can’t move as quickly in that kind of terrain.”
“Right now, hiding is the priority.”
“And water.”
“And water,” he agreed. “We need to find a lake. The bigger, the better. More chance there’ll be liquid water under the surface of ice, so we won’t have to stop to build a fire to melt drinking water.”
“You know where any lakes are?”
“Not exactly. But there are some up there, among the foothills. Reservoirs and natural lakes, both.”
He tossed the last empty can aside and kicked some snow over it. “I’m ready.”
“Then let’s do it.”
She stood behind the sled and threw her body weight into getting it started. She heard Benjamin grunt with the effort of pulling, and at first, she was afraid they weren’t going to get it to budge. It had never been this heavy before. After another few minutes of digging in and pushing, she felt the sled finally give under her pressure, and they began to move off.
* * *
By the end of the first full day, they were exhausted, hungry, and still afraid of what might be coming up behind them. When they came across a patch of downed big trees, they stopped. While he dug another snow cave, she set a small fire and melted drinking water and soup, six cans each, eaten straight out of the cans. She then slept like the dead.
Snow fell the following day. They pulled almost without rest, not bothering to eat mid-day. At the end of the day, they dug another snow cave and were so exhausted they fell to sleep without bothering to hunt for fuel. The next day, they packed soup cans in their pockets, defrosting them with body heat, and ate as they moved.
The third day after fleeing their camp, soon after midday, the wind picked up until it hurt to be in it, swirling snow around that quickly turned her cheeks and exposed forehead raw. They dug a snow cave immediately to protect themselves from the biting wind. Both of them were so exhausted, they dozed off and on for the rest of the day and still slept the night through. The sled was barely visible behind a snow drift.
The good news was, the wind had erased all signs of their passage, as well. There had never been any sign of pursuit, but now it seemed unlikely that the army guys could find them.
They found fuel and stayed in place that day and a second night, resting from the hard work of pulling so much weight so quickly, on so little food.
In the morning, the wind had died down to nothing. They ate, they drank, and Coral put on the harness to start the day’s pull.
Moving through the increasingly rocky terrain was harder, and slower, just as she’d predicted. They came upon a frozen stream and stopped there for two nights, taking time to gather wood, eat their way through half of their soup cans, and drink their fill of water. By the time they were ready to move on, Coral had lost all track of time, but Benjamin said they should call it Halloween, “for shits and giggles.”
She said, “Days are getting shorter. When I think about how cold it is already, giggling isn’t what I feel like doing.”
“No,” he agreed, “it’s not funny at all.”
They were not lucking into finding game, nor any sign of a lake or reservoir. Benjamin promised that the next stream they found, they’d follow downhill, for it might lead to one. They both felt sure they’d eluded the Army guys, but if they only had done so to freeze or starve to death, it didn’t feel like much of a victory.
All in all, though, she thought starving to death in the snow might be a better end than being systematically raped by a bunch of strange men.
* * *
One long and tiring day, with only a few cans of food left, they climbed to the slopes of the next ridge, hoping to see water, but when they descended they found themselves struggling down a dangerously steep slope, studded with giant towers of sculptured rock, some with tiny wasp waists above which were balanced boulders that must have weighed well over a ton. One the size of a compact
“Right now, hiding is the priority.”
“And water.”
“And water,” he agreed. “We need to find a lake. The bigger, the better. More chance there’ll be liquid water under the surface of ice, so we won’t have to stop to build a fire to melt drinking water.”
“You know where any lakes are?”
“Not exactly. But there are some up there, among the foothills. Reservoirs and natural lakes, both.”
He tossed the last empty can aside and kicked some snow over it. “I’m ready.”
“Then let’s do it.”
She stood behind the sled and threw her body weight into getting it started. She heard Benjamin grunt with the effort of pulling, and at first, she was afraid they weren’t going to get it to budge. It had never been this heavy before. After another few minutes of digging in and pushing, she felt the sled finally give under her pressure, and they began to move off.
* * *
By the end of the first full day, they were exhausted, hungry, and still afraid of what might be coming up behind them. When they came across a patch of downed big trees, they stopped. While he dug another snow cave, she set a small fire and melted drinking water and soup, six cans each, eaten straight out of the cans. She then slept like the dead.
Snow fell the following day. They pulled almost without rest, not bothering to eat mid-day. At the end of the day, they dug another snow cave and were so exhausted they fell to sleep without bothering to hunt for fuel. The next day, they packed soup cans in their pockets, defrosting them with body heat, and ate as they moved.
The third day after fleeing their camp, soon after midday, the wind picked up until it hurt to be in it, swirling snow around that quickly turned her cheeks and exposed forehead raw. They dug a snow cave immediately to protect themselves from the biting wind. Both of them were so exhausted, they dozed off and on for the rest of the day and still slept the night through. The sled was barely visible behind a snow drift.
The good news was, the wind had erased all signs of their passage, as well. There had never been any sign of pursuit, but now it seemed unlikely that the army guys could find them.
They found fuel and stayed in place that day and a second night, resting from the hard work of pulling so much weight so quickly, on so little food.
In the morning, the wind had died down to nothing. They ate, they drank, and Coral put on the harness to start the day’s pull.
Moving through the increasingly rocky terrain was harder, and slower, just as she’d predicted. They came upon a frozen stream and stopped there for two nights, taking time to gather wood, eat their way through half of their soup cans, and drink their fill of water. By the time they were ready to move on, Coral had lost all track of time, but Benjamin said they should call it Halloween, “for shits and giggles.”
She said, “Days are getting shorter. When I think about how cold it is already, giggling isn’t what I feel like doing.”
“No,” he agreed, “it’s not funny at all.”
They were not lucking into finding game, nor any sign of a lake or reservoir. Benjamin promised that the next stream they found, they’d follow downhill, for it might lead to one. They both felt sure they’d eluded the Army guys, but if they only had done so to freeze or starve to death, it didn’t feel like much of a victory.
All in all, though, she thought starving to death in the snow might be a better end than being systematically raped by a bunch of strange men.
* * *
One long and tiring day, with only a few cans of food left, they climbed to the slopes of the next ridge, hoping to see water, but when they descended they found themselves struggling down a dangerously steep slope, studded with giant towers of sculptured rock, some with tiny wasp waists above which were balanced boulders that must have weighed well over a ton. One the size of a compact
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