The sound of rustling in the cabin roused Jane from her fevered sleep. Her limbs felt leaden and her thoughts sluggish. She knew that something wasn't right, but couldn't muster the strength to leave the cocoon of blankets Darcy had left her wrapped in.
Below the sound of cabinets being opened and papers rustling was followed by soft murmuring. The ladder creaked and a stockinged head peered into the loft. Fear flooded Jane's system as the intruder ventured further into the loft, nearing her position on the bed. A gloved hand passed through Jane's field of vision, waving back and forth. The figure stood over her for several more moments before descending the ladder.
Below voices filled the cabin. "We're clear. There's a body up there, but she looks gone. Fresh though, so we should probably hoof it." The voice sounded close to the ladder.
The murmurs continued as the intruders rummaged through the cabin.
"Let's round it up boys." Another voice called out.
The sound of shuffling and the closing door filled Jane with relief. They'd just been looters. They'd thought she was dead, but that had worked to her advantage. Her heart rate was slowly returning to normal and she could feel the weight of sleep pressing its way into her mind and body once more. Her last thought was of how unhappy Darcy would be when she returned to find that they'd been pillaged.
Sunlight dappled the trail as he moved up the mountain, closer to the beacon. He'd been walking for several hours now, following the narrow winding path that had to be used to scale the mountain. The GPS hanging from his shoulder strap beeped softly, the interval changing in frequency as he drew closer to the signal.
His trek had taken him almost 3/4ths of the way up the mountain when the beeps began to come every two seconds, indicating that he was essentially standing directly next to the tracking beacon. Looking around, he saw no sign of another trail or reasonably habitable space at this point on the trail. Sharp drop offs and densely packed trees made wandering from the path treacherous, even for someone with substantial experience hiking in the wilds.
He checked the GPS's screen to get an idea of exactly how close the signal was. 400 feet. Within 400 feet, supposedly there was a pack of supplies and a person subsisting from them. Something wasn't right. Pacing in a tight circle, he began to slowly comb the area. It was obvious that no people were here. There were no signs of recent movement along the trail, so there was no way to tell how long ago anyone had been here.
His second pass of the area brought him close to a small cluster of rock and matted wet leaves. The beeping had become a solid tone when he neared the clump. He toed the wet decaying mass of plant matter, looking to confirm his suspicions. There, wedged between a group of smaller tightly packed rocks he found it.
The tracking beacon had been made to look like a reflector attached to a hiking pack. The beacons were sturdy and made to withstand substantial battering, but it appeared that a cluster of small rock crevices had defeated untold dollars worth of military stress testing. Wrenching the nylon strap, he pulled the beacon out of its hiding place. If this was here then there was no telling where the Foster woman might be. He clutched the small device in his palm, annoyed to have hit yet another obstacle in his search.
Pocketing the plastic, he stared out into the valley and mountains that lay below him. A thin stream of dark smoke caught his eye, just north of his current position. Opening the GPS, he punched the command to view the beacon's location history and a cluster of green points appeared on the screen. The smoke looked to correspond to one of the points, with several others leading from his position there. Securing the GPS to his pack once more, he set off in the direction of the smoke.
The sun was close to falling behind the tops of the trees as Darcy plucked at the edge of her knit hat as she navigated the SUV into the filling station outside of town. It was a good thing that the local power grid appeared to be on some kind of autopilot. It allowed her to still use the ancient pumps at the station and kept some perishables fresh-ish. Jane had demanded that their cabin had a generator when they'd arrived. Darcy had taken to using it sparingly in favor of conserving the fuel they had. Still, the SUV needed gas after the trip down the mountain and she might as well take as much extra back as she could.
It had taken almost half an hour for Darcy to figure out how to get the power to the pumps turned on. She set the SUV to filling and went to collect the gas cans she'd found while looking for the power.
Time felt so distorted now. She would have never have guessed that the lack of human contact would affect her so much. It felt like she'd always been here, stuck on this mountain caring for Jane and hoping for some kind of miracle. But it had only been a month or so.
A month since she'd last seen any of the townspeople. Almost two since they'd heard anything from the S.H.I.E.L.D. offices. She was pretty sure it was safe to assume that even with the world in ruins, S.H.I.E.L.D. was still functioning somehow. Maybe they were even looking for Jane, hoping she'd have the key to opening up the bridge again and getting help from one of the other realms. Maybe they would pack up and head toward D.C. once Jane was feeling a little stronger.
The pump clicked off as the SUV's tank reached its limit. Once the car and all of the spare cans were filled and stowed she'd hit up Mr. Mayhew's store on the way back and pick up what supplies she could find.
The general store was still in pretty good shape thankfully. Whatever had wiped out the town's residents had hit quick and fast, so the panic she'd heard about on Mr. Mayhew's fuzzy TV set hadn't had time to spread here. There had been no hurried hoarding of supplies or desperate looting. Other than the thin layer of dust that had begun to accumulate on some of the items within, the store stood much the same as it always had.
Darcy walked the crowded little aisles today, dawdling as she let the impact of recent weeks edge its way in. The packages around her would be some of the last mass produced items for the foreseeable future. The quiet felt oppressive here, surrounded by the trappings of an everyday life now past.
Eventually, she would have to pack as much of this place as she could into the SUV, taking with them the last remnants of civilization as she and Jane moved forward in this new world. The rapidly fading light streaming through the plate glass reminded Darcy of the time and pulled her thoughts back to the present. She tossed the remaining toiletries on the shelf into her pack and left the store, locking the door behind her with keys found in the back room. Jane would probably be awake and worried about her at this point. She knew how hesitant Darcy was to navigate the roads at night. Plugging her iPod into the Auxiliary cable in the SUV, Darcy hit play on her "Forage-Fantastico" playlist and put the vehicle into drive.