![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spacedogfromspaceThe Vanishing
Chapter 8: Strange Places
Nyota and Christine hike out into the forest to investigate the site Christine had found.
Hikaru had joined the group in Nyota's hotel room. He was alarmed to find that it had been turned into a makeshift hospital, but easily took the explanation that someone had attacked Nyota and Christine when they got too close to the truth. That was surprising and bewildering enough that he didn't think to ask other questions, like why they hadn't taken Christine to an actual hospital.
He had brought a large, detailed map of the park with him, as requested by Nyota, and unfolded it now, placing it on Christine's lap for her to examine it. It sat like a blanket over her, and after Nyota helped her to sit up, she hunched over it, tracing creeks with her fingers as she translated the printed map into the terrain she was familiar with.
"Here," she said suddenly, placing a finger definitively on a spot on the map. "There's a boulder field here, in this valley between these two peaks. This is where it was."
Hikaru looked at the location and frowned. "The forest service doesn't have anything out there as far as I know," he said. That place is virtually inaccessible by machinery, and if it's a boulder field, there's probably nowhere for even a chopper to land."
Nyota looked at him hopefully. "So...?"
"So it's definitely very weird and suspicious," he gave the verdict.
"I can't believe that after all these years, we have an actual lead," Nyota said, giddy. She couldn't wait to go out there and find out what was behind that door, and get some answers, once and for all.
"Are you sure you don't want us to come with you?" Hikaru asked anxiously. Only a week had passed, and while Nyota's ankle was still sore and required tension bandages, Christine was nearing a full recovery from her gunshot wound. It was a miraculous recovery that nobody understood, and only Christine, Nyota, and Leonard had any ideas about how her body managed to heal so quickly.
Now, Christine and Nyota were gearing up for their expedition, their friends watching them anxiously. Hikaru and Leonard kept offering to join them, but each time, they were refused.
"We'll be fine," Nyota assured them for the fiftieth time. "You'll be more than helping by being our emergency contact, Hikaru," she said, waving her handheld shortwave before placing it in her bag.
"And no offence, Doctor," Christine added. "But this place is located far from any roads or trails and is quite difficult to get to. I would rather not have to abandon you in the woods."
Leonard grumbled in protest, but only half-heartedly. He took her point. "Well, make sure you check in regularly, or I might die of worry."
Nyota smiled. "We'll radio in regularly, don't worry."
"But remember," Hikaru pointed out. "Don't say anything over the air that you wouldn't want... well, whoever it is out there to hear. Anyone can listen in on these channels if they have the equipment."
"So I guess asking you to report your position in case we need to look for you is out of the question?" Leonard asked, looking considerably more unsure about this whole thing.
Hikaru nodded grimly, but Nyota shook her head, pointing at a device hooked to the outside of her backpack. "I have this spot tracker," she explained. "It sends location pings to Janice every five to ten minutes. She can see our route."
Leonard and Hikaru seemed to relax a bit at that. At least they'd know where they were. Janice gave a thumbs up.
With that, they were ready to go. Nyota and Christine left the lodge with Janice in her pickup truck. Christine had studied the map and chose a drop off point that would give them the shortest and least treacherous route to their destination. Instead of a trail-head, the best drop-off point was a seemingly random spot out on the highway. While Janice drove them, Hikaru and Leonard were holed up in Nyota's room at the lodge, setting up a small shortwave radio setup that included an antennae haphazardly attached to the roof.
"You sure you want to be dropped off here?" Janice asked warily as she slowed the truck, pulling to the shoulder of the road. "There's nothing out here for miles."
"Except for our destination," Christine said, hopping out of the truck as soon as it stopped, gathering her supplies from the flatbed.
Nyota shot Janice a comforting smile. "We'll be okay," she assured her, following Christine out of the vehicle, and thanking Christine when she handed Nyota her gear. "See you soon," Nyota said through the rolled down window, and the two hikers waved to Janice as she did a careful U-turn and drove back the way they had come.
Even with their chosen drop-off point being as close to the facility as possibly, it would take more than a day for them to reach it. As such, they brought adequate gear for an overnight trip: tents, warm layers, food, bedrolls. It got cold in the night, and being caught unawares by the nighttime temperatures would be disastrous. Christine needed less to stay warm than Nyota did, so she had packed lighter, however, she took some of Nyota's gear to be part of her load as Nyota's ankle was still bothering her.
With no trails to take advantage of, the going was slow. Parts of the forest were so dense with trees that it seemed all to easy to be turned around, but Christine's sense of direction was so immaculate that Nyota didn't even need to use her compass, leaving it safely stowed and leaving her hands free to push branches away from her face.
When the sun began to set, Nyota suggested stopping to set up camp before it got dark.
"There's a spot further up," Christine said. "I was planning on us staying there. It's just taken us a little longer than I thought it would. At our current pace, we'd maybe be there in an hour?"
Nyota grimaced, looking at the sky through the sparse gaps in the canopy. The sky was darkening, and the forest below was already significantly lacking in light due to the density of the canopy above them. "I don't know," Nyota said skeptically. "We're losing light fast."
Christine shrugged. "My vision is adequate in the dark, and you've brought a torch," she said. "The place I have chosen will be safer than here. We can stop here if that's what you think is best, but I suggest we keep forward to the planned resting point."
Nyota nodded, smiling nervously. "All right," she agreed. "Just don't let me step anywhere that'll break my leg."
Christine smiled back. "I'll take point," she said, as if she hadn't been leading the way the entire time already.
Armed with a flashlight for when it got too dark to see what was in front of her, Nyota followed close behind Christine, trusting her to pick a route with good footing, and not bring her too close to any ravines or bogs. Bushwhacking in the dark made Nyota uneasy for many reasons, but one she didn't expect was having to acknowledge just how many spiders were out and about. During the day, she would notice the odd orb web, but at night, her flashlight caught on every minuscule strand of silk and reflected off hundreds of sets of little eyes. A world normally invisible became visible to her, and she knew that some people would find that beautiful and awe-inspiring, but she decided she would have preferred to remain ignorant of all the invisible webs and creepy crawlies.
"We're here," Christine said, suddenly breaking the silence, and thankfully distracting Nyota from all the spiders surrounding them as she waved her flashlight beam around to examine the area Christine had picked out for them to stop. It was a little hollow in a thick copse of trees. The canopy above appeared nearly solid for all the leaves and branches above them, and the trees around them close enough together to block the chilly wind.
"It's like a naturally grown shelter," Nyota said, impressed with the cozy space.
Christine nodded in agreement. "It's also difficult to find, and the trees here shed their leaves. If anyone were to approach, we'd hear them stepping on the dried leaves of seasons past."
Setting her heavy pack on the ground with a crunch of leaves, Nyota stretched her arms above her head, stretching her weary back and rolling sore shoulders. "I guess I don't need a tent," she said, relieved that the cold breeze was stilled by the trees before it could reach her. Still, the air was cold, and she rubbed her arms.
Noticing this, Christine dropped her own pack on the ground. "I'll find some firewood," she said, slipping off into the trees.
Fighting unease as she was left alone in the hollow, Nyota knelt down to busy herself with setting up camp. She knew Christine wouldn't stray far, but despite the plethora of dried leaf litter in the area, Christine's footsteps made nary a sound, making Nyota feel very much alone.
She pressed a button on her spot tracker, sending her location back to Janice manually in case it hadn't sent a ping out already. Then, she opened her bag and removed her handheld radio, switching it on and tuning it to the agreed-upon bands.
"CQ, CQ, CQ," she spoke into the device. "Kilo November Delta Lima, K-N-D-L, CQ." She waited for a moment, ready to repeat if she got no answer. Luckily, she didn't have to, and she got a response from a familiar voice.
"K-N-D-L, this is K-I-E-B. How are you doing out there, Nyota?" Came Hikaru's voice, oddly compressed through her small speaker.
Nyota felt the tension run out of her shoulders and neck as she relaxed. "Not too bad. A little sore from the walk, but we've stopped for the night. Christine's off gathering firewood. Did you get my location? I sent a ping."
"Janice had just given us the update when you called," Hikaru said. "We'll be listening if you need anything during the night, but give us a shout when you're up in the morning."
"Will do," Nyota replied. "K-N-D-L, out."
"K-I-E-B, out."
Nyota felt a bit better having talked to a friend, but she wished she could have spoken with him until Christine came back, because the eerie feeling of isolation returned to her as soon as they signed off. But, they had agreed to keep their broadcasts brief. They didn't know who else could be listening in.
As she was scraping clear a spot for their fire, Nyota was surprised by a sudden rustling in the trees behind her. She spun around, worried it was some kind of animal— or worse —but it was only Christine, pushing through the brush with arms loaded with dead branches.
Christine saw her startled face and frozen, deer-in-the-headlights stance. She grimaced apologetically. "Maybe you were right about me needing a bell," she teased.
Relaxing, Nyota smiled at her. "Remind me to get you a bell next time we're in civilization," she said.
Dropping the logs on the ground, Christine crouched down to arrange them in a little pyre in the centre of the clearing, where Nyota had already scraped away the flammable leaf litter. Nyota watched in awe. She considered herself an experienced camper and able outdoors-woman, but Christine's skills in fire-building made Nyota look like a girl scout on her first overnight camping trip. In no time at all, a small but healthy fire was crackling away, lighting up the space around them. Soon, the air inside their little hollow would warm up, the heat of the fire trapped by the cocoon of trees enclosing them.
"I called Hikaru and the Doc while you were getting firewood," Nyota said, turning to the backpacks and gear they had piled on the ground. She took her bedroll from its place attached to Christine's pack, and busied herself with spreading it out alongside the fire.
"I know," Christine answered, piling the extra firewood near the edge of the hollow for safe-keeping. "I heard you checking in with them."
Nyota was about to ask how Christine could have possibly heard, but stopped herself. Of course Christine would have amazing hearing. She was a wolf.
Tired from their long day of hiking, the two of them set up their camp in silence. There wasn't much to set up. The shelter of the trees meant that Nyota didn't have to set up her tent, and Christine assured her that they wouldn't need to hang their food up in the trees somewhere away from camp. The bears knew not to bother her. After setting up bedrolls, Nyota changed into a second set of clothes that would be more comfortable to sleep in, and then the two of them sat around the fire to heat the food they had brought along.
Nyota hadn't felt hungry until the smell of heating chilli wafted over her, and she realized that she was ravenous. The moment it was hot enough to eat, she shovelled the mixture of beans and beef and vegetables into her mouth. If her grandmother saw her poor table-manners in that moment, Nyota would be put on double chores for the next month. Christine seemed to like the chilli she ate from her own can, savouring it instead of chugging it down like Nyota did. This gave Nyota a thought.
"So," she started hesitantly, hoping she wouldn't offend Christine by asking this question. "You don't get supplies out here, so you must hunt for food. Do you..." She hesitated. This was going to sound offensive no matter how she phrased it. Luckily, Christine saved her.
"Catch animals and eat them raw?" Christine suggested. Her voice wasn't sarcastic or biting. It was clear that she wasn't offended by the suggestion at all. "Sometimes," she answered when Nyota nodded. "I hunt as a wolf, and sometimes I eat my prey then and there. Other times I bring it home and cook it over a fire to eat in this form. Depends how hungry I am," she said, flashing her sharp teeth.
Nyota was curious now, and she felt better knowing that Christine wouldn't be angered by her questions. "Do things taste different when you're in different forms?" She asked. "Would eating raw meat in wolf form taste just fine, but be unpalatable in human form?"
Cocking her head, Christine thought on her answer for a moment. "Not particularly," she said. "I could eat raw meat in this form and it would taste just as good as if I were a wolf. Like my other senses, my sense of taste doesn't change depending on what form I am in."
"Okay," Nyota nodded. "So why do you bother cooking it at all? Why not skip the work and just eat it raw all the time?"
"Raw meat gets boring," Christine said. "As does eating in wolf form. It's difficult to slow down and savour your meals in the form of a beast, designed to eat as fast as possible, no accounting for taste. And dead animals are difficult to eat in this form. Better to skin, gut, and cook it first."
Nyota's head bobbed. "So, what's your favourite?" She asked.
Christine hummed. "Spit roasted rabbit," she decided in a dreamy voice. She was nearly drooling. "But I also enjoy fresh deer heart, and whole squirrels make for a delicious snack."
Nyota grinned. Christine really was drooling now, and she hadn't even noticed, too occupied with dreams of her favourites. Christine's bright yellow eyes suddenly darted to Nyota with a touch of anxiety, but her face folded slightly in confusion.
"You don't seem to be..." She searched for the word. "Revolted," she decided.
"Why would I be?" Nyota asked, eyebrows raised in surprise. Christine seemed so self conscious all of a sudden.
Christine shrugged, looking down into the fire. "Because you're human. Most humans are squeamish at the thought of eating dead animals."
"Humans eat dead animals all the time," Nyota pointed out, gesturing to her now-empty can of chilli.
"No, it's different," Christine said, shaking her head. "Most humans eat the meat of animals, but few of them think of where it comes from, and most would balk at the idea of eating it freshly killed, with no preparation to help them forget where it really came from."
Nyota shrugged. "Maybe the world would be a better place if more people were able to come to terms with what they were eating," she mused. "In any case, I don't think it's gross that you eat unprocessed animals. Just like I wouldn't think it was gross for a wolf or a bear to. It's natural. And besides, there's less waste when you eat the whole thing."
Christine smiled. "That is certainly a benefit," she said, tucking back into her can of chilli. "I may have to get a few cans of this smuggled out to me once in a while, though," she said. "I like the spices and these round things."
"Beans?" Nyota supplied.
"I like beans," Christine confirmed.
Nyota boiled some water over their fire and brewed some herbal tea, splitting it into two light-weight camping mugs. She handed one to Christine, who raised her eyebrows.
"Tea," Nyota explained. "I always make a cup of tea before I go to sleep when I'm out camping. It always warms me up and helps me sleep."
Christine sipped at it, cocking her head as she considered the taste. "Chamomile," she decided. "But something else, too."
"Mint," Nyota said. "The combination isn't everyone's... well, cup of tea. But I like it. My grandmother used to make it for me when I was a kid. She said it was the perfect tea to drink before bed because the chamomile would help me sleep and the mint would settle my stomach."
Christine nodded, her eyes closed and her face low over her cup. She seemed to be enjoying the scents wafting up to her nose and the steam washing over her face. "My father taught me how to find and harvest chamomile from the plant and brew it into teas," she said. "He had vast knowledge of the plants in this forest, and could use them to make remedies to heal almost any ailment. He was teaching me his art, before..." She trailed off, her eyelids lifting slowly. Her gaze was a far off stare, and her yellow irises were dulled by sadness.
"I'm sorry," Nyota said quietly.
"I'm not the only one to lose family," Christine said, shaking her head.
Nyota's heart went out to her. "That doesn't make your losses any less tragic," she said. "Hopefully we'll find out what happened to them, and you can finally get some closure."
"I hope so," Christine said. "But... I worry about what I might do afterwards. I know that wherever they are, they are dead now. But something deep within me hopes they are alive, and that they'll return one day. Once I know for sure that they're gone... I'm not sure what I'll do. There isn't a point to living out here alone, with nobody left to wait for. But I don't have anywhere else to go." She shook her head, taking a long drink from her cup. "It's silly, but I have spent the last few years out here by myself just in case they aren't dead, and they come back. I was scared that if I went anywhere they wouldn't be able to find me. But also, these woods are the only home I've ever had. I don't know how I would survive in the wider world."
"Well," Nyota said. "Whatever you decide to do, I'll be here for you. I can help you with whatever you need, if that's what you want."
Christine smiled weakly at her over the fire. "Thanks," she said.
The finished their tea in silence, then prepared to bed down for the night. Nyota curled up in her bedroll, covered up to her chin and angled toward the fire for extra warmth. Christine lay atop her own bedroll, flat on her back with her hands interlaced over her torso, staring up at what little sky could be seen peering through the dense canopy above them.
"Won't you get cold?" Nyota asked, seeing Christine shutting her eyes to sleep, exposed to the open air in only her canvas pants, t-shirt, and lightweight flannel shirt.
Yellow eyes opened again, catching the fire like mirrors. She turned her head to meet Nyota's eyes. "It is summer," she stated. "It doesn't get very cold at night."
Nyota smiled. "For you, maybe," she said, wiggling herself down further into her bedroll. "Good night, Christine."
"Goodnight."
Both of them went to sleep knowing that tomorrow, their lives may very well change forever.
When Nyota woke, she took a moment before opening her eyes to remember where she was. The sound of wind in the trees jogged her memory, and she knew she was out in Yosemite with Christine, heading for a suspicious facility that may hold the answers to questions that both of them had been asking long before they met each other.
Opening her eyes, though, Nyota was confused. Instead of seeing the hollow she assumed that she was in, all that she could see before her was a field of white. Worrying for a moment that something was wrong with her eyes or her brain, she sat up in a rush, where her fears disappeared, then briefly reappeared as she realized that the white she saw was the fur of a massive creature that was lying next to her bedroll. Her heart leapt into her throat and she froze in place, terrorized. Breath held, she turned her head to look across the ashy remains of their campfire to where Christine had been sleeping. She wasn't on her bedroll.
Confirming that the big white wolf was Christine and not... a second giant white wolf? Nyota relaxed a bit. Seeing such a fearsome animal so close was still frightening, and she kept having to remind herself that it was her friend under all that fur and muscle. The wolf became far less frightening when it let out a loud snore that reminded Nyota of her grandfather. She giggled, slapping a hand to her mouth too late to muffle the sound, and the wolf's breathing changed, a large yellow eye opening lazily and looking at her curiously. Nyota's apprehension at being so near the beast disappeared entirely now. While this creature looked so different from the Christine she knew, those eyes were the exact same, warmth and all.
"Good morning," Nyota said to the wolf, who opened her huge, long jaws in a wide yawn before tugging herself to her feet. Nyota was in awe. She hadn't realized how large Christine's wolf form was until she was right next to her. She truly was the size of a grizzly bear, and a large one at that, like the famous Kodiak bears. She surely towered over any other creature that walked these woods, aside from a few bull moose, Nyota supposed.
The wolf stretched her front legs out in front of her, fluffy tail flagging up in the air as she stretched her front half down. Then she rolled forward, stretching her hips and each of her legs before shaking her whole body, thick coat floofing up with the movement, and she trotted off into the woods. When she returned a few minutes later, she was in her human form, flannel shirt rumpled and hair sticking out oddly.
Nyota grinned at her. "I told you you'd be cold," she teased.
Christine blew a lock of hair out of her face. "I wasn't cold," she said. "You were the one shivering. I couldn't sleep with all that going on."
Only slightly embarrassed, Nyota shrugged. "How about some breakfast before we head out? I still have to check in with our friends back at the lodge."
Christine shuffled over. While Nyota used her radio to make contact with the others, Christine got to work making a small fire. Very small, just enough to heat up some food. In half an hour, they were packed up and leaving the shelter of the hollow.
It was raining lightly, and while Christine was entirely unbothered by the drizzle, Nyota grumbled under her breath. This was not on the forecast. She pulled her rain jacket out of her bag and donned it, slipping on her light gloves while she was at it. It was a chilly morning, and the big droplets of rain weren't helping. It wouldn't do to be soaking wet so early in the day.
As she followed behind Christine, she felt a stab of envy. While she was wearing rain gear and rubbing her arms for warmth, her companion was admiring the morning, face up to meet the rain, wearing only her light set of clothes. She showed no sign that she was cold, and seemed oddly comfortable being rained on. Nyota wished she was a wolf, if only to ease her present discomfort.
The terrain became more difficult in this last leg of the hike out to the facility. They had to climb up into the mountains, passing between two peaks, then pick their way through a treacherous boulder field, which was made slippery from the rain that only got worse throughout the day.
Nyota was miserable. Aside from slipping on the patches of stone and tripping over rocks, the boulder field was nearly devoid of trees, giving her no shelter from the persistent rain. Her shoes and her pants were soaked through, and water trickled down her front as some stealthy raindrops made their way into her raincoat. And, without the trees, the wind was relentlessly cutting. She was cold, she was wet, she had bruises forming on her knees and elbows from falling, and the wind insisted on slapping her, adding insult to injury.
On the other hand, Christine moved along like it was a perfect, warm and sunny day. She hadn't stumbled even once among the rocky terrain, moving with an uncanny gracefulness. She didn't even slow down in caution, meaning she left Nyota in the dust. Or rather, the mud.
Christine stepped easily up onto a rise, pausing to look out at what lay beyond. She turned to look back at Nyota, who was still struggling her way through the rocks. Christine waited there for her to catch up, extending a hand to help Nyota up onto the rise. Nyota took her hand, grateful for the assistance, and though she was wearing gloves, she could feel the heat of Christine's hand and wanted nothing more than to fall into her companion's arms and bask in the warmth of her body heat.
She didn't, of course. But even if she did, all feeling of being cold and miserable disappeared when she looked out at what lay beyond the ridge. Down the hill, at the far end of the boulder field, was a tall chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. The wall of fence divided the boulder field from the forest, and she could make out two corners as the fence cut into the forest and out of view behind the foliage. All that was visible was this one side of the fence, no gate or signage present.
"This is it," Christine said.
"What's in there?" Nyota breathed.
"I don't know," Christine said. "I walked the perimeter, but I couldn't see anything inside. It's just a big box full of trees, as far as I could see from the outside. I didn't dare try to go in alone, though."
"Was there a way in?" Nyota asked. "A gate? What about signs? Anything to indicate what this is?"
"There's a gate," Christine said, but her tone was unsure. "I don't think we'll be able to get through it, though."
Nyota tore her eyes away from the fence, looking at her. "Why not?"
Christine pursed her lips. "It's heavily chained, and there's a sturdy iron bar on the inside of the fence, holding the gate closed."
"If you'd mentioned that before I would have brought bolt cutters," Nyota grumbled, stuffing her cold hands in her pockets. "How are we going to get in there?"
"We can climb the fence," Christine said, simply. "Should be easy enough."
"For you, maybe," Nyota protested. "That fence is, what— ten feet high? And I don't know if you've noticed, but it's topped with barbed wire."
Christine gave a small smile. It was an encouraging one, but Nyota could see the anxious tensing of her jaw muscles. "It's okay. I can help you over." She gestured towards the fence with her head. "Let's go," she said, but her feet didn't move. Her eyes darted with every movement of brush waving in the wind, and looked like she might turn around and bolt in the opposite direction.
Breathing deeply through her nose, Nyota took the first step down the hill. With Nyota taking the initiative, Christine's legs unlocked, and she followed behind reluctantly. Eyes wide, nostrils flared, and head thrown high like a spooked horse. Watching for any sign of trouble.
Nyota was scared too, but her symptoms were less useful. Her heart pounded so loud she wouldn't be able to hear the approach of danger above it, and she felt she might freeze instead of run or fight if something did present itself. The closer she got to the fence, the stiffer her legs felt, as if her knees were locking up, trying to warn her not to get closer. But she powered on, knowing that if she stopped, even hesitated, she wouldn't be able to take another step in the direction of that fence.
Feeling sick to her stomach, she reached the fence. She rested a hand against it, curling her fingers around the chain link as if tethering herself to the fence. If she didn't, she might just run away.
Christine was equally jumpy. "The scent here isn't right," she said, voice low in warning. "I don't know what it is, but it isn't right."
The two of them stood there, peering through the fence at the dark forest within, wondering what they would find within. Both of them were eager to charge in and finally find the answers they have been wanting for years. But they were also terrified of facing those answers. They knew that what they found would haunt them. But they had to know.
"We're wasting daylight," Nyota said, making the decision to power through their reservations. She reached above her head, knitting the fingers of both her hands into the chain link, and wedged the toe of her hiking boot into the fence, beginning to climb. Christine followed suit, quickly overtaking Nyota as she scrambled up the fence with relative ease. She waited at the top of the fence for Nyota, who struggled to climb. Her feet kept slipping, sending her dropping to the ground. After one of her falls, she had to take a moment to nurse fingers that had been caught in the fence when she dropped. But eventually, she made it up to Christine.
Nyota eyed the three lines of barbed wire in front of her warily. "There's a multi-tool in the side pocket of my pack," she instructed Christine. "The wire cutters might be strong enough to cut this."
Christine moved quickly to keep Nyota from tiring. With one hand she opened the aforementioned pocket, finding the multi-tool. Figuring out how to get the wire cutters out of the Swiss army knife-like device with one hand was difficult, but Nyota was able to spare a hand briefly to help her. Christine got to work on the barbed wire.
Watching her work through the wires, it occurred to Nyota that she herself wouldn't have been able to cut through the wires. Her small pliers weren't designed for the rather thick metal strands. But Christine was able to coax them into chewing through the wire with her superior grip strength.
Nyota's fingers were sweating and she felt herself struggling to keep her grip by the time Christine had cut a path through the barbed wire. Throwing the multi-tool over the fence, Christine helped Nyota clamber over the top.
It probably wasn't a good idea, but Nyota's fingers were stiff and aching from gripping the cold, wet fence, so as soon as she was over the other side, she jumped from the fence, dropping the ten feet to the ground below. She landed on her feet with knees bent, falling backwards onto her pack. She lay there as Christine descended the fence, the soles of her feet aching from breaking her landing.
"Are you okay?" Christine asked as she hopped down from the last couple feet of fence. She looked down at her, mouth twitched in concern.
"Yeah," Nyota sighed. She tried to rock herself upright, but her backpack had her trapped. She felt like an over-turned turtle. Her mouth formed a thin line at her predicament, making her face resemble that of a frog's.
Christine smirked in a way that looked like she was trying really hard not to, and reached a hand down to assist Nyota. Nyota took her hand and was surprised at the ease at which Christine pulled her to her feet. It was as if she weighed nothing.
"Alright," Nyota said with a huff, dusting herself off. "I guess we're in."
"I guess we are," Christine agreed. The two of them stood with their backs to the fence, staring into the forest.
"Well, we came all this way," Nyota said. She wasn't just referring to the hike out. "We can't turn back now."
Christine nodded, not taking her bright eyes off the forest. She was alert, and Nyota trusted her to see or hear anything before she could. So instead of worrying, she stepped away from the fence into the woods, Christine following close behind.
"How big is this place?" Nyota asked in a low voice. She didn't know how deep this went, but Christine did.
"Maybe a hundred square metres?" Christine guessed. A fair size, but nothing unmanageable.
Nyota kept leading the way through the trees, but she headed towards the left to meet up with the fence. It would probably be easier to find whatever was out here if they could find the gate. There had to be a trail or something from there.
"The gate's on the opposite side from where we came in," Christine said, as if reading her mind. Nyota just nodded. They found the fence, and followed it until they found the corner of the perimeter. From there they found the gate Christine had talked about. It was indeed excessively chained up, and barred with a thick iron bar.
Nyota paused, studying it. "This is odd," she said, brushing her fingers over the bar. Flakes of rusted and worn metal peeled off with the movement. The chains were orange with rust, and seemed to have welded themselves together with it. "I don't think anyone's been through here in a long time," she said.
Christine's mouth twitched. "Perhaps not."
"But it still smells wrong to you?" Nyota asked, looking to Christine for ideas.
Christine paused, frowning. She shook her head. "It smells less wrong than it did back where we climbed the fence," she said. Her brow furrowed in thought.
"Weird," Nyota said. She looked around. They were wasting daylight. She didn't want to spend the night anywhere near this place.
At first it didn't seem like there was any sort of road or path leading into the woods from the gate, but Nyota's eye caught what looked like a game trail. Just a thin worn line into the trees, obscured by overgrown ferns and bushes.
"This way," Nyota said, idly taking Christine by the wrist and pulling her along towards the little trail. She didn't want to, but she let go when they actually started down the trail. It was much too narrow and required them to walk single file.
They moved slowly, trying not to rustle the ferns or snap any dead branches, sounds that might alert someone to their approach. However, Nyota was feeling a little less scared after seeing the state of the gate. Her confidence that they were the only two people within the fence rose.
Suddenly Nyota stopped in her tracks, abruptly enough that Christine bumped into her. Christine didn't ask her why she stopped. She saw it too. Now visible amidst the trees and ferns and bushes was a building. It was dilapidated. Its wooden walls were rotting, the roof sported broad bare patches where shingles had been blown off, and the whole structure leaned noticeably.
"This looks pretty abandoned, too," Christine observed. Nyota looked at her, noticing that she had relaxed a bit. She felt better too, as the likelihood of finding danger here was low. But on the other hand, this place probably wasn't going to lead to any answers if it had been untouched for as long as it looked.
Needing to be sure though, the two proceeded to the structure, finding an unlocked door and entering it cautiously, worried the building might just choose now of all times to collapse.
The inside of the building smelled of mould and rotting wood. There were long tables along two of the walls, a couple of narrow cots with mouldy, insect infested mattresses on another wall, a couple simple wooden chairs, and something that might have been a rug once but was now unidentifiable.
The walls themselves were covered in posters and papers, tacked up. They sometimes overlapped each other. The floors and surfaces of the tables and cots were littered with paper as well, from where they fell from the wall after getting too wet or otherwise degrading too much to hold together.
"What is this?" Christine asked, looking around. Her sensitive nose was scrunched up against the musty smell.
"I'm not sure," Nyota said, stepping over to the tables. She looked at the papers on the wall, hoping she would find some clue as to what this place was. A lot of the pages were handwritten notes, but were unfortunately illegible from water damage and mould. Blue ink bled down pages, smudging the text beyond comprehensibility. The pages with computer-printed text on them fared a little better. Nyota could make out letters and words, the occasional sentence, but the pages were blackened by mould the same as the others.
"This one says something about trees," Christine said, pointing to a page on the wall.
"All the snippets I'm getting seem to be about trees too. Or bugs," Nyota said, continuing to search.
Suddenly, Christine called out excitedly. "Nyota, look at this!"
Nyota turned to see Christine brandishing a pristinely rectangular page. It was yellowed from age and exposure, but it was laminated, protecting the text from the worst of the damage.
Sidling up beside Christine, Nyota read the sheet. When they had each finished reading what was on the page, they looked at each other. Both of their faces were writ with both relief and disappointment.
"It's just an old research site," Nyota said. "They were surveying the ecosystem."
Christine nodded grimly. "It seems that way. I'm sorry, it seems I've lead us on a wild goose chase."
Nyota placed a reassuring hand on Christine's shoulder. "It's not your fault. You found something weird and we checked it out. Turns out it's harmless, but at least now we know."
"I just felt so certain," Christine said, shaking her head. "There's a smell in the air, in this place. I thought..."
"It's okay," Nyota smiled. "It's one less thing we have to check out."
"Right," Christine said, still sounding dejected. Or perhaps just puzzled.
Nyota checked her watch. "We should go if we want to get back to the hollow before it gets too dark," she said. "Even though we found out this place is completely innocent, the idea of camping out anywhere near here gives me the heebie jeebies."
"Heebie jeebies?" Christine asked curiously.
"Just an expression," Nyota explained. "It means this place creeps me out."
Christine hummed thoughtfully. "This place also gives me heebie jeebies."
"Let's get moving."
Christine lead the way back to where they had climbed the fence. Her excellent sense of direction and her wolfish sense of smell lead them straight to the spot, no extra wandering required. They climbed back over, utilizing the gap they made in the barbed wire, and headed back into the boulder field as the sun began to dip towards the peaks of the mountains. Already the shadows were long.
The drizzle hadn't yet stopped, and being out under the open sky again made that fact abundantly clear. The sharp wind that gusted here and there cut through Nyota's rain jacket like butter, and before long she was shivering, teeth chattering noisily.
She was cold, she was soaked, the wet and slippery terrain was difficult enough before it started getting dark, and she hugged herself as they walked, dreaming of curling up by a crackling fire in their safe little hollow. Maybe Christine would curl up with her. Cuddling up with a big fluffy wolf would be nice. But cuddling Christine in her human form would be even better.
Suddenly, Nyota's thoughts were yanked away from her as she slipped and found herself falling. Her hips and shoulder buffeted against the ground, and without knowing how she got there, she found herself lying on her back in the dark. Blinking against the water and loose dirt that trickled down on her from above, she realized that she had fallen further than she should have. Indeed, she seemed to have fallen through the ground.
"Nyota!" Christine's voice called out, panicked. Her face appeared in the hole Nyota had fallen through, peering into the dark. "Nyota! Are you okay?"
"I'm okay!" Nyota called back, not wanting Christine to worry about her being unconscious, or worse. "I just fell a few feet. I think I'm in some kind of cave." She sat up, looking around. It was dark, but her eyes adjusted enough to tell that this was more than just a hole. She had fallen through the ceiling of a cave, but without any light, she didn't know how big it was or if it was simply a dead end room.
Struggling to her feet, she stood, the cave deep enough to accommodate her full height. "I'm going to see if there's a way to climb up," she called, as there wasn't an immediately obvious way to reach the gap in the ceiling. She was going to tell Christine to stay up there in case there wasn't a way to get back up, when Christine dropped down into the cave with her, landing on her feet in a low crouch.
"Oh. Okay," Nyota said. "Uh, you know there might not be a way to climb out of here, right?"
Christine looked unbothered. "We'll find a way," she said, eyes glinting as her gaze swept the darkness around them.
Torch, Nyota thought, slipping her torch from where she had conveniently stored it in a side pocket of her backpack. She switched it on, and moved the warm beam of light around the space, taking stock of where they were.
It was a cave, all right. She had fallen through a hole in the ceiling of a small chamber. She guessed its height to be around ten feet, but the ground between the cave's ceiling and the surface was at least another two or three feet. As such, getting anywhere near where they had entered the cave would require something to climb on. And unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any boulders in the vicinity to use.
"I think we might be trapped down here," Nyota said nervously, voice echoing strangely in the damp cave. "Maybe I can get a radio signal," she suggested doubtfully.
"Caves close to the surface usually have multiple openings, due to erosion and whatnot," Christine said. "Let's head through for a while and see if we can't find a better way out."
Nyota swung the light of her torch in the direction of Christine's voice, her pale skin and hair nearly glowing in the artificial light. She was standing near the wall of the cave, away from where they had fallen. "What do you mean?" Nyota asked. "There's nowhere to go. This is all there is."
Christine shook her head. "There is," she said. "There's a corridor here. Look."
Nyota watched as Christine stuck out an arm, and saw it vanish behind the rocky wall. Getting closer, Nyota saw that Christine was right. There was a narrow cave corridor here, cleverly hidden from her view by deceptive rock shapes and tricks of the light.
But the corridor was narrow and stout. They would have to crouch down and squeeze through it, and the corridor turned early on, making it impossible to see where it went. It could be a dead end. It could narrow off enough that they wouldn't be able to proceed further, or worse, get them stuck. Nyota shivered.
"What if it's a dead end?" Nyota voiced her fears.
"It isn't," Christine said. "At least, not immediately. I can hear our voices resonating further down."
Still reluctant, Nyota asked, "what if it's too small? Or what if it's all squished like this for a long distance and we get stuck?"
Christine studied her a moment, eyes narrowed, and Nyota suddenly had the suspicion that Christine could smell her fear.
"I'll go ahead for a bit," Christine decided. "If it seems like it's going somewhere, I'll come get you."
Nyota wanted to protest. She wanted to pretend she wasn't afraid and go with Christine to investigate the corridor. But she couldn't. The squeeze terrified her. She couldn't help but think of a comic she had read once, where people were compelled to enter tight caves that seemed to be made for them. But once inside, they could never go back, and as they progressed, their cave changed shape, forcing their bodies to change shape, until they were thin, lengthily star-like creatures, difficult to recognize as human. She shook her head. This corridor was not calling to her. It was not made for her.
Despite reassuring herself, the corridor still made her too uneasy to want to go in. So instead, she agreed with Christine. "Okay, I'll stay here. Just be careful," she pleaded. She worried that Christine might get trapped, and there would be nothing she could do to help her.
Despite the tight squeeze, Christine moved through the corridor with ease, quickly disappearing from Nyota's sight. The beam of her flashlight trembled as her heart beat into her throat. She wanted to call after Christine the moment she lost sight of her, but she was also determined to not sound like a scared little girl, so she waited.
Nyota was focusing so hard on being patient that she nearly jumped out of her skin when Christine suddenly appeared in her flashlight beam again, seemingly having walked out of the wall. She leapt back, just barely managing to not drop her flashlight.
Christine saw her reaction and grimaced. "Sorry," she said. "Didn't mean to spook you."
"It's okay," Nyota said quickly, smoothing her face into a neutral expression and willing her heart to quit trying to leap from her chest. "Was it a dead end?" She asked, trying to sound casual. She wasn't sure what she wanted the answer to be.
Eyes gleaming with excitement, Christine gave a quick shake of her head. "No," she said, dashing Nyota's hopes of not having to brave the tight corridor. "It opens up after just a bit. I don't know how far it goes, but it looks easy enough to walk through. Compared to this section, at least."
"Great," Nyota said, disingenuously. "Do you think there'll be a way out that way?" She really didn't want to go through the squeeze just to have to come back through it again later.
Christine shrugged. "I'm not sure. But it's more promising than just sitting around in here," she said, gesturing to the little room they were trapped in.
Nyota took a deep breath, steeling herself. "Alright. Lead the way."
Shooting her a reassuring smile (despite Nyota's best efforts to mask how afraid she was, Christine could smell it on her), Christine stepped back into the little gap into the wall, looking back frequently to make sure she didn't get so far ahead of Nyota that she wouldn't be able to see her, which Nyota was grateful for. She might have broken down into panic if she found herself alone squished between walls of rock.
Traversing the corridor wasn't as bad as Nyota had thought it would be. It was true that she felt like the walls were closing in on her and that she would be crushed, or suffocate, but the vertically twisted nature of the tunnel made navigating it require a lot of concentration. With something to focus on, she had less brain space to dedicate to completely freaking out. Before she knew it, the corridor opened up before her.
Shining her flashlight around her new surroundings, Nyota observed that they hadn't entered a chamber like the one she had fallen into. This was a continuation of the corridor, only high enough to not have to crouch and wide enough to walk two abreast, if they didn't mind getting cozy with each other. Which they didn't.
Christine took Nyota by the elbow and nudged her along the widened corridor with her. Nyota shone the flashlight ahead of them. Despite Christine's fantastic night vision, this part of the cave didn't even get a sliver of natural light, and without the flashlight, her eyes would be just as useless as Nyota's.
The tunnel was long, but thankfully it remained wide enough that Nyota wasn't as terrified as she was getting through the squeeze. It twisted here and there, and they had to traverse inclines and declines, sometimes scrabbling over boulders or ledges to continue forward. They found a few offshoots of this main tunnel, but they were just as narrow as the initial corridor, if not more, so they continued past them. They didn't speak. The cave echoed and amplified sounds, which made their voices sound loud and garbled. Instead they just listened to the sound of their footsteps. The echoing made it sound like they weren't alone.
Suddenly, the sound of their footsteps changed. Christine noticed immediately, and shot an arm out to halt Nyota as she assessed the situation. Simultaneously, they looked at the ground at their feet, then followed the beam of Nyota's flashlight as she swept it from side to side, up and down before them. Then they looked at one another.
"I have the distinct feeling that we've found something we aren't supposed to," Nyota said in a low murmur, to keep her voice from echoing through the cave.
"I have to agree with that feeling," Christine said. "It looks like our trip all the way out here might not have been a waste after all."
For the second time that day, Nyota felt full of both excitement and dread as she stood with Christine at the point where the natural rock of the cave gave way to a perfectly square and level concrete tunnel.
Title Page & Chapter Directory