Lia's files 1_Presumed extinct

by Kathrin Kilambya

There! I could see the exit sign ahead now. And still no car visible in the rear mirror. Breaking just a little because the exit lane bent sharply to the right, I took that exit at almost full-speed, and was out of sight of any pursuing car in no time.

  Wow! I had made it! I had actually made it! Incredible! It felt exhilarating.

  Now all I had to do was continuing along this road for about two kilometres until I reached a junction. There I didn’t follow the main road up into the mountains, but took another side road to the right which headed basically back toward where I had come from. This road actually followed along the left side of the gorge I had crossed before and would cross over the highway and then lead all the way to the town of Thun. But I didn’t drive along that road so far.

  My aim was a little barn aside of the road just a few hundred metres down from the junction. We’d come here often as children with Dad because there was a little unused quarry plus the river nearby. Nin and I had been taught how to climb rocks here as well as prospect for stones and minerals.

  But most importantly, Steve didn’t know about any of this! It had been years since we had come here for the last time.

  Steve neither knew about this place nor that I knew this area like the back of my hand. Even after all those years it was all familiar. And the place, I was heading for, should appear any moment now.

  Yes! Here it was. A little barn along the road. Hikers, mushroom-pickers and other out-door people used that spot to park their cars. But there was, if one knew where to look for it, also a little path which started behind the barn and kept going alongside the mountain. That path was just wide enough for a car and I slowly drove into it now. I kept going for about thirty meters and stopped.

  So far, so good! Perfect!

  I reached over for the backpack and slid out of the car, leaving the key in the ignition. Whoever found the car, might as well have it; it was of now use to us anymore. And, we would probably be able to replace it quite easily.

  Bending low in order not to be seen from afar I ran back toward the road, crouched down behind a bush just beside the road.

  Then I listened; and listened. But hard as I tried, I couldn’t hear anything. I heard some birds, yes; and the nearby river, yes; but no sound of a car, not even from afar.

  It took me about five minutes to gather up the courage to leave my cover and cross the road to the other side. Then I ran along the road to a little tree about twenty meters away. There, I knew, a small path started and descended toward the gorge and the river. If I followed it and took a little deer path at the right place I would be able to traverse back along the river, direction home; completely unseen by anyone. Of course, it would have been easiest to walk along the road. But I didn’t dare, it was too obvious and there was no cover. But the footpath and deer pass through the forest, along the upper edge of the gorge were a perfect disguise. No-one could see me from the main road. Unless one knew this area inside out there was no way one could guess my whereabouts.

  It would take me about an hour to hike through this forest. Then I would have to get up to the road and cross it to reach another stretch of forest. That second forest actually bordered with the highway and I knew a way to walk under cover of its trees all the way to the western outskirts of Thun. There I would once again have to cover open country – but I planned to get there later in the afternoon, when it would be getting dark and I would be able sneak passed this area under cover of darkness.

  Afterwards it would be easy-peasy. Just a walk of about twenty-five kilometres down along the river Aare, all through forest and mostly far away from any inhabited area.

  I hurried on as fast as I could. Nervously, I paused every now and then to listen, long and hard. But I never heard anything, only the sounds of the forest, the river. It was a very strange feeling, because the last times we’d been here there had always been the noise of the nearby highway, the road or even of a passing train.

  Never before had I encountered such a silence here! Only now that the adrenalin rush of before had abated somewhat, could I start thinking about what had happened and what this silence meant. There was no-one out here, absolutely no-one!! They must all be dead or in hiding somewhere. Incredible! Inconceivable! Yet true.

  I nervously tightened the facial mask I still wore. Maybe a silly move, but it afforded at least a tiny protection from that pathogen. Could this thing still be around? It was nineteen days since the onslaught by the Nemesis had begun. So, according to Josh whatever pathogen had been deployed here should by now no longer be effective. Or shouldn’t it? Ah, well. No use wondering. I would find out soon enough, wouldn’t I? Either, I would stay healthy and make it, or I would get sick and die. As simple as that.

  After a bit over an hour, I hit upon the hiking path heading up to the road, just as I had remembered. I briskly walked along it; ever more nervous now because I was approaching the road again now. But every time I stopped to listen, I could discern no other sounds than the ones of the forest, the nearby river. Still, I checked and double-checked more often now. I looked back almost every twenty meters, getting really nervous the farther up the hill and the nearer to the road I came. I was hot from walking fast and up the hill now. I had wrapped my jacket around my hips, but I could feel sweat running down my back. Nevertheless, I hurried on.

  I would soon have to cross the main road and traverse about five hundred meters of rather open terrain. When I had planned all this, it had been this stretch of way which had been the most difficult to envisage. I had thought up ways to go around it. But there was no alternative. This was the best and shortest way. I’d just have to be fast, cover that open stretch as quickly as possible, and hope for the best.

  As I kept walking, I wondered where Steve could be by now. Had he already realized that things weren’t going as he had thought? If he had gone all the way to Grindelwald, thinking we were heading there, he should by now have arrived there. How long before he realized that we weren’t there? And what would he do then? Eventually, he would probably go back to our house in Muri. But I hoped that this wouldn’t happen too soon. Unless he was super clever, which I knew he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have a clue as to where we really were.

  Still, I couldn’t be totally sure. There remained that margin of doubt. Maybe I had miscalculated. Therefore, when I reached the road, I paused by the side of it for at least ten minutes. Again listening very hard, trying to discern anything unusual, before I gathered up the courage to cross the road and start running along that open stretch toward the little forest.

  I was halfway across when I heard the airplane.

  I panicked and tried to run even harder, gasping desperately for air. While running, I couldn’t discern which direction the plane came from. Which only added to my panic. Was it possible that that plane was heading for me? Had they found out! So quickly!

  By the time I reached the first bushes and finally found cover, panting and completely exhausted, a little plane flew over. It headed straight over me! It wasn’t circling or anything, but headed straight over me, coming from a north-westerly direction and heading south toward the mountains. It quickly disappeared from view, even though I could still hear it for quite a while.

  Trembling with relief, I lay back in the grass. Exhausted and completely stressed out. My entire body was shaking and I took me ages to calm down my jagged breathing. All the while, my thoughts were racing.

  Who was in that plane? If not Steve or some one of his lot, then who? Where were they going? Would they turn back and come this way? If they weren’t Nemesis, did that mean that there were other people alive out there? What did this all mean?

  I remained under the cover of the trees and debated with myself whether I should go on or wait some more. But before I had reached a conclusion, I heard a second plane approaching! Much faster than the first one! It flew over me before I had time to think. It was much bigger than the first one. And it headed exactly the same direction. As if it was following the other plane. Was it? Was this a
chase? Was the first airplane trying to get away? And this second one was pursuing it? If so, I hoped whoever was in that first plane would make it and get away!

  I remained where I was for quite a while; forever listening, trying to hear whether something, someone was approaching. And my ears or my brain were playing tricks on me. Every now and then I thought I had heard something, only to find that it wasn’t, just noise in my ears.

  Finally, after about half an hour, I worked up enough courage to proceed and headed into the forest. Nervous like hell and jumping at every sound, I walked as fast as I could. There was no path to follow yet, but I knew the general direction and headed forward.

  Under the cover of the trees I soon felt securer, less exposed and began to relax again. I still paused every now and then, checking in every direction for anything unusual, but I never heard or saw anything. There was just silence, some birds, the rustling of leaves when birds hopped around on the ground. But there was absolutely nothing indicating the presence of humans. It was both a relief and daunting as well.

  I kept going, making good progress and by 4 o’clock in the afternoon I traversed another tarmac road which led from a village to the West of Thun all the way into Thun. It meant that I had to leave the cover of the forest now.

  Ahead lay a relatively open terrain scattered with bushes – part of a military training ground. I had to cross it. But the bushes afforded enough cover and it would soon be getting dark. I would wait here, until it was entirely dark, which should be in about half an hour.

  Meanwhile I scanned my surroundings, scrutinizing everything carefully.

  It was scary. Like hell.

  Even though I knew there were many houses, part of a town just ahead of me, I couldn’t see much. No lights burning anywhere; neither street lights, nor lights in houses. Nothing. Just the dark outlines of buildings.

  I had never encountered such utter and complete darkness. It really was creepy. And utterly frightening.

  I had never liked to be alone in the darkness, but to be alone here now, in this darkness which had only some few days ago been full of life, light and people, really scared me.

  And soon I must walk along those houses. Not for a very great distance, but still. It was another kilometre or so before I would reach the banks of the river Aare. Gathering up whatever courage I had left, which at the moment wasn’t much, I hurried forward, trying to walk as silently as I could. But my footsteps still sounded far too loud to me and I stopped several times because I thought I had heard something. But there was never anything. So, heart pounding, I walked on.

  I had covered about one hundred metres along the houses, when I noticed the smell. A faint, but unmistakeable smell. The sickly sweet stench of rotting flesh!

  It almost made me panic. The thought of coming upon dead bodies here in this creepy darkness really freaked me out. I was almost hyper-ventilating now! This was ten times worse than running from Steve. If I came across a dead person now, I wouldn’t know what to do! I felt so alone.

  Stop it! This instant! Get a grip on yourself. Now! Alice! Think of Alice! And Yuki and Nin! Stay focused.

  I didn’t say the words out loud, but they helped me nonetheless. Mostly the thought of Alice. She needed me. I had to get to her. I had to walk on.

  And so I forced myself to go on, but not before I had retrieved the night-visions goggles from my backpack. To pack them had been a smart move. It was so dark now that I could barely see ten metres ahead. I put the goggles on and the scene around me rapidly changed! I could suddenly clearly see the outlines of the houses, the line of trees I must follow, the little road alongside which I had to walk; and no, nothing else. It was all eerily green and smudged somewhat, but at least I could see now where I was going.

  Relieved, I hurried on. Sometimes the stench grew stronger, then again it was hardly detectable, but it never quite disappeared. And with it my fear. But, thankfully, I happened onto no gruesome scene, no bodies.

  What I could hear, though, from a distance was dogs barking. Several dogs. Actually it sounded like quite many.

  Shit!!!

  The direction of the barking changed. So they weren’t locked up somewhere, but were roaming free. I didn’t need this! Checking the wind, I was relieved to discover that I was downwind from them. To encounter a pack of stray dogs probably in search of food, was really something I could do without! Thankfully, the dogs seemed to be further toward town, not in my immediate neighbourhood. And judging from their barking, they were heading away from me. Good!

  By now, I had almost reached the end of the houses and could see the forest ahead. I had to cross some railway tracks here, but that was easy. Another thirty metres or so and I had reached the forest and could hear the nearby river Aare.

  Now, all I had to do was walking along this river downstream for about twenty-five kilometres and I would be home. That easy.

  At some point I would have to cross over to the other bank of the river. I was now on the left bank, our house stood above the right bank. But there were two bridges along the way and I planned to cross over at the railway bridge about five kilometres downstream.

  That would be tomorrow.

  For now it was safer to walk on the left side of the river because it was very sparsely populated. In fact, there were no houses on this side of the river until shortly before that railway bridge. I decided that I would rest for the night somewhere in the woods before the bridge.

  This meant another hour or so of walking. And I felt the long day by now. I wanted to sit down and rest, but I could still here the dogs in the far and didn’t feel safe here. So I kept on walking.

  Had it not been for my night-vision goggles I wouldn’t have dared to walk along here. It was so dark I couldn’t see a thing without the goggles. On the right bank of the river were houses, a whole little village in fact, but there were absolutely no lights anywhere to be seen! Neither near, nor far. Not even from the direction of the city of Thun or the nearby hills where houses and villages were. Nothing. It was pitch-black all around. Incredible! Scary!

  I kept glancing about me and it felt spookier by the minute. I had to force myself to keep walking because all I wanted now was to hide somewhere, under a tree, in a bush, remain motionless and wait for daylight. But I must keep on going; it wasn’t time to rest yet. Another hour to go and I could find a safe place for the night.

  And so I walked on, tired, scared and exhausted; I urged myself to set one foot in front of the other and keep walking. Thinking about Alice, and Yuki, and Nin. That helped. A little. Enough to keep me going.

  It was around 8 o’clock at night when I finally reached the stretch of forest where I planned to stay for the night. I left the path and looked around for a place to sit down and rest.

  I didn’t have to walk far. Just a few dozen metres from the path, I found a big pine tree with little bushes growing almost all around it. A perfect little shelter. Even should it rain, the pine tree and the bushes would provide cover from the rain. Perfect! Just what I had been looking for. And the broad stem of the pine tree looked invitingly. I crawled under its branches and huddled up to the tree trunk.

  I sat there for a while, just enjoying the fact that I didn’t have to walk anymore and, of course, listening hard again for any unusual sounds.

  Now that I sat still and didn’t move myself, I could hear all the many sounds of the night. Rustling in the undergrowth, several times the cracking of branches made me jerk my head around. Probably just some deer. I told myself. And not close by either. So, there was nothing to worry about. Right?

  I put on my jacket and unpacked the sleeping bag from the backpack, wrapping it around myself. The warmth felt wonderful! The jacket had a hood, but I didn’t pull it up over my ears, despite feeling cold, because this would muffle the sounds. And I needed to hear, to listen for anything that might mean danger.

  I had also packed some food: dried fruit, some granola bars, some apple and bread. And two bottles of water. I drank
a little now and ate even less, lifting the face mask as little as I could. I wasn’t hungry, just exhausted, both physically and mentally.

  And as I sat there in the dark, in the cold of this spring night, I wondered about Alice, Yuki and Nin. It was the first time since when I’d left them in the morning that I allowed my thoughts to wander to them. I hoped that they were okay, that Nin had not been too angry at Yuki. That he could be happy knowing he’d be a father soon. I really hope for that! Nin would worry, of course he would. But I hoped that he could enjoy the idea of fatherhood, too.

  And Alice, little Alice! Had she managed to overcome the shock of having to see me leave?

  Please, please let her be okay!

  Though Yuki and Nin were perfectly capable of looking after her, I worried that she might feel I had abandoned, even betrayed her. Did she understand why I had had no choice? Would she forgive me? How I wished I could be with them!

  You just have to keep on walking through the night and you’ll be there by morning. You could be with them by tomorrow morning.

  But it wasn’t safe. I had to wait and see what Steve would do. Once he realized that we weren’t in Grindelwald, he would probably return to our house to search for clues where we’d gone. And then I must be there and see what he’d do. Only afterwards would it be safe for me to approach the house and get back into the sub-basement.

  The sound of braking branches nearby made me start violently. My heart pounding I put on the night-vision goggles again. Only two deer! About twenty metres away. They stood still now, having been startled by my sudden movements. I watched as they slowly moved away, then I took the goggles off. No way could I sleep with them on. Huddling to the tree and wrapping the sleeping bag close, I tried to calm down and catch some sleep. I couldn’t really sleep. I was too frightened, too wound up for that. The cold, the darkness, that horrible, utter darkness, made me jerk awake every now and then, heart pounding, because I had, or thought I had heard something.

  But I finally nodded off to an uneasy, fitful sleep.