoln knew how dangerous cougars can be, too. His face was close to the cat's face, and even felt his deep breathing. It smelled terrible, like he had eaten a skunk or a deer for lunch or breakfast. Lincoln slowly took a step back, and the mountain lion began sniffing him.

"Nice Moauntain Lion." Lincoln said in fear, sweat running down his face. With every step back he took, the big cat always made a step forward after him. "I mean- ahh!' He screamed, and made a bolt for it. The mountain lion tried to swipe at him with his claws, but Lincoln was fast, and chased after him.

The sounds of him roaring and hissing were really terrifying, and made it all the more dangerous. Lincoln ran and ran as fast as he could, but the animal was closing in on him, thanks to him running on four legs.

While not really paying attention to where he was going, he bumped into a small cliff, for it was a dead end. He crouched down to his butt, and the mountain lion showed his menacing canines at him, looking quite hungry.

"No! No! Help! Somebody help!" He cried in desperation. The big cat was about to sink his teeth into Lincoln's neck, but then he heard a boom sound, and the mountain lion made one last roar before it fell dead to the ground.

Looking over at where it was coming from, it was Luna and the rest of his sisters. "Lincoln!" They all said, more than happy to see him.

"Guys!" Lincoln exclaimed in joy. They all formed a group hug, and then let go. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Saving you, of course." Said Lisa.

"Lincoln, we were so worried about you, bro. I was worried about you. Why would you even run away like that?" Luna asked

"Well I heard you talking on the phone and saying that you don't really need me anymore with Sam. You said that you would give me to her cousin as a gift., and that I wasn't special or mean anything to you anymore."

"What?!" Luna said in great confusion, "That's crazy talk, dude! I would never do that to you, or think any less of you." Then she gave him a hug personally. "Bro, I was talking about one of my oldest guitars, Ole Stripes. It was getting to old and rusty, and I can't play it anymore if it is in bad shape like that. I was offering my guitar to Sam's cousin."

It was at this moment, Lincoln felt so dumb hearing the truth. "Oh." He said with a nervous smile. "Oh my god, what have I done all this time? Having a mountain lion kill me like that? Guys I am so sorry, I wouldn't blame you if you guys are mad at me for doing that."

"Oh bro. I'm not mad at you." Luna reassured with a warm smile on her face. "We all make mistakes, like when you accidentally broke one of my prized guitars.l

"I'm not really proud of it." Lincoln admitted.

"It was an accident Lincoln. We know you wouldn't ruin our things on purpose." Lucy reassured.

"Look, we're just glad you're okay, Lincoln." Lynn said. "We thought we would have lost you forever."

"I would if not for you guys." Lincoln admitted. "But what about mom and dad? How will they react about this? Oh they are so going to kill me for running away like that."

"Don't worry, we'll just explain to them what happen." Said Leni.

It made Lincoln smile to hear that. "Thanks guys. I'm sorry for running away like that."

"And i'm sorry too, Lincoln. It's kinda my fault I made you go out here like that." Luna admitted. "But I will always love you."

"So will we." Lori said, then they formed a group hug again.

"I love you guys, too." Lincoln replied with gratitude. "Come on, let't go home." And he went to get his belonging again and happily walked back home with his sisters, with Luna wrapping her arm around his shoulders.

"Hey, on which day does a cougar est his meat?" Luan asked "On a Chews-day! Hahahahaha! Get it?"

As usual, they all groaned at her lame puns.