12.1
09/27/2009
"We should get a tent," Blake concluded as he gingerly lay down to sleep on the rocky forest floor. "Shelter is considered the most important thing for survival, and we've gone for how many days without it?"
Without any of their supplies, which were lying innocently at the summit of Mt. Hood, they were truly living in the wild.
Eve and Nikki both sat with their knees hugged to their chests. Night was falling, and the unusually cold and wet days hadn't helped to liven their spirits– after all, they had left Jelani to die on the mountain.
Eve hadn't spoken a word, and Nikki's mood matched the weather.
Blake stretched out on the hard ground and closed his eyes.
He sighed and continued, "That rebel gathering is two days from now. It's only a few miles away. We'll have to go and see what we can do."
He reached into his pocket and rolled the hard crystals inside it between his fingers. One wolf had chased them all the way down the mountain, so they were left with at least something to bargain with.
– – – – –
A promising sunrise brought with it hope for the days to follow, and the four of them set out towards their destination. The designated meeting point was along the river that they had encountered weeks earlier, before Jelani had consumed the element of death.
For the entire day, they walked without rest. Like robots, they put one foot in front of the other in a neverending pattern that continued from morning to night.
When the day finally grew dark, they lay down to their first dry night in longer than they could remember.
Rogues attacked them. Corvus killed the creatures, but the elements within their cores lacked the power to sustain themselves.
No longer caring about safety, they drifted back to sleep.
They had suffered the ultimate failure. They were back to square one.
All four of them had things they wanted to accomplish; "Dreams" may not have been the best description, but they all had something. Something they had suffered through the years for. Something that was their reason to go on living.
Eve placed a weathered, shaking hand over her eyes and fought back the tears that threatened to pour out.
What happens when you lose everything?
What happens when you can no longer take the next step forward?
Blake smiled as he stared into the darkness. Life is tough, but only if you haven't accounted for it.
On the surface, the squad was simply back to where they'd started. Once they got some supplies and ammo, they would regain their full strength and there would be no need for concern.
But something was different.
They all felt the same way–the clock was ticking. The feeling couldn't be described with words, but they knew it hadn't just been a frivolous failure. It had been their single chance, and they had lost it.
Nikki's unusual ability to sense impending danger came from her elemental authority: the seventh sense. However, the others didn't need that ability to sense the vague danger that lay in their futures–no, humanity's future.
Perhaps it was because of the number of times they'd each faced death, or perhaps they were simply deluding themselves, but, regardless of the reason, they could feel it.
This sensation that the world stood on the brink of destruction, and no one, no matter how young or old, would be able to avoid it.
The next day proceeded in just the same way until the sun was at its highest point in the sky. In the far distance, they glimpsed a group of three people–the first they'd seen in months. After losing sight of the first group, they soon saw another, and within minutes, the massive river presented itself to them.
Blake stopped and carefully observed their surroundings. "We should be close," he determined. "If we go just a little downstream, we'll find them."
They didn't have to walk far before they heard the low din of voices echoing through the trees. Slowing their pace, they cautiously made their way towards the racket.
Up ahead and to their left, there was an area where the trees broke, opening up on a small lake, and when they stepped through that last line of thin trees, the gathering of rebels came into full view.
Several hundred people lined the shores, and the volume of the sound produced by their voices was incredible. The stark contrast between the usual silence of the woods and this mayhem only made it more intense.
Many tents were set up along the shoreline, and people had wide varieties of items set out before them on the ground. Rebels went from vendor to vendor, carefully examining each of the goods being sold, of which there were weapons, ammunition, camping supplies, preservable food, and accessories, along with a few other odd trinkets.
Blake breathed in as if inhaling the scene and remarked, "Incredible. I've never seen one this lively."
Just as he spoke, they heard a series of yells just a little ways down the shore.
The cause was impossible to determine, but a brawl had broken out. There were at least ten rebels involved, and the way they were all swinging at each other made it look like a massive free-for-all.
Others began to gather, pouring on whoops and roars as the fighters furiously beat at each others' heads.
One by one, they all fell to the ground, until, finally, one man remained with his hand raised in victory. Cheers erupted from the area.
"Yooo! Duane is unbeatable!"
"No one can even come close!"
Nikki's brow furrowed as she watched from a distance. "Do they all know each other?" she muttered to herself.
Hearing this, Blake said, "It's not very surprising. From my understanding, many of these groups get together on a regular basis. In fact, we're somewhat unusual in that nobody knows us, and we don't know any of them. At the last gathering, I even heard they were planning to build some kind of settlement with the goal of living together, all in one place."
Nikki considered this and said, "That doesn't sound like a bad idea."
"I agree," Blake said. "But let's hope these group mentality types aren't the only ones here."
The four of them began their walk of the shoreline in search of three things: a bag, ammo, and some form of shelter.
Blake watched the transactions being made as they passed by vendors, and he was surprised to only see a few exchanges involving elements.
"This isn't looking great," he said. "It seems like–"
Nikki cut him off with a sort of coughing, choking sound.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
She inhaled as if taking her first gasp of air after nearly drowning in a frozen lake. A tear fell from her eye, and it sounded like the mere act of breathing was torture to her.
That first tear opened the floodgates to her emotions, which had been more tightly bound than they'd ever been before, and she sat down and cried.
Her shrieking sobs kept anyone from walking too close, and Blake, Eve, and Corvus simply stood and watched as she unleashed agony.
Blake knelt beside her. "What's wrong?"
"I– I -hic- felt somet-tt-thing terr-rribleee."
"Are you saying you sensed danger? Here, at this lake?"
"Y-yeahh, but then it was g-gone right away and I didn't kn-know what was happening and we left Jelani like that and I just can't take it anymo-o-ooore."
She wailed as if the world had ended.
Blake set a hand on her shoulder, and when her sobs finally reduced to a series of quiet chokes, he asked, "Do you feel better now?"
She sniffled and rubbed her running nose. "Yeah. But I'm scared. That was the worst I've ever felt it. Something bad was here, but now it's gone."
She swallowed. "It was gone in like a second."
None of them saw the thumbs-up that Blake held out behind his back.
After helping Nikki to her feet, Blake led the others onward.
He pulled the elements they'd obtained from the wolf out of his pocket. "We have elements of growth, healing, and strength. Regardless of their backgrounds, I'd expect that everyone here knows about these, so I think we'll get what we want."
They came across an old, white-haired woman who was selling a few small camping essentials. She had her things laid out on the dirt, and she was holding a gun in her right hand while she pointed items out to a customer with her left.
The rebel she'd been talking to moved on without buying anything, and she spat at his back, "Ye'll regre' it, boy! Pe'ple don' han' out deals like me! Ye won' find anythin' if yer so picky!"
She turned to the squad and smiled a wide, toothless smile, her long, scraggly hair dangling down over her shoulders. She closed her eyes as she grinned, and hundreds of lines and creases appeared on her cracking skin. "Now! What'll we do for ya?"
"Hello, ma'am," Blake greeted with a bow of his head. "We're interested in some of the tools you have here. What would it take to trade for one of those?"
The woman proceeded to eagerly describe the items around her, getting so excited that she used both hands, including the one with the gun, to point out various features of a hammer. Her withered hands shook as she held them out, which was presumably a result of some condition she'd contracted in her old age.
The last tool she had to describe was a hatchet lying at the very front of her array, and as she reached her right hand all the way out to describe its intricacies, her arm shook violently and she pulled the trigger.
The gunshot reverberated around the lake, and everyone stopped what they were doing.
Dead silence ensued. Fights were normal at these events, but shooting was not.
"He' He'. Oopsies. Migh' have to ge' some ammo if this keep happenin'."
The old woman chuckled to herself and set the gun down before clenching and unclenching her hand as if trying to loosen it up.
She was blissfully unaware of the change in the atmosphere, and, within a few seconds, the voices picked up again and the rebels carried on as if nothing had happened.
"Those look fantastic," Blake said to her with a warm smile. He then pulled the element of healing from his pocket and held it out for her to see.
"Oooh. Is tha' one of them… ahh… wha' was it?"
"It's an element–an element of healing," Blake explained in a slow voice, as if talking to a toddler.
"Ahh, tha's right. But healin'? I don' nee' to be healed!" The woman threw her head back and cackled. "Tha's right. I'm a spry youn' woman."
As she continued to chuckle, Blake asked, "Well, would you take a piece of this for one of those tools?"
"Piece! I won' take the whole thing! Ye', Ye'll need more than tha' for one of these works of art!"
She looked indignant and shook her finger at Blake as if reprimanding a foolish child.
Blake sighed. "Oh well. That's disappointing."
As he turned to leave, the old woman called out "Oi! Wha' else you got? You won' find a be'er deal!"
Blake looked over his shoulder with a regretful expression and said, "I'm sorry. I have nothing else. I have no choice but to walk away… unless… you have something cheaper. Something I could trade for."