Hunting Grounds

Chapter 10

"Are we about ready?" Kate walked up behind Rick who was working with Rosie again. Between them they had packed the two new backpacks and packed the one they already had. Food in one of the new ones. Rosie and other things went into number two. The original had mines, grenades, and clips for their weapons. Kate had even found a small folding shovel to help dig their spider holes with.

Rick, however, had one more thing for Kate to find. "We need some rope. The thinner the better. All you can find."

"Got it. Be right back." Kate bent down to actually kiss him. She was done with kissing his cheek. They'd had sex this morning. The first sex in a week and it was a happy and smiling Kate Beckett that went off out into the ship looking for rope. She had a good idea on where to find it based on all the other stuff she had found.

"Are you ready for this, Rosie?" Rick asked her. "I'm going to have to turn you off to save battery power. Next time we talk we should be on an alien ship and we'll need you badly."

"I am ready. I will do what I can." Rosie saw these two as her only future. Without them she might never function ever again. It was her job to be a Computer Interface and she wanted to keep her job.

Rick had Rosie turned off and was carefully packing her when Kate showed up with two coils of thin rope. "Nice! See if you can get them to hang off the bottom of one of the backpacks," he asked. "I don't suppose you saw a tent in your search?"

"Nope, and trust me I looked." Kate didn't want to be caught in a thunderstorm, either.

"Can't blame a guy for trying." They would just have to do what they could without one.

"You want the food or Rosie?" Rick looked up at her since he was still sitting on the floor closing up Rosie.

"Food. You've spent the most time with Rosie so you should have her." Kate put down her weapon and put on her backpack. She immediately felt the weight and since she was also wearing her vest she needed to adjust the straps.

Rick got up and put on his backpack and had to adjust the straps. Then he gathered up his new weapon and picked up the backpack with ammunition, grenades, and mines.

"You're not taking your original weapon?" Kate queried since it didn't look like he was going to bring it.

"No room for it. Which reminds me." Rick put both items back down and emptied his pockets of ammunition for it. That freed up space but he didn't know what to put in its place.

"Let's go. If we've timed this right the sun should just be coming up and we have a long walk in front of us." Rick picked everything back up again.

[_] /\ [_]

Rosie had informed him that the batteries would die yet again only over time they would be recharged but since there was limited power it would take years. Still the batteries would last for a good amount of time if they decided to come back for some reason.

"Where are we going?" Kate turned and looked at the ship that they'd called home before turning back around.

"Over that hill. So up and over and down into the valley below. Then we need to scout the area. Just keep your eyes and ears open. This is going to take us a couple of days. I would like to be at the top by the end of the day." Rick was thinking that as loaded as they were now that might be overly optimistic but maybe they could make it.

"Joy." Kate saw a lot of walking in front of them.

"Keep your earbuds off for now," Rick told her. "We know they work but the batteries are old and I don't trust them to last for long."

"Already off. I don't hear anything from it," Kate confirmed and spread out a little to his right flank so they could cover more area and hopefully spot trouble before it arrived.

[_] /\ [_]

They had walked for hours till finally, thankfully, Rick called for a stop. Kate joined him and dropped nearly everything including herself. Maybe she should have gone down to the exercise room more often like Rick had done.

She could even still picture finding him down there wearing nothing but shorts and lifting weights. Not actually using any of the equipment but lifting weights.

Now she had never really thought of herself as being attached to a man's muscles but as Rick lifted weights his muscles were about all she saw. His arms had muscles, his back had muscles, and even his legs had muscles. He wasn't overly muscled like those people that wanted nothing but muscles everywhere. Instead he was trim and yet still muscled.

He also had a sheen on his body because he was sweating. That alone had her walking up to him with intent of running her hands over that shine and his muscles. She could even remember feeling him freeze up since she had caught him. It had her smiling as she ran her hands over his body.

She was thinking of having sex when suddenly the smell of all that sweat hit her. "Stinky!" Granted she had her makeshift pad on and it was her period but she just couldn't seem to not want to touch him or have sex with him.

Then suddenly she found herself being pulled into him forcing some of the air out of her lungs. "You like me when I'm stinky." Rick rubbed his wet sweaty nose over hers.

"Actually, no, I don't. Now kiss me and go back to lifting weights." Kate tilted her head and raised up on her toes to kiss him back. She managed to extract herself from his arms and retreated to their room to wait for him.

Now she was sitting up against the same tree and trying to get her breathing under control. "Too much weight and when did I get so out of shape?" Kate questioned him. His only answer was to take her hand in his and rub his thumb over the back of her hand in circles. "Want something to eat?" They needed to keep up their strength after all.

"Please." Rick waited since she had all the food including their MREs.

His was handed to him in some wrapped up plastic meant to try and keep it fresh. Naturally it was more Jetson food. "Thanks." Rick opened it and started eating slowly. "The plastic goes back in your bag or we bury it. I don't want to give those dogs something to follow." He was thinking just walking and then sitting here was already too much.

"Got it." Kate would take it back and stuff it back into her backpack.

This area was a lot like all the others: full of large plants and lots of trees. It was also rather warm and very humid. Then Kate was looking up to see if she could see that gas giant again. Being on this planet was really something else.

"Rick!" Kate pointed up at the trees because she saw something other than that gas giant and really didn't like what she saw.

Rick followed her hand and looked up. "Shit!" He saw what she had spotted and didn't like it. It was clearly a dead body hanging from a tree by its feet. It looked eerily similar to those dead bodies where they had found that first backpack and got shot at.

[_] /\ [_]

They were both up and almost directly under the body where they found old, very old, dried blood under it or at least the signs of old dried blood. Rick was looking up using the mini binoculars that they had gained earlier and then handed them to Kate so she could look.

"It's old. I can't tell what killed him from here. I think he's wearing what used to be a uniform. I just can't place it." Kate kept looking. She had seen enough dead bodies so it didn't bother her any.

"I can." Rick hated the implication of it as well.

Kate stopped looking up and looked at him instead. "You can?" She didn't see anything that would tell her.

"He's a Union soldier." Rick began looking around for his long dead buddies.

"Union? Union what?" Kate went back to looking up at him with new thoughts.

"Northern Union. As in the War between the States. The Civil War."

"Seriously?" Kate stared at him in shock. The implications of that was something she couldn't fathom. Surely he was wrong so she went back to looking at him. Now she could see signs of it.

"They've been coming to Earth and kidnapping us for a hell of a lot longer than either of us thought. This is bad, Kate, really bad." Rick was still looking around so they didn't get caught just standing here.

Rick felt the binoculars being pressed into his chest so he took them and looked up one last time before putting them away.

"I hate this planet," Kate stated yet again.

"Yeah, so do I. We need to get moving. I really would like to be at the top before it gets dark." Rick gathered up everything and walked off. Kate had to hurry before catching up and spreading out just a little.

[_] /\ [_]

It was starting to get dark till the second they reach the top and now they still had a little more light. "Would you pick a spot for us to sleep?" Rick asked her. "I want a look at this valley first." He dropped his backpacks. The one that was on his back and the one he was carrying in his hand.

[_] /\ [_]

"And?" Kate questioned him since he was back.

"There's a valley and I don't see a ship at the moment. There's one decent, large, clear area for a ship to land, so maybe." So far his plan was still on track.

"Dinner, please." Rick held out his hand and waited till Kate put something in it.

"I'm starting to detect a pattern," Kate mentioned. "Civil War soldier, those six soldiers with no heads, and you, a Navy SEAL. So where do I fit into all this?"

"I've noticed that. All military except for you. You, however, were surrounded or at least had a military close by and you were armed," Rick pointed out.

"SWAT." Kate could see it. "So why me and not a heavily armed SWAT member? I'm just a cop."

"A very pretty and sexy cop, I might add." Rick grinned at her and saw Kate smile a little. "I don't know, Kate. Opportunity maybe. Someone different. They're clearly looking for people that can give them a challenge. It looks like all of us got to keep our weapons.

"Civil War to now." Rick tried to think that through.

"I can see the wheels turning from here. What are you thinking?"

"It reinforces the idea that we're being picked up to be hunted. Your idea of officers from more than one precinct being kidnapped suggests more than one team is involved." Rick was trying to think about this.

"Like football?" Kate asked.

"Something like that. Now the question is do they hunt just us or do they fight against the other team for the ball with the ball being us," Rick mused.

"Just when I thought I was learning to really like you. Now there's more than one team trying to kill us?" Kate stared at him and didn't much care for the implication.

"That's okay, I still like you." Rick leaned over and kissed her and felt her kiss him back; she didn't actually hate him. "Get some sleep. I'll take first watch. I'll wake you for your turn." Rick kissed her again, got up, and moved to a different location so he could see better.

[_] /\ [_]

Rick had woken her and handed her the binoculars to use so she was standing at one of the highest places with her back against a tree and kept raising the binoculars to look. It wasn't that she thought she saw something, it was just she didn't want to miss something.

Given she feared that with her tree location she was missing something, she moved and instantly saw something; she raised her binoculars to take a look. She kept looking but didn't see movement but she did see a fire. That they didn't dare have a fire told her whoever had this fire didn't care or wasn't worried. And the only ones not worried would be the ones trying to kill them.

So Kate went over to Rick and watched him sleep. "Sorry for this." She debated how to wake him up and decided to kiss his lips. At first she got nothing in return but that eventually changed.

"Rick, I have a fire in the distance."

At first it didn't look like that registered for him and then his eyes opened wide. "Show me." He got up after Kate gave him room.

Kate took him to her spot, handed him the binoculars, and showed him where she'd seen the fire. She watched him raise them to look and kept looking.

"I didn't see this when I went to sleep. It's up to a roaring bonfire now but I don't see anyone. Not even those dogs." Rick kept watching then took them away from his eyes. "We're moving." He made a decision. "We're going to go around this hill and put it between us and that fire. Somehow the fire got big but I don't see how. Let's go." He headed for his stuff.

[_] /\ [_]

They had watched not exactly the sun come up but the gas giant slowly showed up and it was like watching the sun come up.

They had finally reached the clearing when it was time to stop for lunch. "Now what?" Kate asked. "We made it here alive."

"We need to scout where these ships or at least the last ship had landed. Then we decide where we want to be and wait for one to land," Rick explained while he ate.

Kate hated his plan. "Walk out into the middle of that clearing? Are you trying to get us both killed?"

"No, of course not. We're going to use the binoculars and search it in a grid pattern. We each do it without talking. I don't want one of us influencing the other with what we think we've found," Rick explained. "It also means we go back up this hill a little to get some height so we can look down."

"Better." Kate was willing to do that.

[_] /\ [_]

After being taught how to do a grid pattern using binoculars given that they looked at a tight location and not an overall view, Kate got to go first.

Soon she was watching him do it. "I have just one spot that might be something," Kate said when he finally stopped.

"So did I. Tell me what you found."

"Burn marks on the ground. Several of them and they were all far at that end," Kate indicated. "Toward the fire of last night. In movies those burn marks might mean something landed there and burned those spots."

Rick nodded. "That's what I found and I agree it sounds like a landing zone for a ship. Which also means we need to move and get set up for the next ship to land there. They're either bringing in more suckers like us, supplies, or more people to hunt us all down. We go that way. Stick to inside the trees."

[_] /\ [_]

Rick wanted a clear field of fire and yet he wanted some elevation as well. So between the walk and searching for the right spot it took them some time till he was satisfied.

They both dropped everything but their weapons. "I'm going to dig while you find wood. We need a lot of limbs, live or dead. All about 3 feet long and as thin as you can find them. Pile them up near that opening there." He pointed at it. Then he searched for their little shovel, found the first spot, and began digging. It didn't need to be overly deep like a more normal spider hole. He wanted theirs to be shallow but deep enough to hide in.

Rick had his first hole and laid down in it to test it and went back to digging while Kate did more searching. Rick was finally satisfied and waited for Kate to come back with her next load.

"This is what we're going to do. We need one of the ponchos since it hasn't rained yet which means it will soon." Rick located the first poncho, opened it, and cut it so that it was nice and long but still a little wide.

He spread out the poncho and grabbed a limb and put it under the poncho. The next one went on top followed by one under it and then back on top.

"Get it? These limbs are going to hold the poncho in place. We use the rope on either side to hold the stick in place. It doesn't need to hold a lot of weight since it's going to go over us. Just some dirt, lots of leaves, and maybe a plant or two that we dig up from somewhere," Rick explained.

"While you make this one I'm going to go back to digging. Stop me if you have questions." He left it to her and looked around for his next site to dig.

[_] /\ [_]

Kate was still working on the first one by the time Rick was done digging again and satisfied with the depth and the length.

"This looks good. This hole is yours. Take off your vest and lay belly down first, facing the landing zone." Rick told her and once she was down he moved the cover into position to see if this was going to work for her.

"This is good. Looks like a small modification to the hole but looks good. Now we need to make another one just like it," Rick told her which meant while he dug Kate was out looking for more limbs just like those.

[_] /\ [_]

With the two holes in perfect shape and Kate's cover looking really good, Rick got her down on her belly and put her backpack and vest at just past her feet.

"Food goes here, canteen goes here. There will be a small shallow hole for you to shoot out of when I put this over you." Rick watched her try and place her weapon but she was having trouble with the clip. "Lay it sideways. ...Good. Now up. Find a place and pee and poop even if you don't need to now. We might be in these holes for hours or maybe longer. Here are the wipes." He handed them over and waited for her to come back.

Kate got back into her hole and watched Rick put her cover over her and heard more dirt and leaves being added. They'd dug up one small plant that was right over her butt. And this was after he smeared dirt and leaves all over her body including her hair. She was good and filthy.

"Remember, only whisper using your ear buds to talk to me and no matter what you see or hear don't ever make a sound. This should help hide you from any night vision these guys have. ...Comfy?" Rick asked her and grinned since he was sure it wasn't.

"I could use an air mattress but I'm good." Kate checked her food shelf, canteen shelf, and flexed her toes to feel the backpack and vest at her feet.

"Good. You're on the right so when the firing starts take the target on the right. I'll take the one on the left. If there are three or more still take the one on the far right, then work your way left while I work my way right."

"Got it." Kate looked at what she could see and yes, it was a bit limited but she could see and use her weapon.

That left Rick to do all this for himself. He added some extra leaves on the end of each stick so that the sticks didn't show nearly as much. He set his food and canteen into place. He placed his two backpacks at his feet and suddenly realized he made a mistake. He took out two clips and stuffed them into Kate's little opening. "Forgot the spare clips. Find a place you can reach them later."

"I was just starting to wonder about that." Kate reached out in front of her to take them and put them where she could access them easily.

Now it was Rick's turn to go pee and poop and bury what he did like hopefully Kate had done as well.

He had to pull his cover into place and hope for the best. Like Kate he had one small plant built in and sitting on his butt. "Communications check," Rick whispered.

"Loud and clear," Kate responded in a muted tone.

"Both of us need to try and keep silent unless we have something really serious to say," Rick said.

"Feels a little like a stakeout just without the car." Kate settled down to wait. So far everything was going pretty well. Now it just needed to stay that way.