The Race to Freedom

Dante 6

The ground was colder, the air was chillier, the shivering pack of humanity slowly meandered their way over the hobble of mountainous hills.

Uzimati was leading the way, striding hard forward with his spear as a walking stick. Behind, Lofi marched on, very close to Uzimati. He did not seem to be out of breath. The rolling undulations were not a worthy adversary for the swift-thinking and energetic Lofi. 

Further down the rugged slope, Dante lumbered upon. He could feel the watchful, calculating eyes of the mysterious Jacob a few paces behind him. Dante couldn't summon the warmth to embrace him as a friendly companion. There was a sense of... uneasy rattling energy around him. The disturbed teenager seemed to retain everything he experienced, and never ever let anything go. He was one great ocean of emotion and experience, in which the gates were barred and the water practically poisonous. 

Even further behind, at the very bottom of yet another undulating valley they had crossed trudged Rachie and the massive and powerfully-built Zongu. Dante wasn't sure why they were going so slow, and even why Rachie had changed her mind so swiftly, leaving Yula alone. But that was surely the case, and he accepted it, sadly. 

Stopping, turning, and gazing downward, he ignored Jacob's razor-sharp stares as Zongu and Rachie slowly filed onward. The pair had been performing oddly ever since they set off, Rachie with a withdrawn blank expression and Zongu emanating a fixed boulder-like tension which looked as if it would crash and crumble at any moment. "What do you think of that pair?" Dante asked Jacob quietly and suddenly. 

Jacob just humphed a reply, and then continued marching upward. He didn't care. Rachie and Zongu may as well have transformed into polar bears and were charging up the mountain towards, and he still wouldn't have replied any differently. 

But there were bigger problems standing ahead. Dante - with Jacob standing unnecessarily close - found Uzimati and Lofi. 

"Wha-" he was about to say, but stopped. He knew what it was. He knew exactly what it was. The words "Turn around" in large bold letters hadn't been visible for a distance, but they were as starkly visible as possible now, popping into existence in front of the four stranded souls. 

Lofi reached out his arm, trying to touch the words, but his hand melted straight through. "It's not a wall, only a demand. A demand we do not necessarily have to listen to" Lofi said simply, for everyone to hear. 

There was no threat, but the severity of the lettering suggested something bad regardless. Uzimati didn't like it one bit, but did not speak. He would take heed of Lofi. 

"Maybe if we walk in a more north-easterly direction..." Dante said, trailing into silence as the suggestion hung over them. 

"This command will still follow us, I'm sure"

Jacob spat on the ground and laughed with the sound of a creaky wardrobe being pulled back and forth. 

"Speak your mind, my dear Jacob" Lofi told him softly. 

"No matter if we enter... we're going to die all the same" Jacob exclaimed, spitting on the ground again in front of the sign. He began to walk forward when Lofi held out a hand. 

"I tire of your artificial nihilistic views Jacob. Tell me what you really think". 

Dante looked back from Jacob's suddenly surprised expression to Lofi's calm sincerity. He could hear the rough footsteps of Zongu, but they were still quite far away. 

Jacob stared Lofi straight in the eye. "We walk on" he pointed in the direction of more and more valleys. The undulations seemed to last forever. "We go to Canada. We take risk".