The Lone White Wolf

Chapter Five

After hours of contemplating between the three of us; we decided to let it settle as unfinished for the time being while we get something to eat since we have not eaten since yesterday teatime. Derek and Robert scout the grounds outside to see if they could find anything that could be used for firewood and food that could be cooked and eaten. While they are gone, I search the building to find some bricks that could help to contain the fire when it is lit as I am sure we do not want to burn this place down since it is such a nice building. Which could be converted into accommodation for those who cannot afford a flat or home when the world is back to its natural state.

*Hey Kia, do you think you have any idea about disarming the beacon or what it’s for*

*Sadly, I do not, I am just as stumped as you are, but I will help as best as I can*

*Thanks*

After about an hour looking, I managed to find some bricks and headed back to the room with the suspicious beacon in to set them up and wait for the boys to come back. An hour late the boys return with some wood and what looks like some rabbits and birds, poor things, well I guess food supply is low due to this war. I help Robert set up the firewood in such a way that it could have the metal poles, that they also managed to find, could be placed above to cook the animals. Derek sat on the corner using a wooden board he found on their hunt to skin and gut the animals as well as prepare them for cooking and eating. As soon as the animals were prepared, we stuck them onto the metal people to be spit roasted for an hour to make sure that they are cooked thoroughly. When the food is done Derek portions it out between the three of us evenly and we all dig in, it may not be much, but it is better than nothing, I guess.

“Right better get back to figuring out how to disable the b****y beacons to restore peace.” Derek pipes up breaking the peaceful silence while putting his mess tin down.

“Probably best but it looks like a lost cause to me.” I pessimistically say putting my mess tin down.

“Don’t give up hope Celest, we can do this; knowing our luck it’s probably something as simple as an on/off switch.” Robert optimistically says while putting his tin down. As we move away from the fire, I realize just how cold it really is in the building, so I grab the plans and bring them closer to the light of the fire pit since we had turned our phones off to conserve battery life for emergencies. Robert brings his bag over and spreads the translation from the plans out in front of us to see if there is an answer lying within. We spend hours looking through the papers trying to find a way to stop this but there seems to be nothing coming from it. I take the last sheet of the translations to see that there is a numerical sequence hidden through the paragraphs; I grab a pen and paper and begin to write down the numbers as I see them when scanning through the text.

With having all the numbers written down I walk over to the beacon and see if there is a number pad on it which could correspond with the numbers I found within the text. After walking around in circles trying to find the number pad, I came to the realisation that maybe it is on the bottom since no-one ever looks at the bottom of things to look for the solution to many problems. I got down on my back sliding under the beacon to see if the number pad was on the bottom; towards the edge there seems to be a small pad with buttons on. I shuffle closer and shout the guys over to take a look at this before deciding to punch the numbers in.

“Well to me it looks like a number pad.” Derek confirms.

“Let us just hope it accepts the numbers.” Robert states with his fingers crossed.

“Well better try instead of debating over it.” I say slightly nervous.

The boys back up a bit so I can use the light to see the numbers to be able to input them into the pad. With them placed in I roll out from underneath the beacon and the three of us sit back in anticipation of it doing something good and useful. About 10 unnerving minutes later we notice the beacon begins to glow slightly before what appears to be shutting down. Derek walks over to see if there is any indication that could possibly be still active. He makes sure that he checks every inch of the beacon to make sure nothing escapes his glance. When the beacon seems to be deactivated, Derek looks back at us and nods to approve the deactivation.

“Well with the confirmation that the beacon is thoroughly deactivated we should get some rest so we can begin our travels in the morning to look for the last two factories and deactivated the last three beacons, the third may be a little harder though.” I state stretching. With that we put out the fire and all head off to sleep so that we are well rested for the long journey ahead.

***7 hours pass*

I get up stretching and begin to lay some firewood on the fire pit, so we are able to have a decent breakfast before heading out. I head off to look for some food to cook for breakfast. I managed to find a rabbit sitting in the field next to the building, feel bad for doing this but it is necessary to survive, I let Kia out so she could slowly creep up on the rabbit and grab it to kill it. I look around and see a couple more and repeat the process. As I head back, I spot a couple of chickens just running around the grounds, so I head over and let Kia kill them, to see a bunch of eggs as well, so we will not be starved and be full for a few hours. I head back inside to see the boys are awake so I throw the animas to them so they can get them prepared for food as I am not exactly good at preparing fresh kills as I never needed to, although I should probably learn at some point, I will add it to my to do list. Once they boys have finished preparing the meat, they stick them onto the pole to be spit roasted and cook up the eggs as well, so it is slightly balanced and then we get on with trying to find a suitable route to take where we are not too out in the open while we head to the next factory.

***2 hours later***

With our lovely breakfast devoured, we collect our stuff, put the fire out and dismantle it so it does not look like anyone was staying her, although Derek and Robert insisted on taking the metal poles for our next stop over, and head off on our way before it gets too risky to do anything. With the hours passing by we take extreme care as the buildings start to become scarce the further, we go; so far, I have not picked up any sort of scent that the wardens are coming so we may have a chance to get to the next factory safely. As we keep walking in the same direction, I pick up a scent of a mechanical/metallic sound/scent that seems to be freshly working, which is odd as most of the buildings are either too old to have anything mechanical in them or they have not been occupied for my months or years. I speed up my walking pace to make sure I do not lose the scent as it could be coming from our next factory. The boys look at me confused before realizing I am part wolf, so I have heightened senses that pick up everything there is which is so annoying. After a couple more hours, we take a break in a small building out of sight from anyone who decides to walk by and catches us. We take some of the small pieces of food we salvaged from the service station we stayed at a couple of days ago and cooked them up, so we are not completely hungry by the time we get to the next factory.

***3 more hours pass***

We are getting close to the factory due to the mechanical/metallic sound/scent getting stronger with each step we take. With night beginning to fall, we run towards the factory as it begins to come into sight as it is not exactly the safest place to be outside in the darkness since we have no idea if that is when the wardens start their searches and carry them on through the daylight. When we reach the factory, we slide through the metal fencing the council put up as it was scheduled to be demolished at some point and head inside to be slightly warmer. Robert heads off to look for some wood to start a fire before he comes inside so we have the warmth of the flame for a few hours. Derek heads off to get something for food one he has made sure that I have gotten inside ok. Robert comes back quite quickly with some wood and some bricks to contain it in a single place; he places the bricks down in a circle then sets up the wood ready for me to attempt to light it. With the fire now lit after taking several attempts and the metal poles set up, so Robert and I sit around waiting for Derek to come back with something to eat. An hour passes by, and we hear the door open with a Derek stumbling in with some meat, berries, herbs, and spices. Well, it seems that this land has a lot to offer in the food variety let us hope it is safe and nice enough to eat as well as to sustain us for a couple of days.

The lads get to preparing of the lovely ingredients found for food while I walk around the building to see if there are any left-over blankets from workers who used this place as somewhere to stay when they did not have anywhere else to go or at least left-over from the homeless, which seems more likely. I walk through two rooms to see a pile of blankets and pillows which do not seem like they have been there that long, probably from the last people of the area before the wardens got to them. I collect them up in a bundle and bring them back through to the main hall and set them up as beds for the few nights we might be here for.

“Well food is ready, now tuck in before it gets cold.” Derek announces. We each grab a mess tin and cutlery and dig into our meals as food seems to be getting scarce for a decent meal these days, as the wardens take as much as they can for the safe camps, which makes me want to put an end to this god forsaken war even quicker. With the meals devoured and the fire put to sleep, we each head off to our little makeshift blanket beds for the night as it has been a long day.

***12 hours later***

As the sun beams through the windows, we all wake up to it beaming across our eyes blinding us at the same time. As we get up, I light the fire as this building seems to retain all of the coldness remaining from last night. With the fire lit we all go out in search for food making sure to keep an eye on the building and the surrounding areas for any sight of wardens. We each managed to find some sort of animal to produce us with enough meat for breakfast; we take them back inside and get them prepared to be eaten before the day ahead of searching for the next beacon to be deactivated. Once the meal is ready to be eaten, we finish them up quickly then head out in separate directions in the factory to try and locate the second beacon. I wander down a long corridor to see a door at the end which appears to be locked and seems to be an old lock. I pull on it to see if it can be broken with force due to how old it is; with it having little effect on the lock I use a little magic to see if that works, I would have used wolf strength but thought that might make too much noise as you never know who is lurking around. To my dismay it does so I open the door to it revealing a room filled with filing cabinets which I searched through, and they just seem to be a bunch of old work records. I head back to the main hall around the same time sa the guys and it looks like neither of us found anything. Well, I guess this is just another factory to mark off as a dud on the maps. We pull the maps out and have a look to see where the actual marks are and see that it looks to be a factory or building about 5 miles north from here and still within the 15-mile radius.

So, we pack everything up and as per usual we made it look like no-one was here before heading north. It takes us about 2 hours to walk 5 miles as we kept near the bush line to use it as coverage. As we come round the corner a building starts to come into view and to me it looks like an old barn; so, we head to it with caution as there could be traps or even wardens around. As we get closer it starts to look like one of those cattle barns, you know the ones where you put the cows to be milked. I open the door to see a beacon like structure which looks way older compared to the last beacon we came across. I walk in while the lads watch to get a closer look.

“Guys I believe this is it.” I shout across the building. I hear the pitter patter of footsteps I am only hoping is Derek and Robert coming towards me otherwise I have doomed us all if it is the wardens. I hid behind the beacon as a precaution in case it is the wardens, I peer round to see that it is in fact Robert and Derek, and I let out a sigh of relief. With the boys inside I quickly close the door so there is not any suspicion to outsiders and then we get to the inspection of the old beacon. I look underneath it to see if there is a keypad there and to my surprise there is, looks like whoever created these definitely thought many people would not look underneath so kept the position the same. Let us just hope the passcode is the same for them all but I doubt it would be as it will bring down the whole plan, but it is worth a try.

I grab the piece of paper containing the numbers on out of my pocket and start to insert them into the keypad to see if it will deactivate it. With them inserted we all stand back and wait around 10 minutes to see if it does anything. 20 minutes goes by, and nothing seems to have happened, so I insert the numbers in backwards to see if that works. After inserting them we head back to the front of the barn to get some food while we wait for it to do something. We sit around the fire, the guys built in an old metal trough, for about an hour I sense a change in the air which sent a chill down my spine. I get up and run towards the beacon with the guys in tow. As we get closer the beacon is glowing and then it goes out, which is usually a sign it is deactivated but this time we cannot be too sure.

“Does anyone think its deactivated?” Derek asks nervously.

“I am not sure, but I am not checking it out.” Robert states chickening out.

“Really, you are going to cower out of an opportunity which could lead to destroying it.” I state.

“It will either destroy it or me, I am not risking my life.” Robert says taking a step back with Derek.

“Fine as it appears you guys are actually girls I’ll go and check it out.” I say shaking my head while I walk over to the beacon and check the lights underneath and it appears there are not any showing which could be a good sign or a bad sign. We decided to stay the night to keep an eye on the beacon before heading off to the last factory, we presume as the fourth location does not have a building on it anymore. The lads head out to get some food while I stay in the barn to keep the fire going and do some sort of tidying up to cover out tracks.

***2 hours late***

The boys finally return with a dozen rabbits, a basket full of berries (no idea where the basket came from), herbs, and spices (all edible I suppose) and they place them down by the fire and we all get started with the preparations. They gathered enough for us to take with us on our journey as we do not know what the next land is going to consist off in the food department. With the right amount of food for the three of us prepared we set it above the fire to cook and then we take arrest around the fire ourselves. With the food done, we gather the mess tins and cutlery and dish the food out between us, then did in to keep ourselves nourished. With the food devoured we walk outside to refill our water bottles at the well which seems to have nicely filtrated water still in it after all this time.