We began to make our descent into the forest on the north side of the observatory. It was a rough climb down into the woods, but not nearly as bad as the other side would have been headed toward the devastation left from Helen's anger.
At first it was sparse greenery like any roadside but within a few hundred yards the trees began to truly soar. After a few miles we had to find makeshift trails to inch along under trees over a hundred feet tall.
Behemoths of nature, towering over us. The sound of animals in the distance, birds chirping small game scurrying. Everything but the sound of enemies behind us.
It would take a few days, but we would be able to find a creek and follow it north to a river if the GPS was correct.
We probably made five miles the first day, tripping over roots and scratching our faces on bushes. It was draining for Liz and Jesse, irritating for me. Luckily we had plenty of allergy medication in Liz's purse. My seasonal allergies were bad enough to incapacitate me without a full bottle or two at hand.
Jesse was irritable, angry even. He didn't want to talk and we both knew why. It was rough for him losing his mother on top of everything else. All he could do was power on. Not talking, not looking at us, not even crying when he needed to so desperately.
How could so much, be so wrong when we were surrounded by the finest of nature's beauty? Ancient trees towered above us, birds sung all day long, small game ran about. Occasionally we might hear a bear or wild cat in the distance. We were completely secluded in an area where few men had ever walked before.
Hopefully we would find a trail or the creek within days. However, it was hard to tell with the terrain. Sometimes taking us an hour or more out of our intended path. Our eventual aim was to hit the Cascade Pass, a trail that had been followed for centuries. Probably the safest way through this rugged region and our passage north.
We tried taking the easiest paths possible. Avoiding big tangles of bushes if we could. Around five in the after noon we took a break to eat and rehydrate.
"Try to drink only what you need to," I said. "I'm not sure what kind of pace we are making, so we don't want to run out of water and find ourselves a day or more away from a stream."
"Oh, crap I forgot we had the GPS" Jesse said and began going through his pack.
"Are these too heavy for you guys? I can take a little more if they are, just let me know" I told them, referring to the bags of gear we were carrying. They weren’t bad altogether, mine was about eighty pounds and theirs were each about half of that.
"Where are we going to sleep?" Liz asked
"Not sure, probably will hike for another few hours or so and try to find a nice safe spot." I replied.
"Here ya go" Jesse said as he tossed me the GPS "I set it to "off the trail" mode."
"Thanks" I said taking the GPS. It was pretty easy to read, a full color screen about 4 inches across. The map looked more like a satellite shot than a paper guide. It was probably expensive.
"I've never been camping before" Jesse said, staring off into space.
"Well you probably won't want to do it ever again by the time we're through" I said.
"It's ok sweetie," Liz said, she was very motherly. "We'll teach you how to rough it."
"Your first lesson is, hand on your gun at all times." I said without looking up. "Never set the gun completely down, and especially don't let the barrel hit the dirt."
"Why?"
"Well because if a Chinese solider sneaks up behind you, he'll take you out before you can clean the burrito off your hands and get to the gun."
"Well then how do you eat?"
"With one hand preferably." I replied, remembering how hard it was back in basic to eat with my off hand. "It takes some getting used to, but you'll be glad soon enough."
"I'm sure. We can't seem to catch a break." Jesse laughed.
"Nope, but that's probably because we gave them a damn good reason to chase us, eh?"
"So, what's the plan el capitan?" Jesse asked.
"Looks like there's a creek about 13 miles north, the terrain is pretty rough closer to it. We should be able to follow it up most of our way through this park and into the next. Eventually we'll find the river it came from."
"How many miles have we walked today?"
"Four, maybe five." I said. "We'll head due north for another two hours or so, then find a spot to camp. It will give us enough time to set up before it's too dark."
"Alright, let's do this." Liz said as she stood up.
The hike was anything but easy. Our way would be almost completely blocked by undergrowth at times. We would spend fifteen to twenty minutes just hacking our way through a few feet at a time. It took longer than expected to find a decent place to set up camp. It was eight pm before we could start clearing a place to lay down our supplies.
"Want me to get wood for a fire?" Jesse asked as I was stringing the tarp up in the middle of three trees.
"Yeah, sure. Just don't go wild and don't cut anything." I replied
"Why?" he asked
"Well if someone does decide to come looking for us, they might be able to tell that we were here and how long ago if you cut branches down. So pick em up off the ground and we'll make a very small fire. We don't want a lot of smoke."
"Wont they be able to tell we were here if we set a fire then?"
"I'll show you how to cover it up in the morning. It'll be as if we were never here. Even if someone was on our trail this whole way it'll be nearly impossible to catch up."
"Ok cool" he said and walked off to gather some wood.
"Hun, what about the crap we were cutting through earlier?" Liz asked.
"No one is going to follow us through that, that's why we got into it before we started cutting. If they saw it passing by, they'd never know we went straight through."
"Oh so that's why you didn't want to bother going around that. I hope Jesse doesn't get reactions to poison ivy or anything like that." She said almost as an afterthought.
"Hmm, I didn't even think to ask, but we should be able to take care of it if it isn't too bad. Id be more worried about burning it than touching it, to be honest."
By the time Jesse got back I had already dug a small hole to make the fire in. He almost tripped on it because his arms were so full of twigs.
"Whoa, what the..." He exclaimed
"It's for the fire."
"Is that why they say fire in the hole?" he laughed.
"That's just corny," Liz joked.
"Have you ever had a reaction to poison ivy or oak?" I asked
"Nope, don't think so. I remember my cousin got it when we were little, he looked like sloth from the Goonies for a week."
"Super Sloth or Pirate Sloth?" I asked, cracking up with laughter.
"Ummm, basement sloth I think"
"Now I want a Baby Ruth," Liz said pretending she was sad. "You know they filmed most of that in Astoria?"
"I've never been there" Jesse said.
"Oh, it's so beautiful, maybe we'll take you there when all this is over."
"You guys aren't just gonna take off on me when we get to Seattle are you?" He said, looking unsure.
"Of course not bud." I told him, "We need to stick together, you're stuck with us for the duration."
"I don't have anyone left..." he said starting to sob.
"Oh, honey" Liz said going over to hug him. "Things are going to be ok"
"My mom's dead and no one is even going to bury her."
"Don't say that, she'll be taken care of." Liz reassured him "She'd be so proud of you, you're a hero. You helped save so many people."
"They're gonna kill me too aren't they?" He bawled.
"No, I'm not going to let that happen." I told him, "It may be hard to believe right now, but I promise you we'll make it safely."
"Besides, they can't even catch you with all that little jumpy stuff you were doing." Liz said
&nbs
p; "It- it's parkour."
"What's that?"
"It's french I think, it's like street acrobats. I think it means the art of movement."
"Well, I thought it was pretty cool." She said, glad he was starting to feel a little better. "You should teach us sometime."
"They have clubs, i joined one when I was twelve." He said "They used to use it in the french military."
"You know, that might come in handy. Maybe when we get settled you could start teaching people. They'd have a better chance to escape from soldiers that way." I said as I put the fire together.
"This is kind of fun," Jesse said a few hours later as we were sitting around the fire relaxing. "Besides all the bugs and blisters and stuff."
"Nah, that's the best part, you can spice up dinner with those." I said.
"That's disgusting." Liz said elbowing me.
"What do you think we're eating tomorrow?"
"No, that's what you're eating, not me."
"Whatever, I’ll go kill Bambi or something." I said
"That's mean" Liz said looking disgusted.
"You don't complain when we eat steak."
"Aww, cows are cute"
"And delicious."
"I want some ribs" Jesse said.
"Hey there aren't bears out here are there?" Liz asked
"Probably," I said "But, we do have assault rifles. I think we'll be fine."
"Is bear meat good?" Jesse asked
"I have no idea. I'm secure enough in my masculinity that I don't need to kill large animals to make myself feel better."
"Ha, you could probably beat up a bear." Jesse said laughing.
"I'd kick it in the crotch and run like hell." I replied.
"OH! we could train it to do circus tricks and wear a cute little vest!" Liz exclaimed.
"Yeah, that would be easy." I said sarcastically.
"You ruin all my dreams." She said pouting. "I'm going to bed you big meanie!" she said in a squeaky voice.
"Night hun, I’ll take first watch." I said, pulling out the night vision goggles we had taken from the observatory.
It wasn't too cold that first night, though it did sprinkle a bit. Not enough to put out the fire, but enough to make the drops hitting the tarp sound like a rhythmic lullaby. By the time Jesse took over the watch I was exhausted, but still couldn't sleep. My mind was moving a thousand miles per hour with no sign of slowing down.
I'd never been so unsure of anything in my life. I was at that point where you know what's supposed to happen tomorrow but for some reason you can't even fathom it. Like a wall blocking you from seeing the path ahead.
I knew we had to get north of the Chinese forces no matter what, but I had no idea what we would do once we got there. People were expecting me to lead some kind of an army, but I wasn't sure I wanted that responsibility. I didn't think I could even handle it, honestly. I was no general, I was just some guy who the government invested a lot of money into during my stint with the Marines. I was not the Messiah these people were looking for.
This night was no different than the last. Every time I started to drift away, I was haunted by images of the people I had killed. I would see my self standing over dead bodies, sometimes with their children next to them bleeding out, like their parents. Begging me not to kill them, but i would. I would stare into their pleading eyes and put a bullet in their head.
I looked down upon a girl, no more than four, laughing as she begged me not to kill her father. I didn't listen. Blood sprayed from his head, her face covered in it. She was crying, hugging onto my leg. Groveling, pleading for me not to kill anyone else. I moved my gun toward her face, maybe a foot away. Her eyes were filled with terror as I pulled the trigger. The round exploded from the chamber, fire spewing like a cannon.
I screamed, jerking myself upright. It was morning, the sun had just begun to rise. Fiery in the sky like the bullet when it had erupted from the gun in my nightmare.
"Connor, what's wrong?" Liz asked startled by my actions.
"Nothing, I.. I was just having a nightmare." I replied, not wanting to go into details.
"You just about gave me a heart attack hun" She said relieved as Jesse came running over with a rifle in his hands.
"Nothing to worry about" I said, not giving him a chance to ask.
"Good, cause I have no clue how to use this thing." He laughed.
"I'll show you how to aim it after we get settled in tonight" I said as I started packing up our camping supplies.
"Breakfast is done" Liz joked as she handed me a power bar. I hated the things, they taste like chocolate covered lard. However, they're so packed full of calories that I would have to be an idiot not to eat them on an excursion like this.
"You know, we just might make it to that stream by nightfall if we push"
"Good, I’m getting pretty ripe" Jesse said waving his hand in front of his face to waft away his body odor.
"Birds are going to start nesting in my hair pretty soon" Liz said.
"Well then we can make omelets, so no bath for you" I joked.
"Hey Connor," Jesse said "I'm not getting a signal on the GPS."
"Shit," what else could go wrong? "Well we were headed due north, we'll just keeping going that way until we hit the stream. Hopefully it'll be back on by then."
After everything was packed, I started to show Jesse how to clear the site and cover our tracks.
"Go grab some debris, sticks, leaves whatever is laying around." I told him as I covered the small pit I had made our fire in.
"What should I do with these?"
"give me some of the leaves and smaller stuff and then just scatter that stuff around, don't make it look like you put it there on purpose" I instructed him. It was usually dry this time of year so there was no need to worry about foot prints.
"It's gonna be hot today," Liz said as we started off. She was right, it was only half past six and the temperature was starting to rise steadily. The heat in the northwest is no where near as bad as other places in the country, like the gulf coast where the humidity is unbearable. It's just a dry heat and there would be lots of bugs drawn by our sweat this deep in the woods.
We were making good time, doing our best to stay on a path that took us due north. As a result we avoided going through any brush because we would likely be taken off course trying to navigate it. It was definitely risky to travel completely in the open but we had little choice in the matter.
Chapter 10