IV
22
Tobias warmed his grimy hands in the heat of the fire.
He was camped riverside, deep in the mountains of what had once been Idaho.
From where he sat, he could stare down the canyon and watch the sun falling into the V.
So close.
Earlier in the day, he’d caught a glimpse of the jagged cirque that formed the amphitheater on Wayward Pines’s eastern wall.
The only thing stopping him from reaching the fence was a thousand-strong swarm of abbies in the forest that bordered the southern edge of town. Even two miles away from their position, he could smell them. Assuming they moved on overnight, he’d be in the clear to go home.
The temptation to sleep on the ground was strong.
Something about sleeping on the soft pine needles seemed massively appealing.
But that would be stupid.
He’d already fixed his bivy thirty feet up in one of the overhanging pine trees. He’d slept off the ground he didn’t know how many nights running. One more wouldn’t kill him.
And tomorrow night, if all went as planned and he didn’t get himself eaten his last day in the wilderness, he’d have a warm bed to crawl into.
Tobias opened his rucksack, shoved his arm to the bottom.
His fingers touched the cloth bag containing his pipe, a book of matches from the Hotel Andra in Seattle, and the tobacco.
He laid everything out on a rock.
It was strange. He’d thought about this moment so many times.
Built it up in his mind.
His last night in the wilderness.
He’d brought a pound with him—all the weight he could justify—and burned right through it in those first months, saving only enough tobacco for one last smoke if he made it this far. There were so many nights when he’d almost smoked it anyway.
The rationalizations plentiful and compelling.
You could die at any time.
You’ll never make it back.
Don’t get eaten still holding on to what could’ve been a half hour of pipe-joy.
And still, he’d held out. It made no sense. His chances of returning were nil. But as he opened the plastic baggie and breathed in the smell of the aromatic blend, it was unquestionably one of the happiest moments of his life.
He took his time filling the bowl.
Then tamped it down with his finger, making sure each sprig was lovingly nestled.
The tobacco took the flame beautifully.
He dragged on the stem.
God, the smell.
Smoke clouding around his head.
He leaned back against the trunk of what he hoped was the last tree he would ever have to sleep in.
The sky had turned pink.
You could see the color of it on the river.
He smoked and watched the moving water and felt, for the first time in ages, like a human being.