What a weird way to awaken, lying on an old bed in a rustic cabin, somewhere in a mountainous location. But where exactly? Apparently we had been transported to our present location in a rather large balloon, which had been steered to this location remotely, dropping us off in front of this cabin. It was likely steered from a plane and they did drop us gently at least. Sigurbjorn was the first to wake up and she brought the rest of us into the cabin and put us on the beds.

It is a two room cabin, fairly large, with one bedroom containing two old beds with decent mattresses and good blankets and pillows. The other room was the kitchen with a wood burning stove, large table and four chairs. There were also two comfortable, and large, arm chairs, some kerosene lamps and dozens of candles. There was also a good supply of matches and kerosene and most everything we needed, with the exception of food and water.

We did have some food such as oatmeal and beans, some canned meat and a few other things. So, if we ate sparingly and added some wild foods with this inventory, we could survive 4 or 5 weeks. There was also a note. “Hello, because of your interference I decided you needed some time to cool off. If you can survive for one year, I will let you go. There is extra clothes for you in the dressers.

I may even be nice and drop off some food for you from time to time by air drop. I would suggest not trying to walk out from your location, it is doubtful you could survive such a trip. You better hope your friends do not kill me, or they will never find you. Carnival.” He writes such a nice letter. “Well, we need to look around the area,” I said, “and see if we can find some source of water, we will not survive long without it.”

So off we went, Sky and I went one direction, Sigurbjorn and Kristina went another direction. They soon called to us and we went over to see what it was. “Beautiful,” I said, “a mountain stream with clear, cold water. Well, that solves one problem.” “But can we stay here and wait to be rescued?” asked Sky. “We have no choice,” I said, “there is no way to carry enough provisions for a long trip. And walking through the mountains could take a long time and be dangerous as well.”

“Yes,” said Sigurbjorn, “it would seem better to just sit still and wait.” “And hope our team can find us soon,” added Kristina, “but they do not even know where to look. We disappeared in Toronto, and this is nowhere near there.” “Yes, I admit, that is a problem,” I said, “they will likely waste a lot of time looking for us in totally the wrong place. Their best hope is to capture someone from Carnival’s organization and make him talk.”

“Or capture Carnival himself,” said Sky. “I think it would be better to get hold of someone from his organization,” I said, “it would be easier to make him talk than to make Carnival talk.” “Yes, I guess you are right,” she said sighing. “Today we will walk around the area and see what is around us and if there are any wild foods, such as plants, that we can eat and supplement our diet. Wild plants can be very nutritious.”

“Yes, I agree,” said Sigurbjorn, “and familiarizing ourselves with our surroundings is important for survival. There is a good amount of firewood, but it would be good to gather more if possible, since we need it for cooking our food.” So, that is what we did all that day. We stayed together as we walked around, identifying plants that we can use. Obviously someone actually lived in that cabin year round at one time, the smaller trees around it showed that the area had been cleared many years ago.

But how did they get in and out? Perhaps they were prospectors, or trappers, but whoever lived here, it was a long time ago. Still, that log cabin was in remarkably good condition. Even the roof did not leak, which we discovered the next day when it rained most of the day. I decided we needed to plan our days carefully so we would keep busy.

That way there was less time to think about our circumstances and get discouraged. But I must admit, things did not look good for us. It was obvious that Sky and Kristina were worried, though Sigurbjorn seemed to remain amazingly calm. But part of her survival training was to stay in the forest alone for one month, though she was not told how long it would be.

And she had to survive totally off the land and was only allowed some bare essentials to take with her. I know one thing that worried Sky, in one month I needed my “nowhere” medication, without it I was finished. I tried not to think about that part. The worst part for me would be forgetting Sky.

Meanwhile… “It has been a week now,” said Rock, “and we are no closer to finding them. It is like they disappeared completely.” He was getting very discouraged. Baldwin was doing his best to help, so was Mandar. Even Victor put some of his best men out looking for Carnival, who also disappeared without a trace…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.