The Black Envelope

Chapter 17: Assistance

Chapter 17: Assistance

It was warm inside the tent, the thin material having an almost greenhouse-like effect on the air inside. Gage was sweating as he sat up, gently moving Fay off his side. He stretched in the small space and crawled out. The sun was shining directly through the trees. It wasn’t necessarily warm outside, the now December air was cool and wet, threatening some kind of precipitation. Gage shivered slightly and moved around the small clearing they had set up camp in the night before. Their bags were set haphazardly on the sides of the tent, leaning against the thin canvas.

A wind blew through the trees, causing them to whisper and shift. Suddenly, a much stronger gust of air passed through the wood. The trees groaned and creaked like old men, birds and small animals erupting from the branches. Gage looked up and saw a strong set of clouds moving through the sky, colors ranging from a sleet grey to a midnight-stuck-in-a-cave-with-no-matches kind of black. The clouds quickly covered the sun, draining away any kind of heat miraculously stored by the ground.

Something wet fell on Gage’s forehead, causing him to blink in discomfort. “Great…” He muttered, turning back to the tent as more and more drops fell from the sky.

He ducked his head inside the tent, shivering as rain droplets hit the exposed part of his neck. “Fay, Fay. Come on, get up. Fay…”

She turned, rolling over and stretching. Her shirt rode up, showing a slim strip of pale stomach. When she was thoroughly awake, Fay sat up and looked at him, blinking sleep out of her eyes. “What’s up?”

“It’s raining.” Gage said quietly.

“Well, that‘s fantastic. We need to go then.” Fay quickly climbed out of the tent and started folding it up as Gage picked up their bags and opened Fay’s, stretching the sides so she could cram the tent in. They quickly ran for cover into the thicket of trees. The dense packing of leaves blocked most of the downpour, but they were still getting wet. Both Gage and Fay pulled on their hoodies and flicked the hoods up, ducking and weaving through the branches.

They figured out that it was around noon as they strolled through the undergrowth. It had been about two days since they left the school, but it felt like forever. So much had occurred since then. Occasionally, Gage would look up at the sky through blank patches of leaves. It was still a dark grey and the rain showed no sign of letting up.

“Well, we won’t get far in this today. We’d look pretty conspicuous if we walked into a store soaking wet. I mean, no one is going to walk around in this.” Fay deduced after peeking out of the trees again, determining their position. “We’re about two miles to the next city. We could chance going into a store, saying our car broke down or something. We need food anyway.”

Gage grimaced, “Alright. When we hit the city we’ll duck into a convenience store and get some food, then we’ll hitch a bus to the next train station.”

"You sure that’s a good idea after what happened last time?” Fay twitched her lips, looking unsure.

"We don’t have much choice, unless you want to walk across the rest of the state, be my guest. Train’s the fastest way we’re going to get there. Might as well try and get there as quickly as possible. The sooner we get you to safety, the happier I’ll be.”

It was silent between the two of them for a while. The only sound being the pitter patter of rain droplets on their heads and the trees. It was starting to grow muddy on the forest floor and Gage was beginning to worry. Surely someone would notice that they both were soaked to the bone, had mud coated shoes, and carried traveling bags? He mused over different scenarios of what he would say if someone asked them what they were doing, or why they looked like they had been camping in the forest.