It didn't take long for the first aircraft to arrive, since there were several on station above the search area from his last radio transmission. It was only because they could run so fast, putting two miles in from the flare site before the helicopter started circling overhead, that they went unseen. They would search in concentric circles from that site, and they were lucky that none flew directly over them as they sprinted through the trees. They were twenty miles away before they stopped at a stream to drink.

They were getting close to the edge of the forest. They could smell the diesel smoke from the Army generators...