Day 2 (Tuesday, April 26, 2022) Adirondacks, Tupper Lake, New York, United States

Davcina got the north patrol today. He didn’t really care if she caught Ella and was minded to let her go. In fact she really planned to, since walking around in the forest, not having to train excessively and not getting yelled at by Zaidu were all bonuses as far as she was concerned.

The air smelled fantastic. The trees and ground, wet with morning dew spoke to him. She had crèched in Egypt with the others — just outside of Cairo — until she had been sent to New York. And he had never had this chance to roam around in the wild. She felt alive. She saw a small flower and picked it up and tucked it behind her ear

She thought about the past weeks, the fighting the preparations, and the rest. Perhaps she should have been taking high vantage points and searching for Ella but she was just enjoying himself too much.

When she heard the rifle report, she was almost disappointed. And despite her resolution to let this play out, her training and discipline found himself taking step by step, quietly through the wooded area to where she thought the shot had come from. The tall trees had their spring leaves and the undergrowth was minimal.

She kept quiet and moved from cover to cover, stopping to listen. Eventually she was about to give up when he saw the glint of something. A brass cartridge was on the ground. The earth was disturbed, and Ella had been there.

Run Ella, run, she thought. Even knowing she would turn in the casing and give them a triangulation point.

Ella stayed still on the rock. She saw Davcina approach, and Ella clung close to the rock. Ella could hear her, her steps, quietly moving through the forest, closer and closer.

She was moving from cover to cover, Ella could hear the cadence of rapid movement and then pause. Then the footsteps rushed towards her, and she thought she was caught. She could hear Davcina’s breathing as she was directly on the other side of the rock. Ella held her breath.

And then she was off and moving away. Ella held her breath as long as she could and then, what was harder, was slowly taking a breath even though she wanted to gasp for breath.

She stayed frozen and cursing her carelessness. She would have to move. And then she had an idea. A stupid idea. An audacious idea.

That night Ella could see Tauthe and Adra getting ready on the porch of the cabin for night patrol. Smoke poured out from the chimney, and Ella could imagine she could smell food in the air.

She waited and then saw Etana and Davcina head out as well. And she waited.

Then she moved from cover to cover before she got to the cabin. Then she walked right into the door.

“Sir!” she said cheerily to Zaidu who was sitting in a chair by the fire.

“What are you doing here?” he growled.

“Well the others are out, and you said my squad would be the ones hunting me. Not you. So I thought I would come borrow a bit of fire and some food before heading back out. Don’t mind me, just pretend I am not here.”

She walked over to the refrigerator and started piling food into her backpack. Then before she went out, she grabbed the makeshift torch she had made and ran out the door.

She popped her head back in, “Oh sir. Have a good night!”

She ran out and carefully kept the small bit of fire safe and covered as best as possible until she reached her cave where she lit the ready waiting pile of wood. Then she threw open the bag of food and stuffed herself.

She had enough food for another day. But now that she had a fire and some energy, it was time to get serious.

She spent the day creating false trails and camouflaging the cave she was in. She had been luckier than she had expected as the cave had good ventilation for a small fire.

But she needed to ensure her food supply. While she wandered, she marked where she could find edible plants and carefully harvesting a little bit here and there.

Further up the creek, at dusk, she saw a few animals drinking water including that same white stag. Again she froze and slowly unslung her rifle. Raised it up and then pulled the trigger. The small rabbit next to the stag fell over.

And she could swear the stag looked at her reproachingly before bounding off.

Ella went and grabbed her rabbit. It was unfortunately too much gun for a small rabbit, but she salvaged some and took it back and cooked it.

It was chewy and tough, but Ella wasn’t going to take chances and made sure it was well done. Then it was to the creek to wash off. After, she fell asleep feeling good about things.

And woke up the next day to a smell of cucumber and a staccato buzzing noise.