Before entering the tree line, they turned to look back towards the cabins. They were already a long way away and hidden, but they could see the break in the trees where the glider had sliced a path through on landing.
"You know, to folk down here, we might appear to be odd, almost alien. They have so little, and we came in a craft that is not of this world. They get sick, and we have 'miracle working' berries that bring people back to life. We need to be careful Martha, I'm not so sure now that this was such a good idea."
She liked the way he said her name, and that he was concerned for her. 'This trip has started well,' she thought, but didn't say it. They entered the trees leaving the lake behind, not knowing what lay ahead of them.
The going was a little tough for Zeek and Betty. There were no real paths, so Zeek was making his own as he went, with Betty close behind. This trip had really been Betty's idea, Zeek had only agreed to go to stop her going alone. He hadn't told her so, but he was not exactly enjoying himself at this precise moment in time: pushing branches out of the way and slipping on moss-covered tree roots. The atmosphere was cold and damp, and smelled of must or mildew, and even though it was early afternoon, it was unusually dark. Nothing stirred, and apart from Zeek huffing and puffing, it was almost dead quiet. If there were any animals around, they would have heard Zeek coming a mile off, so they saw and heard nothing.
"I wonder how far we've come?" Zeek said, after what seemed like several hours travelling.
"Hard to say," Betty replied, "there are no land-marks to get a reference. Let's give it one more hour before making camp. We may find somewhere more suitable than this."
"Ok Betts, one more hour."
That last hour seemed like three to Zeek, who was feeling very tired. He was mightily relieved when they entered a small clearing with some grass. Without asking, he slipped his pack off his back and flopped down onto it.
"Please miss, can we make camp here?" he said, in his best schoolboy voice.
"Sure we can sonny," she replied, smiling. Betty slipped her pack off, and began to open it to remove the tent. She noticed that Zeek was rather quiet.
"Are you all right?" she asked, seeing that he wasn't.
"I feel very odd," he answered, "my chest is tight, and it hurts when I breathe."
Betty became worried, she didn't want anything to happen while they were way out here. Zeek was turning pale and clutching his chest, she recognised the symptoms of a heart attack, her father had died from one many years before. Instinctively she reached into her pack for the container of berries.
"I don't understand it Zeek, none of us have needed a second one."
Zeek was struggling for breath and having great difficulty speaking, but she heard him say, "I didn't take one."
"What! You mean you haven't had one at all? Why ever not?"
He struggled to say, "I didn't believe in them, I've never believed in God, so I thought they wouldn't work on me."
Betty was angry at his answer, "But Zeek, this is the tree of life, you don't have to believe, it just works. Even Adam and Eve could have taken it, and you know how naughty they were! God had to set a guard over it to stop them. Come on, I want you to eat one right now."
Zeek was in no fit state to argue with her, so he meekly opened his mouth and accepted the berry. It tasted like black currant in his mouth and was soon consumed.
"You just lie there whilst I make camp, you'll be better than ever before you know it."
It took Betty several minutes to get the camp set up; she did it without any effort. Zeek just watched as she performed all the necessary tasks with consummate ease, manhandling the heavy backpacks like they were filled with thin air. In no time at all she had a fire lit and some food cooking.
"Feeling better?" She asked.
"Now you come to mention it, I do. The pain has eased and I can breath again. What a Wally I've been, I could have taken one ages ago and been young again."
He stopped as he noticed her smiling at him. He'd not seen it before, but she was really rather cute in the firelight. Zeek was never slow to speak out.
"Hey!" He half shouted, "Strong and cute too, this I like!"
They both laughed, but Zeek flinched as he did so. They ate supper and drank hot coffee. Zeek was already in his sleeping bag and the fire was warm in the cold evening air. His eyes became heavy and sleep soon overtook him. Betty sat watching him sleep for a while before turning in herself.
"Good night you lovely man," she said, knowing he couldn't hear her. "Good night Lord." She closed her eyes and slept.
❧
Jake awoke to absolute silence and he was cold. "Are you awake?" he called to Martha.
"Yes, the cold woke me up." Jake got up and began making a fire. "I can't believe how cold it is." He said, shivering. "To have such a big temperature drop in such a short distance is weird. I say we give it one more day, and if we don't find anything we'll head back."
"You'll get no argument from me," Martha replied, "there's definitely something strange about all this."
The smell of coffee was welcoming, so she got up and began to pack up the camp. It took a while to get the circulation going, but the activity soon warmed her up.
When everything was packed, they put out the fire and headed north. The trees thinned as they went, and they emerged from the forest onto open grassland. There was nothing as far as the eye could see, just open grass and gently rolling hills.
"Reminds me of home," Jake said, "except there should be cattle grazing."
"Perhaps there are no cattle now," Martha said, "it's probably too cold for them up here."
They set their sights on a distant hill, determining that if they hadn't seen anything by the time they reached it they would turn back. It looked to be best part of a days march to get there, so the idea fitted in with their earlier plans.
The grass crunched under their feet as they went. "Must have been a frost in the night," she said, her breath visible as she spoke.
Jake looked up, "I don't like the look of those clouds, it looks like snow."
Martha looked and concurred. It grew darker by the minute as they walked on. Within a few minutes it began to snow, lightly at first with just a dusting of white powder, but it grew heavier quite quickly. The sky became really dark, and the distant hill could no longer be seen.
"I think I've had enough of this," Jake said, turning towards Martha.
"Me too, let's go back." She said.
They turned and started back towards the forest, it looked a long way off, had they really been walking so fast? Without saying anything they picked up the pace. The wind began to blow and become steadily stronger, it was against them, and their packs were weighing them down. The cold was intense, and the snow began biting into their faces being driven by the wind. It was obvious that a blizzard was about to engulf them, so they started running, faster and faster as they became more aware of the danger. The snow lay thick on the ground, and was deepening rapidly, yet they were able to keep up their speed, even against the wind.
They reached the tree line and ran straight in. In just a few seconds they were clear of the snow, and the wind strength dropped dramatically. They stopped and turned to see what was happening behind them. The snow had already covered their tracks and visibility was almost zero.
"Wow, this sure is weird, I guess the climate has been messed up by the war." Martha said.
"Global warming!" they said, in unison and laughed.
It was then that it dawned on Martha that they were not out of breath.
"Hey, have you noticed?"
"Noticed what?" he asked.
"Well, we've just run a mile or so with the wind against us, and with these heavy packs on our backs, and we're not even puffing."
The look on his face told her that he hadn't realised it.
"I didn't even think about being tired," he said, "I could have run on for miles. I wonder what else we can do?" he said, smiling.
"Come on Superman," she said, "let's go home."
❧
Zeek awoke bright and early. "Boy I feel great," he said, out loud.
"Wh...What's that?" Betty said, half asleep. "Is it really morning already?"
"I'm afraid so, would madam care for some breakfast?"
"Yes, she would," Betty replied, turning over.
Zeek was up in a flash, and making coffee and toast in minutes. The aroma became too much for her so she got up and stretched.
"And how are you feeling today young sir?"
"To be honest, I've never felt better, I feel so full of life."
He stopped, remembering what had happened the evening before.
"Yesterday I nearly died, and today I'm bursting with life. It's true Betts, it really is the tree of life."
He paused as it dawned on him, "Then there really is a God! Only God could create something like this."
He began to smile widely as though a weight had been taken from his shoulders. Betty just looked at him and said, "Welcome to the family."
"How long have you known Him Betts?"
"Since I was little, my mom and dad taught me, but I discovered Him for myself a long time ago. Since then, we've never been apart."
Breakfast was brilliant. After, they packed up the camp.
"Today," Zeek announced, "I will even enjoy trudging through the trees."
And he was as good as his word, so much so, that Betty had trouble keeping up with him.
They had been travelling for a couple of hours when Zeek suddenly stopped.
"What is it?" Betty asked him.
"I'm not sure, but I think we're being watched."
He stood for a few more seconds and then moved on again. Betty became a little uneasy, and began looking around. This slowed her down and she began to fall behind. Zeek didn't notice and so marched steadily on.
It was some minutes later when he asked, "Is everything all right back there?" He got no answer and so turned to find her gone. A sudden wave of panic hit him. "BETTS," he shouted, "BETTS WHERE ARE YOU!"
There was no answer. He started back the way he had come, walking quickly at first, but then breaking into a run.
He ran some distance without seeing her, and then fell over her backpack. It was laying on its side, the straps had been cut. Now he was really panicked. This could only mean one thing, though he didn't want to admit it. He tried to calm down and think more clearly. 'Look for tracks,' he said to himself, 'there must be tracks.' He systematically looked all around, but there didn't appear to be any tracks. He looked up in case they were above him, but saw nothing. He was looking for the most likely route to take when a blow came from behind.
❧
Jake let Martha take the lead, he had some thinking to do and it was easier for him to do this whilst following in her footsteps. She set quite a pace, and he was having more than a little trouble keeping up.
"Ouch!"
"Are you all right back there?" She asked him.
"Yes, I just hit my shin on a branch."
"You should watch where you are going," she said, with a smile, "and keep your mind on the journey instead of fanaticising about Clark Kent."
"OK Lois," he replied, knowing she was right.
They set off again, and this time he did keep his mind on the journey. They moved through the trees so easily that they reached their first campsite in half the time it had taken them to do the outward-bound trek.
"Shall we stop here for the night?" Martha asked, "It's almost dark."
"Nah, let's go on a bit further, I'm not tired at all."
"OK," she said, "on it is."
Again they set off, and, if anything, they went quicker. Jake became lost in thought again, and wasn't really paying attention to the task at hand, when he bumped straight into Martha who had suddenly stopped walking.