“Does she go everywhere with you?" I asked, looking at the beautiful animal.
"When I was younger I spent a lot of time wandering through the forests. I wanted to know all of their secrets. That was when I started to learn the value of the things I could find. I got to know the different plants and their uses and how to scavenge from abandoned housing and so on. It meant that I could earn my keep and I liked exploring too.
I found Kaloo when she was very small. She was caught in a hunter's snare. I knew better than to interfere with the poachers but she looked at me with such trust in her eyes that I had to cut her free." He shrugged.
“Like when you saved me," I said, remembering what he had told me about not consciously deciding to save me.
“Right." He smiled at me. "I haven't regretted acting on those instincts yet."
"And she stayed with you then?"
"Yes. She's practically been my shadow ever since, though I'd guess she's saved my life more often than I've saved her's now." He looked at the huge dog fondly. She had her nose to the air, sniffing the wind as it whipped her ears back and forth, looking about as happy as I could imagine a dog could be.
We pulled off of the highway and moved onto smaller and smaller roads. The path wasn't so straight anymore and Alicia set up the GPS to lead her through the twists and turns that our course required. We passed through towns where the people had tried to fight off the encroaching forest. They were barely recognisable now and I only noticed them when I spotted a windmill poking out between the greenery.
"It's no good fighting the forest," Coal said as we passed a building with a huge tree sprouting from inside one of its windows.
"How long did it take to do this kind of damage?" I asked, fascinated.
"The plants are able to take hold within a matter of weeks. After that they just keep growing and growing until there's no choice but to give up. It takes a massive amount of time and energy to hold them back like they do in your city."
"They have special branches of Wardens whose job it is to go out daily and burn everything that grows. They lace the ground with salt from the sea too," Laurie added from the front seat.
"It's much easier to just live alongside it. The world is meant to be lived in, not controlled." He spoke with passion and I agreed with him.
I reached across the seat and took hold of his hand before I could think it through too much. Coal stiffened for a moment and then relaxed, leaving our hands entwined as he looked back outside.
A smile tugged at my lips as I looked out too. There were a lot of things about the outside world that were terrifying, but there were several that were pretty exciting too.
The roads continued to narrow until we were travelling down what amounted to little more than a dirt track. Eventually we reached a place where the trees were too thick to find a route through anymore and the truck rolled to a stop.
"I don't think the truck can go any further," Alicia said from the front seat.
"Okay, it looks like it's time to move on foot from here then," Coal replied, jumping out.
I picked up my pack, opened my door and hopped down. Coal caught me and set me firmly on my feet as I sank several inches into a thick layer of mud, his hands lingering on my waist for an extra moment as my skin tingled at the contact.
"Thanks," I muttered. I hoped he was being polite rather than actually thinking I was so useless that I couldn't make it out of a car unassisted.
“No problem,” he breathed, giving me that cocky grin which said he knew just how much he made my pulse race before he released me.
Big clouds rolled across the sky turning it grey and muting the light beneath the trees. It cast everything in a kind of dim glow.
Hunter pulled up behind us, half of his unit were perched in the truck bed looking distinctly windswept. He hopped out too and strode towards us through the river of mud.
“This is where we part ways. Your GPS will lead you to the bunker. I think you should be able to take a straight route on flat ground for the first few miles but you'll have to go over more difficult terrain from there. We'll head west to start those distractions to draw any Creepers away and meet you back at the edge of an old town over to the east of this area by dawn tomorrow. I've saved its coordinates in your GPS for later," Hunter said. He gave each of us a quick one-armed hug before turning back to his truck, revving the engine and reversing back up the trail. We watched as his truck disappeared before preparing to head on ourselves.
Coal jumped up into the truck bed and quickly handed out fresh bottles of water and some food supplies. While we packed them away, he unfurled a big tarpaulin. It was the same colour as the surrounding forest and textured to look like dead leaves. He spread it over the truck which, when coupled with the camouflage paintwork of the truck itself, made it very hard to spot.
“Let's get going then," Alicia said, holding the GPS out to guide us.
It was so dark under the cover of the trees that Alicia got her flashlight out and flicked it on. We crept forwards, trying not to cause too much disturbance as we advanced closer and closer to the green dot marked on the GPS.
It was a tense journey. We squelched our way forwards through the gloom and I spent time checking my weapons were all in place
and easily accessible.
The shadows between the trees promised of menacing things lurking within but the forest stayed calm around us.