[CHAPTER 7] — Elbrus
It took eight days for the caravan to make it to Elbrus County, stopping at base outposts to resupply and refuel. Meg and Evee were allowed out at each stop to use the bathroom, but remained in the vehicle the rest of the time. It was a long and arduous car ride for a twelve-year-old, but Evee handled it with a grace far beyond her years. When they reached the final stop before they made their way into the mines, James stopped Murphy and pulled him aside.
“I don’t trust Henry. How does he seem to you?” James said quietly.
“I just spent the last eight days in the Jeep with that guy. He’s boring as hell but he seems solid to me.” Murphy responded, trying not to let the panic rising in his throat become obvious.
“Alright. Keep a close eye on him and if he gives even the slightest sign of not being committed, kill him.” James said gravely, pulling open the door to his own truck and getting in. Murphy walked over to his own truck and got in. He looked at Henry with a serious look on his face before starting the Jeep and falling into line with the others.
“What’s wrong?” Henry asked, noticing the troubled look on Murphy’s face.
“James says he doesn’t trust you and I’m supposed to kill you if you show signs of not being loyal. You’re going to need to do something that shows him you can be trusted.”
“What the hell am I supposed to do?” Henry asked, worried about the limits he was going to have to push to keep in James’ good graces.
“Meg, anytime a weapon comes out, hide Everlea’s face. We’re really going to have to sell our position in The Cult, and nobody is going to like whatever it is we’re going to have to do.” Murphy said to Meg, holding eye contact in the rearview mirror. Meg looked at him seriously and nodded.
Suddenly Murphy slammed on the breaks, sending everyone careening forward uncomfortably. A fluffy white cat with a stub tail and calico patches on its rear end had come into the road and sat down to lick its genitals; one of its legs outstretched and folded over in a creepy fashion. Murphy loved animals, but this thing that cats did would always be weird to him. He honked his horn at the animal and it just looked up at him, as if it was annoyed the he had the audacity to disrupt its bath. The cat stared past Murphy seemingly right at Everlea for a long moment before getting up, stretching, and moseying its way out of the road. As they passed, Everlea and the cat kept eye contact until they couldn’t anymore. Well, that was very interesting. It almost looked like she was communicating with it. Murphy thought as he watched the exchange through the rearview.
As they turned a sharp corner, the entrance to the mine became visible. It was an unassuming entrance, one that was maintained for structural integrity in a way that kept it looking as derelict as an abandoned mine would be. As they approached the entrance, two heavily armed guards popped out from the sides, guns raised as they made their approach to the first car. James said something to them and they lowered their guns to salute him before he continued his way into the mines.
As they drove through the monstrous arches that held the opening, they entered into a dimly lit tunnel built up with stone and steel. The ceiling vaulted to over a hundred feet and spanned over fifty feet, high and wide enough that large trucked full of waste rock, mine water or tailings to easily go in and out of the mine to dump the byproducts. A second, smaller entrance was about a quarter mile down the mountain where they would take the valuable minerals and rocks out of the mountain; this entrance had collapsed several times rendering it inoperable and permanently unsafe. The mining company had moved their mine to the other side of the mountain, far away from where this one lay abandoned.
One by one the vehicles in their party drove to the entrance of the ramp that spiraled its way down into the mine, like a parking garage structure. When they reached the loading zone, they found it to be bustling with activity; this was more people than Murphy and Henry had anticipated and they shared a concerned look as Murphy parked the Jeep. Henry had gathered Everlea’s personal belongings as they had descended into the mine, and he now handed the pack containing them to Murphy. Each of the men opened a back door in the Jeep and grabbed the arm of a prisoner.
As they led Meg and Everlea to their prison, they made sure to be rough with them without causing too much pain to them. Each man’s heart breaking a little more each time Evee let out a little whimper or recoiled from a stranger. They couldn’t show that they cared, they could only guide them roughly through the mines until they reached a small suite. Once inside, Murphy and Henry removed the zip ties from their wrists and gave Evee her personal belongings.
“There should be clothes for Evee in the closet, and clothes for you in the trunk,” Murphy said to Meg, “At least that’s what James told me.” Meg nodded and went to check on the clothes in the closet for Everlea, then the trunk for herself. She looked at the bathroom and found basic toiletries and towels, and the beds were made up with clean bedding.
“Thank you, Josh. Thank you too, Henry. For being on our side; for everything.” Meg said quietly. Henry nodded before he left Murphy alone in the room with the pair of them.
“Henry and I share the quarters next door; we have to keep you locked in and stay posted outside your door day and night. If you need anything, just knock on your door and we will hear you. I’m not sure how many luxuries we’ll be able to sneak you, but your basic needs will be provided for. Meals will be brought three times a day. If you can give me a list of what you like and don’t like we will do our best to stick to that.”
“Thanks again. I’m sure Everlea is starving, what time will our next meal be?”
“Henry has first watch; he’s out getting your dinner now. Once he’s back I will go to sleep and be on watch in 12 hours. Is there anything else you need to make the night comfortable?” Murphy asked, double-checking the linens and the clothing to make sure they had everything they needed.
“Everlea, do you need anything?” Meg asked her, but Evee shook her head no before laying down on the bed farthest from the door. “I don’t think so, but thank you. Maybe tomorrow you could bring some things to help entertain her mind? She’s incredibly smart and loves to read.”
“I will see what I can find for her.” As Murphy said this, Henry walked back into the room with their dinners. “Have a good night, I’m sorry about all this. We will work towards getting you two out of here constantly.” Murphy turned and left them, going next door to the quarters he shared with Henry.
#
It was ten minutes past dawn and Cal was nowhere to be found. This was so unlike him, the team worried. They checked everywhere they could think of to find him but were unsuccessful. Finally, Katerina saw her mom rushing up to them with a worried look on her face.
“Cal was attacked by intruders and tied up in a closet. He’s almost done being checked over by medical and if he’s clear for the mission he’ll be with you shortly.” Lana said to the group. “As far as we can tell, it was a reconnaissance mission by The Cult of Seedbearers; Nothing was stolen or damaged, so the only logical conclusion is that they were there to gather information. The cameras that we were able to see them on, they are just standing around, so we can only come to these conclusions.”
“Hey sorry for the hold up,” Cal said as he jogged up to the group. “All clear to go, General.” His teammates obviously had questions and they attempted to ask them but the General silenced them, reminding them of their mission. As everyone moved to load up, Lana placed a hand on Cal’s arm;
“Remember, not a word to anyone about what you heard.” Lana cautioned him.
“Got it, General.” Cal replied. He may not agree, but it was a direct order and he would obey as best he could.
Their transport was an old C-130, which would carry them to a landing strip barely large enough for them to land where they would meet up with their ground transport. The four-hour flight was turbulent, tossing them around while they tried to get a nap in. Cal sat there with his eyes closed, pretending to be napping, but his mind was racing. Those men had said they knew where to find Everlea, that they were going to beat them to her. Cal knew that was true, they didn’t even know where this Meg person was and The Cult did; there was no way they could make it to the girl before they did. Cal knew this meant that when they got back from this mission they would essentially be starting over from the beginning. The only thing they still had was Meg’s first name. Landing in the air field was a bit exciting, the pilot overshot 75 ft of the 2,800- foot landing strip, causing them to nearly crash at the far end as they ran out of room. The pilot being a talented airman and well-used to this landing strip, they did not, and they rolled to a stop just as the nose of the plane bumped a tree. This was already a nearly impossible landing, so bringing everyone through it safely was quite an accomplishment. Normally they would have used a combination of helicopters and Humvees to reach their destination, but this was far too remote and not an area that was frequented by those types of vehicles. The C-130 they travelled in on, however, was a regular supply for the military installment nearby; so, seeing the C-130 making its normal decent into the airspace was nothing unexpected.
They disembarked and thanked the crew for the ride before hiking out into the forest to meet up with their ground transport. They had 3 kilometers to go to get away from the airfield and meet up with their transport. There were too many eyes and ears around to risk going straight from the airfield. As they made their way through the dense forest, Cal kept a watchful eye on their surroundings.
Knowing that The Cult knew how to find Everlea and that they would reach her first had him severely on edge; once they had Everlea it was only a matter of time before they came after Katerina, and if they’d found Everlea then they probably already knew Katerina’s real identity. Last night’s encounter with the two intruders solidified Cal’s worst fears; The Cult had infiltrated the military and was stealing the intel gathered during their missions. This meant that nowhere was safe for Katerina, and Cal’s only care in the world were her and her daughter; especially if they had taken Katerina’s sealed files that proved who she was.
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Thankfully the journey through the woods was short, and they reached the meadow where they met up with the truck that was to take them into the town and the man that drove it; there they would meet up with the woman who was their contact in getting established in the mines. The man that drove the truck was an associate of this woman, someone obviously close enough to be trusted with the mission; at least, that’s what Cal hoped. They exchanged a few pleasantries, none of them offering a name, before the Phoenix Centennial loaded into the back of the covered military transport.
All were collectively silent as the man drove to the mine company’s dorms. At one point they could feel a steep downgrade for several minutes before levelling back out; about ninety minutes later they felt the steep incline that made them wonder if they’d gone under the mountain or through a canyon. They felt the truck slow to a stop, and the driver got out; they all started unloading in front of a large building. There, they met with the woman that would place them in the company to begin their mission. They had all been given names that were similar to their own for the mission, and the woman knew them only by these aliases.
“Hi Y'all. My name is Marcia, I’m the Chief Executive officer. I’ve got your assignments here; three of you will be staying here in this dormitory and the other two will stay at the North dormitory. Your assignments are too far to stay here and commute daily. Katherine, Laurie, and Grant, you three will be here in this dorm. Carl and Rainey you’ll travel another two hours to the North dorm. Katherine, you’ve been placed as an entry level engineer, meaning you’ll simply be trained on this company’s policies regarding the equipment; this is a cliff notes version of the job and the equipment so when you show up to the site tomorrow you don’t look like you know nothing. All of you have one of these booklets. Laurie, you’re in dorm maintenance; you won’t be in the mines, you’ll be here at the dorm making sure everything is in working order. Grant, you’re a foreman, you’ll head up a mining crew. Carl and Rainey, you are Wildcrafters; hunting and gathering to provide the Culinary Specialists with supplies. That also includes firewood and other non-edible resources. More details for everyone’s jobs are in the booklets. Carl and Rainey, your transport is ready to take you to your dorm. Welcome to SeedCorp.”
Each of them looked at each other when she said the name of the company; nobody had informed them of the name before now, and it raised suspicions in all their minds. Marcia held out her arm to direct Cal and Rain towards their transport to their dorm. The Cult had been such a formidable foe for so long that any kind of tie towards it or the name put people on edge; and The Phoenix Centennial were no exception. Their goodbyes were silent, shakes of the hands all around and the two were off out the door. Cal and Rain loaded once again into the back of the transport truck, and the journey commenced; the first hour and a half was spent in silence, with Cal completely silent and brooding. With only 30 minutes to go, Cal broke the silence.
“I need to tell you something and it has to stay between us. I’ve been ordered not to tell anyone, but I need to talk about it and it can’t be with Katerina.” Cal said to her seriously.
“Okay,” she said slowly, giving him the room to continue.
“The men who attacked me last night were members of the Cult who had infiltrated the ranks, and they figured out how to find Everlea. Not only that, but the Generals suspect that they also stole Kat’s sealed files; so, they most likely know who she really is. It’s likely that we have walked right into a trap.” Cal blurted all of this out quietly, not wanting anyone in the cab of the truck to hear them, as Rain listened with an increasingly more horrified look.
“Do we need to call off the mission? Why would the Generals let their daughter walk into a trap?”
“The Generals know that it was a high probability that we were walking into the thick of it; The Cult is close, possibly based in the area. The report given this morning was intentionally vague so as to keep Katerina’s attention on the mission, we found out that James is still alive and The Cult is not weakened at all, merely driven underground. We also can’t tell Laura yet; we think James fathered her son, though she would never say what exactly she had against him or who the father of her son was. She’s finally starting to enjoy her life since she thought he’d been executed. The Generals will tell her when we are back from the mission safely.”
“Fuck! He’s still alive? What the fuck! Who was executed in his place? He was identical to James, everything about him matched James’ profile!” Rain spouted out each question as she waved her arms around animatedly.
“James had a twin. We suspect that James had his twin stand in for him in public; creating our profile of him as his twin, Kevin, rather than James himself. Their files were part of one of the losses we had when the servers failed. There was always a lot of confusion and contention with that because even though the servers were getting old, they were well maintained so there shouldn’t have been such catastrophic failures and loss of data like that; the IT department still insist that it wasn’t their neglect but they haven’t been able to prove that they were hacked, either. We’re now wondering if it was an attack of some sort; if not a hack, then something that caused those servers to be wiped.” Cal gave all the detail he knew from his short meeting with the Generals that morning.
Cal had been tied up in that closet for several hours before someone on their way to the mess hall heard him banging on the shelves; most of what was held on them were knocked off or out of place. As soon as they had freed him, he ran straight to the Generals to tell them what had happened. They had forced him to medical to be checked over for concussion and other injuries, discussing the events as Cal knew them all the while. He had protested continuing with the mission, saying that putting Katerina out in the open risked her getting captured; the Generals knew that should that happen, Katerina’s subdermal tracking would lead them straight to her. The Generals hated the idea of their daughter being bait, but Katerina had ordered the tracking device herself, set the plan herself; they knew that they couldn’t take her chance to bring down the Cult for good should she get it. Once he was cleared by medical, he rushed to join his team; unwilling to let them go on the mission without him. He may not be right next to Katerina the whole time, but he would at least be closer to her than if he’d been sequestered to base.
Rain sat in thoughtful silence almost the entire rest of the ride to their dorm. When the large building came into view, Rain looked at Cal mischievously;
“Hey, Cal; do you think we’ll get some female attention while we’re here? I mean… what better way to get information from someone than to get that when they’re vulnerable, right? I think that a good time with a beautiful woman counts as part of the mission, don’t you?” She giggled as she said this; most missions involved Katerina interacting with the people and the rest of them in the woods for support and backup for her. This would be the first time in a long time that Rain would have the chance to interact with people.
Rain and her wife were polyamorous, and her wife Cassie had some close friends on base that kept her company while Rain was on missions; Cassie also took care of Rain’s son from her ordeal with the Cult. They seemed happy, and their son seemed happy; post- apocalyptic concerns had killed issues like homosexuality and polyamory, among other social concerns that had existed on Earth. Everyone had suddenly realized that who someone loved or the color of someone’s skin or a different religion or political stance were not things that divided humanity; they created a diversity that made humanity beautiful. The one social issue that could never be squashed, however, was pedophilia; for obvious reasons.
Cal always thought it sad that it took an apocalypse to make people realize that worrying about people who are hurting no one was simply not where their energy should go, and ironically life had been better for many people because of it. There was no more hate because someone had a different color skin or loved someone of the same gender; there was no worry about why a man wanted to transition to a woman or vice versa, it wasn’t their business and so they no longer concerned themselves with people who just sought the same happiness they did. In communities outside of the Cult, people finally lived in a harmony they had never dared hoped for on Earth. Everyone was equal, everyone was happy; within those communities there was peace on New Earth.
As the transport pulled up to the monstrous building, a young woman came out of the door and waited to greet them. She was small, no taller than five feet, and slender. Her Auburn hair fell in straight locks around her hazel eyes, which were framed my thick bangs. Even though she was small, she was muscular; a clear sign that she was used to hard work. As Cal and Rain unloaded their things, the woman came up to them with a big smile.
“Well, hey there! You must be Carl and Rainey. I’m Isadora, a senior Wildcrafter. I’ll be showing you to your bunks and getting your gear assigned to you today. If you would both follow me, I will show you where you can put your things.” Isadora turned and hastened into the dorm where they were greeted by an open foyer with a corridor to each side leading to spiral staircases, and a large staircase directly in front of them. They turned left down the corridor and took the spiral staircase down two levels, where they turned right and followed another corridor. They finally stopped about two thirds of the way down the corridor where Isadora opened a door.
“This will be both your dorm; there’s no room anywhere else, but fraternizing with roommates is strictly prohibited.” Isadora said, looking pointedly at them both.
“That’s not going to be a problem, he’s got the wrong genitals for me.” Rain said bluntly, causing Cal to burst out in laugher before regaining his composure.
“Oh, is that so?” Isadora said, giving Rain an indiscernible sideways glance. “You should come to the pub sometime. You might meet someone to have fun with.” Rain gave Isadora her best “come get me” smile while nodding her silent acceptance. Isadora smiled back, and after they had put their things in their bunk led the way to the supply room.
The first things they were issued were their uniforms, a woodsy camouflage button down and matching cargo style pants, and a jacket of the same color and pattern. They also both received brown waterproof hiking boots, game bags in various sizes, bright orange hats, shooting glasses, scopes, rope, flints, a tent, fishing poles, cooking gear, mess kits, and hiking packs. Once all of their survival gear was issued and accounted for, Isadora led them to the armory to be issued their weapons. They were each issued the standard hunting rifle, as well as their choice in short-range munitions. Cal chose a shotgun while Rain opted for a semi-automatic handgun. Next, they were issued bow and arrows and crossbows, in case they ran out of bullets, they would always have these weapons; Arrows were easy enough to make from what could be gathered in the woods, so it was a near- infinite source of firepower. Their weaponry was rounded off with a series of hunting and fishing knives, laser saws for cutting wood- and limbs, and hatchets as a backup to the saw.
Every moment Isadora spent issuing their gear, she and Rain had been flirting; they could have been finished a lot faster had they focused more on the task instead of each other. Cal was happy that Rain had found someone to keep her company while they were here on the mission, though, so he stayed quiet and let them enjoy themselves. By the time they were done with their gear, the two of them were physically holding themselves back from each other. As Cal packed his gear up to move out, the two ladies leaned against the wall facing each other; chatting and laughing, clearly enjoying one another.
“I’m going back to the bunk to change into my gear, then I’m going to head out. I need to learn the land and set up somewhere for a few days before I can bring something significant back. You two enjoy yourselves,” Cal said with a chuckle, leaving the two ladies alone in each other’s company.