Chapter 4 – HE WAS DECLARED LOST AND DEAD

               “We left him behind because it is getting dark” Jake told the mother of Dexter.

                “Why you did wait for him a little longer?”

                “If you are on his position, I am sure he will wait for you” she continues.

                ‘” We wait for him, we only leave the place, when it is getting dark”

                “We are still here at the foot of the mountain” Jake added.

Jake is the leader of group of hunters, where Dexter belongs. He talks to the mother of Dexter in the cellphone. He reported everything to her. She has the right to know. They have not left the place, they only take a rest in the foot of the mountain, still hoping any moment, Dexter will make a call or show himself to them. Their radio transceiver can work for two days, they hope, they can still make a contact to him, from the forest. They are ready to exert all effort to look for Dexter. They have reported the case to police, and to the local government unit, hoping they can extend a helping hand to them.

                “How long you have not seen him” the police investigator asking them.

                “Sir, about 24 hours now, we cannot even contact him on the radio” they answered.

                “Is he sick, or not feeling well, when you entered the forest?”

                “No, Sir he is very lively, he even told us, he will shoot the big deer and bring it home”

                “Do you have regular radio contact before he was lost”

                “Yes Sir, he radioed us, he has shot a deer and running after it”

                “What time is that?”

                “Twelve thirty in the afternoon Sir, that is then our last contact to him”

                “What time, then you realized, he is lost”

                “Sir, by two o clock in the afternoon, when he no longer responds our radio calls”

                “We continue looking for him, we only leave the forest when it is getting dark”

The police cannot see any foul play in the case, all the men in the hunting party, has no hard feeling, or get a quarrel whatsoever with Dexter. He is the friend of everybody and all of them like him. All of them wants him to be found, safe and sound, and return to his family.

                The mayor of the town, also arrived and told them, he has requested the hiker’s group in the place, to help them in the search.

                That is the third day Dexter was lost, they are in race against time. Everybody knows it is a matter of life and death.

                The search party is organized well, the first group are the policemen, with them are the canine group, the snipping dogs, trained for search and rescue mission like this. The second group is the hikers who are familiar with the place, they are equipped with drones, so that they can cover great area of search in short period of time, from above. The third group, the main group of hunters where Dexter belongs, they where search him from the last known area, they believe he shot the deer, and chase it. All of them have radios for close communication and coordination. The whole area will be search thoroughly, if he is already dead at least they want to recover his body. The area of search and rescue mission covers thirty square kilometers from the center of last known place Dexter was last seen and talk with

                The search was officially launch immediately that day, almost ten o clock in the morning. Constant radio contact was agreed upon so that no one will be lost again.

                Every two hours, each group is required to contact in radio the police officer in-charge of that search and rescue mission

                In the evening of that day, all person responsible for the search convene to report, they were all very tired, but they have no positive result yet, they have not even seen any clues about the whereabouts of Dexter. The modern equipment and technology, become useless to unravel the mystery of Dexter lost in the forest scientifically and logically.

                The vast forest holds a mystery no man can fathom with even in the digital age

                It is all the same after a week, even it is against their will, all person involved give-up, one by one. It is only the immediate family of Dexter, most especially his mother, wants them to continue. She is longing for Dexter so much, and her motherly instinct is not yet ready to accept the logic of reason, for she loves him so much more than her life.

Her suffering becomes more intense, because his body, is not even found. They will be mourning for the death of their love one, whose remains is nowhere to be found.

Dexter was declared lost and dead after a month. No one knows what happened to him.