The Sound of Silence

Chapter Eleven

Word Count: 4,246

The following few days flew by as I quickly put together a small team consisting of Aaron, Don, Emily, Billy, Luke, and myself. Alicia questioned my decision about bringing along Luke, but he told me he had a general idea of what the area looked like from descriptions Paul Nelson had told him when they first tried to take us to the Training Grounds. I had also waived back and forth between taking Emily, but if she was sneaking out at night, this would give me a better opportunity to keep an eye on her. Instead of the truth, I just told everyone that we would need a decent cook on hand to keep our spirits up and no one disagreed. About a week after we were off in a large military truck.

The first day went by uneventfully. With the melting snow it was slow going, but plenty of progress was made. We finally decided to stop for the night; the sky clear and the air cold. I walked around the truck in circles, trying not to spend too much time looking at the stars and more looking at the area around us. Aaron, Billy, and Don were in the truck sleeping while Emily and Luke sat at a fire a few feet away. Luke would occasionally mutter something and look at Emily as if expecting a response before shrugging and turning his gaze back to the dancing flames.

I thought about going over there, but I hesitated. Something seemed off about the whole situation, but I let it be. Instead I continued to circle for hours. It wasn't long before Luke got in the truck to sleep, leaving Emily to sit there alone, but she seemed to be more comfortable now that she was alone. About the same time that Don and I switched places was when she went to sleep, sitting along the edge of the back of the truck, a blanket wrapped tightly around herself.The next morning we decided to head out as early as possible. The temperature began to rise as we continued our way towards the Training Grounds. Some time after noon it started to rain, getting heavier and heavier as we got closer. Everyone was silent as night began to fall and we stopped in the cover of some trees. There was no fire tonight, just cold canned goods.

"How close are we," I muttered to Billy who was sitting with a map on his lap and a can of stew sitting untouched.

"Really close." He sucked in a breath. "It's just a few hills over. Staying the night this close has me nervous, but the sooner we can get there, the faster we can get out, you know?"

"Yeah." I looked out towards the rain, the temperature bordering on cold, but not freezing. "I have a bad feeling about all of this and the rain isn't helping that."

"Then turn back."

"We can't Billy." He shook his head, turning to fully face me.

"Booth, you told me you had a bad feeling the night before that mine went off and sent me home for a few months. If you've got a bad feeling now, then we should return while we've got the chance to." I thought for a moment.

"Maybe you're right, but we can't just leave without seeing the actual building. We need to at least confirm the size of it."

"Then let's just look at it and get out." He reached out, grabbing my arm. "I'd trust your gut; I've never seen it be wrong."

"I'll talk to Don," I reassured him. "Now eat. If something does go wrong I don't want anyone to be fighting hungry. He only nodded in response and folded up his map. I hopped down out of the back of the truck opening the cab door so I could sit next to Don who was leaning his forehead against the steering wheel.

"You want to turn back," Don stated, turning his head to look at me. I shook my head for a moment before sitting there.

"Something's just wrong. The rain, spending the night so close, I don't like it, but we can't turn back." The silence returned for a minute or two.