Elijah's Chariot (The Forgotten Children Book 1) (25 page)

He
suddenly wondered what his father would do. Would he continue on? Try to get to
his family as quickly as possible? Or, would he allow the detour for the sake
of discovery – for science? Sean doubted that they would be able to find out
anything from the big chunk of rock. They weren’t scientists, they didn’t have
any specialized instruments to measure radiation or density or anything like
that. Still, they were there – so close. They had the opportunity right in
front of them. It wouldn’t ever come again. 

Sean
could almost hear the excitement in his father’s voice the first time that he’d
come home and told the family about Jerry, how they’d discovered the asteroid
coming for the planet. His mother had been terrified at first, asking Kevin if
they were in danger. He’d smiled and reassured them, launching into a lightning
fast explanation of trajectory and the speed of Earth that none of them had
understood at all. His eyes were glowing as he spoke faster and faster.
Finally, here was something real that he and his NASA colleagues could study –
something close to home, not on some dead planet millions of miles away. Here
was the opportunity to look at some piece of the universe that was coming right
to them, something that may give some insight into how everything began or
where it was going. Something that would validate his father’s work and show
all the critics of NASA that they were wrong, that there actually was something
to be learned out there. 

Sean
looked over at Viktor and smiled faintly. He could feel just a glimmer of
something awaken within himself, a spark of hope for the future. And he
thought, maybe my dad isn’t completely gone. Maybe he left a little bit of his
curiosity behind for me. He would do this, I know he would. He wouldn’t be able
to resist. 

“Let’s
go find Elijah.”

A
cool wind swept up the slope, causing the tree branches to sway gently, just as
Sean reached the crest. Svyeta reached the top a few seconds later, stopping
beside him to catch her breath. The deer trail that they had been following
meandered through the copse of trees at the top of the hill and continued down
into an open meadow of high grass. The ground in the meadow would most likely
be covered by a couple inches of cold water and would be crunchy in parts where
the ice was still thawing. Patches of snow clung to the exposed root networks
deeper in the forest where the sun couldn’t penetrate. Gray clouds hung over
the expansive and wild forests as far as the eye could see in every direction. 

Ryan
McCaney crouched on the trail, halfway down the slope. He held the GPS device
in the air, rotating occasionally as he deciphered the digital numbers on the
display. The thermometer read 48 degrees Fahrenheit – certainly not typical
mid-May weather for either South Carolina or California. The previous night had
been cold, despite the three-season Marmot bags they’d slept in. Luckily, there
hadn’t been any snow, just a few showers during the early morning and late
afternoon. Ryan took in a lungful of chilled, forest-scented air. He could
almost pick out the smells of the different types of trees dotting the
landscape. His heightened olfactory senses had seemed to come alive once they’d
started hiking the previous morning and had probably saved them more than once.
Both he and Sean had picked up a strong animal scent a few miles back and had
to skirt around the area to avoid whatever it was. It could have been a deer
like the ones they’d spotted earlier, but they didn’t want to take the chance.
Viktor had warned against a strong likelihood of bears or wolves in the area. 

The
Russian boy was having the most trouble of the four with the trek. He came
through the trees a few minutes after Sean and Svyeta, leaning heavily on a
stout walking stick he’d found at the house they’d stayed at outside of Revda.
Despite the boy’s difficulty with the wilderness trek and clearly evident
exhaustion, Viktor never offered a word of complaint, just a weak smile as he
carefully maneuvered his withered left leg. Ryan figured they’d covered twenty
miles in the last day and a half and the strain was beginning to tell on all
three kids. 

Sean
stood behind Ryan, surveying the meadow and stretch of forest off to their
right. This was entirely unlike any Boy Scout hike he had ever been on. Any of
the areas where he’d camped in the San Gabriel Mountains of southern California
were usually well trafficked by other outdoor enthusiasts. The constant warm
weather also helped to make his experiences there rather tame and controlled.
He always had the feeling that if ever he were to get lost or injured, an
emergency helicopter was only a few minutes away. Here, the land had a savage
and forlorn quality to it. Once they’d parked the SUV, after it had gone as far
as the narrow dirt road allowed, they’d entered into another world, seemingly
untouched by any humans. The group had been quickly immersed in a land of hills
and trees with no buildings, signs, wires, telephone poles or overhead
airplanes in sight. Sean felt as if they had dropped out of the sky onto
another planet – one that was governed by altogether different rules.

He
had been worried that, as they set off that morning after a welcome breakfast
of instant oatmeal, they were going in the wrong direction or had missed the
landing area entirely. But, a few hours before they stopped for lunch, Ryan had
come across an immense gash in the earth. It was roughly a football field long
and almost half as wide. An entire area of trees had been pulverized and mashed
together, forming a depression in the ground over twenty feet deep. Some of the
surrounding foliage looked as though it had been scorched by an intense heat.
The scientists on the news report had said that Jerry/Elijah had bounced and
rolled before finally coming to a halt. The hole in the ground told them that
they were at least on the right track. 

His
walking stick thudded against the wet ground as Viktor came to a halt right
behind Sean and Svyeta. He let out a wearied breath and waited calmly while
Sean and Ryan sniffed the air. At least, that’s what he called it. The day
before, he’d burst into laughter several times when they’d stopped, held their
noses to the wind and occasionally turned in various directions, just like
bloodhounds. He hadn’t been laughing as much today because of the pain coursing
through his body. His muscle tone and coordination had come quite a long way
over the past several weeks, but he was still in no shape for a cross-country
hike. Especially for one that was turning out to be much longer than they had
originally planned. 

“It
should be another couple miles that way,” Ryan gestured across the meadow, “to
the northwest. We’re almost there guys.”

Sean
looked in the direction he’d pointed, squinting in concentration. “There it
is!” he shouted suddenly, pointing at the forest. “That’s it!”

Ryan
stood and looked in the direction he was pointing. “That could just be a group
of trees.”

“But,
see how long it is? And the top is rounded – a group of trees wouldn’t look
like that at the top.”

Ryan
nodded. “Could be.”

“And
what does that look like, a couple inches to the right?” Sean pointed, but
Viktor and Svyeta couldn’t see a thing. It all looked like a sea of green
trees.

“Is
that… are those windows?”

“It
looks like a truck or maybe a building or something. The team would have set up
some portable structures, wouldn’t they?” Sean asked. 

“Guess
we’ll be finding out pretty soon.”

- -

The
meadow they’d crossed an hour ago had been covered in several inches of water,
just as Sean had expected. Their boots were soaked now and the wind had picked
up. Sean pulled the collar of his coat up higher as they crossed over some
fallen logs into an area of dense, gray trees. Staring at the tall, somber
pines as they barely swayed in the wind, he suddenly recalled an old Russian
fairytale that Viktor had related during the drive a few days ago. It was about
a group of travelers that had been enchanted by a
Rusalka
, a beguiling
and dangerous fresh-water siren that was said to inhabit the lakes and rivers
of the wild. The group had followed her voice for days, believing it to be a
lost maiden in distress, until the
Rusalka
finally led them to their
deaths. Viktor had said that Russian folklore was filled with such tales of
forest spirits. In fact, some people still believed they existed and that they
had only been pushed back into the wild by the spread of humanity. 

Feeling
the weight of the almost oppressive forest silence bearing down on him, Sean
eyed the dark shadows between the trees suspiciously. His mind began to race
with ideas of what could be lurking in those forest depths – wild animals
tracking their progress, waiting for the perfect opportunity to pounce. Or,
possibly, other people who had arrived at the crash site before them, anxious
to protect their prize. The dankness of wet soil and rotting wood filled his
nostrils, making him almost giddy with the desire to slowly sink down into the
dark rich earth and sleep. 

The
trail they were following became gradually more and more obscured by hanging
foliage and fallen trees. It split off into a couple of different directions,
but both of these appeared to quickly terminate just a few meters into the
undergrowth. 

Ryan
quickly consulted the GPS device, then began forcing his way through a thin
wall of dead twigs and branches. The other three stepped carefully behind him,
attempting to avoid getting scratched by the surrounding gnarled, claw-shaped
limbs. 

His
hands held high in front of his face to block any branches that might swing
back to slap him from Ryan’s passage, Sean stepped over a thick, fallen tree.
He could feel Viktor right at his back, could hear his labored breathing as he
tried to balance in the crowded thicket while keeping up his forward pace.
Svyeta was right behind Viktor, helping to push branches out of his way. For a
second, Sean thought he could hear Viktor’s heartbeat quickening, the soft
thuds followed by an almost imperceptible sound of rushing liquid as the organ
rhythmically pumped blood through his body. But, he then realized that it was
his own heartbeat he heard, the pounding becoming louder and faster as he
trudged forward, deeper into the forest. 

Sean
saw Ryan un-shoulder his rifle and hold it out in front of him to help push
away some of the branches that clung to their clothing and backpacks. The boy
glanced up to the top of the trees, trying to locate the sun. Even if it hadn’t
been covered by the sky of thick clouds, the source of warmth and light would
have been difficult to find through the thick branches and blanket of pine
needles. 

The
sharp stub of a broken branch poked Sean in the side as he passed, causing him
to jump back and nearly knock Viktor over. The Russian boy’s large, ungainly
hands came up to steady Sean, helping him regain his balance. Despite the wet
cold, he felt sweat trickle down his temple as he glanced back at Viktor, then put
another foot forward to continue following McCaney, who was already several
meters ahead. Fear of separation instantly flashed through Sean’s mind and he
surged forward, attempting to quickly close the distance to the Marine. Viktor
and Svyeta followed almost as quickly, the same sense of dread of being lost in
the tangled prison coursing through their already clenched stomachs. 

Sean
frantically pushed away clumps of pine needles that clung to the branches in
front of his face. He inhaled deeply, feeling almost unable to pull in enough
oxygen. The ominous trees surrounding them seemed to be suffocating him, their
weight and smell weighing down each step as he struggled onward. He felt
Viktor’s hand reach out to touch his backpack as the boy attempted to steady
himself and keep up. 

Suddenly,
Ryan disappeared from sight altogether, having just stepped behind a thick tree
trunk a little further ahead. The word “No!” screamed through Sean’s mind and
he sprinted forward, ignoring the sharp branches that clawed at him as he
passed. He heard Viktor grunt in pain behind him as he stumbled on a tree root.
Sean turned to see the boy leaning against the base of a tree with Svyeta
trying to get his arm over her shoulder. She glanced up at Sean, weariness
etched into her features. Her eyes pleaded for him to stop, to make it all
stop, but Sean couldn’t. He had to keep going and find Ryan and get out of the
dark, clinging forest. All of his senses were filled with its smell, its dank
coldness. All he could see were dark green swaths of vegetation and endless
grayish-brown branches all around him. 

Beginning
to panic, Sean sped up and swatted at the branches reaching out to him. He
couldn’t see Ryan anywhere and began leaping over fallen trees and elaborate,
exposed root systems as he rushed to escape the forest. Ahead of him, he
thought he could see a lightening between the trees, a diffused brightness that
beckoned to him, promising release from the dank heaviness that was weighing
him down. He focused on that growing light and pushed forward, faintly aware of
Viktor and Svyeta struggling to keep up several yards behind him. 

Just
as he was about to give voice to the terror that was building inside him, the
fear of losing Ryan entirely and being locked in the clinging forest forever,
Sean burst out of the trees at the edge of a clearing. Cloud-diffused sunlight
shone brightly into his face like someone had just turned on an overhead lamp.
Once his eyes adjusted, he was able to see the short, tough grass that spread
from under his feet. The clearing sloped downward and to the left. Sean glanced
at Ryan who was standing a few feet away and staring. Sean slowly followed his
gaze. Beginning just a dozen or so paces ahead, a thirty foot high rock cliff
extended through the middle of the clearing.