21st Century Bogatyr: A Sign, Divine Guidance & Moxie

“The world exists as you perceive it. It is not what you see but how you see it."

Rumi

[This is Part 8 of a work in progress. Links to the rest are at the bottom of this page.]

by Zvi Baranoff

Trails and pathways in the Zone tend to wind about and be indirect. They also lack signage. I can't really claim either the good memory or the astute inborn sense of direction required for extensive navigation within the Zone. I was totally dependent on my Sherpa as we wormed our way about.

We had started out early in the day and had been on the move pretty much all day long, but I would have been hard pressed to say what direction we were heading most of that time. As the sun moved westward, however, at least I was able to determine the general compass points.

We were beginning to see the sky changing colors with the teasing of sunset and we began to move more consistently in the same direction as the setting sun. We entered an area that had seen far less deconstruction than other sectors of the Zone. Even after all of the passing unmeasured time, most of the original buildings still stood there. The remnants of the old streets and the grids of city planning could still be perceived.

We entered one of the tallest buildings and climbed the stairwell as far as it went and opened the door to the rooftop.

From our vantage point on the rooftop, we had a view of a wide swath of the No Man's Land that surrounds the outer edge of the Zone. We could see the patrol units of the Federales and observe the patterns of the troops. They were mostly young and probably lacking in experience. You could sense a nervousness in the way they walked and how their heads moved about as they searched for - or expected - danger, but did not know what form it might take. They wore camouflage and were heavily armed.

And then, there were the eyes in the sky. "Pájaros," she said and pointed towards the drones. Swooping back and forth along the borderline, the drones were being flown by remote pilots. The drone pilots relayed information, much of it useless, to the troops on the ground, which increased their jitters.

"We will move through the In and Out after dark. There will only be the tiniest sliver of a moon, so that is to our advantage. We will wait here for a while."

"We want to avoid those pendejos. They are dangerous and erratic," Maria tells me, stating the obvious.

"We will want to keep our heads down. We need to avoid the searchlights, not get tangled in barbed wire, beware of the dogs, not set off the trip wires, not get captured and try not to get shot. If we are careful and lucky, that would be best." She touched a Saint Christopher medal that hung on a short chain around her neck and then spit to ward off evil.

That all certainly sounded like the preferred option. I was wondering if I still had any favors that I could call on from the ultimate cardshark that we all answer to. I raised my eyes to the heavens and muttered some onomatopoeia that I vaguely remembered from my childhood, hoping it would count for something.

"Beyond those mamzerim pendejos that we see here," she continued, "we don't know how the border skirmishes are going. The last some-some I passed through there, the Mercantile Mercenaries had the upper hand and the streets were relatively calm but Los Lobos have never been ones to lay low for long. It might be hairy out there."

Great. Something else to look forward to.

Maria had a few tricks that would improve our odds of making it through the gauntlet. In her pack were two black kevlar jumpsuits that would make us harder to see and most bullets would not penetrate them. She had helmets to provide some protection for our melons that were equipped with night vision goggles, making seeing where we were going easier, and ear protection to reduce the effects of sonic weaponry.

Of course, I had my handgun and she had her piece as well. So, we were each outfitted for this In and Out expedition.

The night sky was clear. The stars glittered. The thinnest sliver of a moon came out. Satellites crisscrossed the sky. We sat on that roof and watched the sky and waited for some sort of signaling from the Universe or Divine guidance if possible or perhaps just inspiration and sufficient moxie.

Then, we felt a breeze from the southwest and clouds began to roll in. We continued to sit there on that roof and the clouds continued to roll in and thicken.

We soon felt the first raindrops. They turned into a steady drizzle and we were both simultaneously aware that we had received our sign.

We headed down the stairs to ground level and we both felt to be, and appeared to others, as nearly invisible. We knew we were about as ready as we could be to make the crossing.

We moved silently through what had once been an alley and was still alley-like. Tall buildings closed in and shadowed us. Bushes and bramble had grown in and the pathway was narrow, but level and not a difficult walk, to begin with.

We walked along a wooden fence. There must be some sort of marking that I hadn't perceived, because Maria had slowed to look for something and must have found it because we came to a full stop. "Now, it will be a bit more complicated," she told me. "No talking. Try to walk like a cat."

Great. Just great. I walk like an old man that I am and I creak with every step that I take. Now, I am supposed to be cat-like. OK. I will see what I can do.

She placed her hands between two slats and with a sliding motion, she revealed an opening about large enough to squeeze through, which we did. We faced brambles, gullies, rocks, a creek and nothing that even remotely looked like a trail.

The place where we stood was nothing but yuck and muck. Maria signaled downward with her hand and I followed her lead. We were prone in the mud and mire and Maria lifted her head just enough to scan the horizon with heat-sensitive binoculars, looking for the foot patrols.

And then, my cell phone began to chirp - I was once again within the spiderweb and the spider let my phone know it. The trill indicated that I had unread messages. The sound was most useless and inconvenient at that moment.

Maria turned her head towards me and even in all that very dark darkness and through the helmet and goggles I couldn't help but feel her eyes piercing. If her look was a shiv it would have pierced my kidneys and skewed my liver, if not my very soul. I quickly silenced my device.

We laid there in the mud for years, decades, centuries, I don't know how long, hoping that there were no Federales or drones within earshot when my phone farted.

If only I could have clicked my heels and been teleported home, that certainly would have been advantageous. At that point, I would have confessed all my sins or sold my soul for any slight improvement of the odds. I focused on making my breath as steady as possible and tried to quiet the beating of my heart. Flies buzzed in my ears and kept trying to go up my nose. I really should have turned around and gone straight home when I saw that giraffe.

Nothing happened. Nothing whatsoever, and then nothing some more. When nothing continued to happen, we determined that it was safe to move forward, which we did like a pair of slithering snakes, with Maria leading and me following, more than a bit crinkly, close behind.

Links to the earlier posted parts of this story, Chapters 1 - 26.

Part 1: Grace and Mercy If Luck Holds

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2020/05/grace-and-mercy-if-luck-holds.html?m=1

Part 2: Everything Was Fine Until It All Went Sideways

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2020/07/everything-was-fine-until-it-all-went.html

Part 3: I Blink In & Out and Awakened In the Zone

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2020/07/i-blink-in-out-and-awakened-in-zone.html

Part 4: Out Of Time

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2020/07/out-of-time.html

Part 5: Even Without Clocks

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2020/07/even-without-clocks.html

Part 6: Cerveza & Barbecue Before I Go