“We stay off trails and roads from here on out,” John continued in a hushed voice. “From what I can see without going down and doing a close inspection, which I ain’t doing, they were killed probably a month ago.”
Jared slid closer to John. “What do you think is going on out here?”
John shrugged. “Dunno, man, maybe it was two bands moving towards the coast, and one was armed and needed what this bunch had and—” He swept his hand across the scene. “They fucking took it. I have no idea. Everything I’m seeing these days seems to be the first time for me. I’ve seen a lot of bad overseas, but what’s happening now is all new to me.”
“Maybe the other party moved on over the hills to the ocean?” Jared offered.
Again, John shrugged his shoulders. “Like I said, Jared, I don’t know. It’s all new, so I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow or why shit happened today other than the obvious. It’s survival, and some people will prey on weaker, less prepared people in order to survive, but, bro, I gotta believe it ain’t a long-term solution. Hanging out in the mountains waiting to rob people.” John pursed his lips. “You’re gonna run out of people to fuck over, and then what?”
Jared thought on the matter for a few seconds, then stowed his binoculars and got to his feet. “Let’s get going. The sooner we get this Dwight guy, the sooner we can get back to our place, where there isn’t so much stinking death.”
The trio skirted the aboveground graveyard and continued silently picking their way up into the hills. Twice before they reached the crest of the coastal range, they passed clusters of dead people. Both times, the groups appeared to have been killed on or about the same time frame as the first bunch of people, but were found in much smaller numbers. The first was thirteen people, mostly women, while the second appeared to be four families.
Each time they encountered the dead, they smelled death long before they reached the carnage. After the second batch of dead bodies was found, John and Jared agreed to avoid getting too close to any more rotting bodies for fear of disease and/or contacting the source of all the violence in the hills. Once the three men reached what appeared to be close to if not the highest point in the mountain range, they turned and headed north along what John described as the military crest of the mountains.
The military crest was just a bit lower than the actual top of the mountain, assisting the men in blending into their surroundings. Someone watching from afar could easily see three figures walking along the top of a mountain range, but it would be significantly more difficult to make out the same three figures walking just twenty yards below the summit of the same mountain range. The difference being their silhouettes painted against the clear October sky or masked against the mismatched network of grass, bushes, dirt and whatever else made up the face of the coastal mountain range.
Every now and again Jared, John and Barry would catch the scent of death as it rode on the winds that whipped from the northwest through the draws and over the higher terrain features. John followed the mountain range on the east side rather than venturing too far west and risking contact with those rumored to have fled to the sea. He also wanted to keep the backtracking to a minimum once they reached the Woodside area. In order to stay away from the built-up areas, they were forced to travel farther to the west than they all would have liked, but the alternative was too dangerous to even consider.
Once the sun dipped low out over the Pacific Ocean, John chose a spot deep up into a draw, where someone coming down from the top couldn’t see them due to the thick brush and oak trees covering their position. Anyone approaching from the top would find the terrain far too steep to merely drop straight down into the draw. In order to access the little crevice, the trio was forced to hike down a finger to the south of the draw until it leveled off slightly, allowing them to enter the draw and start back up to where they intended to spend the evening.
The terrain feature was a seasonal creek, which was dry at the present time. In some spots it was no more than six feet wide, while in other places it opened up quite nicely, measuring close to ten yards across. John picked a spot nearly one hundred yards from the place the little team was able to drop into the creek. It was just past a bend that could be easily defended in case any unfriendly types decided they wanted to forgo their moral compass. The only con was there would be no way out of their resting spot for the night if they got in a fight. John thought the trade-off was better than a place they would have to defend on multiple fronts.
Even Jared thought the likelihood of being discovered was slim to none as long as they were quiet and didn’t start singing songs around a campfire. It was after 2000 hours by the time all three men ate and finished with their bathroom needs. They gathered around for what was becoming a hated tradition of drawing straws to see who chose first, second, and last for sentry duty.
Everyone preferred to take the first watch since they were already awake and, after being relieved by the oncoming watch, could sleep for the remainder of the night and wake up like a normal person. Jared’s second choice would have been the second watch since he could fall back to sleep after his watch rotation and feel some semblance of normalcy waking
