6.6
The sun rose over the still mountains as Blake stood alone, solemnly looking out on the horizon. A thin creek trickled behind him, carrying its icy waters down into the valleys below.
He took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air, and he slid his hands into his pockets
It's too bad. Disappointing, really. Jelani is dead. I know was a little rash, but I really thought he could take any element.
I guess no one's judgement is perfect.
The sun was bright, but he faced it head-on.
It shouldn't take long, so we can drag him along for a little while. Ideally, we would leave him right here, but I don't think they'll accept that. They seem to have become attached.
He turned away with a yawn and a scratch of his head.
People lose their ability to think clearly at the smallest, most minute things.
A small gray squirrel scurried up a tree in front of him. His eyes traced it.
In a sense, that squirrel is more logical than most humans. They become attached to something, it doesn't even have to be another person, and they stop acting in their best interest. They stop doing what they need to do for themselves; some would even throw their lives away.
Idiots. That's all they've learned to be.
Blake's eyes drifted to a stick that was lying in his path.
There was nothing special about the stick. It was just a typical stick, but he bent over and scooped it off the ground, examining it as he continued onward.
"It's time they all learned," he whispered, snapping the thin tree branch between his fingers.
– – – – –
To no one's surprise, Nikki was immediately warning about danger ahead and to their right, and they were again forced to move eastward.
It seemed like a bad thing. It must have been. After all, Portland was to the west. In fact, they really should have just headed west from the town where they'd encountered the skeleton and traveled along the river–it would have brought them directly into the city.
"Why don't we just double-back?" Nikki suggested. "If we keep going southeast, we'll end up with the mountain between us and Portland."
"This is fine," Blake replied, "I don't think we should double-back."
He continued walking.
Acceptable, he thought. At first, Nikki seemed to be sensing danger randomly. It was uncomfortably frequent, but nothing too concerning. Now, though, it appears as if we're being forced this way.
Corvus followed, practically in Blake's shadow, but Nikki and Eve hesitated. They couldn't help but feel uneasy as they watched the backs of the two men in front of them.
But they both lacked the energy and will to speak up, so they followed along dutifully.
Everything is accounted for.
Eve's eyelids drooped, and she swayed from side to side, staggering behind Nikki.
Over the previous three nights, she'd slept for no more than two hours. Every waking second of her life was spent dreading the moment when Jelani's breaths, ever slower and ever softer, would suddenly stop.
Each breath he took stayed with her, and she could hear him even when she couldn't.
As if from another's perspective, she couldn't do anything but watch as her own health spiraled downward.
Nikki continued to guide the squad on their looping path, avoiding any new dangers that she sensed. They lost count as the days passed by, and, after endlessly weaving through the thickly wooded foothills, they finally found themselves on the low eastern slopes of Mount Hood.