Jeff Hirsch - The Darkest Path

“We’ll have to go on foot again if we want to cross. You up for it?”

Bear curled around and began to chew at his paw. I tried to take a look but he snatched away with a throaty growl. I looked out the window, imagining the hard miles lying out there in the dark.

“As soon as we’re across the border, we’ll find a place to lay up for a while,” I said, rubbing his ears. “Okay? And once we’re home, it’s feather beds and steak dinners. I promise.”

Bear stood up and stretched, which I decided to take as an okay. I opened the door slow, sure a rusted hinge would be as good as a thunderclap out here in the middle of nowhere. Bear clambered out, his metal tags tinkling when he hit the ground. I knelt down beside him.

“Better do something about that too, I guess.”

I undid his collar and stuffed it in my pocket. Free of it, Bear shook himself out vigorously, then sniffed his way across the road. I collected the bag Wade had packed for us, then stopped and looked back in the cab. Wade’s shotgun lay on the seat, black as a snake. I didn’t know what was coming, but I could still feel the kick of Quarles’s revolver. I hated the hot violence of the thing. I shut the door and left it behind.

I led us about a mile north of the roadway and then turned east, moving as fast as I could while staying low and quiet. Bear moved along beside me, his dark coat making him nearly invisible. As soon as we were within sight of the checkpoint, I hit the ground, and Bear followed suit. The blockade consisted of two Humvees on each side of the road. I belly-crawled to get a better look.

There were two soldiers currently outside manning the gate, one facing out to Fed territory, the other watching the Path side. I was pretty sure there were more soldiers than the ones I was seeing, probably doing patrols out on either side of their position. The only thing to do was get as far from the roadway as possible and cross where the land went rocky and uneven.

I crawled to Bear and together we headed north. Once we were a couple miles from the road, I stopped and listened. Not a sound. I turned east, heading toward the border. A half mile or less and we’d be in Fed land. Not home free, but a good sight closer. I felt a racing excitement build in my chest. No more Path, no more running, no more—

Footsteps sounded in the dark.

Bear turned toward them but I pulled him to the ground and clamped a hand over his muzzle. The footsteps grew louder until I saw the faint outline of a sentry making his way down the line toward the roadway. He was about thirty feet from us and closing fast. If we kept still, I thought there was a good chance he’d walk right by.

The sentry moved to within twenty feet of us, then ten. Then five. I could hear his breathing and the crunch of his boots on the sand. Bear struggled in my arms. I cursed myself for removing his collar. I tried to hold him down but with only one good hand I couldn’t stop him as he wriggled himself free and shot away.

The guard reacted immediately, lifting his weapon and turning in our direction. I wanted to scream at Bear to stop, but a single word from me and we’d both be dead.

“Who’s there?”

The sentry barely got the words out before Bear leapt up at him, panting and wagging his tail.

“Hey, fella, what are you doing out here?”

And just like that, the guard was down on one knee, with Bear jumping all over him. I dropped my head into the dirt.

“Anybody else out here with you?”

It would be only seconds before the sentry stopped being distracted by Bear and started searching. The guard post was out of sight, two or more miles away. A low hill stood between us and them.

“Yeah,” I said, easing up off the ground with my hands up. “I’m with him.”

The guard pushed Bear away and snapped his rifle up in my direction.

“Whoa!” I said, keeping my voice down as much as I could. “Wait a second. No harm here. Just me. I’m unarmed.”

“On your knees,” he ordered.

I did as I was told, careful to keep my hands up where he could see them. Bear left the sentry’s side and bounded over to me, looking up at me with a panting grin like he couldn’t believe his luck finding us a new playmate. I swore that if we lived through this, the first thing I was doing was buying him a leash.

“What are you doing out here?”

“Camping,” I said. “Me and my dad, we’re back that way a few miles. Bear here ran off and I was just looking for him.”

“Ain’t a very smart place to be camping, kid.”

“I know,” I said, forcing a nervous laugh. “Me and Dad, we were never outdoorsy or anything. But Hill says men of the Path should be resourceful and self-sufficient in all weathers and landscapes. We’re trying to do our part. Didn’t mean to cause any problems. Honest.”

The soldier tipped the barrel of his weapon up. “Okay, hands behind your back.”

“But I said—”

“I don’t care what you said. We’ve got reports of an escapee traveling with a dog.”

“Escapee? No, I told you I’m just—”

The sentry placed the cold O of his weapon’s barrel squarely on my forehead. Bear growled, low and deadly sounding.

“Hands behind your back,” he repeated. “And if the dog jumps, he’s getting one in the chest.”

“Okay. Okay.” I slowly lowered my hands, pausing only to draw one down Bear’s back. “Shhh. It’s okay. We’re fine. Okay?”

Bear glanced at me and then the sentry. His growl eased.

“We’re all fine.”

I put my hands behind my back as the guard slid around me. He pulled out a zip tie and I winced as he bound my right wrist tight to my cast. Once he was done, the sentry reached for his radio. This was it. If he called us in, we were as good as dead. I slipped one foot underneath me, ready to push off, but the sentry stood motionless in front of me, his hand on the mic, poised to key the transmitter. What was he doing?

The sentry dropped the radio and then sank to his knees, his arms raised over his head. A dark figure appeared behind him, a rifle in his hands, the barrel pressed into the back of the sentry’s skull.

“Let’s take it easy,” the sentry said. “I’ve got backup just down the line. Way more than you can handle, so just—”

Before he could finish, the man smashed his rifle’s stock into the back of the sentry’s head, just under his helmet. The sentry collapsed in front of me, and Bear barked wildly as four more soldiers appeared out of the darkness.

“Mark, shut that dog up,” someone whispered. “Now.”

The one with the rifle advanced on Bear and I threw myself at him, slamming my chest into his side and knocking him face-first to the ground. His knife shot away into the dark and then Bear was after him, snarling.

A gun barrel dug into my temple. “Call him off. Now.”

“Bear, get back.”

Bear turned, his lips revealing a row of sharp teeth.

“It’s okay,” I said, and nodded him away. Bear looked up at the soldiers beside me and backed off with a growl.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?”

It was a woman’s voice. No. Not a woman. A girl. Were these Fed soldiers?

“I… I’m camping,” I said. “With my father. Whatever you’re doing is none of my business. Just cut me loose and let me go. You’ll never see me again.”

The collapsed soldier’s radio squawked and a voice emerged, full of static. “Wolf Three, this is Den. We heard something up your way. Confirm contact. Over.”

There was a pause and then the barrel fell away from my temple, allowing me to turn and see my captors. There were four of them, but they weren’t soldiers. It was three boys and a girl. All about my age. The girl carried a sawed-off shotgun. All the boys were looking to her as the radio sounded again.