by S. J. Lewis
Barbara’s idea to postpone everything until today had been a good one. Both of them had benefited from a day of rest, and Joanna had answered the questions they’d had after witnessing what Kimberley now thought of as Cat’s initiation into some mysterious inner circle. That had taken up the rest of the morning in their suite. That afternoon, they had gone to the hotel pool. That was the only part about the day that Kimberley thought could have been improved on. She looked pretty good in a bikini and had attracted a fair share of male attention until Barbara showed up in her own black string bikini. She had a love-goddess body, enhanced and toned by long hours of teaching aerobics, and from the moment she’d arrived poolside she was just about the only woman there as far as the men were concerned. Today, Kimberley was hoping to walk Barbara into the ground as a token of her appreciation for that.
They were dressed almost identically for the wilds: knee-length, loose-fitting tan hiking shorts, even looser-fitting tan short-sleeved shirts with many, many buttoned pockets, knee-high heavy wool socks, also tan, and sturdy trail boots. Here, they differed. Kimberley’s boots were dark brown, while Barbara’s were a slightly darker shade of tan than the rest of her outfit. Each also wore a tan baseball cap. Their packs were light, no more than a blanket, a change of clothes and two pairs of socks, two days’ worth of food, a canteen and a few other necessary items each. Kimberley was also carrying a survival knife in a sheath at her belt. Barbara had instead chosen a big Swiss Army-type pocketknife that seemed to have everything in it but a radio.
“Here.” She pointed towards a pair of large trees that grew right at the edge of the woods. There was hardly any underbrush around them.
“You sure?” Barbara frowned.
Kimberley shrugged. “Sure enough. It doesn’t look like much of a way in to you at all, does it?”
“No, not really.”
“Then it won’t look like it to most anybody else either.” Kimberley chuckled. “Come on, follow me.”
Joanna had been a terrific source of information, but she would only answer direct questions. She never volunteered anything. It had been very frustrating at first, and Kimberley hadn’t been sure whether the older woman’s attitude was part of the policy here or due to something else. In the end, Kimberley had had to treat the situation as a game in order to keep from losing her temper. She really did not want to lose her temper with Joanna. It might very well be paid back with usurious interest later.
The map showed a total of four “safe zones” to the south, all of them along a wide arc about eight miles away from the hotel, linked to each other by roads or trails. According to Joanna, they were trading posts. Each had about a dozen permanent residents and a variable number of transients. Any woman who entered one of these posts on her own was completely safe as long as she stayed there. Kimberley intended to visit each and every one of those trading posts. They could pick up supplies there, and didn’t need any money to do it. Instead, the chips implanted in them would be scanned and the costs would be charged to their accounts. Up to a point, she rather liked that arrangement.
Each post also had medical facilities, if they were needed, and its own small slave market. Captured women could be bought, sold or traded there, saving them or their captors the long trip back to Gordburg. Kimberley also wanted to see those. She did not want to end up in one herself. She might not mind seeing Barbara in one, though. Barbara did not feature in her long-term plans.
She expected to be caught eventually. The odds were very, very high that she would be. But, now she was Elf-Girl again. Last year she had eluded a small team of professionals for several days, and they had been very tired by the time they caught her. There might be more teams out there in the woods now, but they were all amateurs. One of those teams, or even some lone individual, might run her down, but she was going to make them work very, very hard for it. At the same time, she intended to flaunt her presence at every post, and at every opportunity. She might normally fade into the background when Barbara was around. But on her own she might start her own local legend of the bold, elusive Elf-Girl, and that was an area where, she was sure, neither Barbara nor that exotic-looking pair she had seen caged in the slave market yesterday could compete. Kimberley smiled to herself. You work with what you’ve got.
Eight miles was a respectable distance for a trek along a nature trail, and on such a trail they could have covered the distance in about three hours, including rest halts. This was not a nature trail, though. There was no trail at all, although there was plenty of nature. Kimberley had counted on there being little underbrush below the tree canopy. She was right, up to a point. Parts of these woods seemed to have been logged out some time ago, and every so often they would run into one of those places. Then there was nothing but underbrush with bushes, vines and young trees all fighting for a piece of sunlight among the low-cut tree stumps. Since the underbrush included poison ivy and blackberry bushes, they decided to go around such areas. This took time. Even when the going was fairly open and easy, Kimberley insisted on going slowly. There were very few pine trees here, and walking through the leaf litter made noise. Barbara accepted all of Kimberley’s precautions with a bemused smile, even her insistence on not talking above a whisper.
“Can we get to this place soon, please?” Barbara asked as she returned from behind a handy bush. “There’ll be real bathrooms there, right?”
“Sssssh!” Kimberley hissed. “Whisper!”
“Oh…right, right,” Barbara whispered and nodded as she sat down next to her on a fallen tree. “Do you really think it’s necessary to be so…paranoid? This is a big place. What are the odds anyone’s close enough to hear us anyway?”
“You want to go off on your own?”
“Not while you’re holding onto the compass.” Barbara shook her head. “I’m completely lost right now. How much further to this place anyway?”
Kimberley opened the map. It was printed on thin cloth, not paper, which struck her as a good idea. It could get wet without falling apart, and made no noise when it was being handled. On the other hand, she had to spread it on the ground or some other flat surface to be able to use it. She laid it carefully atop of the leaves in front of them and picked up a short stick.
“We’re about here, I think.” She pointed to a spot on the map.
“We…ah…don’t seem to have gotten very far,” Barbara observed.
“It’s still early.” Kimberley shrugged. “We should be able to get there before sundown, even at this pace.” She poked at a wriggling blue line. “We should come to this stream soon. I’m thinking we can stop for lunch after we cross it.”
Barbara sighed. “Freeze-dried lunch. You know, Kim…”
“What?”
Barbara shrugged and sighed again. “I’m not as big on the great outdoors as you are.”
“Yeah, I know. What’s your point?”
“No point…” Barbara looked down at the ground, then up at the trees. “Well, maybe a point. I don’t know that I want to go traipsing through the wilderness as much as you seem to.”
“You picked a hell of a time to bring that up.”
“I know, I know…” Barbara waved a hand. “I’m sorry. I’m not really that much of an outdoor girl, and while you seem to be enjoying this a lot, for me, it’s just kind of boring.”
“You want to go back, then?”
“I don’t know,” Barbara sounded testy. “Let’s just get to this place, hey? Tomorrow morning I might have a better idea of what I’d like.”
“Or you could just let yourself get captured by the first guys we run into,” Kimberley snapped.
“Well, isn’t it kind of the point to get captured?” Barbara frowned. “I mean, eventually, anyway.”
“Eventually.” Kimberley nodded. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Barbara patted her friend’s knee. “I think we’re both kinda wound up today. I’ll stick with you until we get there, don’t worry. But afterwards…you wouldn’t mind if I went m
y own way? I mean, if you’re still planning to play hide-and-seek in the woods…” Her whisper trailed off.
Kimberley looked into Barbara’s big blue eyes for a long moment. “No, I wouldn’t mind,” she replied with a sigh. Then she giggled. “After we’re back home we’ll have to compare notes, though, okay?”
“Sure!” Barbara smiled. “C’mon, then.” She stood up. “Let’s get there before dark.”
Kimberley took the lead again, walking carefully and quietly but thinking quickly and furiously. She might have planned on ditching Barbara early, but she’d wanted to pick the ditch rather than let Barbara do it. There was a pretty good chance that there would be somebody lurking around the safe zone looking to pounce on any women trying to get there. She had already thought about that and was counting on it. The trick, though, would be to have them somehow nail Barbara, but not her. That part was going to be difficult. She had no doubt she could outrun any pursuers for a while, but she couldn’t count on just running to get away. Barbara could run faster anyway, so that was out…unless Barbara didn’t want to run, and she couldn’t count on that either. For that matter, she couldn’t really count on there being any hunters in the area. It was a big place, as Barbara had pointed out. She tried to put herself in the place of a man out here in the woods hunting for women. You couldn’t count on just running into one. It might happen, but given the amount of space and the number of willing prey, it was pretty unlikely. On the other hand, it might be possible to pick up a woman’s trail and follow it, but how easy could it be to even identify such a trail in the first place, let alone follow it? No doubt there were some men out here who could do that, but she was pretty sure that most of them couldn’t. Of course, if they were in a group they would only need to have one of them able to track…
She was still thinking when they came to the stream. It was wide, but shallow, the water rippling over gravel and chuckling between big rocks. She scanned up and down both banks for other footprints as they picked their way across. She didn’t see any, and she let herself relax a little.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Barbara said as they finished off their lunch. “Are you okay? Are we okay?”
“Huh?” Kimberley had been so deep in thought that she forgot her own rule about whispering for a moment. She caught herself and went on. “Oh…yeah, sure, we’re all fine. Why?”
“You seem kind of distracted. What were you thinking about?”
“Ah…” Kimberley hesitated. She certainly couldn’t tell Barbara the truth. “I was just…thinking about last year.”
Barbara grinned. “Alpha?” she asked teasingly.
“Uh…yeah.” Kimberley nodded. “C’mon, let’s get moving. We’ve still got some ground to cover.”
It was getting dark now, and they still hadn’t reached their destination. Kimberley was certain that they hadn’t gone past it, because the map showed roads or trails between it and the posts to either side of it, and they hadn’t crossed any road or trail. They had to be pretty close, though. Kimberley smiled to herself. This was working out pretty well so far. Now, with just a little bit of luck it would all work out just the way she’d planned it. Or, at least close enough for her purposes.
“Hold up.” She turned back towards Barbara. Barbara stopped. There was a look of weariness and exasperation on her face that was clearly visible even in the fading light.
“NOW what?” It was more of a hiss than a whisper.
“I think I heard something.”
“AGAIN?” Another hiss. Kimberley shrugged apologetically. Ever since they’d crossed that shallow creek, she’d been slowing down their pace by claiming to hear something up ahead and insisting on making a detour. Barbara had complained about this, saying she hadn’t heard anything…except once. In fact, Kimberley had heard nothing either, except once. That once, she had caught a glimpse of a deer bounding away through the trees. Barbara had not seen the deer, but the noise had convinced her that perhaps Kimberley knew what she was doing after all. It had stopped her complaining for a while, at least.
Kimberley indeed knew what she was doing. They’d been zigzagging and backtracking for hours, getting slowly closer to the trading post town. Now they were well inside what had to be the danger zone if there were any hunters nearby, and it was getting too dark to travel. Perfect, perfect, perfect!
“Look, I’m sorry,” she whispered to her companion. “We’ve got to be close to this place now, so maybe I’m just being a little extra careful.”
“Uh-huh.” Barbara folded her arms. She did not look happy. She didn’t look as if she completely believed Kimberley either. “I do not want to spend a night outside if there’s a place with beds and bathrooms close enough to walk to.”
“I know, I know.” Kimberley looked around quickly, as if to see if there was anyone sneaking up on them, and then stepped closer to Barbara. “Maybe I’m being just a little bit paranoid,” she went on, not whispering now but speaking very quietly. “But I’d really hate to get so close and then get grabbed by some lazy bastard that was just waiting around, you know? Here.” She handed over the map and the compass to Barbara.
“What…?” Barbara blinked. “What do I do with these?”
“Look…” Kimberley took another quick look around. “I’m just going to scout on ahead a little. It’s probably nothing, but I’d like to make sure. I should be back in a couple of minutes.”
“You’re leaving…” Barbara yelped, caught herself, and went on in a whisper.
“You’re leaving me here?”
“Just for a couple of minutes.” Kimberley reassured her. “Just until I can check things out. I’ll be right back, I promise.”
“Then why are you giving me these?” Barbara held up the map and compass.
“Just in case.” Kimberley patted Barbara’s arm. “I should be right back…but in case…something happens, the town should be no more than a mile away, in that direction.” She pointed off into the darkening woods. “Just follow the compass.”
“HOW?” Barbara’s whisper reeked of despair.
“Look.” Kimberley opened the compass. “You see the arrow? It always points North.”
“I know that much.”
“Okay. So what you want to do is turn this thing so that the ‘S’ is right under this line on the glass. See?” She turned the compass to demonstrate. The disc under the glass wavered back and forth for a moment before coming to rest. The arrow, letters and the line on the glass glowed faintly. “Just follow the ‘S’. If it doesn’t take you right into the town, you’ll still be pretty close to it. Look for a road or trail and it’ll get you there, even in the dark.”
“And then what?” Barbara seemed nervous about being left alone in the woods in the dark.
Kimberley shrugged. “You said you’d stay with me as far as the town. Once you get there, you can pick your own way to go.” She smiled warmly at her friend. “Anyway, it’s probably nothing. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes, we’ll be in town a little bit later. We’ll find some place to eat, a room to rent for the night, and we can laugh about this little episode. Okay?”
“I guess.” Barbara looked at the compass uncertainly.
“Good.” Kimberley gave Barbara a quick little kiss on her cheek. “Don’t go away. I’ll be right back.” She turned away and slipped into the woods.
It was a lot harder to move quietly in the dark, but at least she didn’t have to worry as much about being seen. Kimberley picked her way along with care. She hadn’t heard anything at all, but thanks to that lone deer hours ago, Barbara seemed to be buying the story. Leaving her with the map and compass had been an inspired touch. Barbara was not as used to the outdoors as she was, and probably thought that one had to have such things to get around in the wild. In fact, while the map was indeed useful, Kimberley didn’t need it any more. She didn’t need the compass either. She was close enough to the town to find it, one way or another, and she could use the sun to tell which way was South…well, tomorr
ow morning she could. Anyway, she could probably pick up replacements in the town.
She moved in a wide circle, doubling back to where she’d left Barbara. She still moved with care, but now it was so Barbara could not hear her. In the dark under the trees, she could not be quite sure where Barbara was unless Barbara made some noise herself…and Barbara obliged. It wasn’t much in the way of noise; booted feet scuffling the fallen leaves, an exasperated sigh, and finally Barbara humming to herself. Kimberley’s grin was a wolf’s grin. Barbara was nervous about being left all alone in the woods at night. Good. She crept the last few yards on her hands and knees and found a good spot where she could watch Barbara without being seen herself. She wouldn’t be able to do it for very long, though. It was getting too dark to see much. The sounds of the night insects grew louder as the light faded. Kimberley settled in to wait. She saw Barbara pacing back and forth nervously, still humming to herself.
It got darker and darker. Barbara’s humming grew louder and her pacing quickened. Finally, just as it was about to get too dark to see anything at all, she stopped and fished something out of her pack. Kimberley couldn’t tell what it was until Barbara switched the flashlight on and swept it around quickly.
Kimberley suppressed an urge to laugh out loud. Oh, this was perfect! If there really were any hunters in the area, Barbara was now advertising her presence to them. She fervently hoped that there were hunters around. Her plan kind of depended on it. If hunters did not come and capture Barbara, Barbara might manage to find her way into town and Kimberley would either have to avoid her or come up with some plausible story when they met again. And, while she was indeed trying to get Barbara captured, it would not do for Barbara to know that or even suspect it.
Barbara stopped her pacing and sat down on a large rock, her flashlight pointing at the ground. She kept looking around, but it seemed as if she was just going to wait until Kimberley returned, however long it took. That wouldn’t do. Kimberley began to feel around in the darkness for something she could throw. She found a couple of small rocks and slowly crawled backwards from her patch of cover. Standing up behind a big tree, she tossed the first rock as far as she could. It sounded as if it bounced off of a branch and then bounced a few more times through the dead leaves.