The Price of Freedom--Chapter 19

The Long Road Ahead

Kenneth estimated that it would take them–at most–six to eight days to reach Louisville, Kentucky.

That is, if they didn’t run into any new NuGen patrols on the way.

Their first day, they spent partially on the road and partially off, just so that they could minimize any contact with small towns and villages along the way. Populations were confined, so no large cities were present, as they were seen as a real threat to the Neos in the beginning and completely wiped out with a series of electromagnetic bio-pulse weapons and virulent nukes as a follow up, just to get rid of the rest of the survivors.

In some cases–on a sad note–the surviving portions of humanity had to resort to more drastic measures to survive these new attacks.

Just like rats.

But survive they did, forcing the Neos to take their battles elsewhere.

Kenneth was glad that the two of them didn’t fall into the same trap as their fellow humans. Freedom was a luxury that few ever had, let alone experience. And it was the worst kind of feeling there was.

Normally, guilt would be the only emotional state one would go through, after finding out that he had something that others of his comrades lacked.

But then he would come to see that he had been given a gift so rare and so precious that nothing else of his meager material possessions could ever measure up.

So guarding it was an every day burden. One didn’t know when he or she might end up losing it. Through a fluke or through fate itself.

Kenneth found this knowledge to be both a blessing and a curse at the same time, which is why he started wondering if Kayla knew this as well; as she walked with him, side by side.

Of course, she didn’t ask him a question, or answer him when he glanced over in her general direction. But she did smile when she noticed that he was paying attention to her, if only for those few seconds.

He responded by smiling back, then reaching out to squeeze her hand, feeling the warmth of her skin and the strong pulse which mimicked his own.

Not just out of love, but out of the process which was still a mystery to everyone: Life.

They climbed a steep hill, finding the terrain to a bit of a challenge, considering all the deep snow. But they trudged on nevertheless.

At this point, Kenneth also found himself wishing that there was something for him to focus on, other than his own thoughts. Which wasn’t a bad thing, per se. But the fact that there wasn’t a single shred of life anywhere was a deeply disturbing and heart wrenching notion.

The Neos wiped out most of every form of life on the mainland of what used to be known as North and South America within a seven-year time period, leaving nothing critically behind to impede their way towards global domination.

Like the humans, the survivors natural instincts and migration patterns were forcibly changed in order to survive anyway they could.

Fortunately, the exact opposite could be said of the planet’s oceans. Life there thrived and flourished. There was no reason to start extinguishing all the population mediums that lived deep beneath the planet’s watery surface.

Kenneth found out later that they couldn’t even if they wanted to. The Neos were limited in that capacity to truly understand what a fish was compared to a human being or a bear for that matter. They only saw what was in front of them to be truly conceived as the real threat–not about what couldn’t be seen, heard, or let alone be imagined.

So despite everything that happened, life went on as usual. Just not the human race’s dominance of the planet.

After another ten miles or so of cross-country trekking, the pair ended up stopping by a sheltered alcove with tall pine and fir to cover them.

A perfect place for them to set up camp, as it was off the beaten path of known civilization and–add to the point at hand–there were no Neos or NuGen patrols in the area for a good 30 miles or so.

Safe. Kenneth found himself thinking and believing as he broke out a small shovel and started digging out a hole. Then he left the alcove and went into a nearby grove of trees where he started stripping the low-lying branches of anything that he could get his hands on, preferably ones that were full and offered the best fir and pine. He was careful not to damage the trees too much, so he sliced away while he worked with a small axe that Terry had included–finely preserved and honed to a sharp edge, which gleamed in the bright sunlight whenever it did its work.

Soon, he had a nice enough large pile to begin with and started back with his first armload, singing a bit off key, but having a happy look on his face.

Dropping it by the opening of the alcove, he went back for his second and third load. By the time he was finished, Kenneth once again had a nice enough pile on which to start his next project.

After packing and sculpturing the inside edges and making sure that they would hold, the man began to strip the soft fir and pine branches and fill the bottom, leaving only the bare branch behind. These he tossed next to him in a pile, which would make for great firewood later on.

Once he had all signs and traces of snow covered, he went back to his pack and dug out the first of two tarps that he had initially checked out on, wondering why Terry had packed two in the first place.

But then he saw that the extra one would make a decent foundation for them to lie on, along with the bed of fir and pine.

Kind’ve like artificial insulation, but without all the asbestos.

After laying down the tarp and assembling the geodesic tent, he secured both into the ground and on anything that he could find with the extra tent pins and rope that were included. There were six packages of each.

Once his job was done, Kenneth went inside the tent and tested out the structural integrity and livability of their newly created abode, sat in there for ten minutes as a much needed breather, then came out to get the other canvas.

That’s when Kayla came back, a smile still firmly planted on her face and sporting a stick.

Kenneth stopped with the camouflaged canvas in his one hand, while pointing to what was on the stick with the other.

“Is that…fish???” He began in astonished disbelief.

“Yep.” The young woman beamed some more, before setting her prized catches down at the entrance of the alcove, then went about packing them in the snow to keep them from spoiling too quickly.

“How did you catch them? I didn’t give you the collapsible rod or tiny tackle box.”

Kayla showed him her scattergun.

“Set off a stun charge in the water and up popped the fish!”

The man made an approving sound and then asked, “So do you want to clean them or should I?”

“I’ll do it.”

“You sure?”

“I have extensive knowledge of outdoor survival tactics embedded in my memories.” Kayla reassured him. “And it wouldn’t be first time that I…I…” her cheery expression faltered and she stopped in mid-sentence. “Never mind.”

Kenneth was about to press her for details, but decided to let this one go for now. There would be other times, other chances and opportunities to help her explore her shattered past and clouded memories.

Now, all he could see was just surviving, living day to day on what provisions they had and accepting their odds of success as greater than what reality had in store for them in the far-flung future.

Or past.

“I’ll get the fire started.” He volunteered, but his lover opted to do that as well, commenting on her usefulness akin to something of a fifth wheel, or whatever that meant to Kenneth–the old phrase both familiar and alien at the same time.

Maddening that he couldn’t recall exactly how the adage was used.

“Sure.” He said, before unfurling the tarp and throwing it over the back of the tent like a soft blanket of security.

Then he went about securing that one as well.

Story ID:	1181
Written by:	Schuyler Rahwn Thorpe (bio, contact, other stories)
Organization:	NA
Story type:	Fiction
Location:	Everett WA USA
Year:	2165
Person:	Kenneth Sparks, Kayla Sorenson