In the world of The Walking Dead, it almost seemed like new walkers could appear anywhere at any time.
Even this deep in the mountains, in a forest rarely visited by anyone, there was no telling how the walkers had managed to wander all the way out here.
Once the team entered the deeper sections of forest that had never been cleared, they began encountering walkers one after another.
The first was a "trap walker" wedged between two fallen tree trunks.
At a gesture from Hank, Glenn quickly stepped forward and, from a safe distance, drove his long-handled hunting knife precisely through its eye socket.
As they climbed higher, the fog thickened, and the smell of rotting leaves began to mingle with a faint trace of sulfur, something barely noticeable to the human nose.
Maggie spotted two walkers curled up behind a crack in the rocks, their bodies almost the same color as the dead leaves around them. She and Glenn worked together, one drawing their attention while the other moved in from the side and finished them off.
The most dangerous encounter came from a small group of walkers wandering through a low-lying wetland.
They were covered in mud, slow-moving but much harder to spot.
Carol, always observant, was the first to catch the unusually strong stench of decay and warned the others.
Hank immediately directed the team toward a rocky platform off to one side, securing the high ground.
The team used suppressed rifles to take precise shots, while Glenn and Maggie kept watch for any other walkers that might be drawn by the gunfire.
Elena, Benjamin, and Aleksei took cover beneath the rocks.
The whole thing was over in less than three minutes. The threat was eliminated without exposing the team or wasting ammunition.
Even though the weapons production line at the Knoxville Industrial Park was now turning out bullets continuously, the Defense Force still maintained its habit of conserving ammunition, thanks to Leah and Rickson deliberately reinforcing that mindset.
"Good catch, Carol!" Hank said with an approving smile.
Carol looked a little embarrassed, gave a slight nod, and went back to watching the woods.
Around noon, they stopped briefly beside a small stream to rest and eat.
Benjamin checked the map and compass, then studied the surrounding terrain and rock formations.
"We're heading the right way. It should be just beyond that hollow up ahead. Keep an eye out for the smell of sulfur."
Elena carefully sniffed the air. "I can smell it now. It's faint, but we're definitely going the right way. We should be close."
Her assessment lifted everyone's spirits.
The route became even harder that afternoon. They were practically climbing through steep slopes and scattered boulders with no real trail to follow.
The sulfur smell grew stronger, and the air became noticeably warmer and more humid.
After the team pushed through a dense stand of hemlocks and the view suddenly opened up, a powerful stench hit them in the face, a mixture of sulfur and badly decomposed organic matter.
The mountain hot springs were finally in sight.
The valley was not large. Jagged gray-black rock walls surrounded it on three sides, with the steep slope they had entered from forming the fourth.
The most striking feature at the bottom of the valley was a cluster of six or seven springs and pools of varying sizes.
The largest main spring sat beneath a rock face, clear hot water bubbling steadily from the opening and spilling down like a small waterfall into a milky-blue pool about half the size of a basketball court.
Steam rose continuously from the water, staining the nearby rock walls black.
The other springs bubbled across the uneven ground, forming a tangled network of hot streams that eventually merged into a small steaming creek at the bottom of the valley.
It would have been a hidden paradise, if not for the walkers.
Torn pieces of camping tents, rotting backpack frames, rusted camp stoves, and at least a dozen human remains were scattered across the valley floor. Some had been reduced to bare bones, while others still had scraps of clothing hanging from them.
The hot spring pools themselves were the worst part.
No fewer than eight walkers were soaking along the edges and shallows of the main pool and the two smaller pools beside it.
The water was clearly not hot enough to kill them immediately, but prolonged immersion had caused horrific decomposition.
They looked like meat that had been boiled soft and then left to cool.
Large patches of skin had sloughed off or blistered, turning strange shades of gray-white, waxy yellow, and even dark red.
Their muscles had softened and sagged, and in some places pale, waterlogged bone showed through.
The heat appeared to have damaged their ability to move.
Most of them could do little more than weakly wave their arms through the water or lean against the rocks at the pool's edge, slowly opening and closing their jaws while making faint, hoarse rasping sounds.
The water itself was cloudy and opaque, a murky mix of milky white and pale yellow-green.
This was where most of the foul smell was coming from.
"Jesus Christ!" Glenn muttered, his stomach turning.
Maggie covered her mouth and nose.
Even Hank, with all his experience, frowned deeply.
Elena had gone pale from the smell as well, but her eyes remained focused as she quickly assessed the situation.
"The main spring has a strong flow. We need to measure the temperature. But first, we have to clear out those walkers. They've contaminated the secondary pools and might be blocking potential intake points."
Hank pulled his collar up over his mouth and nose as best he could.
"The walkers in the pools can barely move. The bigger concern is anything still active on land, plus whatever bacteria those rotting bodies might be carrying.
"Aleksei, take Elena and Benjamin behind that large rock and establish a temporary observation point.
"You four, secure the high ground on both sides and watch the cliffs and the entrance.
"Glenn, Maggie, Carol, you're with me. We'll clear the pool area.
"Deal with anything on shore that can still move first, then take care of the ones in the water.
"Watch your footing. The ground is slippery, and stay away from the hot runoff."
They got to work.
Hank and Carol advanced carefully along the left side of the pool, while Glenn and Maggie moved along the right.
They first used knives to check several seemingly intact bodies near the shore, either confirming they were harmless or finishing them off.
The main problem was the walkers soaking near the edge.
They were sluggish, but a scratch could still mean infection.
Glenn and Maggie borrowed the long-handled tools Aleksei had brought for sampling and used them to push the waterlogged walkers away from the shore.
Hank and Carol then finished them with spears or machetes, taking care not to splash the contaminated water.
The most troublesome one was a walker drifting half-submerged near the center of the pool.
A team member on higher ground finally put a precise shot through its head, and the body slowly sank beneath the surface.
Everyone stayed tense throughout the cleanup.
They not only had to deal with the walkers, but also avoid the scalding spring outlets and the slippery, moss-covered rocks.
About twenty minutes later, the area around the main pool had been cleared.
The stench was still there, but at least the visible threat was gone.
Hank had Glenn and Maggie remain on watch near the pool while he and Carol widened the search area, making sure there were no other active walkers anywhere in the small valley.
Only then did Elena, Aleksei, and Benjamin put on gloves and makeshift masks and approach the main spring.
Ignoring the smell, Aleksei pulled a long metal thermometer from his pack and inserted it into the flowing water.
"Sixty-four point five degrees Celsius at the main spring outlet! And the flow rate is excellent!"
He eagerly recorded the result.
Elena nodded and directed him to collect water samples from several different locations, measure the pH, and estimate the flow rate.
She carefully examined the geological structure around the spring herself, tapping the rock walls, checking fissures, and having Aleksei take numerous photographs while she drew a detailed sketch of the spring layout and the direction of the heat flow.
Benjamin focused on the engineering side.
He selected a relatively flat rock shelf higher up as a possible site for the first pipeline transfer station in the geothermal project.
He carefully measured the elevation difference and horizontal distance between the valley floor and the ledge, assessed the strength of the rock face, and roughly planned a route for future construction access.
Finally, he recorded every potential obstacle, including large boulders that might require blasting and landslide-prone sections that would need reinforcement.
The entire survey lasted nearly three hours.
Aside from the initial shock and foul smell from the walkers soaking in the pools, nothing else went wrong.
By studying the vegetation and surface moisture, Elena even found two smaller, uncontaminated hot-water seepage points near the edge of the valley, expanding the range of potential heat sources.
After comparing their findings, the three reached an extremely encouraging conclusion.
The geothermal potential here was excellent, far better than they had expected.
The water itself was corrosive and could not be used directly, so they would need to build a closed heat-exchange system using corrosion-resistant materials.
But the available heat was enough to provide winter heating for the core areas of Rock Fortress and Blackberry Ranch, and potentially even support the greenhouses.
The biggest construction challenges would be clearing a route for the pipeline, insulating it against freezing, and reinforcing and defending the transfer station.
Technically, however, the project was completely feasible.
Benjamin added excitedly, "We'll need an engineering crew of at least twenty people, plus a large amount of piping, insulation, and pumps.
"Construction will take at least four months. As long as nothing major goes wrong, that should still be enough time to finish the main line before winter."
Hank looked up at the sky.
"Then it's time to head back. We've got enough data."
...
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