A Fork of Paths

Their grotesque features twisted as they made faces at me, as though I was the one responsible for imprisoning them in the tank.

Great, I grumbled to myself. Just the creatures I wanted to be staring at all day.

Ben

I’d followed River off the submarine, stayed close to her in the helicopter, and then accompanied her and Mark to her new room in the hunters’ lair. Throughout the journey, I’d been paying close attention to anything that could possibly give me an idea of where we were. I’d even found myself looking for license plates in case any of them gave me a clue. Frustratingly, none of the vehicles possessed them. Either they were new vehicles still awaiting plates or the hunters had some special pass from the government that didn’t require them to obey laws like everyone else.

I imagined that the impressive facility had also been funded by the government. It all looked brand new—I doubted it had been standing for long. It didn’t take long for me to figure out this was some kind of research center, and this suspicion was only verified once we entered the courtyard filled with a myriad of supernatural creatures.

Now that River was locked in her room, it was time that I left her to have a look around. I guessed that nobody would bother her again for at least an hour, since many of the hunters had just arrived back from a long journey and would probably be busy settling back into their own quarters.

Moving closer to her bed as she leaned against the wall, I couldn’t help but move my lips over her forehead before I left the cell.

I’d tried to pay attention to my surroundings on the way to the courtyard, but this place was winding like a maze. I might get lost if I wasn’t careful. And it wasn’t like I could stop and ask someone for directions. To start with, I remained in the same building as the courtyard, although as it turned out, there wasn’t much else of interest here. Mostly I found large, empty meeting-type rooms with long tables and projectors, and on some of the lower levels, there were what appeared to be hunters’ residential quarters. There were hunters around, but I didn’t find any conversations of relevance to eavesdrop on.

Before passing through to the next building, I decided to explore outside. Something told me that with my unearthly speed, it might be faster than continuing my attempts to eavesdrop. During the flight, I’d been looking out of the helicopter alongside River, hoping to see a nearby town. I hadn’t spotted any, but the windows had been small and provided only limited vision. With hindsight, I should’ve stuck my head right through the wall of the aircraft.

I left the building where River was being kept and headed to the parking lot. Passing the many vehicles, I was most interested in the road that branched off in the far corner of the lot. It wound right through the mountain range. If anything would lead to a town or village, surely this road would.

And so I followed it, racing as fast as I could. It led me through the sprawling mountains, sometimes rising, sometimes descending, and I was beginning to grow impatient to see where it led. I felt nervous about how much time was passing. I had no way of telling the time, but I guessed it had been fifteen minutes. I had already managed to travel so many miles, I’d lost all sight of the hunters’ base up near the peaks. Still, I could see no signs of civilization. Just an endless blanket of snow.

After half an hour, I even considered turning back and returning to my original plan of eavesdropping until I found out the location. I didn’t have time to burn. I didn’t know for sure if the hunters were telling the truth that they didn’t want to kill River, and I wasn’t willing to take the risk. I needed to urgently get help from The Shade.

I was on the verge of turning around and heading back to the hunters’ lair when the universe finally threw me a bone. Looming on the horizon was another road. A much larger road than the one I’d been following. I even spotted a couple of cars trundling along, their metal exteriors glinting in the sunshine. The landscape was also beginning to flatten.

I hurried forward until I reached the road. I looked left and right for a sign post, but saw none. What I did spot, however, about two miles to my right down this highway, was what appeared to be a grand hotel… and as I approached nearer, I realized that it was a ski resort.

“Bluesky Peaks Resort,” read the sign nailed across the large building, complete with the symbol of a pair of skis. A large American flag flowed in the breeze, erected directly in front of the resort. I guessed that meant we were still in the United States. Some comfort at least. I’d feared that we might have traveled further.

Now, I just needed to remember the name of the resort. It wouldn’t be difficult for whoever I found in The Shade to locate it. A simple internet search should bring up the exact location of the place. In fact, as I looked more closely, I noticed a website address nailed in smaller letters just beneath the main sign. Being situated right next to this main highway, it was also close to the road that wound through the mountains to the hunters’ lair. I hadn’t noticed any other roads branching off from that track, so the journey from here should be fairly straightforward.

I committed the name of the resort into my memory, along with the website, and then I didn’t have another moment to lose. I returned to the winding road and followed it all the way back to the hunters’ parking lot.

I needed to turn my thoughts to how the heck I was going to make it back to The Shade in any reasonable amount of time. Jeramiah wasn’t there to play the Pied Piper for me anymore.

But first I wanted to check on River one last time. I had no way of knowing exactly how long I’d be gone, and although I would be even more powerless to help her hundreds of miles away, I needed to see that she was okay before I left. I hurried back to the courtyard and arrived outside her door. But when I peered inside, she was gone.