Jak ranged ahead of them, a ghost on a field that looked beyond the pale.
Another few minutes saw them clear of most of the debris. When Jak turned, Ryan waved him to the north side of the pass near what appeared to be the entrance, or exit, depending on how a man was making his way through the mountains.
“I’m going up,” Ryan said. “I’ll take a look around above us and make sure there isn’t any rock waiting to come tumbling down when we least expect it.”
“Be careful, lover,” Krysty said.
Ryan shouldered the Steyr, found some handholds and started up. Jak went with him. Below, J.B. and Doc started to set up the therm tent out of the wind in the protected areas afforded by the stone wall.
Arms aching, Ryan pulled himself up the final few feet and found himself on a small plateau that quickly fell away in all directions. Jak was at his side a heartbeat later.
Ryan shaded his eye against the swirling snowflakes and peered around. A carpet of white covered the land, interrupted in a lot of places by trees and treetops that made islands of green. There were no signs of fires or of the brushwooders in the areas open to him.
“Anything?” he asked Jak.
“No.”
“Let’s hope we’re right.”
THE TENT WAS IN PLACE when Jak and Ryan returned. Ryan smelled the aroma of a freshly opened self-heat even before they’d finished the descent. His stomach rumbled, reminding him how many hours it had been since he’d last had a meal.
J.B. sat hunkered down with his back against a wall a little up from the rounded dome of the tent. From his position he could see over the tent and all approach paths for at least fifty yards in any direction. The Armorer held a steaming self-heat in his hands, eating slow so he could savor the warmth of the container for a bit, too.
“Here, lover.” Krysty handed him a self-heat when she emerged from the tent.
Ryan took the container gratefully. He figured his stomach might revolt later, but for now it put some warmth in him and got a good start on filling up all the hollow spaces.
“Go on inside the tent,” J.B. said. “I got this watch.”
Ryan nodded. “Wake me in an hour and a half. I’ll take that one.”
Ryan entered the tent, followed by Jak, Mildred and Krysty, who zipped the flap closed again.
“Not much room,” Mildred said, sitting cross-legged in a corner, “but it does take a body out of that wind.”
Ryan stretched out as much as he was able. The tent wasn’t very big, so they were all touching one another. But that way they’d also be able to share the warmth. He finished the stew and put the container aside, laying his head on his arm. His eye drifted closed when he felt Krysty’s hand on his brow. Her fingers felt soft across the areas that weren’t nerve damaged from the injuries he’d taken over the years. Moments later he fell asleep.
Chapter Thirteen
“Wake up!”
Ryan cracked open his eye and closed his hand around the SIG-Sauer. Jak was nowhere in sight, but it had been the albino’s voice. He got to his knees, feeling Krysty moving beside him. “Jak.”
“Yeah.”
“Trouble?”
Doc, Mildred and J.B. awakened, as well, all of them reaching for weapons.
“Burning daylight,” Jak called back. He sounded irritated. “Figured you people up by now.”
Ryan pushed through the tent flap, surprised by the brightness and warmth of the sun hanging low in a mass of purple clouds to the east. He left his coat open, knowing he wasn’t going to need it for the slight chill that remained from the storm last night.
All around him was the sound of running water. Snow melted at an incredible rate, pouring down tracks already worn through the rock and soil. Steam curled up from the ground, rolling in gentle fogs across the countryside.
“I didn’t expect this, lover.” Krysty came up beside Ryan and put her hand in his.
“Don’t see how you could have,” Ryan replied.
“It probably has a lot to do with the underlying volcanic activity and the atmospheric conditions in regards to the debris that regularly shoots into the upper stratosphere,” Doc stated, putting a hand to his forehead to shade his eyes.