The anger is directed towards the aliens and Ka. I wonder what his agenda is. He saved me and so many others; why did he turn on us? Why did he order Vren killed? Why did he want to kill us? Me?
I'm sure he's the mastermind behind what happened onboard the spaceship; I just don't understand why. We need to get back to Alaska and warn the President, because of me, he trusts Ka.
As soon as the sun makes its first appearance, I wake the others. Karsten grumbles and complains, but Colin is instantly awake. He cracks his neck and stretches; I know how he feels. The ground is hard and unforgiving. My whole body still aches, especially where the rock pushed into my hip all night. Colin makes Karsten get up and leads him and me through a few stretches bringing life back into our muscles.
"I'm thirsty." Karsten complaints.
"You know the area, where is the closest town?" Colin asks him.
Karsten shrugs his shoulders. "I was a butcher before all this happened; I don't even have the faintest idea where we are." His tone is whiny, and I suppress the urge to punch him.
Colin rolls his eyes; I can tell that he's trying to figure out—just like me, how we can ditch Karsten. Neither one of us has it in them do that, though. No matter how big a pain in the ass this guy might turn out to be. It's just a pleasant daydream.
And he tries our patience, all morning long. He won't shut up, and he won't stop complaining. "I'm hungry." "I'm thirsty." "My feet are hurting." "When are we going to take a break?" It's like walking with a toddler.
It gets so bad that I have to use all my willpower not to deck him. I notice that Colin, balls his hands in and out. I smile. He, too, is close to punching the guy. Finally, when the sun is high in the sky, I estimate it's around one in the afternoon, we find the blacktop again—a road. Hopefully, the one we were on before Jochen and his cronies shot at us.
At least the temperatures have dropped, but I'm thirsty too, hunger is starting to gnaw, Karsten has finally shut up; he must be too exhausted to complain. About two hours later, Colin gives the signal to drop down; ahead of us is a gas station. We tell Karsten to stay hidden in the bushes and wait for us, something he's all too happy to oblige with.
Carefully Colin and I use the undergrowth as coverage as we duck-walk towards the gas station. It looks abandoned and empty but looks can be deceiving. We won't let our guard down. Guns drawn; our backs hug the wall as we move carefully towards the entrance. The glass doors have been shattered, which doesn't bode well for us to find anything.
After a few minutes, we call Karsten to join us, the place is empty. Utterly empty. Nothing has been left, not even a hairpin.
"We could spend the night here," Colin suggests. "It's going to get dark soon, and at least the place is safe."
"What about food?" Karsten complaints.
"We can go see if we can shoot something," I suggest.
Colin doesn't like the idea. "I don't dare make a fire; we have no idea where the Turks are, for all we know, they could have taken the same road as us. There could be other hostiles out here as well."
I sigh. Looks like we're going hungry and thirsty to bed tonight. Actually, we don't even have a bed to speak of.
A satisfied "Aha." Gets our attention.
Karsten made a beeline for the breakroom. Since the electricity went out, we haven't dared open a fridge. Nothing but bad smell and spoiled food would greet us. But Karsten has no such reservations. He opens the refrigerator and, low and behold, finds two large bottles of water.
They're warm, and one is half empty, but beggars can't be choosers. We clap Karsten on the back, and he beams at us, even though the odor from the fridge was as bad as expected.
With a wide grin on his face, Karsten pulls something else out of one of the drawers; it's a plastic packet portraying a salami on the outside. It says: Bi-Fi on it. He opens it, stares at the date in contemplation. "What month is it?"
I actually need to think for a moment before I realize it has to be October or November. He smiles even wider when I tell him, and he holds two Bi-Fis out to Colin and me. Tentatively we follow his instructions and open the packages. Inside is one lone, skinny salami.
It's heavenly, though. Together with the water Karsten found, our needs are somewhat taken care of. We push chairs and tables in front of the door to barricade it and get comfy on the cold, linoleum floor. No guard duty tonight, the room is safe, nobody will get in without us knowing, but we still keep our guns within reach. I doubt Karsten will try to kill us in our sleep. Even if he was a serial killer, it would be against his interest to kill us at this point.
Chapter 6
The next days are all the same, we walk, and we walk, and we walk some more. At some point, we come across a small stream with crystal clear water; we're a little hesitant to drink it, but Karsten assures us it will be fine. It's cold and delicious. We brought the empty water bottles from the gas station in case we found water and are now able to refill them.
All the while, we keep to the side of the road, always ready to jump into the thick underbrush if we saw anything or anyone approach. We pass through ghost towns
