"There is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest. Use both and overlook neither." -Alan Cohen
I blow a leaf off the wood I'm carrying. The forest is beautiful as autumn winds down, and I can't help but wonder what turn this rebellion will take once winter reaches California. It rarely gets too cold in the Capitol, but Carrie mentions to me as we walk that in this region and farther North, sometimes it'll even snow.
"You sure you're alright carrying all that?" Rayna asks me, setting another piece of wood she found on my already somewhat large stack. At the beginning I offered to carry it while she gives it to me but I didn't realize how much we'd be getting. Carrie is holding some, too, and when Rayna finds it she alternates between giving it to each of us.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I say to Rayna. Carrie pauses, and looks around.
"Alright, we've been out here for around half an hour." She says. "Let's head back."
When we walk in the cabin, Avery and Nick are startled upon seeing Rayna. I tense, questioning how we could have forgotten about this, as Timberlake waddles up to me and rubs against my leg.
"I didn't think they were telling the truth." She says.
"About what?" Rayna asks as Curtis takes my load of firewood, and he and Carrie bring it to the bathroom.
"You." Avery says, then laughs. "I thought we were the only fugitives Jamie was harboring." Jamie laughs absurdly loud at that, then returns to her notebook. Curtis and Carrie are back, and the three continue working. Avery is lying down again, and Nick is tearing bread into little pieces for her. Rayna and I sit on the bed across from them, not knowing what to do, and Timberlake crawls to the spot she has found comfortable lately, underneath one of the beds.
"We don't have enough people." I hear Curtis whisper. "Avery and Nick aren't fit for that, at least not now. And sending Rayna in would be too much of a risk. So even with Norma there'd only be four of us." Aren't fit...That would imply something physical, which implies that I might be fighting something! What!?
"Well we don't have to do it big." Carrie says. "We could go a little, assassin style?" Rayna, who I didn't even realize was listening in also until now, and I look at each other swiftly. "Take out the higher powers,"
"So GG and Ian?" Jamie says. GG and Ian? What?
"But nobody's seen Ian for almost two years." Curtis says. "Heck, he's technically my commander, just under GG." Jamie sighs.
"That's not important." She says. "Right now, this seems like our best option. We'll have to send someone in to investigate, unless you know where their quarters are?"
"I do not." Curtis says. Jamie nods.
"It's settled then." She says.
"Could I go get some fresh air?" Rayna stands up abruptly. I agree; it is stuffy and humid in the cabin, but somehow I don't think that's the real reason she wants to go outside. Carrie and Jamie exchange a quick glance, before nodding in perfect synchrony. As Rayna walks towards the door, Carrie clicks her tongue, looking at me.
"Norma, go with her." She says. I nod, and follow Rayna. Timberlake almost comes, but I close the door behind me.
Once we're a few feet away from the cabin, Rayna takes in a deep breath. The cabins sit on a hill, and just as the slope get steeper in front, there is a beaten red fence. As I take a breath of crisp, cold air, then release it, I see my breath out before me.
"Why did you want to come out here?" I ask, slowly walking up to Rayna.
"Fresh air." She says. It hardly feels like the truth, but I don't press. I walk up to stand next to her, gazing out over the view. The only building I can see is one with a pointed up top that may have formerly been a church, but the ceiling is partially caved in and the wooden walls are rotting away. Someone must have been taking care of these cabins, or something happened to the church, because the cabins at the least are still shelter.
Clouds are gathering, creating a gloomy feeling as wind chills my skin. Rayna stands up straight, and turns back around to go inside again. On my way in, I catch another leaf, blowing in the wind, and tuck it in my pocket.
For good luck.
"Okay ladies, and Nick," Carrie says around two hours before sunset, making sure we're listening. By now Timberlake has fallen asleep on my lap. "First of all, we are not an organized offense. But we're trying our best. So tomorrow, we're going in to spy on GG and Ian, and-" She cuts off when Rayna raises her hand slightly. "Yes, dear?"
"Who are they?" She asks.
"Code names, for Klaga and Gorgol." Curtis puts in. Carrie nods.
"We have to figure out where their quarters are." Carrie says. "Once that's done, we come back, and the three of us," She motions to herself, her cousin, and Curtis. "Will update you on what needs to be done. Are we clear?" Everyone nods.
"But who is spying?" Avery asks, and my stomach turns in knots. I have no doubt I'm one of the spies.
"Curtis, Norma, and myself." Jamie says. Of course. Carrie flashes a worried glance at Jamie, who doesn't notice. "Carrie will stay back with Nick, Avery, and Rayna."
"I want to help." Rayna decides, standing up.
"It's too much of a risk for your life." Jamie says.
"I can't just sit around here, if I'm that influential-"
"Rayna!" Jamie thunders. "This is not up for discussion! This is not some exciting trip to go on, and if you go, you're putting all of the rest of us at risk. So you can stay here with Carrie and help her. Nothing else." Rayna sits back down sheepishly, and my eyes are wide at Jamie's harshness.
"We'll leave tonight at midnight." Curtis says. "Now, anyone want to help open the skylight so we can start a fire?" Nick nods, and the two of them walk over to the bathroom.
"Norma, why don't you help Carrie make packs for the trip?" Jamie says in a quieter tone. I nod. Carrie motions me over, and I gently move Timberlake off my lap. She bleats, somewhat sadly. I pet her head, and go over to Carrie. The goat hops off the bed and crawls back under it. As Carrie and I assemble small packs of food and other supplies, like makeshift strips for bandages off the blanket Carrie cut in a hurry, I hear Nick and Curtis coughing, and see a cloud of dirt expand.
"Skylight's open!" Nick calls. Rayna chuckles and Carrie smiles. It takes about ten minutes, but soon Curtis tells us he's got a small fire going in the bath. Rayna and I eagerly walk over, as Carrie and I finished a few minutes ago. It's small, but in a few minutes the cabin is significantly warmer, smoke rising out of the skylight.
"Let's get these windows open." Jamie says. "That way the smoke won't be in one thick stream." We do open a few of the tiny windows at the top of the walls, and for around half an hour we keep the fire going, Timberlake joining us to sit next to it. But after that, Jamie decides a stream of smoke is too dangerous to have at night, so we shut the windows and Curtis puts it out with some weird method of stirring in dirt over time. It works, and with the windows and skylight closed, the warmth stays inside. It almost makes me comfortable as I sleep, a goat on my stomach, preparing for the most terrifying thing I've done in my life to start.