Intervention | NaNoWriMo 2018

Chapter 25 - The Forest

Lincoln burst through the surface of the river, spitting water inside his helmet. Fighting the current around him, he unsnapped the helmet and pulled it off as he kicked hard to stay on the surface. Free from the restricting confines of the helmet, he looked around. Where's Marie? He called out her name as he struggled to raise himself higher out of the water to get a better view of his immediate surroundings. There was no sign of her.

In the distance, a gap in the crumbled remains of the guardrail was visible about five yards above the water. There was no sign of his motorcycle, nor was Marie visible in the vicinity. The aircraft hovered around the spot he had hit the water and disappeared from view as he was pulled around a curve in the river. Had they found Marie? Was she in the water? Was she alive?

A million questions sprouted in his mind as he took long strokes towards the tree-lined shore. Wherever she was, he had to find her and the further downriver he was pulled by the river, the harder it would be to find her again.

He crawled onto the shore, shivering from the cold, and collapsed on a patch of grass. After a few deep breaths, he got up on his knees and looked around as water dripped from his clothes. He wiped a soaked strand of hair out of his face and struggled to his feet and began to walk the ten yards to the tree line.

Just as he stepped up to the first tree, he heard the increasing whine of the aircraft engines behind him. The aircraft swept into view no more than 30 feet above the surface of the river, crawling forward through the air in a search pattern. They were looking for something. Lincoln knew that something was him. He had to disappear.

Bent forward at the waist, he moved forward, keeping bushes and trees between himself and the river. Just as the aircraft passed the part of the river where he had gone ashore, he dropped to the ground, buried his face and remained motionless. The operators didn't appear to notice him, nor the wet trail he had left on the boulders on the shore, and continued downriver.

Within a few minutes, the whine of the engines faded and Lincoln was left with just the sound of the river and the breeze that swept through the crowns of the trees surrounding him. Back on his feet, he continued deeper in the forest and within minutes, the sound of the river faced to a soft rushing in the distance, barely noticeable.

The silence of the forest descended on Lincoln as he continued into the increasingly dense forest, interrupted only by the clattering of his teeth and his shivering body. His legs weakened with each step and eventually, he fell to his knees, exhausted from both the cold and lack of energy. Desperately, he looked around for some sort of shelter. He needed to rest.

Then, in the shadows further up ahead, Lincoln saw a shape. He couldn't tell exactly what it was but with its right angles and straight lines, it had to be man-made. With renewed energy, he forced his body to take step after step towards the structure, using the trees scattered between his position and the structure as support.

As he approached, the straight lines and square angles turned into corners and vertical planks that made up a wall. A window covered with dirt and dust came into a view and finally, a door. Lincoln felt a sense of hope return as reached the cabin and leaned up against the outside wall to take a breath. He closed his eyes and exhaled forcefully, then smiled. He might make it after all.

Lincoln allowed himself a few minutes of rest before he turned his attention to the door into the cabin. The handle on the front door wouldn't budge. It was locked. Of course. Whoever owned the cabin likely didn't want uninvited visitors to tear up the cabin. At the same time, Lincoln had learned enough about cabins in the woods during his visit to Marie's timeline that owners often left they key in a hidden but convenient space near the door. He scanned the immediate area and checked underneath the worn and faded rug in front of the door, a cracked and empty flowerpot next to the door and inside a box that once had held firewood before he found it. Moments later, he was inside.

Overwhelmed by the stale air inside and a strong odor that he couldn't quite place, Lincoln found himself outside only seconds later on his hands and knees, coughing and retching. A few minutes later, his stomach empty and a sour taste lingering in the back of his throat, he was back on his feet and propped the door open to let the cabin air out.

The cabin seemed to have everything a short-term visitor might need. A small kitchen area to the immediate left of the entrance, complete with a large pantry, provided sufficient space for any cooking activities. An island with a sink and various prepping surfaces separated the kitchen area from a small dining area along the left wall and a seating area with a couple of couches that faced a large fireplace against the wall on the right. A door at the back of the cabin, flanked by a bookcase on the one side and a large oil painting on the left, led to two equally sized bedrooms. Everything was covered in a thin layer of dust but otherwise looked like it could have been visited not long ago.

Lincoln's need for warmth drew him to the fireplace. A cabinet against the wall contained several artificial logs, still wrapped. Despite the faded color of the wrapper, they still seemed to be in usable condition, as were the box of matches he found in a corner of the cabinet.

Within minutes, a small fire was crackling in the fireplace, spreading its warmth outward into the room. Lincoln proceeded to check out the bedrooms and found a couple of blankets in one of the closets, but no clothes to change into.

He pulled the chairs from the kitchen and dining areas and moved them as close to the fireplace as possible. Piece by piece, he then removed the wet clothes clinging to his body. Everything was hung over the back of the chair as the fire grew while he wrapped himself in a blanket and closed the door into the cabin.

Next on Lincoln's to-do list was finding something to eat. A cursory examination of the pantry and the surrounding cabinets revealed a number of bulging cans of long expired food, none of it suitable for consumption.

With a deep sigh, he sat down on the couch and wrapped the second blanket around him as well. His stomach protested with a loud rumble. The cabin provided shelter, safety and a dry place to rest. The lack of food he'd have to deal with some other way.

More pressing was the fact that he had no idea what had happened to Marie. Had she been swept down the river, or had she been captured on the road where he had last seen her? If she had been captured, where had she been taken? Was she still alive?

Lincoln also couldn't help but wonder about the aircraft. The markings on the craft made it clear who it belonged to but he also knew that markings on any kind of vehicle didn't necessarily mean that it was being operated by the entity of the markings.

Although Lincoln knew he needed to rest and dry his clothes, at some point, he'd have to leave the cabin and go look for Marie. Should he try to find the armed forces he once had been a part of or should he look for Potter's men or even the Nomads? He decided that he'd have to think about that a little more before he decided one way or another. One thing he was sure about. He had to get back to the crash site to try to figure out, one way or another, what had happened to her.

As he pulled the blankets closer around him and sunk further into the cushions of the couch, he felt his eyelids become heavy as the warmth of the fabric enveloped him and the head from the fireplace radiated towards him. Lincoln caught himself nodding off several times and desperately fought to stay awake. Eventually, he gave in and as his head slowly nodded forward and his body slid down on his side. The worries of the world around him temporarily disappeared as sleep overtook his exhausted body. Soon, regular snoring rose from the couch in the flickering light of the fire while wary dreams invaded Lincoln's already worried mind.

~~~

Temporary shelter, exhausted, Marie is missing. What happened to her? Will Lincoln find her? And who's in the aircraft? 

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