Chapter 11 – A Powerful Force

That survival instinct, that will to live, that need to get back to life again, is more powerful than any consideration of taste, decency, politeness, manners, civility. Anything. It's such a powerful force. ~ Danny Boyle

The next morning they set out for the mountain down wooded paths, a big change from the open roads they had been walking down. Clint kept on his guard, looking into every shadow for rotters, but Lee and Anne seemed calm.

After a few hours they came to a train track. Lee altered their path to follow along it until they came to a rough station built out of 2 x 4s and plywood. It was raised off the ground and gave them both shelter and good sight lines, so Clint didn't complain much when they settled down to wait.

A short while later, maybe an hour or so, both Anne and Lee stood up, so Clint followed their lead and looked down the track. A steam engine was puffing along, pulling several cars that had once been open air carriages but were now covered in metal.

The others scrambled down the ladder and stood next to the track as the train slowly ground to a halt. They spoke with the driver then walked to the last of the carriages, gesturing for Clint to join them. The door swung open to reveal a heavily armed and armored guard who looked them all up and down before nodding and allowing them to board. As soon as the door closed the train started up again.

Clint could see the countryside passing through slits that had been cut into the corrugated metal covering the sides odf the car. They were covering ground much more quickly than they would have been able to on foot and in far less than an hour they had circled halfway around the mountain of stone.

The train stopped and let them out at a real station with more guards carrying rifles and covered in layers of what looked like bullet proof armor. Other people were unloading the train - Clint saw vegetables, fruit, corn, sacks of flour and sugar, and even a few head of cattle.

An immediate difference that Clint saw here was that there were children. Mostly teens seemed to be working around the train station but as they walked away from it he saw more and younger children, all of them well supervised as they moved between many small wooden structures, seemingly barns and sheds with a few houses. Some were tending gardens, other were taking care of sheep and chickens and pigs. He even caught a glimpse of a few milking some cows.

As they walked past a grand house he saw a group of children sitting on the ground with books while a white haired gentleman stood in front of a chalkboard, writing out a sentences and diagrams. They looked a lot like the diagrams Clint had seen of battles on the few occasions when he had been able to look in books at libraries.

Anne led them into a glass and concrete building on the other side of the big house. They were stopped by guards, who seemed to argue with Anne for quite a while. The armor partially covered their mouths, so Clint couldn't see the exact words exchanged, but Anne kept gesturing towards him. The guards finally let them enter, but two of them fell into step behind Clint, which made him nervous. This in turn made the guards nervous, so by the time they stopped in front of an office everyone's palms were sweaty.

A large man with a short hair cut sat at a desk in the office. Anne spoke to him, and there was more arguing and gesturing. Clint finally sat down and rested his head against the wall. Anne eventually squatted down in front of him and handed him a sheet of paper. On it she had written "You need to earn your place here. Can you do some shooting to show them what you can do?". To that Clint grinned and got to his feet.

They led him outside to a large, long lawn facing the rock of the mountain. About halfway up there was a carving of three men on horseback. Clint ignored it after his initial look because several teens were setting up some bales of hay a few dozen yards down the sloping lawn. Clint shook his head and walked up one. He grabbed the baling twine and dragged the bale much further down until it presented him with a better, more challenging target, although still one that he was certain of hitting. This was a performance after all.

He walked back to where everyone else was gathered, took up the proper stance, nocked an arrow and cleared his mind. His arrow sped down the lawn and buried itself into the hay. Then he grinned at the man he was there to impress and took the next three shots without ever looking away from the man's face.

He grabbed an apple from Lee and rolled it down the slope of the lawn then pinned it in place. He did a speed round, firing off ten arrows in ten seconds. He laid four arrows down on the ground to make a square, then walked away from it and towards the bale, firing arrows as he went. When he reached the bale of hay, he retrieved all of his arrows, then walked back, firing the arrows into the air as he went. All of them landed in the square he had left behind. When he reached it, he gathered the arrows up, cleaned them on his pants, and returned them to his quiver. He reached for the notepad and Anne handed it over, speechless for once. He wrote out a message and handed it to the man, then grinned. "Convinced yet that bows have their advantages?" The man gave a slow smile and a nod, then pulled out a notepad of his own. "I'm Ross. I'm one of Loki's, well he calls us his lieutenants. I run this facility."

Clint looked back towards Ross who had continued writing. "The other compounds hold the normal people, the everyday workers that grow our food and form the base of our operations. At this compound, we house and train Loki's best troops."

Clint looked over at Lee and Anne. She spoke to Lee who puffed up with pride and gestured around, then pointed at himself and Anne. Clint nodded. This was where Anne and Lee were based.

Clint gestured at the children, a questioning look on his face. Ross wrote "This is the best defended facility we have. Parents are happy to have their children here, safe from threats from the outside world." He smiled at Clint.

"I think we need to have you meet Loki." He gestured to two of the armored guards. "Marcus, Dean, take them up the east slope trail."

Lee must have said something behind Clint's back because Ross nodded, the two guards stood down in a more relaxed pose and there a slight delay. After a bit, an older, tired looking woman brought over some sandwiches made with tortillas. Clint hadn't had any had sort of bread in so long that he had just about forgotten what it tasted like. He happily ate two of the wraps then they all set out around the giant rock. At some point they turned towards the mountain and started climbing. The trail, which started out gentle, gradually grew steeper over the course of an hour or so as they wound their way up. The trees and underbrush gave way to a field of stumps as they climbed the last bit.

Just as they past the last trees they came upon a sturdy wooden palisade with a strong gate. One of the guards with them put his hands to his mouth as if he was yelling something. There was a pause, he yelled again, and then the gate swung ponderously open.

Inside was an expanse of bare rock probably covering several acres, with one low concrete building and many sheds of wood and metal. Clint could see that the fence didn't circle the whole top, instead it only extended along the east face. The other faces seemed to drop off steeply. If they were anything like the face he had seen from the lawn below, they wouldn't be climbable so there was no sense in wasting resources on fencing them off.

A group of people awaited them, standing behind a man with long dark hair, dressed in a green shirt and black trousers.

"Lee, Anne, we're glad to have you back safely. And with company, no less." The man's body language took on a slightly more authoritative posture. "Company that is rumored to be useful." Clint held himself still and did his best to give no indication that he knew what Loki was saying.

Clint held himself up straight, not challenging but not yielding either. This meeting would probably set the tone of their relationship and Clint wasn't about to become a brainless automaton at Loki's beck and call. Loki looked at him searchingly, then smiled and beckoned for Clint to follow him as he turned and walked up the long rutted dirt road towards the low building at the very crest of the mountain. It looked like it had once been a visitor's center or something, but now the large windows had boarded over with plywood and rough ladders led to the roof.

They stopped at an outdoor kitchen and sat down at one of several wooden picnic tables. Someone fetched a pad of paper out of the building. Loki wrote out "Tell me how you can help our group, so that I can best determine your placement."

Clint wrote back "Placement?"

Loki nodded. "Our group is large enough that we are split into four locations. Each one has its own territory and responsibilities. This group is primarily administrative. We manage all of the resources, so as to use them most efficiently. We scout for materials and help to defend the other groups as needed."

"Your other groups?" He wrote. "What do they do?"

Loki replied "Two focus on farming and the last one houses most of our mechanical needs, primarily vehicles for scouting and supply runs. Now friend, tell me about yourself."

Clint held up his bow. "I hunt. Can provide meat. Also good for defense. Silent, doesn't attract the rotters like a loud gunshot. Also arrows are reusable. I can teach your people."

"What good is it to teach the others if we only have one bow?"

Clint answered "Lots of bow hunters around here. Search houses."

Loki smiled.

That night, Clint was treated to a dinner of fresh trout, cooked over a campfire, with grilled zucchini and squash, and a salad of fresh greens, carrots, cucumbers and a raspberry dressing. A woman he hadn't been introduced to cooked it all for the group, and Clint realized how bare bones his meals had been. Attempts at conversation with him were quickly frustrated by the slow pace of writing everything out, but Clint was happy that many of the others had tried at all. After dinner they walked back down the trail a bit until they found an old stump to use as a target, where he showed some archery. They seemed suitably impressed and four of the men plus Anne asked him to teach them the next day.

When things quieted down, they showed him to a room in the building that was being used as a sort of dormitory. There were air mattresses for everyone and both blankets and sleeping bags, which most of the men were currently using as extra padding. One of the largest rooms had been converted to a gathering space and had a fireplace built in it, but this room did not. Right now it was comfortable with just a blanket, but Clint suspected the sleeping bags would be needed come winter. The winds would be brutal here on the exposed rock.

Clint laid his head down on the soft mattress with the warm blanket over him, knowing that that he was in a secure location with others to guard his sleep. He had a full belly with the assurance of more food in the morning. His skills were valuable and needed and it seemed as if he had found a good leader that he was willing to follow. He let the soft blue of the room's walls soothe him to sleep.