“So… about a four hour hike. Nice work,” Mercy said, following the route.
“Barnes figured it out, it looks manageable. It beats having to use the tracker. I don’t trust that thing. I don’t want a disembodied President Mitchell knowing where we are,” Tawny answered.
Mercy nodded, “Yeah, there is that… that would uber suck. We’ll have to use that GPS tracker at some point though, and the moment we switch it on it’ll plug us right back into the grid. We might as well wave a big flag and shout: We’re over here boys. The problem is our Rose is out there with that alpha bitch and her pack… and we need to locate them.”
Mercy sat down. Tawny stared out the kitchen window.
“Hey, I found these,” Tawny pulled two cheroots from her shirt pocket. “There was a box of them in the dining room,” she handed one to Mercy.
“Tawny, you’ve earned your stripes for the day. Nice one, let’s kick back,” Mercy lit her cheroot with Tawny’s lighter.
They sat in their chairs smoking the cheroots. Soon the room was full of fragrant cigar smoke. Mercy closed her eyes and felt her shoulder muscles relax.
“So, what did you find out about our girl?” Tawny said, blowing smoke rings across the table.
Mercy blinked, “Annalise? She seems like a regular Daniel Boone character… there’s pictures of her hunting, trapping and fishing. Lots of bushcraft, rock climbing, diving… all that good stuff—”
Tawny considered Mercy’s words, “She’s gonna be pretty useful then, us city types are out of our element here. No steel and glass. No concrete, no trash, no gangs—”
“Yeah, and that was before the Fall. God, I miss New York City. Do you think we’ll ever get back there again?”
Tawny smiled, “Hell yeah, we’re young, we’ve got time… anything’s possible.”
Mercy shivered and looked away.
Shit, I’ve got a bad feeling about this one—
They spent the rest of the evening preparing for the next day. They cleaned their weapons, they ate and rehydrated. Barnes and Flynn ventured out and returned with new clothes from a neighbouring house.
“It’s weird, there’s no tropes around here,” Tawny said. “It’s as if all the people of Mission Home have vanished.”
“Like the Mary Celeste—” Mercy added.
Flynn stirred, “No… they’ve had their share of the pain. Me and Barnes found a whole burial ground at the back of that last house we turned over. They had the same shit here as everywhere else—”
“Makes sense that Annalise left for the hills. There’ll be food and clean water up there and hopefully less trope activity—” Mercy said.
Tawny pulled a sceptical face, “I guess we’ll find out—”
The sound of snoring interrupted their conversation. They looked over at Barnes, asleep on the sofa.
“Who ever heard of a snoring Navy SEAL? Don’t they train that shit out of you?” Flynn smiled.
“Yes, I’ve heard him snoring before. You’d have thought SEAL training would’ve covered that one, wouldn’t you?” Mercy shook her head in mock exasperation.
Roll on tomorrow. Rose, we’re on our way—
They set sound traps, secured the house, and turned in for the night.
The next day dawned misty and dull. They set off at first light down Mission Home Road and joined Simmons Gap Road forty minutes later. They continued along their route for another few miles until the asphalt ran out.
Barnes stopped and consulted his map, “This is the Simmons Gap Fire Road, it’ll take us to the Skyline Drive… there’s a Ranger Station up there. We’ll see how it goes. There’s only four of us, so we should stay close. I’ll take point, Mercy you’ve got our six. Everyone, eyes and ears big time from now on. Let’s go—”
“The mist is pretty grim, I can hardly see a thing. It wasn’t like this yesterday,” Tawny complained.
Barnes spoke over his shoulder, “Welcome to the misty mountains, yeah, it’s pretty thick alright. We’re good with the map and compass though. The mist should burn off late morning, noon at the latest, visibility will improve then.”
Mercy smiled to herself.
Good to have you back big guy… that was some fucked up shit you went through back there. I’m glad you made it through—
The fire road climbed the hillside, weaving through the lush forest. Birds called out from the branches above. The cool breeze rustled the leaves in the canopy. They fell into a steady rhythm and covered the ground in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. The breeze intensified the higher they went. Mercy caught glimpses of the land falling away beneath them.
Trees everywhere. Beautiful country, just beautiful. God’s own country—
They reached a clearing and Barnes stopped to consult the map. He drew near to the others and lowered his voice, “We’re near the Ranger Station, it’s off down that track. What do you want to do?”
Mercy shook her head, “We’re good, we should head straight to the co-ordinates Annalise left. There’s no point going off-grid. I say we press on—”
Barnes grunted, “I agree. OK, quick water break… then we’re Oscar Mike.”
Tawny looked at Barnes, “Oscar Mike?”
“Sorry, that’s on the move to you—” Barnes said.
Flynn looked around, “Hey, I just realised… we’re in bear country here aren’t we?”
“We sure are.” Barnes said, “Shoot first and ask questions later—”
“Yeah, like I’ll probably fill my pants first,” Flynn answered. He looked at his M4 carbine, “Will this even stop a bear?”
“No, but you’ll piss it off and it’ll come after you. We can then bail while it’s occupied ripping your head off,” Barnes kept his voice deadpan.
Mercy gulped down some water and wiped the sweat from her forehead. “OK, let’s quit the small talk and push on—”
No bears, please, no fucking bears—
They joined Skyline Drive and headed southwest. The road was riddled with potholes in places. They had to climb over fallen trees twice. Barnes slowed as they approached their destination. He raised a closed fist and knelt down to examine something on the road. He beckoned Mercy forwards.
“What is it?” Mercy whispered.
Barnes indicated at a pile
