***** Vol.2 Chap.45 The end of the road *****
When night finally arrived, it was again a welcomed occasion.
This had been the third day of May-Ling’s climbing and her arms and feet were sore throughout. Every muscle in her body ached. Despite such dreadful conditions, she was happy because she has not been caught, because she was doing what she was called to do.
Finding a good-sized tree, and climbing up, she surveyed her dwindling food and water supply and was slightly alarmed. While she had plenty of food still, she knew she would run out of water the following day. She had not anticipated how much water she consumed in the climb. Now, besides climbing, she needed to look for a drinkable water source to replenish her water.
After eating sparingly, she settled down to sleep. She appreciated the silence, the peacefulness, the serenity, the absence of sounds. She fell asleep quickly again.
A loud conversation rudely woke her up.
“The boss is really upset.”
“What is he so upset about?”
“He discovered tracks in the Great Maze.”
“Really?”
Two gangsters were jabbing away, leaning on her tree. It was obvious that they were not expecting anyone there and were not aware that she was listening halfway up the tree.
She was terribly shaken up, not knowing what to do except to be as still as possible.
“Yeah! One sentry found tracks at the beginning of the maze and at another junction.”
“Ooh, that is bad. I bet the boss is mad.”
“He gave the maze sentries a flocking like you have never seen. At the end, Ah-Joe and Ah-Lou had to carry the poor guy out.”
“Guess he will not be walking for quite some time.”
“Poor Ah-Mann.”
“Have they caught anyone in the maze yet?”
“No, the boss wants a massive manhunt tomorrow morning. Every available person is to report to the hunt.”
“Wow.”
“You better keep your eyes open for anything suspicious here in case someone is still around the maze.”
Her leg went to sleep. The sensation was like a million ants walking on her leg. She wanted so badly to shift her weight. But she resisted the urge to move even an inch for fear of making a sound and being discovered.
“Ok, thanks for the warning.”
“Well, back to sentry duty.”
The gangster took a last drag of the cigarette and threw the butt on the floor. He did not even border to stamp the fire out. The rising smoke had a foul-smelling odor. She took one sniff and knew there were additional narcotic ingredients added to the tobacco. Trying not to breathe in vain because the smoke was going straight towards her.
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When the sun broke, she immediately saw her error. She did not realize that had she walked just a few more steps last night, she would hit another trail. Quickly, she packed up her things, crossed the trail, and climbed further up the mountain.
Not long afterwards, there were lots of talking and footsteps from gangsters on the trail below. She figured she must have crossed the main trail that led to the gangsters’ hideout. Mentally marking where the trail came from and where it was going, she must avoid this part of the mountain as much as possible.
After another hour of climbing, she came underneath a large rock overhang. The rock overhang was rather extensive and there was no way to go around it. She tried to explore the nearby area. On one side of the overhang, a waterfall prevented further advance while a steep cliff on the other side made progress impossible. The gangsters’ den on top was clearly well defended by this overhang.
She realized immediately that there was no way to get to the top of the mountain without going through the gangster’s hideout. And the only way to get to the hideout was through the main trail that she came across just now. The overhang had provided the gangster a very strategic defense position. She was getting quite disappointed because if many armed army assaults failed to conquer the gangster, how could one inexperienced person pass through the hideout unnoticed?
But she knew that all available people were down at the maze, searching for her. So, the hideout must be scantily guarded. Perhaps she could slip by without being noticed. Besides, she had the element of surprise on her side. She returned to the main trail and stealthily followed the woods near the trail. She did not want to be seen should there be some lookouts around. After following the trail for a while, she noticed the trail ended abruptly underneath the overhang.
Now what?
It was getting late in the afternoon. She thought she would strategize by observing what the gangsters would do. So, she selected a good size tree a little way off and situated herself in the tree. She checked out her scant supplies, only half a bottle of water and very little dry food left. She had a small bag of nuts and a few pieces of pork jerky. Even if she rationed herself, she would not last for over two days with the supplies. She had to find a way through the den. She divided her food into two piles, one for the day and the other for the next day. Then she readily consumed her ration in no time, as she had had nothing to eat for the whole day.
It did not take long when voices came from the far side of the trail. No doubt the gangsters were returning after another fruitless day of searching for her. The gangsters were in a bad mood. They were tired, hungry, and thirsty. They were cussing at one another. What a motley crew. Leading the group was a stout man, the kind that would instill fear in a person’s heart just by him looking at you. He was still looking all around as he marched along the trail.
At one time, she thought he was looking directly in her direction. Instinctively, she remained almost motionless. One by one, the gangsters passed close to her tree. They came close enough that she was stifled by the sweat and the stench. It was so overbearing that she almost choked. A severely disfigured man brought up the rear. As he passed by, he stopped. He stuck his nose in the air and sniffed.
She froze.
He sniffed some more and searched around the area.
Go away!
He walked around, turning the undergrowth over looking for something.
Go away, No one is here.
She could almost see his puzzled look on his face. He was going round and round in circles near her tree.
Don’t you dare find anything!
She remained perfectly still. In fact, she tried to hold her breath. He must have picked up her scent. He searched and looked and searched again. But he could find nothing. It never occurred to him to look up. The entire time, he was looking at the ground.
“Come on, Ah-Joe. What are you doing there? Let’s go.”
Ah-Joe looked up, but he did not see her.
“Coming.”
Then he abandoned his search and ran to rejoin his group.
She let out a sigh of relief. That was close! She thought.
The gangsters got to the end of the trail. She wanted to see what happened next.
“Hey, Ah-Shoe, let down the ladder!”
“What is the password?”
“Let down the ladder, Ah-Shoe. This is no time to play games.”
“Give me the password.”
“AH-SHOE...”
“Ok, Ok.” Ah-Shoe mumbling something, but of course she could not make out the words.
Ah-Shoe dropped a rope ladder down and she heard a thud sound. There was a slight scuffle on who would go up the ladder first. But it did not take long before all the gangsters were safely back up. Immediately, the ladder was retracted back.