Surviving the Fog (26 page)

After exchanging a few more words with the
patrol, Jacob and Lily continued their journey along the swiftly
running river.  At sunset they came out of the woods, and Lily
got her first look at the camp.  The sight of the crude Lodge
astonished and alarmed her, but the A-frame cabin, and the dining
hall, and the big yellow bus parked beside the heavy machinery in
the parking lot conveyed some sense of normalcy.

"I need to check in," Jacob said. "But first,
I need to use the bathroom," he added with a blush.  He headed
for the Lodge.

Lily noticed a woman speaking to a teenage
boy.  When she approached them, they were obviously surprised
to see her.

"Pardon me," she said with a polite smile.
 "Can you direct me to the Administration Office?"

"Uh, it's over there," the woman said,
staring at Lily while pointing to the A-frame cabin.  Lily
thanked the woman and went to the cabin.  She knocked on the
door.  

"It's open," said a voice from inside.

Lily opened the door and stepped in.  A
young boy sitting at a desk raised his head and stared at her.

"Hello," she said.  "Is the person in
charge, here?"

"Who are you?" the boy asked brusquely.

"My name is Lily," she replied.  "I came
here with Jacob.  I need to speak to the person in charge of
this camp."

"Jacob's back?" the boy asked.  "Where
is he?"

"He’s using the restroom.  Please, I
really need to speak to the person in charge," Lily replied.

At that moment, there was a knock on the
door, and then a man and the woman that Lily had just spoken to
entered the cabin.

"Hey, Chief," the man said.  "Everything
okay?"

"I guess so," said Mike.  "This woman
says she came here with Jacob.  Say’s, he's using the Porta
Potty."

Jacob came through the door.  "Hello,
Chief," he said.

"What's going on here?" Lily asked
demandingly.  "Where is your Administrator?"

Her fear had returned.  She had thought
that everything would soon be back to normal, but nothing seemed
normal about this place.

Jacob, Hector, and Jean looked at Mike.

"I'm in charge here," he said.  "My name
is Mike, but most everyone calls me, ‘Chief’."

"This is Lily, Chief," said Jacob.
 "She's from the Retreat.  She doesn't know about the
Fog."

Jean gasped.  "You're from the
Retreat?"

Lily didn't answer.  Her mind was numb.
 She sat down heavily on the bed.

"This can't be happening," she whispered to
herself.

Jean looked at the woman with pity, and then
she said to Mike, "Chief, can I be alone with her for a
minute?"

"Sure," said Mike.  "Take your time.
 Let's go, guys."  The three males left the cabin.

"I didn't get to the Retreat, Chief," Jacob
explained.  "I found her about a week ago.  I decided you
would want me to stop and bring her back here.  Sorry."

"Good job, Jacob," said Mike.  "You can
go back there later with Jean.  I was already thinking that
sending you there alone was a bad idea.  About Lily.
 It's late, so I'm going to let her stay in my place tonight.
 I want you to stay there, too."

Jacob's mouth dropped open.  "What?" he
said.

"Upstairs, I mean," Mike explained. "In the
loft.  Just so she'll have someone around who she's familiar
with.  Tomorrow, I’ll move her to a bunk."

"Oh, alright.”

The next day, Lily feeling weary and subdued,
met with Mike and his Council.  She gave them an account of
her experiences at the retreat.

"Jacob, why do you think they got sick from
eating that sheep?" Mike asked.

"Didn't prepare it properly.  Sounds
like they cut the stomach or intestines," Jacob replied.

"Lily, did they try to eat another sheep?"
Mike asked.

"Not while I was there.  No one wanted
to take the chance," was her answer.  ”We were living on deer
and goat milk.”

"How many of those people are still
alive?"

Lily thought for a minute.  "When I
left, there were five men, eight women and four kids, but one man
was real sick," she said. “He might not survive.”

"Seventeen people," said Mike slowly.
 He stopped talking and thought about it.  Then he looked
at Jacob.

"Jacob, think you could prepare one of those
sheep properly?" he asked.

"Sure," Jacob responded.  Mike thought
some more.

"Lily, are they keeping a close watch on
those sheep?" he asked.

"They didn't seem to be watching them at
all," she replied.  Mike nodded.

"Jacob, I want you to write down a detailed
description of how to prepare the sheep for cooking.  Lily,
you draw some diagrams for him.  When you’re ready, Jacob, I
want you and Jean to go to the Retreat.  Steal a sheep.
 Slaughter it and prepare it, so it's ready to be cooked.
 Then leave it where they will find it, and pin the
instructions to the sheep."  Mike finished speaking and waited
for their reactions.

For a moment, no one spoke, and then they all
tried to speak at once.  Mike raised his hand.

"One at a time.  Erin?"

"Chief, I get your point, but if you do this,
you are letting them know we’re here."

"They won't know which direction we are,"
Jean said.  "I'm sure Jacob and I can point them in the wrong
direction."

"I’m not crazy about your idea," Howard
confessed.  "But there are children there."

Mike looked at his carpenter.
 "Hector?"

Hector shook his head.  "Amigo, you
never fail to amaze me.  We have a choice, here.  We can
keep ourselves safely hidden from these evil people, or we can try
to save the children.  We already know what you are going to
do."  The room fell silent.

After a moment, Jacob spoke.  "Yes, we
know what the Chief will do.  That's why he's the Chief.
 So let's get it done."

Two days later Mike’s plan took a drastic
change.  It began in the morning when Gabby came to Chief’s
Headquarters to complain.

"Someone stole some food, Chief," she
informed him.  "They took some of the smoked meat that we save
for the patrols, and they took some roasted potatoes that we were
going to serve for lunch today.  And they stole a
thermos."

Mike was mystified at her report.  "I
can see why some of our goofballs might steal some of the jerky.
 But why would anyone steal potatoes?"

A little later, Jacob came by.  "Have
you seen, Lily?" he asked.  "I need her to draw some pictures
for preparing the sheep."

"I haven't seen her," replied Mike absently.
 Then a thought came into his head.

"She’s having a hard time accepting that the
Fog is real, isn't she, Jacob?"

"Yeah.  I don’t think she believes us,"
Jacob answered.

"Jacob, go find her, right now," Mike
said.

Jacob gave him a questioning look.
 "Something wrong, Chief?" he asked.

"I'm not sure yet.  But go find her.
Now."

Lily could not be found.  But someone's
backpack turned up missing.  And the last one to see her was
the girl at the guard post on the road overlooking the camp.

"Sure, I saw her, Chief," she said.
 "She told me she was going down to the Hanging Tree to draw
it.  She said something about drawing it for our history."

"Did you see her come back," Mike asked.

"Uh, no," she answered fidgeting uneasily.
 "I got off my shift right after that.  Did I screw
up?"

"No, it's all right," Mike answered, and then
he went to find Jacob and to tell the scout what had been
discovered.

"She's gone," Jacob said.  "Chief--"

"Yeah, go find her," Mike said, shaking his
head in disgust.

Jacob was on the road in
minutes.  He walked swiftly, not taking his time as he usually
did.  He was worried about Lily, more than he cared to admit
to himself.  
Will she try to go
through the Fog
?  He shuddered at the
thought.

He walked far into the night, but he did not
overtake her.  Eventually, he had to rest.  He slept for
several hours, and then he set off again.  He remembered the
first time he had made this hike.  He was in much better shape
now.  The days in the woods had toughened him, and had honed
his senses.

For a second day he followed Lily.
 Then, a few hours after dark, he stopped.  She was
close.  He did not know how he knew, but he sensed that she
was close.  Then very faintly, he heard her crying.  His
blood ran cold, and he began to run.

"Lily!" he called. "Lily!"

"Jacob?  Jacob, is that you?"

She stopped crying as she called to him.
 He found her just off the road in a small clearing.  She
flung herself into his arms, and she started crying again.

"Lily, are you hurt?" he asked, desperate to
hear her denial.

She wiped her eyes and gave out a shaky
laugh.

"No.  Sorry.  Just feeling
miserable, that's all.  I can't see very well.  I should
have stolen a flashlight, too, I guess.  I saw a dog tonight.
 It scared me."

Jacob did not respond to that.  He
doubted that the animal she had seen was a dog.

Jacob had his flashlight, but he quickly made
a fire.  Shortly, they were warming their hands by its flame.
 Jacob saw that Lily was wearing all her clothes again, and
she was carrying her purple bag with her blankets.  And she
had found a short, heavy piece of wood.

"You found out," Lily said as, she stared
into the fire.

"Yes."

"I'm sorry for stealing your food.  I’m
sorry I stole the backpack."

"You could have asked," said Jacob, his tone
flat.

"Would your boss have given me some?
 Would he have let me go?" she asked.

"You know we call him, Chief.  Yes, he
would have given you food.  Yes, he would have let you borrow
a backpack.  Yes, he would have let you go.  He's not
running a prison.  He's trying to keep us alive.  He's
even going to try to keep those men at the Retreat alive, because
he hopes that will keep those kids alive.  You would have
known that if you had asked me," Jacob finished, with sadness in
his voice.

Lily was silent for a moment, and then she
spoke.  "I'm sorry, Jacob.  I’m still not use to the
freedom that your people have.   But there must be a way
out of here.  I've got to find it."

Jacob sighed.  "I need to sleep," he
said.  "Give me your blankets."

Lily did not argue.  She handed Jacob
her blankets, and she took his mummy bag.  Without another
word, Jacob rolled himself in her blankets and fell asleep.

The next morning, Jacob said, "Let's go."

Lily balked at his command.  "Where are
we going?"

"To the Fog.”

By the end of the day, they were barely a
half mile from where Jacob had first encountered the fog.
 Jacob insisted that they stop.  He didn't want to be
closer than this to whatever was in the deadly mist.  He
didn't make a fire.  They ate cold food, and then they lay in
their sleeping gear talking.

“I wonder why the men at the Retreat didn’t
tell us we were surrounded by this mist,” Lily mused.

“Good question.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that you knew about
the Retreat?”

“Didn’t know if I should.  Waited to
talk to the Chief.”

Lily pondered his words.  “You’re very
loyal to him.  Why it that?”

“He’s loyal to me.”

Jacob slept next to Lily that night.
 Lily reflected on the fact that she did not feel disturbed at
having him so close.  She accepted it as a sign that she was
recovering.  She was glad that he was near.  Once again,
she imagined a conversation with a woman from the distant past.

"They are not all like
that,"
the woman would say.
 
"Some will feed you, clothe you, and
protect you, and ask nothing of you in return.  Whatever you
decide to share will be up to you.  Some of them will say it's
because they are decent.  Some will say it's because they are
honorable.  Some will say it's because they are civilized.
 Whatever their reason, they are why our tribe has not just
survived, but has grown stronger."

In the morning, they packed their gear, and
they walked to the fog.  As they approached, Lily stared in
dismay at the dreary brown mist covering the ground.  She
stopped walking, and her eyes filled with tears.  She turned
and walked well back up the road before she sat down, and then she
put her head against her knees and sobbed.

But Jacob was intently
examining the landscape.  He looked at where he was.  He
scanned the land on either side of the road.  He bent down and
studied the ground.  He picked up a large rock and started to
throw it into the fog.  Then he hesitated.
 I’m not alone,
he remembered.
 And besides, throwing the rock would only be an act of
defiance.  He went back to Lily.

"Lily," he said.  When she didn't
respond he said her name louder.

"Lily, it's going down."

Her eyes were bleak and red.  She wasn't
hearing him.

"Lily, listen to me," he urged.  "The
Fog is going down.”

The more he thought about it, the more
excited he felt.

"What," she asked, lifting her head.

"The Fog.  It's not as high as it used
to be.  Last year, you would have been sitting in it."

She rubbed her eyes.  "It's going down?
 It’s receding?”

"Yes, it's going down." Jacob turned and
looked at the edge of the fog along the asphalt.  "It's going
down," he whispered with satisfaction in his voice.

He looked around again.  On either side
of the road there was some reddish brown goo on the ground.
 But grass was growing through it.  He looked up.
 For the first time, he was struck by the fact that the trees
whose trunks disappeared into the fog below, did not seemed to be
dying.  They looked perfectly healthy.