"How long have we been walking?" I asked. Derek stopped and checked his watch.
"Three hours. I think we have a break now and a snack and we travel another four hours before we camp. Ok?" Derek said peeling the backpack off his back.
I feel like I have hit my head who is this sensible, calm talking person. Where is Derek?
I must have been staring as he looked at me he laughed. Derek laughed. What the hell!!
"Flamingo" was all he said and everything clicked.
"Custard" I said knowing now I was with an academy member. I walked up to him and hit him hard. His head slammed to the side as he fell back.
"What was that for?" Derek screeched.
"For scaring the shit out of me. Now let's go" I said placing my hand on my hips. Derek shook his head and we headed off.
My feet ached but I circled my shoulders and stretched my arms. As much as this hike was hard I relished in the hard work towards possible freedom.
"There is some water in that direction we'll stop once we find it" Derek said I continued to follow him until we discovered a small stream.
He laid out the backpack and passed me a water. "Use that and then fill it from the stream" he said.
I took some sips and sat on a nearby rock. Derek pulled a small tent and sleeping bag from the backpack. We worked together sorting the tent and then Derek gave us a banana and crackers each.
"There is a limited amount of food. We're not setting a fire it was alert someone. Do you want the first watch?" He asked.
"Yes I'm not ready for sleep" he nodded and disappeared in the tent. I found a spot with my back to a tree and the tent in sight as I sat back to accumulate to my surroundings.
It was chilly but I welcome the cool breeze keeping me alert. There was small sounds of woodland animals but noting to warn of big animals or humans.
After a couple of hours movement came from the tent Derek nodded. He disappeared behind a tree and I heard him relive himself. He came back around and pointed at tent.
I moved slowly and quietly to the tent. Taking off my jacket I curled under the sleeping bag and went to sleep quickly for a change.
I woke to the sounds of birds and a little bit of peace in my soul. I stretched and rolled up the sleeping bag. Pulling on my jacket I exited the tent.
Derek moved to me and passed me crackers half an apple. We ate in silence and then packed the tent and removed as much evidence as we could that we had been there.
We started walking again. The scenery changed slightly as we walked but the blanket of trees was anything but warming. We had one break before walking again and only stopped as dusk approached.
After setting camp and erecting the tent Derek wanted to climb a tree to gauge our whereabouts. After arguing for quite some time Derek agreed to let me climb. I took my time but got very high. Looking over the canopy there wasn't much to see.
To the east was mountain range and most everywhere else were trees. I made my way down slowly and once I got to the bottom I relay my findings to Derek.
He agreed we were far enough to build a fire. We collected fire wood and Derek left me to build the fire as he went to hunt. Once I had the fire going I found some stones for the edging and went to find more wood.
I was proud of the fire with a good stack of wood nearby. I heard someone approaching and hid just in case. Derek approached dragging what looked like a boar.
"Pria?" he whispered and I came from behind the tree. "This little chap volunteered himself for dinner when the little fucker attacked me" I chuckled.
"Any injuries I asked" I asked.
"No I'll skin him and if we roast as much meat we'll have a meal for tomorrow and then we need to bury the carcass and as much blood as we can" he explained.
I left him to sort out the boar as I went to the backpack and found one frying pan. I also found a few potatoes, carrots and onion. I took one potato and one carrot and the onion. After chopping these I waited for the meat to be ready.
The food was delicious. I left the remainder of the meat cooking slowly as Derek went to clean up the boars remains. Once the meat was cooked I moved it off the heat. Finding some plastic bags in the back pack I put them to one side for the meat later.
Derek returned and cleaned himself as much as possible. He again took the first sleep but not before warning me to get the meat away as soon as possible. I told him I had cleared it away I would put the backpack in the tree and I may sit in one myself. He seemed pleased with this information. Although the man didn't speak much.
I sat in the tree the familiar noises surrounding me. I let myself drift to memories of my boys and it was hard. Harder than I realised to remember happy times when your physically and mentally lost.
I thought about my Dad's and I knew that they would be worried but at least Jacob would have both his parents around. We really were lucky with Derek and Gerry. They weren't just amazing parents i was proud of the men that they were. Jacob and I had the best role models.
I shifted in my seat noting the sounds again and nothing changed. I pulled my coat further around me. It was definitely colder up here.
I heard a rustling noise and kept my eyes pierced at the ground below. I looked to see a small deer sniffing to the rear of the tent. I found a small enough twig in reach and grabbed for it. Throwing it in the direction of the deer it heard the noise and bolted.
The next few hours brought nothing new. No new sounds or visitors. It was agony forcing my thoughts away from home. I would focus on surviving.
I watched as Derek came out of the tent and started searching from me. I moved down the couple of branches and approached Derek. I pointed out the backpack and went to the tent. Sleep was easier in the forest. Exhausted from walking and keeping alert so much ensures my sleep was dream free.
I woke to my foot being shaken. I looked up at Derek who nodded "I've a small fire and a little coffee for a treat" he said before disappearing.
That made me move. I tidied the tent and exited to the most delicious smell. We ate a little of the cold meat and banana.
We tidied our campsite moving leaves about to try and cover any signs we had been there. Derek confirmed where the mountains were. He said we needed to head in that direction as north to the mountains was a clearing and we should be able to find another backpack on the clearing edges. This backpack had a sat phone that meant we could call for help.
It took us another two nights before being close to the mountain. We found a waterfall and lake near to the foot of the mountain where we set camp. We managed to kill a deer and were currently sat around the campfire eating.
"So how long have you been with Pierre?" I asked Derek. He looked at me and stood taking his dirty pots. I placed the rest of the deer meet to cook slowly at the side of the fire with the last potatoes and carrots.
Derek returned took my pots and I put some water in the frying pan to make some coffee. As Derek came back I handed him a coffee and settled against a tree.
"I've been with Pierre just over a year. It's been difficult building enough evidence he is meticulous with hiding his trail. We've manage to infiltrate many of his connections but I had to stay until we had enough on him" he sighed and rubbed his face.
"What happened the explosion wasn't academy" I said.
"No it was Igor. He had decided he wanted you and Pierre had stopped him killing Carmel or Kaylie as we know her. Pierre wanted to torture information from her but Igor has left her unfit to do that so it changed Pierre plans. So Igor was pissed. I had overheard him saying tonight was the night. I went to warn Pierre but couldn't find him when the explosion happened. A lot of the guests were planted by Igor" he explained.
"Did you manage to secure the evidence?" I asked.
"Yes it's already with the academy. They were due to invade just as Igor had his hissy fit" he said.
"If academy was due why did we run?" I asked.
He looked at me his eyes hard "Pierre was going underground. He would have taken us with him and academy would not have found us" he said.
"Wouldn't it be better for us to have taken down Pierre" I asked.
"Yes but I didn't have chance to cover my tracks enough. It was Pierre or you. Without me around you Pierre would have put one of his other guards on your protection. They aren't academy and you would have had a much worse experience" he explained.
I swallowed thinking how lucky I had been with Derek.
"I have sent plans to the academy about all of Pierre's safe houses. There is also one more contact he has and it's someone at the academy. I have to now have faith they will find them both. Our aim is to get out of here safely and then we can help the search with the information we have. Ok" his look was much warmer now but I saw the pain in his eyes. I imagined he had to do lots of awful things to have gained Pierre confidence.
"Yes. Thank you" it seemed all I could say.