Abject in the Dust

Chapter 10 - Navigating the Maze

"Do you think she will come back?" Lykke asked hopefully.

"She always has." Rize replied as he gasped for breath, replacing the mask of the scrubber strung across his back – a series of filters which removed most of the poisonous carbon dioxide. Breathing was always laboured, except near the coasts, but at altitude it was far worse.

"And do you think we can trust her?"

Rize shook his head. "I don't know. She has led us through a maze of mountains. We have changed direction that many times that were it not for the setting of the sun, I would not know which way we are headed." Rize took another deep breath through the scrubber.

"But does that mean that she seeks to set an impossible task for any who track us, or just confuse us into thinking that we make progress when we are actually just going in circles?" Lykke breathed more easily; only occasionally needing to turn to the scrubber for assistance.

Rize shrugged his shoulders rather than remove the breathing aid.

"Do you see anything?" Lykke asked as she studied the route by which they had travelled. A tortuous route which Sam had insisted they travel, without explanation. The reason became clear from the vantage point they now occupied high up one of the tallest peaks around, hovering around the snowline. An uninterrupted view back along the route they had travelled for the last two days.

Rize shook his head. "You?"

"Nothing." Lykke said as she squinted through the sight from Sam's rifle; not that Sam had entrusted the rifle to the two of them. "That has to be a good sign, doesn't it?" Rize shrugged his shoulders again in silent reply. "I mean a sign that she is being truthful?"

Rize continued to shrug his shoulders. "It is difficult to say." The mask muffled his reply.

Lykke sighed. "It would help if she would talk." Rize nodded but made no effort to speak. "It's been more than five days now since we left the compound and she has barely spoken. The last two days have been nothing more than grunts." Rize nodded again. "I wish she would say something."

"In time." Rize replied with a warm smile.

"How are you coping?" Lykke asked with genuine concern and affection. Rize gave an unconvincing okay signal. "It shouldn't be much longer now. Sam said that she would be back before mid-morning." Lykke looked up at the sun, which provided welcoming warmth against the cold mountain air. The spot Sam had found for shelter offered protection from the worst of the winds and the freezing rain which had come in the night, but even the shelter of rock which had stood for millennia could do nothing to keep out the effects of air which got colder with every foot of height they gained. Fire had provided welcome comfort in the night; fire which they had started against Sam's wishes, although her resistance had been more muted than in past days. Some passing reference to the fire being seen for miles around was quickly replaced with a dismissive wave of her hand and then a deep sleep. A slumber which she refused to come out of when stirred to undertake her watch. A response which had caused Lykke to curse the extra hours she would need to stay awake and curse Sam in the process. An action which she regretted as she watched Sam sleep and reminded herself of the extra miles Sam covered every day, checking that the path ahead was clear. Exactly what she was doing now, whilst Lykke and Rize rested in relative comfort.

Sam emerged silently and slowly from amidst the rocks. A keen eye would have spotted that the rocks morphing and changing shape was not some ancient spirit giving life to that which should not live; but Sam's dust covered body now perfectly in tune with her surroundings. In tune, except for her slow laboured footfall and the scrubber mask, which now seemed permanently welded to her mouth.