Chapter 16Pushing North - Sunday, July 22nd to Thursday, July 26th
Morning brought more fog and a light mist for a few hours. It burned off quickly as the four hikers hiked the last ten miles to town. They approached with caution as usual and after hearing a bit of traffic on the road, the road noise faded away. They moved through the last line of trees and high grass before the road. Across the highway and to their right was the red roof of the GB gas station. Further on was the red roof of the Pizza Hut. They hurried across the road to the gas station. It was approaching lunchtime, so everyone was more hungry than usual. As they crossed the road, the smell of smoking meat hit their nostrils and started their saliva flowing. It smelled like heaven.
They put their packs down around the corner of the building just past the source of the delicious smell and went inside the open store. The bell tingled as they entered the store. In front of them was a large meat counter. It was mostly empty, but there were a few items in the case. The shelves of the store were also quite bare, but again, there were a few items still occupying the shelves.
Carol was behind the counter. She smiled at them, but the smile had a strange, strained flavor to it that put Fic on his guard.
She greeted the hikers and told them to come over to the register. She seemed a bit nervous. Something had changed.
“Are you ok, Carol?” Fic asked. Concern in his voice.
“I’m fine. Just a little on edge,” Carol began. “After we left the Knob yesterday, we were discussing your plight on our way back to the car and we figured out who you were. Your being only four, had us skeptical at first, but after thinking about what you said about your trek, we realized that you were the notorious Party that we had been warned about. They say you guys are mad killers out in the mountains, who come into towns, kill a bunch of residents and then steal all that you can.” Tears were welling in her eyes, but she didn’t seem scared at all. Fic noticed that a hand gun was sitting on the counter in front of Carol. He made a note but didn’t mention it.
“Those stories are a little embellished I would say,” Brown Shades said. Looking at Carol in the eye with a little wink. “We have been harassed by the Flarmy all the way from Georgia, but anything we did was to defend ourselves or those with us. We are not murderers, and we don’t kill residents.”
“I felt that way yesterday, but we have just become a little leery of things now. I still want to help you guys, but you will need to get moving soon. If the Flarmy as you call them, comes through on a patrol, they might be quicker to figure out who you are, and they certainly do believe the wanted posters. I smoked up some brisket this morning, in preparation for your arrival. I can make everyone a foot long sandwich, with some cheese and onion. To go of course. I don’t have a lot more, but you can take whatever you need that you find in the aisles.”
“We want to pay you,” said Class Room. We don’t have a lot of cash, but we want to give you what we can.
“You guys still have a long way to go.” Said Carol. “I have your email addresses. I will send you each an email with an IOU, well actually a, You Owe Me, and we can settle up when this calms down, and things get back to normal.”
“Deal,” Fic said. “We really appreciate this, and I assure you, we are good people, just trying to get home and your help will get us there.”
The Party once again were able to add to their food bags. Each time they did this, they extended their range just a little further. Of course, they would be looking for food in just a few more days, because they don’t carry a lot. Just enough to get them a few more days down the trail.
They all put their freshly wrapped foot long sandwiches in the top of their bags and thanked Carol once again. They had written down Carol’s addresses too, both email and actual location of the station so they could get in touch with her when everything was back to normal again. Whatever that may mean now.
The Party threw their packs on and walked back to where the trail headed back into the trees on their side of the road. The trail started to climb as soon as it left the road and after crossing under Interstate 81, the Lee Highway, and one other road, they were back in the forest and slowly gaining elevation once again.
When they reached the top of Fullhardt Knob, they stopped at the shelter there and ate half of their sandwiches. Saving the rest for later. Rodent Whisperer had planned to do that too, but his sandwich was gone before he knew it. He smacked his lips and rubbed his stomach. Smiling pleasantly and feeling satisfied. “Ahh,” he said with a long sigh. “That was a might good sandwich.” Smacking his lips once more.
After eating, they continued along the ridge crest for a few miles. Following its slight ups and downs, then heading down into a valley and following that until they arrived at Wilson Creek Shelter.
For a very long time during this trek, the shelters had been vacant and lonely when they rolled into camp each night. It had been a long time since they had encountered another hiker either out on the trail, at a shelter or in or near town. When they walked up to the shelter, they could tell this one was occupied.
Half the shelter was full of someone’s strewn out gear. An orange sleeping pad had a blue bag laying on it and behind that was a gray pack. There was a clothesline strewn across the front of the shelter and several pieces of laundry hung to dry. There was no hiker around to claim the gear.
The hikers turned and looked into the woods. All they saw was the late afternoon sun dappling its green beams to and fro as a slight breeze filtered through the forest.
They dropped their packs and casually walked around the camp. Looking for some sign of a hiker in the area.
They were sitting around the picnic table when a man came walking up from the hillside with three water bottles in his hand. He was startled when he saw them and froze in his tracks. He was of medium height, with a full red beard of substantial length. He looked to be wearing nothing but his long underwear. An old red ball cap sat on his head, slightly askew. The hat had a brim that was full of holes, and you could see the plastic support in many places.
The hikers watched the man as they could plainly see options running around in his head. It looked like several were offered and rejected before he decided to just finish what he was doing.
“Hello,” he said. “I haven’t seen another hiker in weeks. I’m Ragged.”
The others smiled at the hiker and invited him to the table. “I think I remember seeing your entries in the shelter log way back in Georgia. Have you been in front of us all this time?” Fic asked.
“I guess so. My trek has been an interesting one. I have been mostly avoiding everyone and every place. I do my resupply at night, sometimes without my benefactors knowing until later,” he smiled. “I have become tired with hiking, and I decided to spend several days just not walking. I have been here almost a week now.”
The other hikers introduced themselves and the group of hikers did the age old tradition of comparing notes. Ragged had been gathering wood for days, so they started a nice fire and once again Yuk made her appearance as they all lazed around the fire, telling their tales and actually feeling good for a while.
It was times like this that Fic could forget that the world had gone to shit, and he was trying to get back to his loved ones. But the forgetfulness was short lived. Tomorrow would be another day of walking. Danger still waited out there and as they had found out in Daleville, they still hadn’t out walked their wanted poster. In fact, the stories had become larger and even more untrue. Would they ever get far enough away from Boots Off to breathe a little easier?
These thoughts filled Fic’s head as everyone headed to their sleeping positions for the night.
The next morning, The Party were all set to go. They asked Ragged if he wanted to join them as they headed north, but he declined.
“I’m just gonna hang out here for a couple more days. My knee has been bothering me a lot and sitting around and not hiking has made it feel a lot better the last couple of days,” he told them. They wished him well and headed out from the shelter area and back onto the trail.
The next four days were a blur. Walking, eating, sleeping. Through humid heat, rain both heavy and light and wind from time to time as the forest moved to the whims of the Mother’s nature.
Hunger set in once again as their food bags became more and more empty along with their stomachs. Climbing each mountain became a chore and their rest periods became longer and more frequent.
The party was taking a break. Each of the hikers was eating a small snack from their almost empty food bags. They were in a small clearing, next to the trail. Large oak trees surrounded them. A cardinal alighted on one of the long branches of one of the oaks and started singing. It would fly to another tree and sing a few notes, then fly once again to another branch on another tree. It seemed to be checking them out as they sat in the clearing, completely circling them as it moved from tree to tree. It gave one final high pitched chirp and flew off towards the north.
The break was over, and the hikers stowed their food bags, hefted their packs and continued down the trail. The terrain had been easy so far this morning, but now they started a long slow climb, back up onto the ridge. There were switchbacks every so often and Fic was in the lead. As he turned a corner, the trail ran a long straight way before once again turning again. He had an excellent view of the trail for several hundred meters. Sitting up the trail. In the middle of the trail, was a fox. The fox’s fur was a dark reddish color. His feet and tip of the tail were black. He sat looking intently at The Party as they slowly made their way up the mountain.
Fic stopped and stared intently at the fox. It was clearly following their progress. Fic turned around to the group who had also come to a stop behind him and said, “Check out that fox.” He turned around to point up the trail at the animal, but the trail was empty. Fic drew his gaze up and down the mountain to reacquire the fox, but it had disappeared. Just as mysteriously as it has appeared.
“What fox?” asked Brown Shades. Looking over his shoulder and up the trail.
“There was a fox sitting right on the trail, looking at us,” Fic replied.
“If you say so,” answered Brown Shades.
The Party continued on. Eventually reaching the top of the mountain. There was a clearing at the top that had been used as a campsite for several years. A large fire ring dominated the middle of the clearing and there were large trunks of trees arranged around the fire to sit on. Behind the logs were some large rocks that also could be sat on. Sitting on one rock, was a young man. A pack sat on the ground beside him, and he was watching the hikers approach, a neutral expression on his face.
Fic approached the man and waved a greeting. “Hi, I’m Fic,” he said. The young man nodded a greeting. A slight smile on his face. As the other members of the party finished the climb up the mountain and entered the clearing, Fic would introduce them to the youth. He would nod and smile but remained silent.
Each of the Party dropped their packs and got comfortable. Digging into their packs, looking for any last remnants of food to eat.
The smiling man reached into his pack and removed a large Ziploc bag full of food. Candy, crackers, beef sticks and cheese. All sorts of appetizing snacks. “Here, have some food,” he said. Laying the bag on the ground in front of the hikers. “I’m Kitsune. I was wondering when you would arrive,” he said, smiling at the group.
“I want to join your Party,” he added.
End of Part I