34 Blind

Sia looks in the van's mirrors to check her surroundings. The snowstorm obstructs her view, but she can't see any sight of the mercenaries. She puts the vehicle in park and closes the passenger door. She hits her head on the ceiling as she returns to sitting in the driver seat.

"Gaaaah. Hurry. Hurry," She mutters at herself as she puts the car in drive and continues on in a random direction.

"Oh maaan. I really thought I was going…going to die. What if they didn't believe that?" Sia says to herself while nervously checking the rearview mirror.

She wiggles in her seat, "Whooo! I did it!"

She laughs and squeezes the wheel while hopping in her seat.

"We did it! We're out of here!!"

She chuckles a few times before calming down and wiping at her forehead. The adrenaline and fear slowly drain from her system, and she remembers how tired she is.

"Puter, where are we headed?"

SUBJECT 001 MUST TAKE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE TO REACH

THE SHIPPING CONTAINER PORT

5 KM FROM SOUTH OF THIS LOCATION

"So, should I turn left or right? Straight?"

Sia eases her foot off the gas and idles in the storm. The van shifts and creaks under the stress of the wind's force.

STRAIGHT FOR 2.7 KM

THEN MAKE A LEFT

CONTINUE ON THAT ROUTE FOR 2 KM

WHEN YOU GET SIGHT OF THE PORT MAKE A RIGHT INTO THE FACILITY

"Have you ever thought of taking a side job as a GPS system?"

NEGATIVE

"I like your style. Blunt, yet conversational."

….

Sia continues driving straight. The static of the storm begins to blend into the background as Sia concentrates on staying on the correct path.

'This weather could kill those men.'

The thought circles her mind several times. She is almost tempted to bite a nail while contemplating why that even matters. Why does it matter that her potential kidnappers might die?

'They aren't like those savages. They want to protect their people. They think you are a threat to them all. You did this. You should have told the truth. You should have told the truth from the beginning.'

Sia squints at the thick chunks of snow that drop on the windshield. The windshield wipers work slow and steady to keep the glass clean, but it still feels like she's driving blind.

'You'll be no better than the savages if you leave those men after stealing all their stuff.'

MAKE A LEFT AT THIS JUNCTURE

Sia jumps at hearing that and presses on the brakes. She puts the car in park.

SUBJECT 001 INCORRECT ACTIONS

SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPER HAS SPECIFIED FOR SUBJECT 001 TO

MAKE A LEFT AT THIS JUNCTURE

"Yeah, Yeah. I know. Let me just do this real quick."

Sia crawls over the center console and investigates the back of the van. She sees several backpacks lying around on the floor. One of them seems to be hers. It has a crowbar sticking out between the two zippers. She opens it and confirms it is her backpack. It has several bottles of water, two aerosol cans, and the crowbar.

She must have left behind the backpack that contained all her chemical mixtures.

"Uh, dang it," She groans as she realizes that, "Maybe…"

She looks at the other four backpacks. Three of them have the same types of supplies. A few first aid items, water, a small amount of food, and matches. The fourth backpack has duct tape, rope, and a few more food items. Sia decides to keep that backpack for herself.

"Looks like they definitely planned to take me alive. If I didn't seem so hurt…they would have tied me up. I guess Apex thought this through," She reluctantly admits.

She empties the contents of the third backpack into one of the others except for the first aid kit. She grabs the two backpacks and opens the side door of the van. She throws them out into the snow. She fears they won't see them after the snow settles down, so she steps out and looks around the vehicle.

'I need something to tie this to. Something to…Pole!' She thinks as her teeth chatter.

So, she goes back into the van and puts an aerosol can under her arm. She puts the empty backpack over the rusted stop sign. She sets the two backpacks under the sign, stacked on top of each other.

The aerosol can is taken from under her arm and shaken several times. She digs her lighter from her side pocket and holds it steady. Sia gets close to the backpack and sprays the can at the lit flame. A tiny flame starts burning on the edge of the backpack, but the wind passes by once and puts it out.

"Come on," Sia mutters as she grinds her teeth.

She gets closer to the pole, positions her hands, and closes her eyes.

Whoooooosh

The spray ignites, and flames spread along the fabric. The wind whirls around the torched material, so she sprays it again, and Sia takes several steps backward as the warmth heats her face.

'Woah. Okay. That should do it. Even if when it dies, they'll see the burnt sign,' Sia thinks to herself.

She trudges back to the van, closes the side door, and takes the car out of park to continue driving.

Several Hours Later…

The snow-covered van sits silently in front of a shipping container terminal. It is parked beside a small snow dune and the dirty white van seems to be a part of the structure.

The world is silent.

Sia slumbers on the steering wheel. She is completely exhausted. Wrappers and empty water bottles litter the back of the van. She ate more than half of the rations in the back. The moment she took the first bite she could not control herself. She felt ravenous. All but two of her water bottles are empty. Only one meal is left from the mercenaries' kidnapper stash.

She snores into her bent arms.

Meanwhile, a white lean figure tiptoes across the snow. Its' feet barely seem to touch the ground as it glides toward the terminal gates.

The gates are wrecked. The metal is twisted and rusted. It lies half buried by debris, ice, and snow. Whoever entered it in the past was not worried about keeping up structures to guard it. They must have entered and left it in a hurry.

The long shape of the creature flickers like an illusion and vanishes within the facility. Back to its usual resting area after getting shelter from the storm. Its muzzle is clean. The tempest gave many creatures a night of peace. The coming hunt will need to be successful if it wants to sleep without an empty belly.