38 Screams and gunshots

A shiver ran up Officer James' spine as distant screams echoed in his ear. With a heavy heart, he turned to look behind; he knew for sure that he wasn't hearing things.

Screams and gunshots, he could hear them well, though they sounded so far they seemed like sounds in his head.

'My men need me,' was his initial thought, he was going to run to them, but then he heard the low whimpering of a dog.

Behind a dried shrub decorated with thorns and the most blood he had seen since he started his search, he found the dog and an auburn-haired woman laying unmovingly, facedown in the dirt.

He's been following the trail of handprints and the small bits of blood on the plants. From them, Officer James deduced that the woman was being dragged by her feet and held onto anything, even thorns in her fight for survival.

With one final glance behind him where he could still hear the sound of screams, he slowly and carefully approached the two.