The Ascent

Chapter 28

They walked as fast as possible without running, Ariyana still carried by Asher, refusing to be lowered down even for a second. Her small hands incredibly firmly clung onto Asher's neck since the moment Arman helped her climb down the tree and into their father's arms.

"Are you okay, my little pea?" Asher asked, gently patting her hair. "Does it hurt anywhere?"

They barely had enough time to ascertain that she looked fine physically before they took off. However, Asher still looked worried. He continued patting her down to see if they missed any injuries. Clearly, Asher still felt guilty, but Jasmine knew stopping a girl as curious as Ariyana from running into the fog ahead of the group was impossible.

Besides, there was no way he could have known that the bald man would be right there. Still, Jasmine chose to stay quiet. Some emotions had to be processed by the person, and no outside interference could do any good.

"I'm okay," Ariyana whispered, barely audibly. "Is the bad man gone?"

The fear in her eyes was heartbreaking, but then again, when was the loss of that childhood innocence, not a tragedy? Still, it made one wonder if it would have been better for her if they hadn't protected them, if they hadn't lied to them about what was going on. Perhaps a healthy dose of fear was in order considering how dangerous the world had become.

"Yes, he is," Asher said, swallowing hard. "But there might be more bad men in the future. That's why I want you to always do what I say, to stay safe."

The tears in his eyes spoke volumes about how hard it was for him to tell his children the harsh truth. Nevertheless, to keep them safe, he was ready to do whatever it took, which he clearly showed when he killed to save his daughter's life.

"I am sorry, daddy," she croaked out through tears.

"It's okay. The important thing is that you are safe now and that you won't do anything like this ever again," Asher said with gentleness but firmly enough to let her know that it was necessary to do so.

Ariyana nodded vigorously, her eyes as big as saucers, fear clearly spelled out in their depths. However, her brother, who didn't see what happened to her, didn't seem as scared.

Experience was, after all, the best teacher, and Jasmine hoped he wouldn't have the chance to see how deadly the world had become. That was one experience the children could do without.

Isaac, however, didn't seem fazed in the slightest. It made Jasmine worry about what he had seen while alone and how much trauma he had suffered. Even though there was no way for her to make it up to him, she wished they had the time to sit down and talk. However, that had to wait until they reached that cabin which Jasmine wasn't even sure was safe.

"How long will it take us to get there?" Jasmine asked after she was sure that the father-daughter conversation was finished.

She reckoned that considering the tempo Asher was setting, the place wasn't too far away and that they would get there soon enough. It was what gave her motivation to keep up with that pace. Otherwise, she would have crumbled under emotional and physical stress long ago.

"A few hours at least," Asher said as calmly as if he was saying that they had already arrived.

"Hours?" Jasmine exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah, it is much closer by car, so I haven't thought much about the distance and the fact that we would have to go on foot," Asher said, looking anywhere but in her eyes. "Anyway, we can rest once we reach that thick clump of trees. It looks safe enough for a short rest."

Jasmine looked at the said group of trees that seemed to be getting farther away with each step she took, and just briskly nodded her head. Since not even the children complained, she couldn't show how weak she was and how tired she had gotten.

It didn't help that her head was pulsating painfully and that she could still feel the stomach acid lingering in her throat from when she threw up upon dissecting the alien. All in all, it was a lousy day to be Jasmine.

"Are you okay?" Asher asked, scrutinizing Jasmine carefully.

She could immediately tell why he asked because she knew how horrible she looked. She was sweating like a pig. Her skin was dark red and growing darker by the second, and her facial expressions were so taut that even she could feel the tension he probably saw as clear as day.

"I am fine," Jasmine said curtly. "Just not cut out for all of this, I guess."

"Oh, come on, Jasmine! You are a badass!" Isaac said enthusiastically. "Even when you were all alone, you found a way to fight against those ugly things. Walking is a piece of cake for you."

His encouragement actually did help Jasmine put her mind in a more positive mindset. It helped her switch the channel from gloom and doom to a more positive one. Besides, she promised herself a reward of snacks when they reached the trees. Thus, her motivation and speed rapidly increased at the mere thought of such incentives.

"That's the spirit!" Isaac said, following close behind her.

The trees finally stopped running away from them, and they arrived at their destination, crumbling to the ground with exhaustion but happy they at least put enough distance from the last known location of a bald man.

"Dad, can we take a short nap?" Arman asked, yawning so widely that a whole apple could have been fitted into his mouth.

"Sure thing, I'll wake you up when it's time to go," Asher said as the three children lay down together, reminding Jasmine of a litter of puppies. "Jasmine, can we talk?"

"Sure," Jasmine said, allowing him to pull her away from the children but always close enough in case they needed something.

"I'm not really sure what the state of the cabin is," Asher admitted tapping his foot. "I haven't been there in years, but I figured even if it's not livable, it will give us some foundation to build on."

"I'm not going to lie to you, I don't think that's the best of options, but at the moment, it feels like the only option we have," Jasmine said, carefully arranging her thoughts. "The most important thing is to get away from the hub of activity that the cities are, and your cabin seems to give us that. Everything else is questionable, but I think this is better than nothing. Especially since the cave is no longer a viable option, and it never was the best one to begin with."

Asher let out a breath of relief, as if he was asking for her permission to breathe, her permission to take a risk. It was strange to Jasmine to see someone cared so much about what she had to say when, in day-to-day life, people often didn't even let her finish her thoughts before they started talking about random topics from the past that stopped being relevant years back.

"But what about defending ourselves? We are basically like sitting ducks," Jasmine said cautiously. "The fact that you could use my knife to kill that alien is a pure miracle. We need something more substantial."

"I know, I know," Asher said, raking his fingers through his hair. "I'm thinking about it but haven't really come up with any solutions. I wish all of them were as careless as that one. He was so busy bragging to you about them being the superior species that he didn't even hear me coming. I thought I would die for sure, but at least my daughter would be safe. Yet, I managed to catch it by surprise."

"Pride has been the downfall of many villains. Maybe we'll be lucky enough to see that happen in real life as well," Jasmine said without much conviction. "Either way, we need to find some way to defend ourselves, whether in the cabin or on the road."

"What about the old military base?" Asher asked after thinking for a while. "I know it might not be safe to stay there as they are bound to target military objects, active or not, but maybe some weapons were left behind?"

"That might not be a bad idea," Jasmine said, rubbing her forehead, which still ached rhythmically. "Knowing our government, even though they started closing that place down months ago, it might still have some leftover guns or something."

The fact that they were going to rely on the laziness of the government that was supposed to save them from the dangers they were facing didn't sit well with Jasmine. However, it was a plan, and that was better than nothing.

A cabin in the woods.

An old rumored-to-be-haunted military base.

What could go wrong?