A Path of Loneliness, Part 1

Warm sunlight shone into Caleb's eyes, abruptly waking him up from his short slumber. He opened his eyes and quickly realized that the cave he and Hope had chosen to rest in was facing east, allowing the morning sun to shine right into its opening. It was a rather poor choice of shelter for the night in retrospect, but considering how tired they were when they first got here, they didn't have much time to make an informed decision.

Caleb glanced over at Hope, who was still asleep on the floor next to him. He remembered when she used to throw a fit about being told to go to sleep at night. Of course, it didn't take long for her to realize that she do much at night when Caleb was asleep and unable to accompany her, so she might as well try to sleep anyhow. Nowadays, it felt as if he was the one who needed to get her to wake up on most days.

Of course, it had now been two years since they had first teamed up, so he had a lot of time to learn about Hope's various personality quirks in the time since then. She had become a lot less rigid in the years he had watched her grow and develop, but she still seemed to be quite cagey when it came to the subject of her humanity. Perhaps that cold, detached demeanor really was her true personality, but he sensed at the very least a conscious attempt on her behalf to avoid being too open and emotional.

Having said that, he didn't really know how to approach the subject with her. He didn't want to be overly preachy, and in any case, he'd probably talked enough about the subject that he'd just be going over the same old ground if he kept trying. The problem was trying to figure out just what it was keeping her walled in, but that wasn't something he could just force out of her.

He sighed. Maybe he was overthinking things. After all, being emotionally closed off wasn't all that strange. Maybe this was just the best he could expect from Hope. Still, even if that was the case, he felt strongly that the distance between the two of them hadn't shrunk in the years they'd known each other.

He heard Hope groan behind him, and turned to see her waking up. As she crawled out of her sleeping bag, he walked up to the campfire they'd set up inside the cave and started preparing for breakfast. “Morning. You slept well.”

“As if I could sleep well on such a hard rock floor,” Hope replied with a pained groan. “We should have pushed until we came down the mountain.”

“The sun was already below the horizon by the time we got to this cave,” Caleb said, somewhat exasperated. “Even if we ran, we couldn't have gotten down the mountain before it got too dark to see.”

“Whatever. Are you making breakfast?”

“Yeah. Do you want some?”

“No. We don't have much left in the way of rations.”

Caleb merely shrugged as Hope let out a tired yawn and walked outside. Inwardly, he wondered whether or not she even understood how much trouble he was going to on her behalf. Then again, did she really need to be in touch with her humanity as an immortal remainer? Maybe it was just his hubris as a natural human that made him want to see her act more like a human. It was that sort of thought that kept him from really pushing her on this subject.

It wasn't long before the two of them were out on the road once again. It was about a two-hour trek down the mountain, then a four-hour walk through the woods. By noontime, Caleb and Hope finally arrived at their destination, a relay tower standing amongst the plains of the northern United States. They were running a little late, but naturally, most remainers wouldn't exactly make a fuss.

As they approached the relay tower, Caleb and Hope noticed two figures standing outside, a man and a woman, frolicking in a grass field with a group of small brown puppies. The sight was fairly surprising to Hope, who seemed taken aback by such a whimsical image. “I thought we were here for a job.”

“Of course we are,” Caleb said without even looking back. Instead, he waved to the two figures in the plain, who happily waved back. The woman approached them first, dressed less like a traveler ready for some rough terrain and more like a lab-bound researcher.

“You made it,” she said happily as the pack of puppies pranced joyfully around her ankles. “I hope the journey here wasn't too harsh.”

“It wasn't anything I'm not used to,” Caleb replied with a confident smirk on his face. “More importantly, who are these cute little fellas?”

“Well, they're the reason I called the two of you out here.”

“Really?” Hope seemed surprised. “What do you mean by that?”

“We should start with introductions first. I'm Erin, a doctor.”

“Caleb. And this is Hope.”

“A doctor?” Hope was surprised. “Why would remainers need a doctor?”

Erin giggled. “I understand. It must seem strange that there would be a need for doctors among the immortal, synthetic remainers. But I'm not here to help us out. Instead, I examine the wildlife, perform checkups, and make sure that nothing out of the ordinary is happening.”

“I see. Then you were... what? Performing checkups on these pups?”

“That's right. Recently there was an odd breakout that infected the local coyote population. While we were trying to treat and isolate the disease, we decided to quarantine the pups down in this relay tower to keep them from contracting the disease. Thankfully it only took us a month to treat and vaccinate the coyotes, so there should be no danger in bringing the pups back to their home.”

“Is that so?” Hope hummed thoughtfully as she bent down and tried to pick up one of the pups. The pup, slightly startled by her sudden approach, barked in surprise.

“Ow!” Hope exclaimed as she pulled her hand back. “It bit me!”

“Oh, that one's not very good with strangers,” Erin explained apologetically as she picked up the offending pup. “In any case, we'd like your help in helping these pups get back to their pack.”

“That's what you called us here to do?”

“Yes. We pulled them from inside a forest that is quite a distance from the relay tower – about fifty miles northwest of here. They obviously can't be expected to make the journey back themselves, so it would help a lot if you could guide them back.”

“Hold on,” Hope cut in. “It's fifty miles away? It'd take us days to get there, especially if we have to drag these pups along as well.”

“That's where I come in,” chimed in the man, who was dressed in a much more rugged fashion. “I'm Nick, the transporter. I'll be helping you ferry these little tykes back to their families.”

“So we'd be helping you out then?” Caleb asked.

“Yeah. I've been helping Erin with her various animal care and research needs, but even I'd have some trouble keeping these pups in check by myself. With you guys around, it'd make the trek a lot easier.”

“No problem.” Caleb turned to Hope with a raised eyebrow. “Right?”

Hope sighed, but she nodded as well. “I guess we're always doing goofy jobs like this anyhow.”

Nick grinned. “Alright, then. I'll bring the truck around, so help me get them into the bed.”

Before long, twelve coyote pups were loaded onto the truck bed, with leashes secured to the bed's frame in order to keep them from jumping off. The pups seemed uncomfortable, and several of them tried to pull off of their leashes, but luckily the restraints held firm.

“They're fairly used to not being restrained, but it can't be helped,” Erin remarked with a sympathetic smile. “We can't have them jumping out of the truck bed, after all.”

“It'd be a great help if you could sit in the back and watch over them, Hope,” Nick suggested. “If we left them alone for too long, I'd worry they'd get rowdy.”

“Why me?” Hope asked, clearly unwilling. “I'm not very good with animals. Honestly, Caleb would be better at keeping them in check.”

“Actually, I think it's a good chance for you to start learning,” Caleb remarked. “After all, you might get an animal-related job in the future. It'd be good practice for you.”

“Really? It just sounds like you're trying to pawn off a dull job on me.”

“Come on. It'll be easy. I promise.”

Hope glared at Caleb and sighed. “Fine. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to do something new every now and then.”

“That's the spirit!” Nick shouted with a grin. “Now come on. We've got a long drive ahead of us.”