It was midafternoon and they’d stopped for a break. They were eating granola bars and drinking water from a nearby river. Mark thought constantly about how there was one thing they always had. Plenty of water sources. At least there was that.
“We’re getting close,” Alec said as he ate. “We might have to be more careful—they could have guards surrounding the place. I bet there’s a lot of people who’d like to have a nice bunker or whatever it is as their new digs. I bet the place was packed with food for emergencies.”
“We sure did have an emergency,” Lana muttered. “Whoever these people are, they better have some good explanations.”
Alec took another bite and pushed it to the side of his mouth. “That’s the spirit.”
“Do they not teach manners in the army?” Trina asked. “You know, it’s just as easy to take a bite after you say something as right before it.”
Alec chomped on his bar. “It is?” He croaked a laugh and little pieces of granola shot out. Which made him roar even harder. He choked out a cough, composed himself, then was laughing all over again.
It was such a rare sight to see Alec acting like this, Mark didn’t know how to respond at first. But then he soaked it in, chuckling right along even though he’d forgotten what was funny in the first place. Trina had a smile on her face, and little Deedee was giggling heartily. The sound of it filled Mark up and washed away the doldrums.
“You’d think someone farted, the way you’re all getting on,” Lana said with a deadpan look.
That sent everyone into an even bigger fit that went on for several minutes, resparked every time it began to die down by Alec making gassy noises. Mark laughed until his face hurt and he tried his best to stop smiling, which made him laugh even harder.
Finally it did settle down, ending with one big sigh from the former soldier. Then he stood up.
“I feel like I could run twenty miles,” he said. “Let’s get moving.”
As they headed off, Mark realized that the dream from the night before seemed like a distant memory again.
Chapter 22
Alec and Lana were much more cautious during the next part of their journey, stopping every fifteen minutes or so to listen intently, looking for telltale signs of guards or traps, keeping more to the cover of the trees whenever possible.
The sun was sinking, maybe two hours from fully setting, when Alec stopped and had everyone huddle around him. At some point it seemed like the two adults had decided to stop worrying about people keeping their distance from each other. They were all in a small clearing completely surrounded by thick oak trees and towering pines—older ones that hadn’t been completely consumed by the sun flares—standing on dry, brittle undergrowth. The clearing was in a little valley between two midsized hills. Mark was still in a good mood and was curious about what the older man had planned.
“I’ve tried to do this as little as possible,” Alec said, “but it’s time to look at the workpad and make sure my scribbled map is still accurate. Let’s hope my aging brain hasn’t failed us.”
“Yes,” Lana added. “Let’s hope we’re not in Canada or Mexico by now.”
“Very funny.”
Alec powered on the device and pulled up the maps feature, finding the one that had the Berg’s voyages documented, all the lines converging in one spot. He also retrieved his compass. While everyone else stayed quiet and observed, he spent a minute or so studying the workpad, running his finger this way and that, comparing it to his handwritten copy, pausing every once in a while to close his eyes and think. Mark thought he was probably retracing their path in his mind, trying to match it to what he was reading on the maps. Finally he stood up and turned in a full circle, looking up at the sun, then checking his compass.
“Yep,” he grumbled. “Yep, yep.”
Then he crouched back down and studied the maps for another full minute, making some small changes to the paper version. Mark was getting impatient, mainly worried that the man had concluded they were way off course. But his next words put that to rest.
“Oh, I’m good. Seriously, after all these years, you’d think I would stop amazing myself. But here I am, still doing it.”
“Oh, brother,” Lana moaned.
Alec tapped the map just to the left of the spot that marked the center of the Berg routes on the workpad screen. “Unless I’ve got that virus eating my brain and don’t know what I’m talking about, we’re standing right here. Probably five miles from the place this Berg parks every night.”
“Are you sure?” Trina asked.