He spotted the lean-to and the chill of the night air clenched around his heart. No animal constructed that. If he was a gambler his bet would be on the fact that there was a person inside. A small amount of smoke filtered through the leaves. Gray was already there and pulling the berry bush away. He whined as his friend approached.

Daniel crawled in and found Rachel. She was covered with leaves except for her face. She was pale and extremely cold to touch. He brushed the leaves away smiling at her ingenuity to use her urine for warmth. Her little fire was reduced to embers.

He pulled her to the outside and lifted her to his arms. She was a tiny little thing and she fit nicely inside his coat, which he did up in order to provide not only his body heat but protection from the cold. He was grateful that his rifle had the shoulder strap, which he slung over his shoulder.

He called out to Gray and started his run back to his home, his cave. His pace altered between a jog and a shallow run. Time was of the essence. He smiled as he turned his head to see that Gray matched his run with her hat and the few berries grasped tightly in his jaw. He knew that the run had taken him a little over an hour and hoped that his slower run would still get him home in two hours.

He also knew that Gray had lead him over hill and dale, he could make it back on mostly flat ground. There would be just a few small dips and then he would skirt around the base of his hill rather than over it.

As he ran he could feel Rachel stir slightly, she no longer felt like an ice pack against his chest. She did however snuggle closer for his body heat. He ran on. She was really a tiny thing compared to some women. She was in shape and did not have an ounce of extra fat that he could see. He was determined to get her to his home and get her warm and fed.

Rachel, in her mind, felt like she was weightless, she was flying. She had finally died, and she had gone to heaven, she was an angel. She was surprised that heaven felt so comfortable. She thought it would be more of a benign temperature, neither here nor there.

Her thoughts drifted to work. Who would take over the practice? Randy was the other forensic coroner, having been there only a couple of months. Poor Betty, she had joined the service when Rachel came on board and it was opened. Initially it had been just her and Betty, work was steady but manageable. That had been four years ago. They had expanded, adding two more technicians and a secretary two years ago, then Randy. She would miss everyone but Betty the most.

She enjoyed being a medical examiner, a coroner, but mostly she liked the fact that she dealt with forensics. She put the pieces of the puzzles together, she solved the mysteries. In doing this she was helping others. She had found her niche.

She decided that being an angel was not so bad, but since she was new to it, she was tired. Sleep came peacefully to her.