6.8
Under Blake's direction, they climbed steadily up the base of the mountain.
"Hey, what are we doing?" Nikki finally asked. "We've been going up for long enough. Shouldn't we start going around it?"
Blake's reply was immediate. "We'll keep going for as long as we can."
"Huh?" Nikki blurted, her face twisting up in bewilderment. "Straight up the mountain?"
"If it comes to that."
She shook her head in disbelief and muttered, "You have to be joking."
The woods thinned rapidly as they climbed, and it wasn't long before they broke clear of the tree line.
Forest fading away, the mountain presented itself to them in all of its glory.
There was a reason that they, and any other sensible rebels, had avoided it up until that point. The unbelievably vast, barren slopes of rock, gravel, and snow, left little to no protection whatsoever to whoever dared venture on them.
The five were utterly laid bare, both to harsh conditions and the eyes of any who looked upon the desolate cliffs.
The squad stopped in their tracks and gazed up at the monstrous landscape that unfolded before their eyes.
As they had always done, they stood alone on the solid rock beneath them, prepared to face the world.
Blake turned around. "Nikki, do you still sense something behind us?"
"Yeah," Nikki replied hesitantly, "but it's faint, just like the past few days. It's probably not a big deal."
Blake pressed his lips together grimly.
"Alright," he said with a curt nod. "Let's keep climbing."
No one could possibly know what he was thinking, but when he resumed his upward march, they all followed in suit.
Nikki gazed up at the jagged pyramid of rock. A pyramid of gods.
"Do you think… anything is up there?"
"I don't know," Blake admitted, "but that's part of why I want to do this. It's a very unique environment, which means we could encounter things we've never seen before."
Bullshit, Nikki thought tiredly.
"We'll be super visible though, right? You're assuming that we're being followed, so isn't this the opposite of what we should be doing? Anyone who looks up the mountain will know exactly where we are."
She stared at the back of Blake's head intently, wishing she could read whatever expression was on his damn face.
"That's a good point," Blake acknowledged, "but, in a way, this mountain will be safer than the forest."
He pointed upward and said, "If we can just get over that false peak there, nobody will be able to see us from below. And who would suspect that we would climb the mountain? I guarantee you, no one will be searching from above."
He's not lying, Nikki thought warily, but he's still…
Blake narrowed his eyes, but all she could see was the back of his head.
Eve stood silently, her gaze fixed on the endless white face. It wasn't a kind face.
– – – – –
Through the entire afternoon that followed, they made slow and steady progress forward, bowing their heads against the onslaughts of biting cold wind. None of them were properly prepared for the conditions, so they had to ignore their hardening skin and their frostbitten fingers and toes.
Thankfully, they did have two extra pairs of jackets and pants in one of the backpacks, so Nikki and Blake were able to avoid death, for the time being.
With no clear destination in mind, their direction was simply to climb upward.
Blake glanced back at the forests they'd left behind. Now, even if you're able to track us up here, will you really be willing to expose yourself? I wonder what you'll do, you petty annoyance.
He smiled in amusement, as if the tree line was the screen, and the world the theater.
Until all light faded from the sky, they struggled onward.
Finally, they were forced to raise their tent, but it required the heaviest rocks they could move to prevent the winds from tearing it away.
Sleeping was impossible.
When the next morning's light finally illuminated the thin canvas walls, it was accompanied by the sound of water droplets smacking against their roof, and their spirits dropped even lower when they stepped outside. A thick fog hugged tightly against the surface of the mountain, and a steady drizzle of rain cut down through the haze.
It was a day to be at home, wrapped inside a blanket and watching dark droplets slide down the cold glass of a window.
They mercilessly shoved their sopping tent into its bag, the water making it twice as heavy and their hands twice as cold. Of course, their hands couldn't actually feel temperature.
Rain seeped steadily through the rainproof fabric of their clothes, and when the winds began to increase in power, their hair froze and the very same soaking-wet clothes solidified.
It was a cold of death, and visibility was no better.
Having trudged through miserable conditions for hours, Nikki, despite her violently shaking jaw, managed to utter, "S-should we really k-k-keep g-going? We haven't s-sseen anything y-yet, l-like you were hop-ping, and it d-doesn't look like we're going to hav-v-v-ve any l-l-luck."
"It doesn't benefit us to turn around."
Blake's will was immovable.
Within the next five minutes, as if on cue, they broke clear of the layer of clouds that had been engulfing them throughout the entire day. Finally, the rain came to a halt and the air cleared.
The sky had lightened, but, despite the fact that it was the middle of the day, it still was dark.
They looked out on the new terrain that had been exposed. It was like a desert with snow instead of sand, and the dunes were peppered with large rocks and ridges that jutted out like jagged teeth.
Blake took a deep breath of the clear, cold air. This could be bad.