Marie knelt as the sun rose, lighting the scenery around her. First the mountain dirt was visible then the silhouette of the trees. Finally light broke through the heavens and all was revealed as Marie rubbed her fingers into the wet dirt and stood from her kneeling position. She raised her gun and rested the rifle on her shoulder. It was time to continue.
She started hiking down a fog-less portion of the the mountain trail before encountering a group of wolves patrolling the trail. She knelt, raising her rifle and scope to her left eye. She took a deep breath and as she waited for the wolves to attack first. This expectation was soon disappointed as a branch cracked and the wolves scattered after it. Marie knelt still and silent for another five minutes before inching back onto the trail.
"Not sure if that's how I would've handled it." James's voice filled her head. Though it wasn't really her voice, four days alone without a sane person to talk to was just starting to affect Marie. It was almost as if she had never spoken her entire life. She responded only in her head and heard James only in her head as well. It was a strange and surreal experience but it seemed to guide her instincts nonetheless so she didn't think it mattered. "Wolves are as scared of you as you are of them. Wait them off and then proceed carefully." James warned in her head.
"I know!" she snapped back. Stepping over a piece of concrete rubble as she slowly crept down the trail.
"The fog is dangerous. Make sure you're prepared for a sudden wisp of fog. It's radioactive and will kill you in a matter of hours if you breathe it in." James reminded her. Marie nodded and checked only to find a gas mask hanging from her belt loop and a caraveener on her right hand side. She inched foward and listened carefully for any sounds. The wolves appeared to be gone.
"Remember, just because it looks like you're alone," James began.
"Doesn't mean you're alone." Marie finished as she approached the end of the incline. She had reached the end of the mountain trail. She was on a main road. The road flattened out and rusty cars dotted it, marking her proximity to the ruins of civilization. Marie systematically unclipped the mask one-handed and slipped it on over her head, making sure that no hair was caught on its straps and tightened it to fit snugly.
"Good, better stuffy and safe than sorry." James said approvingly. Marie's sense of hearing suddenly disappeared as her world was transformed into her breathing and a corrupted, muffled version of everything she could hear before the mask was on. Marie pressed forward onto the road, despite her obvious fatigue and uncertainty.
"When you're out in the open, you're in danger. You're a target." James's voice boomed in her ears. Marie ducked behind a car, looked through its wrecked window before continuing while hugging the slight mud cliff to her right. The foliage between the road and the cliffside was up to her waist. Mud and a small stream bubbled around her boots as she pressed upstream. "Stay concealed, move slowly and move quietly." James ordered. Marie ducked under the weeds and stood once she was confident that the weeds would be able to conceal her in needed. Suddenly a gunshot rang through the air. Marie dropped to the ground, the mud pooled around her as the water filled in the holes.
"Stay still, you don't know who they're shooting at." James said cooly. Marie reached for the bolt of her rifle. Her index finger wrapped around the trigger. "Ah, trigger finger." James reminded. Marie nodded and placed her finger on the frame of the trigger.
More gunshots. Neither the dirt nor the asphalt around her was shooting shrapnel around, so Marie knew that the gunshots were directed elsewhere. Marie crawled forward before inching herself up the slope of the road. With her back on the slope, she raised her rifle and made an anxious chamber check. She propped the gun to be ready for fire when she shot up and aimed her rifle on the asphalt.
A group of trappers stood over the bodies of two settlers. Unidentifiable and not knowing where they came from, Marie initially ignored the bodies and focused her attentions on the trappers. Three trappers. One gun and two fish hooks. 12 rounds. More than enough to drop them.
"You think you're going to be fast enough?" James asked. Marie gave no answer. She aimed at the head of the trapper with the gun. She lay awkwardly with the left side of her body on the slope and her neck craned to aim the rifle properly.
"Nothing." A trapper said as he stood from looting the bodies. "Waste of time."
"Ah damn!" another said as the group began to trod off. They left the scene. Trappers, as Marie had observed in the past few days could be cannibals if so inclined. So Marie made no movements and kept aimed and scanning. The trappers never came back.
Marie raised her posture to a crouch behind a car. She looked up and scanned the road for a few minutes before approaching the bodies. She reacehd them and found a man and a woman. Likely a couple. She began to sift through their pockets, in hopes of something useful.
"Nothing you could do, kiddo." James's voice said, attempting to comfort Marie. Marie's eyes stung as she finished sifting their pockets and only found a bar of soap for her efforts. "Keep moving, you're in the open." James urged. Marie looked at the bodies and looked up to find the beach and a shovel nearby.
Moments later, Marie sat on the beach next to two freshly dug mounds as the waves lapped at their feet.
"It's low tide, water will be up soon. Burial at Sea." James mused. "How quaint. Now, let's get back on the road kiddo, get you something to eat." Marie slapped her hands together to shake off the sand as she stood. She grabbed her rifle from the sand and walked up the beach. She turned back and watched as the sun set behind the surf. She looked forward and only found more road to travel.
"You coming?" James asked. Marie turned from the waves and walked back inland. Ready to continue her test.