Page 21 of Sanctuary

Agatha finally tells us the job. There’s an old ski resort up a steep mountain a day and a half away. The food and supplies were salvaged years ago, but there was a wine cellar that caved in shortly after Impact. She suspects there are still bottles of wine there that have remained undamaged. We’re to travel there, dig out the wine cellar, come back with as much wine as we can carry.

The one who comes back fastest with at least eight bottles of wine will win the competition.

We can’t start off until tomorrow morning at dawn.

As we leave the office, Aidan turns to face me.

“This wasn’t my idea,” I tell him when he doesn’t do anything except look at me.

“I realize that. But you’re wasting your time if you’re thinking you can win.”

“There’s no reason I can’t do this as well as you can.”

He arches his eyebrows.

“That haughty look doesn’t work on me.”

To my surprise, his mouth twitches just slightly. “Yes. Sadly, I’ve already learned that.”

I have the brief desire to laugh but manage to suppress it. “So we can both try for this, and we’ll see what happens. Maybe after it’s over, you can leave me alone.”

“I’ve always wanted to leave you alone. You’re the one who insists on always poking at my boundaries.”

I scowl. “You can’t claim boundaries over the entire world and then get annoyed when people won’t accept them. If you’dever be willing to make a fair deal with me, I’d be open to making peace.”

“I tried that. You refused to trust me.”

“Yeah.” I shake my head and turn away from him. “That does seem to be an insurmountable obstacle.”

The following morning, right as the sun is rising, I leave the compound and skirt the edge of the surrounding woods until I find an old hiking trail.

There’s been a lot of rain lately, so the ground will be muddy, but this route will cut off a significant amount of distance to the mountain so I’m planning to take it. I spent an hour yesterday with a guy who helped me pour over maps of the region. He helped me plot my route, but I’ll only be able to manage the back trails if I don’t bring my cart. I can easily fit eight bottles of wine into my backpack, and I’ll move a lot faster that way anyway.

Aidan’s taking his cart, so he’ll have to stick to the larger roads. We left through the main gate at the same time, but parted ways immediately to take our different routes. Hopefully, the advantage I’ll gain from taking the shortcuts will balance out the advantage he has with his longer legs, faster speed, and greater strength.

I’m excited as I start out. Full of energy. I used to run track when I was in school, and this feels like a morning of a championship meet.

I wonder if Aidan feels the same. He looked supremely confident this morning. He even gave me a wink as the gates opened.

The first leg of my journey is through the woods on a series of mountain trails, and it takes me until midafternoon. I stoponly briefly to catch my breath and go to the bathroom. I eat and drink as I walk.

I see absolutely no sign of Aidan, but I wouldn’t expect to. The cold, damp morning shifts into an even colder, wetter day. My only solace is the canopy of trees over the trail that blocks a lot of the rain.

The hike goes up and down a series of hills, but gradually the landscape is getting higher, turning into mountains. As I ascend, the air gets colder and colder.

Pretty soon it’s going to be sleet or snow, and that likelihood shifts my invigorated mood into a dull dread.

Just my luck. My one chance to really prove myself, and I get hit by a snowstorm.

Of course, if I get stuck in the snow, Aidan will too, and he’ll have to deal with his cart, so I don’t let it bring me down too much.

By the evening, I’m in the mountains for real. The hiking trails I’ve been following have finally ended. The only way up and down these mountains is to follow the old roads unless I’m prepared the scale the sheer face of a mountain. I follow a narrow, winding road, and my pace slows significantly.

I keep going long after it turns dark until I’m finally too tired to continue. I find a shallow overhang that provides shelter from the weather, and I set up camp there, struggling to make a campfire with some slightly too damp fallen branches. It’s a relief when I manage to conjure a smoky flame because the temperature has dropped dangerously.

I’d be in pretty bad shape if I had to last the night without any extra heat.

I get a few hours of restless sleep with my hand resting on my gun, and I feel like crap when I get up before dawn to start off again.

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