by Paul A. Rice
Ken looked at his watch, not sure if it was showing the right time or if time, as such, even existed here. According to the hands of his old timepiece, it was now slightly past ten-thirty. He hoped it was showing the time in ‘am’, because if it was ‘pm’ then they were in for some very long days, and some even longer nights.
He noticed the sun through the tops of the trees, its pale glow sending confusing flickers of light and little dapples of shade cascading onto their surroundings. At times it was difficult to see properly through the shimmering display. Ken also realised that he had no idea where North lay. He dismissed any ideas of trying some navigation and decided to stick with the old man’s: ‘Go to the top’ theory instead. Deciding to push on for one more hour, he rose to his feet and moved off, hearing the others following on behind as he did so.
At around midday, he called a halt to their progress; leaving the others in their positions whilst he scouted to the left where he could hear the tinkling of the stream. Seeing a large, uprooted tree, Ken walked over and took a closer look. The position was perfect for a prolonged stop – the colossal root base giving them perfect cover from view and also a reasonable amount of cover from any bullets, too. The stream was less than an arm’s-distance away and was probably the reason why such a magnificent tree had fallen over in the first place; the never-ending flow of water undermining its roots on one side until eventually and with the aid of gravity, the old tree had succumbed. The resultant hole would be perfect for a decent lunch break. He turned away and went to fetch the others.
Whilst he stayed on guard, sitting on top of the fallen trunk above them, Ken told the others to relax and get some food on the go. Red had wolfed down his lunch in minutes, and after downing the entire contents of his water bottle, came up top and took over the sentry position from Ken. They stayed there for about an hour, during which time Ken checked up with each of them, making sure their weapons were free from any mud which might have been clogging the muzzles, checking on their feet and reminding them to fill their water bottles. In reality there was very little he needed to do, but he knew from past experience that people always react well when someone shows that they care, no matter how ‘tough’ they were.
It was during this short break that Ken showed them how to make some rudimentary traps. Most of his examples consisted of simple nooses designed to ensnare small game and birds. He also showed them how to build some more advanced ones, where a springy piece of wood, bent over and held under tension, then fitted with a sliding noose made of some string or a strong piece or ivy vine, or something similar, could be used for catching bigger game. Michael and Junior took to the task like men possessed, Ken telling them that the skill was in the camouflage, in the speed in which the trap would spring, and also in the bait they used, if they used any. In the end he had to step in and bring a halt to their unbridled fascination with the subject. Mikey and Junior would seemingly have been quite content to spend the rest of the day in perfecting their new-found skills.
They were soon on their way again, Junior leading with Mikey providing his cover. Ken slipped back and slotted in behind Jane, he wasn’t too concerned about the presence of enemy forces as he hadn’t seen the slightest trace of any human activity, the only sign he had come across were several piles of fresh deer droppings, plenty of rabbit trails and even more wild birds, several of which looked remarkably like grouse. The hills that surrounded the Lodge had been filled with them, and Ken would know their strutting gait anywhere in the world, or in this case, the universe. No, he wasn’t too concerned at all, plus there was the fact that with Junior and Mikey at the front, closely followed by Red and Tori, any enemy who chose to come at them was going to have their hands full – of that, Ken was more than confident.
He relaxed a bit and allowed himself an even better look at his surroundings, the place was indeed a very remote area. Ken had been to a few untouched places in his life and this was definitely one of the most virgin he had ever come across. The thought that maybe George and his crew had inadvertently fired them off to the wrong galaxy did cross his mind, but only fleetingly. He’d never known George to screw up before. With that thought firmly fixed in his mind, Ken maintained a tight grip on his weapon and kept his eyes scanning the surrounding area.
After another three hours, he decided to call it a day. Ken noticed the shoulders of his team starting to drop, heads gradually beginning to lose their alertness; it was always this way and only those who had spent a long time patrolling would have any knowledge of how totally fatigue-inducing the task was.
He called a halt and after sending them into the cover of the overhanging trees, he took Red and went to find somewhere to lie up overnight. Eventually he found a decent clearing some two hundred yards away from the route they had been taking. It was a good spot; anyone trying to approach on foot in the darkness would make a hell of a racket as they crashed into all the unseen deadfall and dried branches that lay around in abundance. There was a long row of conveniently placed rocks and two large tree stumps as well, all of which would provide ample cover should the need arise. The river was only a short walk away – in addition to providing a never-ending supply of fresh water, its steep banks were also perfect as an emergency rendezvous and an escape route, too.
Twenty minutes later they had sorted out who was going to be on sentry and when their stint of freezing boredom would begin. They decided upon only standing an hour each, Ken took the first stint and Red immediately volunteered to cover the second, both of them knowing that if the night dragged on then it would be they, the older men, who pulled a second shift. Seeing the exhausted looks on the face of the others, Ken already knew that he wouldn’t be waking anyone up too early in the morning. After a short meal of cold beans, some honeyed ham and a slice or two of cheese, they were done.
Ken showed them how to unfold the silver blankets, and also how to use ferns as a makeshift mattress, anything that kept a layer of insulation between the body and the heat-sapping earth would suffice, but the ferns were in plentiful supply and their thick rungs of leaves were more than good enough.
Looking up from his finished mattress, he said, ‘If you do the job properly then you’ll have a reasonable night – we’re gonna be cold no matter what, but with a decent mattress and a bit of snuggling-up you’ll be just fine!’
With a wicked glint in his eye, and whilst looking at Junior and Mikey, he then said, ‘No kissing allowed, you two!’ Red spat out a mouthful of cheese sandwich and Junior playfully put his arms around Mikey.
Ken grinned, saying: ‘Right, Jane and I are all set; last one to bed is a loser! Red, I’ll see you in an hour, okay?’
Red nodded and set to the task of helping Tori as she made a mattress for them. Within a few minutes the only sound Ken heard was the soft buzz of some snoring coming from Red and Tori’s direction, he guessed it was Red.
As it turned out, Ken did slightly more than one hour on duty, in fact it was nearer five, but he didn’t mind, and anyway, he was used to it – sitting there in the solitary silence, listening to the noises of the forest, watching the stars gently moving past through gaps in the canopy of the trees above him. Ken was a fairly adept star gazer and knew his way around the heavens better than most, but it has to be said that there wasn’t one constellation, or singular star, or anything else that he recognised in the sky above him at that precise moment.
The blue star, way above and over to his left, was definitely not one he’d seen before. He watched its glow, filtering eerily through the trees, and just for the hell of it, Ken named the star ‘Wyppen Blue’. It was in the rules, he who discovers a star can name it, he was sure of that, and was even more certain that not one other earthling had ever seen this particular star. He grinned when he thought about how pleased Mike would have been. It was beautiful out here and before he knew it, the time had passed by. With his eyelids finally starting to droop, Ken walked over to Red and gave him a gentle shake.
‘Red, it’s Ken – i
t’s time for your stint on duty, big fella,’ he whispered. Red grunted and then rolled out from under his blanket. Five minutes later and Ken was in the Land of Nod – there were no dreams that night either.
***
Later, crouching by the fire, soaking up the warmth from its small glow, he and the others tucked into some of the finest roast meat and hot tea they’d ever tasted. Ken had eaten a lot of game and plenty of other wild things along the path of his life, but he really did have to admit that the succulent strips of venison were a cut above the rest. Junior and Mikey looked thrilled by the fact their skill and hard work had provided such a memorable treat. By the time the group had finished, all that remained of the unfortunate creature were some bare bones – and Red made sure he crunched all the marrow out from those.
Ken rose to his feet, licked his fingers and said, ‘Well, gentlemen – I have to say that was about the best piece of meat I think I’ve ever eaten, bloody good effort, you guys!’ He nodded in acknowledgement of the beaming smiles the two young men gave him.
Allowing them five minutes to grab their gear, Ken doused the fire and then shouldered his pack. Picking up his rifle, he turned to see if they were ready.
Red nodded, ‘Lead on, boss!’ he said, with a cheesy grin, the half-chewed bone sticking out of his teeth making his demeanour even crazier.
Turning on his heel and heading up the slope, Ken did just that.
As the day wore on they began to feel the effects of the rising altitude, the air was thinner and even though they were sweating under the toil of patrolling uphill, all of them had rolled their sleeves down. Their breath wasn’t quite steaming as it exited their mouths, not yet, but it wouldn’t be long. Ken knew the night ahead was going to be a cold one, redoubling his efforts, he opened the pace in an attempt to reach the strip of darkened woods he saw highlighted against the sky in the far distance – he had a feeling that it might well be the last bit of decent cover they would have the opportunity to make use of.
He stopped briefly at around midday, telling the others to take plenty of water. Fetching a few bars of chocolate from the side pouch on Red’s pack, he snapped the cold bars into pieces and handed them out like a helping from the Last Supper. He blinked as the memories of the fine meal he’d shared with Mikey, all those years ago, came back to him. Ken had suffered the same feeling back then, a soft feeling of impending doom brought about by the sharing of some meagre rations. He dismissed the sensation with a shrug of his shoulders and smiled at the others as they chomped on the fractured pieces of chocolate.
With barely a ten minute break behind them, they moved off once more, this time there was a more urgent purpose to their stride. Without a word being said they all knew this was to be the last night before they were to face their destiny, or so they thought...
After two more hours, Ken knew they had cracked it; a gentle slope ran downwards from their position, it was sparsely populated by some spindly pines and clumps of a prickly brush, not unlike gorse. He stopped and lay flat as he looked across the valley to his front, the others crawling up to join him. Considering this was supposed to be the Afghanistan of their current dimension, the local flora and fauna surprised Ken. It was most unlike the place where he had spent a good few years of his life. In fact, it rather reminded him of somewhere like northern Germany, or perhaps even Wales, either way it was definitely baffling.
He grinned. ‘Baffling, huh? Well, that’s hardly the news of the decade is it, being baffled around here is just the norm, just the-fucking-norm!’ The thought cheered him up, with a nod of his head he indicated toward the trees that now lay against the skyline less than a thousand yards ahead.
Seeing the others following his gaze, Ken said, ‘That’s where we’re heading for the night; I reckon it will be the end of the trees and hopefully we can see the top from the other side of them.’ They nodded in understanding. He said, ‘If we can get up there in a hurry, then we’ll be able to sort out somewhere decent to kip.’ He looked at Junior, saying: ‘Maybe you guys can work some more magic and get us another bit of meat, or something?’ Their eyes lit up at the thought.
Seeing that they were all ready to go, Ken said, ‘Right, when we cross this open space, make sure that you are properly spread out, at least twenty yards between each of you and don’t just walk along like ducks at the fairground, either! Get a staggered formation going, just like I’ve shown you, okay!’
With nothing further left to say, and with the time ticking away, Ken stood up and started the final leg of their day’s march.
They crossed the open ground without even so much as a misplaced footstep, the enemy were still very conspicuous by their absence and Ken began to wonder if George’s prediction, about the Demon being fresh out of troops, was being proved correct. He really hoped that this was the case, but deep inside he doubted it. ‘Most likely he’s saving the best for last; he’s probably surrounded by hundreds of them,’ he thought.
Yes, he would go with that as a theory as it was always a wise thing to expect the worst in cases like this, that way it would only ever get better. Ken snorted at his own pessimistic outlook and then stepped up onto a slippery, grey stone ledge. Giving the halt signal, he eased his way into the edge of the dark wood, remaining crouching with his back against a tree, so as not to silhouette himself against the bright sky behind.
After a few minutes, his eyes became accustomed to the dark interior of the wood. It was mostly comprised of tall pines with no branches on the lower parts of their trunks. He knew the going would be easy, but that was a two-way street, and if it was easy for him and the others, then it would be just as easy for anyone else. Ken knew they had to find somewhere much better to camp, and hoped it would to be found the deeper into the dark wood they travelled.
With a wave of his hand, he summoned the others into the trees.
Ken’s hunch about delving deeper into the wood proved to be a good one. They pushed forward, keeping a sharp lookout for somewhere suitable, and were at least five hundred yards into the wood when they heard a low whistle coming from Tori’s direction. Taking cover on their knees, they turned to look at her. She was kneeling behind a tree and was pointing downwards at something, which from their distant positions, they couldn’t quite see.
Ken rose to his feet and walked across to see what it was she had found.
Drawing near, he crouched down next to the tall woman; she looked up and brushed a jewel of sweat from her forehead.
‘What’s up,’ he murmured. ‘Is it them, the enemy?’
Tori shook her head, and then used the muzzle of her rifle to indicate the place of interest she had seen. Ken followed the line of the weapon and then blinked – what a piece of luck! Just over the lip of a small mound there lay an almost hidden ravine, his eyes made out the head of the long scar, it was fairly narrow and then widened as it led away and began to slope downhill.
Ken looked at Tori and grinned, whispering delightedly: ‘That looks to be bloody perfect, absolutely spot on! You did a good job in even seeing it, that would have been more than easy to walk straight past – let’s go and have a better look, shall we?’
She smiled calmly and led off, picking her way down the steep bank that led into the ravine. The place Tori had discovered was the answer to all of Ken’s prayers. Not only was it almost perfectly concealed, but it was also extremely difficult to access, and that was in the daylight – in the darkness of night there would be very little chance of finding this place. The head of the ravine ran gently down for about fifty yards and then steepened viciously, leaving an almost sheer drop of about forty feet that ended in a small pool of dark water.
Ken eyed up the drop and then decided that he would organise a one-off water re-supply later. It would mean having a long walk right around the outside of the ravine and then heading down to the pool from the other direction, but at least they would be able to check out the area whilst they were doing it.
He knew that if they camped up at the h
ead of the ravine then the only way in which they were able to be seen, or attacked, would be by someone coming uphill from the pool’s direction, and that would lead the enemy straight into the teeth of the highly-trained Hunters. Ken realised that this was indeed a gift; he was barely able to see over the sides above him and knew that anyone on top would be having the same problem in trying to see the area where he was currently standing. He turned, and with Tori on his elbow, made his way towards the head of the ravine to find a suitable place for them to rest for the approaching night.
The position of their proposed campsite only improved. Unbelievably, the sheer face of black rock, which marked the end, or beginning, of the ravine, was to hold one last surprise. Sliced into its lichen-covered face was a narrow opening, Ken stood and stared in disbelief at the doorway of what appeared to be a well-hidden cave. He felt Tori give him a dig in the ribs.
She whispered, ‘Come on then, let’s go and see!’
Ken turned to stare at her grinning face, and with a shake of the head, traipsed off towards the beckoning hole in front of him. It was a cave, and a large one at that, the floor was covered with bone-dry sand and must have measured at least ten square yards, stretching out to the glass-smooth walls that rose thirty feet above them to meet in a domed ceiling, which was impregnated with glistening minerals of some sort.
It was absolutely perfect and Ken laughed out loud – the sound echoed off the walls as he turned to Tori. ‘Bloody hell, this is perfect!’ he said, with a grin.
She smiled at him and then nodded at the wall behind.
Ken turned and walked over to where she had indicated. Cut into the wall was a perfectly-formed funnel that ran down from the ceiling above them. Ken fished out his little torch and shone it into where the groove disappeared into the smooth rock above them. By the looks of things it had been a water course of some kind and over the centuries the rush of water had worn away the rock. Then he realised, this whole place must have been an underwater cave – it was no wonder the walls were so smooth, the whole place had been submerged.