Nimbus 2056 Part 5 Take 1

She held tight. Tighter when she could hear the claws of the wolves scratch against the door. It was hell. Inside she saw nothing but three men, dying but relying on her for their safety. Outside the thin steel walls is a world of certain flesh tearing terror, and no 7g either. Sentry duty is never easy, what makes it harder is being miles away from your bed.

All of the survivors withered away to exhaustion, it had been weeks since they’ve had any real sleep. Anastasia drifted between the two chaotic tranquil states of consciousness.

Her fingers would loosen and her head would nod, she closed her eyes, and she wasn’t where she was. She was somewhere in her memory, somewhere far from the panicked confines of the shipping container.

“Ani”
“Ani”
“Ani”
“Anastasia! Wake up, I’ve got something to tell you.” Frank said sitting at the edge of their bed.

“What time is it?” Anastasia.

“It’s four in the morning. That doesn’t matter, what does matter is I can’t do this to you anymore.” Frank.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Anastasia said now fully alert.

“I Uh………….I Uh. I’ve been lying to you since before our wedding night. And now after that routine check up I can’t keep the lie going anymore.”

“Jesus Christ! Tell me what the hell is going on!”

“Anastasia! I uuhhh.” Then suddenly frank vanished and she was back in this weird place.

“Anastasia, wake up the wolves are gone.” Gelben nudged Anastasia’s shoulder.

“Is it morning? Can anyone see the sun?” Stuckey said whipping the slumber from his eyes.

Anastasia slowly cracked the door open. It was in fact morning. Across the timbered valley everything was starting to rise. The birds began their daily ritual of polluting the sound waves with their songs of love. Squirrels hurried up and down the trunks of trees. The terror of last night faded as the shadows grew shorter.

“Take anything useful that you find, and let’s get moving.” Anastasia.

Stuckey didn’t take any chances. He wrapped himself in a suit of cardboard armor. Fableton fashioned a walking staff from miscellaneous cleaning tools and lamps. Gelben found the most expensive gadgets and jewelry. Anastasia scavenged through the boxes and found a proper rucksack and other articles of clothing.

A cardboard sled was also fashioned and the three people could walk dragged it.

“I swear if I could walk, I would. Thanks guys!” As Stuckey laid looking at the sky.

They dragged and dragged, seemed with each pull they went slower and slower.

“That’s it, I can’t do it anymore. It’s been like 7 hours since I last ate! I got to have something.” Fableton moaned.

“We don’t know where we are! We don’t know if rescue is coming! We don’t know how long we have to wait. We burned through half of the life boats rations and that was designed for 15 people. There’s only four of us!” Stuckey.

“Wait what? Those were our emergency rations? I was eating like six at a time! Shit well then now I don’t feel as bad about showing you guys this.” Gelben went back to the sled and opened a box. The four of them sat together and spooned caviar into their mouths.

“God bless modern logistics!’ Fableton proclaimed as he stuffed himself.

It was a lovely lunch and when they had their fill they slogged on.

No one stopped to wonder if they would be safe from the carnage witnessed last night. The crashed hull of the nimbus had answers. It had shelter. It was salvation. All they had to do was get there.

Everyone pulled, glancing occasionally to check their surroundings.

“Holy shit guys you see that?” Stuckey said sitting up.

It was a flock of wooly mammoths towering over the grass lands in the distance.

“I don’t think we are when we think we are.” Anastasia said.

“Let’s get to that fucking ship!” Gelben grabbed the harness and hurriedly started pulling.

The other two quickly followed suit. Fableton struggled to find a pace that was productive but comfortable.

It was Anastasia and Gelben doing most of the work.

The peaked the last ridge and there it was. Captain Noah did her job damn well despite the circumstances. The nimbus jagged and torn up rested mostly intact in between a column of trees.

Upon the sight of the craft all three of them hurriedly pulled forward.

It was now dusk when they arrived. Like coming home when they touched the ship they were relieved.

“Where’s Stuckey?!”