Bridger: a Dystopian Serial

The valley

The next long Kaa night arrived without incident. They'd worked their way about five kilometres down the ridge, aided by the lighter Kaa gravity. Char had walked alongside Venn as he explained the calculations. She didn't follow the math, but she understood the conclusion. Venn's eyes darted toward the valley as he talked. They'd dropped in altitude considerably since they'd emerged from the portal. They were low enough now to see the tops of the red plants. Up close, they reminded Char of bamboo—tall, narrow, but tapering to a sharp point.

Venn told her, although she already knew, that the ridge was coming to an end. It would meet a bend in the valley soon, and either they could turn back or they could cross the valley right there where it was narrower. His breath came quicker as he said this. Char wondered about the trauma he might be carrying, probably not unlike her own.

Their new camp was squashed under a small crag a few feet above the tops of the plants. Char took a post at one end of the camp, alone this time. Venn was tethered to Callum. She leaned against the rock wall out of the wind and donned her night vision goggles. As the others crept into the tents, Seth sidled over to her.

Char pulled down her goggles. In the deepening twilight, he was mostly a dark mass. He tugged down his frost-covered face mask.

"Leander has been harassing me because we were, quote, 'snuggling' this morning," he said softly. "Apparently if I hurt you she will, quote, cut off my balls and feed them to me."

Char burst out a laugh. "That sounds like something she would say." She turned and adjusted her gun. "It was cold, okay?"

"Yeah."

Char tugged one glove off and ran her bare fingers over his cheekbone. "I know we promised to talk this over." She stroked his cheek, and his eyes flickered shut. "But I'm supposed to be on watch right now, which also means 'on listen.'"

"Yeah," he breathed. He opened his eyes and smiled weakly. "So I shouldn't worry about it right now?"

"No." She touched his lips and dropped her hand. Her fingers tingled as she tugged her glove back on again. "Go to bed, okay?"

He walked away, and Char blew her breath out in a long, cloudy gust.

A crawling sensation came over her, like she was being watched. She'd felt that way ever since the wind died down and they were able to travel down the ridge.

Intuition said the Na'odani knew they were here. Char wasn't about to go off-protocol yet, but that hadn't stopped her from thinking about what she'd do if they showed up.

Lie. Lie through her nose. Something about them being envoys, maybe setting up a treaty. Maybe that would actually get them somewhere. Somehow this had to work out.

The next morning Char awoke nestled up to Seth again. The tent was flapping hard in the wind. She sighed.

Venn sat cross-legged and still cocooned in his sleeping bag. "Today we will cross the valley," he said flatly. He turned his head to look at her. His eyes were black.

"Yes," Char said. She scooted out of her sleeping bag and away from Seth's warm side. She pulled her boots out of the sleeping bag where she was keeping them warm and jammed her feet inside. The others in the tent began to stir as Char tugged on her jacket—she'd slept in her thermal pants—and climbed out of the tent with her submachine gun.

Leander eyed her from where she stood on post, a few feet from the tent. "How'd you sleep? Nice and toasty?"

"I slept fine," she said.

Leander snorted.

Char sighed. "We really have bigger fish to fry right now, Leander."

Leander squinted at her. "Did something happen that you haven't told me about?"