One Step Ahead

Wondering...

February 8th, 2:40 PM

      As she picked up several broken branches, Briar glanced at Ashley and remarked, "Y'know, this is one thing that's definitely better than the safehouse. At least here we can get outside a little bit, and get some exercise. I was getting so tired of not being able to do anything. Doing yoga moves in my room doesn't quite compare to being able to go riding, or hit the climbing wall."

      "True that," Ashley responded. "Only I'd be more likely to be surfing or riding my bike than climbing. But I do have to admit that I was starting to feel like a bit of a couch potato sitting around all the time."

      They were currently several hundred yards from the cabin, at the exit to the old smuggling tunnel. The day after their arrival, a severe rainstorm had blown through the area and stripped a number of branches from the trees surrounding the cabin, and they had taken the risk of being seen outside to make sure that the tunnel hadn't been sealed off.

      They had found a number of limbs covering the exit, and had also learned that a tree several feet away had apparently been struck by lightning, because it had been shattered nearly to splinters, with only a few pieces too large for them to move. As they shifted debris away from the cleverly concealed trapdoor, Ashley paused to inspect a section of the decimated tree, which was roughly the size of a car tire, as an idea formed in his mind.

      "Say, Tink, do you think we might be able to move this?" he called.

      Briar glanced at the piece of wood, and then at Ashley. "Why? It's nowhere near being in the way of the door."

      "You're right, it's not," he elaborated. "But maybe it should be. We can put it closer to the opening, and then if we actually have to use the tunnel, we can roll this on top of the hatch to keep anybody from following us out."

      "So anyone in there would have to go all the way back through the house, which would buy us some lead time. That's actually one hell of a good idea, Ash! Now we just have to see if we can pull it off."

      They hurriedly finished moving the remaining branches, then attempted to move the heavy piece of wood. It took several minutes, but they finally managed to maneuver it as close to the trapdoor as possible, positioning it so it could be used to block the opening with minimal effort. They were both breathing heavily from exertion by the time they finished, shivering from the damp chill that lingered in the air. 

      "Whaddya say we go back to the cabin and change, and I'll get started on figuring out what might resemble dinner tonight?" Briar suggested. Ashley nodded his agreement, and they made their way through the underbrush back to the cabin.

      During the nearly four days that they had been there, they had found numerous ways to keep themselves occupied. They had equipped all of the doors with Ashley's alarms, along with the one window which had not been fitted with what Carmine had referred to as "bear-bars", and had also driven nails into the window frame, to prevent anyone from raising it more than a couple of inches. They had also familiarized themselves with the underground tunnel, and concealed the truck behind the building, where it wouldn't be visible to anyone who might drive by.

      Then once they had made the building as secure as possible, they had spent their time watching movies, playing card or board games, and working on their respective creative interests. Ashley had decided to make the most of his enforced hiatus from work by using the time to develop new clothing designs, while Briar had started a project from one of the magazines that Liz had given her. She had found a dress pattern from the nineteen-seventies which she planned to cut down to a sweater, working it in an apricot-colored yarn.