and she opened her canteen with shaky hands to sip carefully at her water. She hadn’t come across a stream or other source of water yet on her trek. Until then, she had to ration her supply.
How much farther?
Wincing at the pain caused by the metal cuffs still dangling from her wrists, she shifted the pack she had stolen between her legs and unzipped the front compartment to retrieve the maps and compass. During her first rest stop, she had discovered the compass at the bottom of the pack. It was a stroke of luck she hadn’t expected.
She took a moment to orient herself and traced her finger along the path she had taken. Her hike had taken her straight up the mountain before she cut to the left in what seemed to be the easiest section to trek across to get to the other side. If the map was correct, she would then be able to take switchback trails down to the settlement at the base of the mountain. It seemed to be a logging town, right near the river, and she hoped she would be able to stowaway onto a barge and get as far away from this mountain as possible.
She opened the map all the way, unfolding the creased edges until she had it spread out on either side of her. It took a few moments to find the location of the old mining cave where she had last seen her family. Using the first joint of her thumb as a rough gauge against the map key, she measured how many miles she had been taken and was stunned by the number. She checked again and then again to be sure she had done the math correctly. Her captors had transported her more than one thousand miles, taking her far north on the planet’s only inhabitable continent.
Dismissing any idea of ever getting back to the mine, she focused instead on studying the area down river. There were a handful of river towns and then a connecting highway into The City. She closed her eyes and tried to call forth the maps in the war room at the mine. Where were the Splinter cells located? Were there any sparsely manned sky warrior outposts?
Opening her eyes, she turned the map to orient it the way the maps on the walls had been back in the camp. The images in her mind clicked into place over the map she held. She would have to steer clear of the second settlement down the river from the logging town. That one, for sure, held a Splinter cell.
The wind kicked up again, and the cold bite of it made her shrink down into the oversized jacket. The higher she climbed, the worse the weather seemed to be. The rain was an almost constant drizzle, and the wind was ferociously cold. Unable to see the sun, she gauged the amount of sunlight left and decided she would continue her trek until she found adequate shelter for the night. Starting a fire for heat seemed like a good way to attract the wrong sort of attention. A cave or some other protected space would be her best option.
After repacking her bag and slinging it onto her back, she started hiking again. Every step aggravated the blisters forming on her heels and toes, but she couldn’t slow her pace. The faster she moved, the better her chance of making it off this planet. When she slipped for the fourth time since her last rest, she cursed her lack of hiking boots or walking sticks. The ground had switched from the soft, earthen muck with its blanket of wet pine needles to a harder, rockier surface. The rain mixed with the moss and mud to make a slippery coating that tried her patience and her balance.
She hissed when she lost her footing the fifth time and banged her knee. She clutched at the nearest rock to prevent a nasty slide down the steep slope and cut her waterlogged skin. Blood erupted from the wound, and she swallowed the painful shout that threatened to escape. She might not be able to hear, but she was very aware of the way echoes worked. Drawing attention to her position was the last thing she needed.
Regaining her footing, she turned and plopped down on her backside. The rain and filth on the rock soaked through her pants as she dug through the pack for her a bandage to stem the bleeding.