There were no more objections to Blake's plan, so we packed up the camp site. Blake, Nikki, and I carried the large backpacks that held all of our supplies, while Eve and Corvus slung guns over their backs.
Eve wore a black sniper rifle, which was more than half her height, and Corvus wore the black carbine I saw earlier. They looked like savages as they walked off into the woods with their backs facing me. I, on the other hand, was no more powerful than a schoolchild as I tagged along with my oversized backpack in tow.
Although we brought my magazines with us, Blake said we had no room for my gun, so he just stuck it under a bush. It seemed like a pretty terrible idea to me, but I didn't see the need to argue about it.
Hoodsdale was a few miles west of Mt. Hood. I knew that we were somewhere on the base of the mountain and still, more or less, on the west side. I didn't know why Blake wanted to go to Portland but figured it couldn't have been much more than 30 miles away. It wouldn't take very long to get there, so why had he been emphasizing how gradual our route was going to be, as if the journey was going to take weeks?
I accelerated, aiming for Blake in hopes of asking him a few questions, but Nikki beat me to it. Eve and Corvus lagged a ways behind, and I just slid in behind Blake to wait my turn.
"What'd that guy say to you?" Nikki hissed.
"I already told you what he said," Blake answered softly.
Nikki still wasn't back to her usual self–at least, her usual self as I knew it. "What are you not telling us?"
"I told you everything," he replied. "I don't speak on hypotheses, so there's nothing else for me to say."
I couldn't see Blake's expression from where I was positioned, but I could imagine the calm, almost amused look that he must have been wearing.
Nikki glanced over her shoulder and, when she saw me walking within earshot, flashed a wide smile and slowed to my side, leaving Blake alone in the lead.
"Sorry you have to deal with this, Jelani," she said sincerely. "All this stress right after we first met."
"Oh, no," I replied, surprised at her apology. "I don't mind. I'm enjoying myself right now."
Her expression lit up. "Really??"
"Yeah."
"You're not lying??"
"Uhh, no. I'm not."
She looked about ready to throw her arms around me again, but Blake interrupted us when he turned and said, "You probably have no idea what's going on, Jelani, so I'll give you a little explanation."
Nikki did, in fact, put an arm around my shoulder as she walked me up to Blake's side. "Here!" she exclaimed. "Try to get as much as you can out of the boss!"
I blinked in confusion as she released me and turned around, probably going back to talk to the other two, although I imagined any conservation with them would end up being one-sided.
"What do you know about the elements, Jelani?" Blake asked abruptly, not ever turning in my direction.
"Huh?" I blurted. "Uhh, quite a bit, I think."
My life in Russon hadn't been entirely in vain. "You said you'd give me an explanation, but all I'm really wondering about is why you want to go to Portland."
Blake looked at me. "If you know that much about the elements, you should be able to answer that question yourself."
"Well, I'm assuming you want elements. They're way more common in former cities, right?" I looked at him for confirmation, and he nodded his head gently.
"But why so suddenly?" I continued. "I know you gave some reasons to Eve, but I agree with her–it doesn't make any sense."
Blake and I came to a softly trickling creek, no more than a thin, winding line of glistening water on the forest floor.
As he stepped over it, Blake explained, "My reasons are better than you think. I've wanted to go to Portland for a long time, and your arrival has given us an opportunity."
"I know you mentioned that," I said, following him over the stream. "Something about me getting stronger, but are you guys really lacking strength? After yesterday, it's hard for me to believe that."
"If you know about the prevalence of elements in former cities, then you must also know about the dangers. It's not easy to walk into Portland. It requires careful preparation." He spoke in a low voice, as if he was afraid of being overheard.
I knew what he was talking about. "Yeah, I've heard about that," I said, "but it can't be worse than an army, can it?"
"Did you think your army was anything special?" I'd almost known Blake was going to ask that as soon as my previous sentence had left my lips.
"No, I didn't," I conceded. "So you want to take a long route so that I'm able to contribute once we actually get there?"
This time, he didn't nod or even look at me, so I assumed his answer was a yes and continued. "But did you make up that story about someone hunting us?"
"No, I told you exactly what that stranger told me."
We continued on in silence, apart from the scraping sound of thin pine branches against our bodies as we bushwacked through the dense forest. Eventually, though, we came to an area where the trees thinned. Not only that, but the typical short, narrow pines were replaced with thick, tall ones. It was an unnaturally sudden shift, and the trees felt a little too spaced out.
"This is because of the elements, isn't it?" I asked Blake as I looked around, although I already knew what the answer was going to be.
Blake ran his hand over the rough, mossy bark on one of the trees as we passed it by. "Yes. I'd guess this was once a farm, 30 years ago."
"Why here? Why on a farm?" I had a guess at the reason for this as well, but I wanted to hear what Blake had to say.
"In places where a significant amount of the natural wildlife was wiped out, the elements come to life–at least, that's the general consensus. Farmlands fall into that category, although they aren't particularly dangerous."
"How do you know so much?" It was the question I'd been dying to ask.
He smiled as he exhaled, almost like a little snort of laughter. "I was a researcher of the elements. That was my job."
Fun job, I thought enviously.
"Where'd you live?" I asked, eager to hear more. Maybe it was a line I shouldn't have crossed.
The smile left his lips. "Blackpool," was the answer he gave softly.
I stopped dead in my tracks. Maybe it was just the massive backpack I'd been carrying, but my body felt 50 pounds heavier.
"Woahh, woahh," I said with an accusatory edge. "An element researcher from Blackpool? You were involved in the Incident, weren't you?"
He didn't look like the same chill camper to me. Instead, I saw chaos.
"That's right," he confirmed, stopping to meet my gaze. "I worked under Silas Black. You've heard of him, I assume?"
Bang. I'd been waiting for it, but the name still hit me just as hard.
Silas Black. The lead researcher of elements in Blackpool at the time of the famous "Blackpool Incident." In the list of wanted rebels, no one had a higher bounty than him. I remembered staring at his picture–dark beard, professional comb over, and cool, intelligent eyes.
Silas Black. Surely, he was the most wanted man alive.
"Yeah," I said dryly. "I've heard of him."
We stood there for a long moment, both staring off into the distance. The only audible sound was the distant, hollow knock of a woodpecker's beak against a hollow tree trunk.
I felt like I was standing at the edge of a cliff.
Blake's mouth opened, and an empty voice came out of it. "And as for that rebel the stranger warned us about…"
He never looked at me.
"She's definitely hunting us."