Warm Bodies: The Answer

Something Beyond Logic

We step away from the town briefly here. This chapter was a little bit of a surprise to me, Mark just sort of popped up, but I followed him, and the story took a very intense twist. At the end of this chapter, I was slamming my hand down on the table I was writing near because... well... you'll see.

—-

Mark was done with following the Colonel's plan.

He'd been faithfully sticking to his assigned route along the projected flight path Rowan may have taken when they encountered the storm, and he'd spotted and checked a few wrecks along the way.

But none had belonged to his son, and he no longer believed they were searching in the right place.

The Colonel wanted to make small adjustments, continue in logical broadening increments, and there was a time when that sort of approach was one he could stick with.

But he couldn't do it anymore. They'd been missing for almost six days now. There was no longer any time for being methodical, for being logical.

If he'd had Julie along with him, he'd ask her where Rowan was, and this time he'd listen. And he wouldn't turn around and drag her back to the Colonel like he had that horrible winter. He'd follow her instincts and stay on the trail like a goddamn hound.

That's what he needed right now. An instinct, something beyond logic to pull him like a beacon to his son.

"Claire, I don't know if you're here with me honey, but I could sure use a nudge in the right direction."

The plane did not magically turn its nose, and no voice spoke to him inside his own head, which would have been creepy, but he did get the sense that Claire was there. And it was a huge comfort.

It'd started happening ever since that moment in the garden all those months ago, when he'd found her note with Rowan's help. The note itself, and the strange circumstances surrounding its finding had been enough to make him doubt his own doubt, and the sudden scent of flowers where there were none, had clinched the deal, and he'd started to believe.

Not about everything, mind. He didn't believe in some bearded guy in the sky overseeing everything, didn't believe in Jesus, Buddha, any of the multitudes of Hindu gods, or anything else. He just believed that there was more to life than just life, and left it at that.

It'd do. No need to get complicated. Claire was somewhere, and while he couldn't see her, he could feel her, and that was wonderful enough, at least until he joined her... somewhere.

But he had no plans on doing that any time soon.

At that moment, his eyes turned to the west, to a smaller mountain range on the other side of Mt. Marcy that he was currently above. He turned back, shifting in his seat slightly as he scanned the eastern slope below, for the hundredth time it felt like.

Then, he looked west again.

And wondered why. Why that particularly ridge? There wasn't anything particularly interesting about it, it didn't look much different than those nearby.

So why?

Then his eyes grew wide as he realized.

This was the nudge.

Mark pulled the headset mic to his lips and pressed the comm switch.

"Piper Seven Four Three to Ticonderoga, over."

"Ticonderoga ready, go ahead Mark."

"Ed, current position overhead north slope Mount Marcy. Heading change to 250, over."