Gateways by Aer-ki Jyr (world of reading txt) 📕

make him backtrack again as he raced the snowstorm to get to the bottom.

He didn’t win, but he did make it into the trees as the snow started to blow, and he found a large one that he pushed the snow away from the base of, piling it up in a wall on either side in a V-shape with the trunk at the center. In the triangular clearing he set up his tent and dove inside as the heavy snow began to pile up…then reached a cup back out to scoop some in before sealing his tent up for what would probably be another few hours.

Darren warmed the snow with his heater, refusing to burn more calories to do it with his finger, and added some chocolate-flavored powder that was very high in sugar. He mixed it in and sucked it down slowly after it was warm enough, feeling both the heat and the calories as a welcome relief.

He had 3 packets left, 8 ration bars, and 4 vitamin bricks. Two days, he guessed, if he spaced them out. Then he’d be out of fuel and couldn’t keep walking very far on the limited fat stored in his body.

Darren checked his direction finder again, wondering if it was broken, but it kept pointing the same direction up this valley and across it. Wherever he was going, he needed to get there soon.

After the snow stopped falling he climbed out, having to push it off the door as he’d gotten not one foot, but at least two feet of new snow on top of what was already there.

“Shit,” he said, knowing that was going to make the travel even slower and more energy consuming, but there was only one way to go now, and that was forward, so he packed up his tent and began climbing through the hip-deep snow as he luckily descended through the forest.

When he got to the bottom he followed the valley without getting in the center where there might be a river, and got to a thinner area of snow where he decided to try and cross…which apparently had not been an original idea, for he found fresh tracks in the snow going across that very spot.

Fresh tracks and a breakthrough into the water, which told him where not to step. He came up to the hole, saw it was only a few inches deep, and gathered himself for a jump across. His legs were tired, but he managed the two legged hop to the other side, hearing the ice crunch underneath his feet on landing, but apparently there was no water beneath.

He followed in the tracks, wondering whose they were, as they were headed where his direction finder was pointing him…but they’d come from over the ridgeline here, meaning whoever this was had been deposited not in the exact area as him, but close.

Darren couldn’t feel anyone yet, but as he made better time using the other person’s tracks, eventually he felt one of his brothers up ahead. He didn’t have telepathy yet, but he could sense them regardless. Not a name, just a sort of buzz that he felt whenever around them but not the trainers, and it only worked if they were within 300 meters or so.

He accelerated his pace, not caring about calories right now, and tried to catch up enough to see who was ahead of him. Fortunately that person also sensed him and stopped, with him finally seeing the hooded figure of Neiva waving at him in a snow drift as high as her chest.

“Hey!” she shouted, walking back a few steps then waiting on him.

“Hey!” he said, partially out of breath as he caught up and put his hands on his knees for a moment. “You’re the first I’ve seen.”

“Same here,” she said. “How long have you been following me?”

“Since the water,” he said, looking down towards her feet. “You soaked?”

“Yes, damn it. And I’m hungry enough without having to use Rensiek again. How are you with food?”

“Not much left. Two days tops.”

“Better than me. I’ve got a day’s left. Did they tell you where we were going?”

“Nope. Total silence. They just said follow the direction finder.”

“Same. At least we can make tracks for each other now. Care to take a turn?”

Darren starred at her warily. “I just ran to catch up to you.”

“Oh, right. You want to take a break?”

“Can’t if you’ve only got a day of food left. Keep going and I’ll switch out when I get my strength back.”

“Deal,” she said, turning and plowing into the drift, punching through part of it until she got to the other side and the snow was only knee deep. “No joke about me falling in the water?”

“I did the first day. Been scanning the low areas with Pefbar ever since.”

“I didn’t even think to. I’ve been on the peaks the whole time.”

“Really? How’d you get by the gaps?”

“I jumped. They weren’t that big.”

“Mine were. And Pefbar only lets you know where the water is, not where the ice will break. Are your feet freezing?”

“Trying not to think about it. I was hoping the physical effort of moving through the snow would warm them, but I think I’m going to have to use Rensiek pretty soon.”

“Don’t wait too long. Actually, stop,” he said, kicking the snow aside to make a small gap behind her. “Take your shoes off and I’ll get the water out of them. You do your socks.”

“And stand in the snow? No thanks.”

“One foot at a time then. The water will soak up heat from your Rensiek and waste it.”

“Good point,” she said, pulling up her right foot and sticking it in front of him. “All yours.”

Darren knelt down and pulled her shoe off, then her sock as she stood on one