Apophis (26 page)

I ducked my head and my hair fell in front of my eyes like a curtain. “It’s nothing special.”

“I think you're kind of amazing, Samantha Poulsen,” she breathed. The intensity and wonder in her aqua-blue eyes made me uncomfortable, so I looked away.

I chewed on my lower lip and watched the pancake batter start to bubble. “I’m sorry we fought last night.”

“I’m sorry we did, too,” she sighed.  “Let’s promise never to fight again.”

My mouth curved into a smile. “Is that the kind of thing you can promise?” 

“You made me pancakes with a rock,” Nora noted. “I think just about anything is possible.”

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“Have you noticed it’s kind of beautiful out here?” Nora tilted her head up toward the sky and released a long breath. It formed a single white plume of condensed air.

I adjusted the straps of my backpack and looked over the scenery to which Nora was referring. I didn’t know where we were exactly, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if this had been a National Park once. We were flanked by mountains on either side. It gave the impression that grey storm clouds were just on the verge of rolling in. I looked straight up and saw blue sky.

“Have you ever been this far west?” I asked.

“My dad took us to California once for a work thing, but I’ve never been up here before. Is this what North Dakota looks like, too?”

I shook my head. “It's not as pretty as this,” I remarked. “The Badlands are nice, but most of the state is one giant, flat piece of land.”

Nora got down to her knees and removed her backpack. She pulled a granola bar from her pack and unwrapped it.  She offered me a half of it.

“Did you like living in Connecticut?” I asked around a mouthful of oats and raisins.  The granola bar was a little on the stale side, but I didn’t care.

“I wasn’t there much.  I was in New York City most of the time at boarding school and then in Massachusetts at Smith.”

“I’ve never been to the East Coast,” I said wistfully. “I’ve never really been anywhere.”

My family was wealthy enough that we could have gone on vacations, but my dad’s job made it hard to get away for an extended amount of time.  We’d taken long weekends to Minnesota or South Dakota
,
but for the majority of my life I’d never really left Williston.  College was supposed to be that opportunity.  I was supposed to study abroad for a semester in Europe and go backpacking and live in hostels.  When I thought about having an adventure and backpacking across the country, I hadn’t meant what we were currently doing.  I should have been more specific.

“Well now you’ve been to Montana and I’m pretty sure we’re in Idaho now,” Nora said cheerfully.

I made a noncommittal grunting noise, but said nothing.  Some accomplishment.

“What's that?”

I looked in the direction of where she was pointing.  White billows of what looked like smoke were coming from the ground.

“Is that a fire?” Nora's voice sounded both confused and concerned. “Are there people over there?”

“I think it’s another hot springs.” I tentatively walked in the direction of the translucent steam. “They're probably all over this area.”

“Could someone have build an underground shelter here, too?” she asked uneasily. It was clear the idea of another Hot Springs scenario made her uncomfortable.

“Maybe, but it’s unlikely.” I felt confident that Hot Springs, Montana had been an anomaly. It would have taken significant foresight and resources to construct something its equal.

Perhaps emboldened by my words, Nora stepped a little closer to one of the steaming pockets. “That's just warm air coming out of the ground, right?”

“Not too close,” I warned her.  “The ground might look like it’s solid, but it could be hot mud that’ll suck up your boots like a tar pit.”

It was tempting to go closer to the geysers and enjoy their heat, but unlike a fire, the steam was wet heat. It would feel amazing standing in the steam, but the moment you moved away from them, you’d freeze.

She bent and scooped up a glove-full of snow and shoved it in her mouth. “Are you sure we can’t go over there?” she said around her mouthful of melting snow.

“I’m sure.”

“Not even for a little bit?” she questioned.

"Not even for a little bit.”

She pouted so adorably, I wanted to throw caution to the wind. But I knew it would be foolish to go frolicking in the hot steam. If the mud didn’t get us, the moisture from the steam would.

“I’ll build you a big fire tonight,” I promised.

No sooner had I made my promise when a noise – a loud pounding – echoed in my ears.  I grabbed Nora and threw my body, along with hers, behind a large boulder. When my body met the solid ground I tried to stifle the pained moan.

Two horses, both with chestnut colored manes and flanks, galloped along side each other, kicking up the fine layer of snow that dusted the earth.  The bright overhead sun shimmered off their still glossy coats.  The weather had taken its toll as their rib cages were visible, but they were still beautiful with strong muscles flexing as they ran unrestrained.

I didn’t know what I thought I was going to do, but I reflexively reached for the knife at my hip.  The horses weren’t going to attack us and there was no way I would have been able to take down a wild mustang with a knife.

Nora grabbed my elbow. “Please, Sam. Don’t.”

My hand fell away from the handle and my body relaxed.  It had taken all this time for me to realize that it wasn’t Mother Nature that scared me.  It was the threat of other humans.

“Let's keep moving.” My voice sounded as gruff and raw as I felt. “I want to get a few more miles in before we stop for the night.”

“I’m getting a little nervous,” Nora said.

I brushed my hands together, knocking some of the powered snow from my gloves.   When I’d thrown us both to the ground, I’d gotten covered in snow.  “About what?”

“One more day and we should be in Eden.” Nora worried her bottom lip. “What if it’s not there? What if I got the location wrong?”

We had only another day or two of walking until we reached the location on the map – a tiny peninsula in Idaho that had been part of a national land preserve. But if Eden didn’t exist, I didn’t know what we were going to do for food.  Despite finding the Ranger Station and the cottage, our foodstuffs were down to a few cans of assorted food. My animal traps had been empty for days, and I hadn’t even seen prints in the snow.
 It was like this whole area had been picked over.  Or, worse still, that the earth was growing uninhabitable.

“Do you think you could be wrong? Do you want to look at the map again?” I asked.

“No.” She shook her head hard and her face had taken on that familiar stubbornness. “I got the place right. I remember the peninsula. When my dad first showed it to me I remember thinking it was the perfect location.  All of that water surrounding the peninsula – they could use hydroelectric as well as geothermal power to electrify the whole place.”

“What are you really worried about, Nora?”

Nora hesitated. “What if he was lying this entire time? What if Eden really is just an urban legend? We dragged your family all the way out here and now your dad and grandma are gone. I feel responsible for them.” Her eyelashes fluttered. “For you.”

I took her hand in mine. I wished we didn’t have these damn mittens separating us because I really wanted to feel the heat of her skin. “If it’s not there, if Eden doesn’t exist,” I said, “we’ll figure something else out. We’ve made it this far. We’ll make it further.”

Her bottom lip quivered until she bit down on it to make it stop moving. When she’d reigned in her emotions, she leaned forward, close enough so she could brush her lips against mine. They were a little chapped, but I certainly didn’t mind.

“What was that for?” I asked.

She gave me a small smile. “For knowing exactly what I needed to hear.”

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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

It felt like we’d walked across the entire planet and not just a few states, but we finally made it.  We made it to that circled mark on the road map.

“Hope Elementary School,” Nora read aloud from the kiosk adjacent to the county highway we’d been traveling on since leaving the Ranger Station. In the distance, I could see the single-story building with its pitched blue roof. 

“The entrance to Hot Springs was through a high school,” I noted.  “Think it could be how we get into Eden, too?”

Nora shook her head.  “I honestly don’t know.”

“Let’s keep going a few more miles and see what we run into,” I suggested.  I referenced the map again.  “We should be coming up to the downtown area soon.  If nothing jumps out, we can always come back here and explore.”

We continued to walk alongside the county road.  It looked like it had recently been plowed and that gave me hope.

“What’s so funny?”

I hadn’t realized I’d been giggling out loud. “Sorry.  I just realized the name of this town – Hope, Idaho.  The government couldn’t have been more deliberate if they tried.”

She pursed her lips. “You’re cute, Fargo.”

Abandoned semi-trucks and RV campers dotted the road.  Normally the extra cars on the road would have worried me, but it made sense – supplies would have been shipped to Eden before the worst of the Frost set in and families would have needed a way to reach such a remote location, especially when the trains, planes, and buses had stopped running.

Not far from the school was a cluster of buildings that look like they’d once been apartments as well as a graveyard for motorboats.  The lake was frozen solid, but the parking lot was crammed full of boats on their trailers.  I looked to Nora for some sign that we might be closer, but she continued to look worried.  I remained silent and we kept walking. 

The long stretch of highway hugged the shoreline.  A metal safety guard separated the road from a modest drop-off that led to the lake.  On the opposite side of the road were small mountains or large hills – I couldn’t tell which – covered in evergreens.  I wondered if maybe Eden had been carved out of the belly of a mountain like NORAD in Colorado, but I kept those thoughts to myself.  Nora looked worried enough; I didn’t need to pile on top of her already mountainous anxieties.

We came across a second harbor, larger than the first.  Boating must have been popular in Hope, Idaho.  Nora kept walking and so I followed.  Eventually we found the small downtown business district.  The main street was narrow.  Abandoned boutique stores competed with national chain-stores for attention.

I felt on edge walking down the abandoned streets of the isolated Idaho town. The snow was thin but it crunched loudly beneath my boots. It’s like every step I took was a warning that we should avoid this place.  I looked back and forth as we walked down the center of the main street, keeping my eyes peeled for movement that might indicate we were being watched.  My father had always instructed me to avoid cities and any formerly populated place where bandits might be lurking. Nora looked similarly unsettled, but I think her apprehension was less about bandits and more about Eden.  I could understand her unease.  If I had been her, I’d feel an unfair amount of responsibility. After all, I’d put all my faith in her that Eden existed.

“So we’re here,” I noted quietly.  “Now what?”

Nora looked troubled.  “My dad told me the name of the town,” she admitted, “but that’s about it.  He said I’d know it when I saw it.”

“Why wouldn’t he have just told you exactly how to find it?” I pressed.

Nora shook her head.  The worry lines were deep on her forehead.  “He was a really secretive guy.”

I instantly worried not only for ourselves, but also for my dad.  If Mr. West had told my dad the name of the city, had he given him enough information so my dad would be able to find Eden’s entrance?

“It couldn’t be that easy,” she mumbled out loud.

“What?”

She walked up to one of the storefronts and stopped just in front of the store’s closed doors.  The design screen-printed on the door was pretty unsophisticated.  It was a red bird, but comically out of proportion with a wild shock of yellow atop its head.  There were light blue streaks peppering its wings and it looked to be wrestling a pink worm out of the ground.  She put her hand flat against the painted design and didn’t move.

“What is it, Nora?” I didn’t recognize the design as being the brand of a specific company or product.

“I drew this,” she breathed.  Her fingers traced over the outline of the figure.  “When I was five or six, I was obsessed with birds.  I wanted to fly so badly.”