9: Ryan

Ryan

 

 

          "S**t, that's bright." Ryan held a hand to his brow to shield his eyes from the rising star. The early morning horizon was a burning orange with streaks of gold that carried up into the purple clouds. The warmth brought about by the new light was most welcomed. It could have easily been a familiar winter morning had there not been a behemoth planet sinking into the opposite horizon. For as many questions as he had, there had been almost no answers. Logic supported the notion that he was dead, or at least his Earth-bound body was. What that made him at the moment was a mystery. He had ruled out Hell, it was much too cold and there was too much snow for this to be the Lake of Fire. Heaven seemed like a longshot; wherever he was lacked a certain divinity. In many ways it resembled Earth. There were pine trees frosted from the night's flurries, a gentle wind whispered through the branches, and somewhere a bird began to call out to the morning.

          Ryan turned to the gas giant that was losing the brilliance of its color as the sunlight took control of the heavens and chased away the stars. This wasn't Earth. For every familiarity, something was alien.

         "I'm just glad it's a little warmer." Sarah hugged her arms tightly around her chest and shivered. She had found Ryan almost as soon as he had woken. They hadn't been far apart, but the thick trunks of the two-hundred foot pines had shielded their views. She said she found him after hearing him talking to himself, which had actually been him swearing loudly once he looked up and first glimpsed the gas giant in the sky. She had nearly bowled him back into the snow when she saw him. For a long time both of them kept trying to talk, to make sense of anything, but there was so much on their minds that they couldn't keep focused to any one thing.

          That was until they heard the deep howl that carried so deeply into the night. Once they had heard that, all curiousity had faded and they wasted no time scaling the branches of one of the smaller firs. Up in the branches they had waited out the darkness. Ryan had dozed a little, but never more than a droning consciousness. Every time his head would droop, he'd wake instantly, afraid he had slipped off the branch he rest on. But now there was light to fend off the darkness and some of the cold. He cursed himself for wearing shorts instead of pants. His legs had gone numb and his toes felt solid and were difficult to move.

          "Hey Sarah," he asked, his breath coming out in a cloud. "Do you want to try finding somewhere to take shelter?"

          She nodded, her body shaking. Slowly and carefully they descended from the tree. Clumps of snow rained down as they disturbed the long branches.

          The snow crunched under foot as they walked. Ryan guessed they were headed south with the sun at their left, but that was only true if it still rose in the east. He didn't know if the old rules still applied or not. Warily he glanced around and occasionally behind them to make sure they were alone. So far as he could tell, there was nothing howling and less threatening life was stirring.

          "Sarah, look," he whispered, placing a hand gently on her shoulder to get her attention. Ahead of them two brown squirrels hopped through the snow. Their fluffed tails flickered and twitched as they bounded along in search of food. Occasionally they would pause and one would paw at the snow or an exposed root while the other sat up and kept watch, tail flicking.

          "To be honest, Ryan, I never thought I'd be more relieved to see something familiar. Maybe we aren't going completely crazy."

          "Maybe not," he agreed, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. They continued south, leaving the vast barren expanse farther behind. The forest never grew dense. The Herculean trunks of the pines were spaced widely apart, but the fir branches above stretched out to touch with other trees. The layer of snow grew to a thin film that twinkled and shimmered in the brightening daylight.

          It was still cold and their faces retained a flush, but it was warming, and for that Ryan was very grateful. Being up at West Point had boosted his tolerance for the cold, though he doubted Sarah received that blessing in Gainesville, Florida. "How you holding up?"

          "Cold as hell," she responded quickly, rubbing her hands together.

          "Hey, stop there!"

          Ryan and Sarah froze at the sound of the voice shouting out to them. Men dressed in thick white jackets emerged from amongst the trees. Their pants were tucked into white-washed combat boots and heavy scarves were wrapped around their faces. Some wore ballistic goggles, others wore sunglasses. Gloved hands held onto a variety of winter-camouflaged weaponry. Ryan recognized a few M4s, a German G36, and the lead man carried a SCAR. Slowly he raised his hands above his head.

          "What are your names?" the lead man asked in an unthreatening tone, his finger resting against the trigger guard as opposed to the actual trigger.

          "Ryan Blackburn, and this is Sarah Mason," he replied with hesitation.

          The man with the SCAR reached the frightened pair, slung his weapon over his shoulder, and extended a hand. Perplexed, Ryan lowered his own and shook with the man. "Who are you?"

          "Captain Richmond, Aurora Army North Division," he turned, ignoring the utter disbelief on Ryan and Sarah's face. "Tell her we found two," he said to one of the soldiers who grabbed a walkie-talkie and began speaking.

          "I'm sorry," Sarah cut in, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "What army did you say you were a part of?"

          "The Army of Aurora. I'm sure you both have a s**t-ton of questions and I'll be happy to tell you everything I can, but we need to get you somewhere warmer first. We have an outpost not far from here, two of my men will escort you there. No units have reported finding anyone, which means we still have some work to do here. See those men over there? They'll lead you to our outpost."

          The captain gestured to his men, and all but two continued on, fanning out as they did. The two escorts were fairly tall men whose eyes were masked with reflective shades. One of them slid a large pack from his shoulders and unzipped it. He pulled out two heavy white jackets and tossed them to Ryan and Sarah. The outer material was waterproof and sturdy but the inner lining was soft fur. Ryan quickly pulled the jacket on; the warmth incredible against his numb skin. Instead of a zipper there were a half dozen quarter-sized buttons which he fumbled together with torpid fingers.

          Reshouldering his pack, the foreign soldier tilted his head as a gesture to follow. Sarah turned to Ryan, her arms folded tightly around her body, hands tucked into the sleeves. He could see the doubt in her eyes. He could see it written upon her face. He could feel it from within himself, but did his best to not allow it to be shown. "What choice do we have?" he asked quietly.

          And so they followed in silence.

          Snow crunched underfoot as they moved in a file, weaving around the bulky trees and ducking under low hanging branches. One soldier led while the other trailed at the rear, sandwiching the two frightened Americans between. The birds continued to sing to the sun as it rose higher to paint the sky in a thin blue. For them, life went on as it always had.

          Ryan envied them more than anything else he had before.