"OK, I think the turn is up here on the right"
"You think?" Replies your ever sarcastic SKS.
"Yeah, it should be here. But the satellite maps are a few years old so let's just keep looking" you say as you motion for Katya to slow down a bit.
"There!" You shout and she slams on the brakes and nearly puts the little jeep in the ditch.
"You reeaally haven't gotten the hang of this whole driving thing have you?" You say with a chuckle looking at the embarrassed but amused waffegeist.
"Yeah, but atleast I can drive" she says with a smirk.
"Alright, I think it'd be best if we hide the jeep outta view. It should be able to fit down that trail, even if it's a bit overgrown"
You hear branches rubbing against the side of the vehicle as you put away the maps that list this as an unused mining road. I becomes hard to ignore Katya's looks of displeasure as the jeep slowly creeps down the trail and around a corner. "That should be enough, no?" She says and looks over at you.
"As long as we can't see the highway, I think it's good" you say, opening your door and going around to the back.
You begin pulling out gear and passing it to Katya who checks it over and starts separating it into piles.
"Alright, that should be it" you say, handing her a set of web gear and pulling on the other set over your winter coat. “We missing anything?”
“Nothing that I can see” Katya says as she bends over to get a better look at the piles of milsurp at her feet, giving you a good look at her ass in the process.
She swished her tail in your face to get your attention “when you are done admiring the view, can we get back to the task at hand?”
“Uh huh, yeah. Just a bit more” you replied, laughing as you barely managed to dodge a tossed canteen.
“I hope you know im not going to go get that” you tell Katya as you kneel down next to her and start checking the other large ALICE pack. “Let’s see, clothes, MREs, ammo, first aid kit, spare maps. And wait, where did the Sake go?”
Katya giggles in response “i’ve got no idea”, but the muffled clink of glass on metal from her pack alerts me to the truth.
“No idea huh? Well, i’ve got everything then.” I answer as I tighten the straps and heft the rather bulky pack.
"Jesus, this is heavier than I thought” I say and glance over at Katya who shoulders her smaller pack with suspicious ease.
“I’m sorry, what was that Anon? I couldn't hear over the sound of you being a little bitch”
“Nothing, you finally ready?” I reply “I mean, jesus i know it takes women forever to get ready but this is something else…”
Laughing, she tosses me the canteen that she threw earlier “How dare you assume my gender shitlord” She places her hands on her hips and proudly exclaims “I am a proud Yugoslavian rifle, and you will treat me as such.”
“Yeah well, get your proud slav ass in gear” I reply as she takes my hand and we turn down the path away from the busy road and all the stresses of modern life along with it.
We walked down the trail in almost perfect silence, hand in hand and just enjoying each other's presence.
The sun shone through the trees with their sparse leaves, as we trudged along the trail. Her soft voice broke the quiet of the morning air.
“Hey, remember when we went on that hike a few months ago?”
“I remember you getting us lost” I replied with a slight grin.
“No I mean, remember spending all night just looking up at the stars and chatting?”
“Yeah, I wonder if we will see them like that here. We're out far enough that there shouldn't be any light pollution.”
“Mm hmm” She responded, letting go of my hand and skipping a few paces ahead. Turning around to face me, she smiled and said “c’mon, I wanna get there by noon” and promptly took off down the path, her dark brown tail swishing back and forth happily in time with her steps. I chuckled and took off after her.
The trees on either side of the path started to thin as we made our way into a clearing populated by a small dilapidated structure.
“Looks like a guardhouse to me.” remarked Katya.
“That it does” I replied walking up to the door and trying the handle.
“Damn, locked. I think I left the lockpicks in your cleaning it” I said to Katya who was busy looking through the grimy window, her ears twitching.
“W-what?” she said, whirling around, a look of shock and embarrassment crossed her face “STOP IT! That’s indecent!”
My laugh filled the clearing as I set down my pack “Im just joking Kay, im pretty sure its in here somewhere.”
“W-well I-I wouldn't be opposed to it” she uttered “Идиот” Katya turned around, her tail swishing back and forth.
“Doesn't look like there's much in there” She said, still peering through the dirty glass as I fiddled with the lock. With a nearly inaudible click, I pushed the door open. “Well, we're about to find out.”
The door creaked open filling the single dusty room with light. There was a filing cabinet up against the far wall, with a desk and worn office chair facing out the single window. Nothing looked like it had been touched in ages.
“I hope they've got some better maps or something in here” I said walking inside. “They might, I'm gonna check in that cabinet over there” Katya replied, walking over and brushing the dust off of the top. Everything just looked like it was left here yesterday, a snapshot in time covered by a quarter century of dust. A coffee mug sat on the desk next to a notebook, the ink long since faded in the sun.
“I wonder why everyone left?” I wondered aloud, as Katya looked around in the filing cabinet, the noise contrasting sharply with the otherwise eerie silence. “I dunno, your uncle didn't say anything?”
“No, he just said it was business as usual. And then they were told not to come into work, and that anyone who showed up would be arrested for trespassing.”
“Freaky shit, remind me again why I let you convince me this was a good idea?” Katya replied, looking over at me.
“Ha! Convince you? You were practically jumping up and down when he first mentioned this place.”
“Yeah, well whatever.” she said. “It's not like you were gonna go without me.”
“You're right, I want to do everything we can together Katya. I can't imagine life without you.”
She looked down blushing “W-well that's… umm….” she stared at her feet, and I could barely make out “~iloveyoutooAnon~”
“Hmm? I couldn't quite hear you.” I replied “What was that?”
“N-nothing” Katya mumbled “Идиот”
“Well, I'm a bit hungry. So I'm gonna get lunch started. How about we figure out what to do next after that.” I said, walking over to my pack “Alright, the specials today are Spaghetti MREs or chicken soup”
“Chicken soup. Wait, why are you cooking” I heard from inside the guardhouse.
“Well, because I prefer my food atleast somewhat edible”
“Then why did you pack the spaghetti ones? And my cooking isn't that bad” Katya said, stifling a laugh.
Pulling out the can of soup and the cups off two of the canteens I replied “Good point. Find anything interesting yet?”
“No it's just shift and visitor logs, last entry was summer of ‘82”
“Well, why don't we look more after lunch. It should be ready in a few”
“Ok~” Katya said, skipping out of the guardhouse, a folded sheet of paper in her hand.
Looking up as she approached, I motioned to the paper in her hand with a canteen cup full of soup. “What's that? Oh, and this is yours”
“Mmmm thanks Anon. It's the it's the last sheet of the visitor log” replied Katya sitting with her legs underneath her. “Apparently the last ones sign in were from some demolitions contractor” she continued around a mouthfuls of food.
“Didn't anyone ever teach you not to talk with your mouth full? It's not very dignified”
“Bitch, you know i'm kawaii as hell”
“Yeah, that's true” I said, grabbing my own cup of soup off the small alcohol stove and sitting next to her. “I just don't get why they would call in those contractors. If they needed to blow the mine, shouldn't they have been able to do it themselves?”
“I'd think so” Katya replied, downing the rest of her meal “You're gonna finish that, right?”
“Yeah, don't even think about it” I said smiling.
“Good, you can't be full on skeleton mode forever” Katya said as she leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “I'll finish taking care of this, while you eat”
Another search of the guardhouse revealed nothing but more dust. “Ok, I don't think it should too far of a walk to the main area of the camp” I said, pulling out the satellite maps I printed out. “We are here, and the main camp is here. Across that bridge.” I continued, pointing at the map.
“Yeah, looks like a little over one kilometer to the bridge, and about half that after.” Katya agreed, looking over towards the path that headed deeper into the woods.
“Well, we've got about seven or eight hours of sunlight left. So want to get going? Or check around here some more?” I asked Katya, who was busy looking over the maps.
“Let's go, let's go, c'mon!” she quickly answered, almost tearing the delicate paper in her haste to get moving.
“Alright then, but ya gotta keep up!” I said, throwing on my pack over the web gear and taking off down the trail. I made it about a hundred meters before I was tackled from behind. I hit the ground hard, the corner of my entrenching tool biting into my hip. “ahh, shit” I said rolling onto my back.
The startled waffegeist scrambled up onto me. “Anonnn!” Katya all but yelled as she straddled me “sorrysorrysorrysorry”
“ahhh, it's ok” I said, placing my hand on top of her head and ruffled her hair. “You didn't mean to hurt me” Her ears perked up at that, then she quickly relaxed back into a state of pure contentment, as I continued.
I moved my hand over to stroke just behind her feline ears and she let out a little moan “Mmm~ Anon, you know that makes me…~”
“Makes you what?” I said, removing my hand and raising myself up on my elbows.
“Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean” Katya replied, pushing me back down and leaning in for a deep kiss.
“But” she said, our lips separating for just a moment “This is neither the time, nor place for such things” Katya continued as she got up. “You're gonna have to wait a bit for that” she extended a hand to help me up.
“Should we get going?” I asked, sliding my arm around her waist
“Let's” Katya replied, and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.
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