Niegel had his military training to benefit him. It had taught him analytical thinking and how to keep calm when things were not going as planned, and Chrys escaping from him certainly wasn't something he'd wanted to happen. It was a possibility though, and he'd gone over many possible but unlikely things in his mind. He'd taken his time before stealing Chrys away and there had been little else he could focus on.<br/><br/>He considered the idea of just letting Chrys go. Not hurting the boy more than he'd done so already. This was all traumatic enough and would leave a lasting impression with Ron. With Chrys too, but then that darker side of his mind said it wasn't enough. His captives hadn't been forgiving with him and he couldn't be soft. He started something and he would need to finish it. Soldiers didn't leave guns half-cocked and missions only partially completed. He opened the toolbox up in the back of his truck to get a flashlight for when he'd need it. For now he needed to track where Chrys had gone. It would be more difficult at night, but if he could settle on a general direction he'd had a better chance.<br/><br/>“It's going to get cold, Chrys,” Niegel called out. There were disturbances in the soil, covered up sloppily as if the young man had tried to cover his tracks. He could see too where he'd given up and started to run instead, likely panicking and realizing how much time all that was taking when it really wasn't all that effective to begin with.<br/><br/>“We're out in the middle of nowhere. Do you want to die out here, prematurely, in the forest? That's what will happen if you get yourself lost,” Niegel continued, unsure if Chrys was close enough to hear him. He was trying to imagine himself in the boy's shoes and what he would be thinking, hoping to anticipate his decisions. Would he simply keep moving? Would he try to hide? Would he find a weapon? What would he do when cold and fatigue started to wear him down? Niegel knew how his body responded under such conditions. He's trained to overcome such things, but Chrys was untested. Perhaps Ron had taught him a few things but Niegel knew that it had never really been put to practice in a life or death situation. That made quite a bit of difference.<br/><br/>“Where do you think you're going to go? What's your plan?” Niegel wondered. “There are wolves and bears. I'm not the scariest thing living in this forest, I promise you.” If he could hear him at all he hoped to bring his fears to the surface so that he got stupid.<br/><br/>“Bet you're wishing you would have eaten something more than crackers before you left. You could have used the calories for this. Do you know how many calories you burn just shivering? One hundred calories every fifteen minutes. That's a lot for a boy that's skipped his dinner.” The sun had set and Niegel now was making sure to keep track of his own direction. It would be easy to get mixed up and turned around, especially without the use of a light. Of course, that made it more difficult to track Chrys down as well.