South Island of New Zealand

Kaherekoau Mountains

45° 52' 49" South

167° 38'16" East

Present day

1

FOREST

Evening

There was thick snow everywhere. On a twilight evening, snowflakes descended mushily to the top of this quiet forest, where the gray tones changed to gray-blue hues, spreading around like fireflies on summer evenings. When you looked up, you would feel like you were rising into the sky. Soft, cold snowflakes were melting on your face turning into water droplets and were coming down all the way.

The snow accumulated on the centuries-old trees of this charming forest, which retained its wild beauty in its naturalness, made them look like ghostly surrogates staring at you in the dark. A horror scenario would take place in silence and stagnation, as if something terrible was about to happen. This dark evening, which spread fear in one’s soul could cause tremors in hearts, bring closer to death in fearful dreams.

The river that flowed a little lower, however, would take you on another journey of wandering and clean all this fear and anxiety was a different mystery on a completely different level. On the other side of the river, giant trees rising like walls gave the air like the gates of a huge palace that opened to a hidden world. If you would look carefully, you could get the impression there were creatures across the distance.

A quiet and moving mosaic…

A dark gray evening…

Simon and Jason weren't back yet. Their trail-searching journey, which they've been on for almost an hour, hasn't found an answer yet even though we all met at the located coordinates. There was no way they could have lost their way. They both took their geo-location set GPS with them. As usual, Marcus was again carefully evaluating.

A little above, Roder, Kate and Nina set up a tent next to a giant tree root, trying to place the backpacks and equipment. I knew no one liked to have dinner with cans. So, everyone had to choose to wait for Jason and Simon somehow if somehow, they had something to eat. Besides, when having a meal with them, everyone had an appetite. So, we seemed to be decided to wait here for a while even though we didn’t talk about it. If nothing came of it, we'd move on later. Maybe that's why everyone chose to wait.

"Careful, ladies, these are very important. You don't want to stay here and die of starvation and cold." Roder said after a long silence. He took a few cans out of the box and looked at everyone. The forest must have been boring for him after a while because obviously he seemed to lose his joy.

"Open your mouth for good. No one has desires to die on this mountainside," Esme replied, trying to increase the fire she lit in a dry place under a tree.

"So, you were listening to us after all?" asked Roder. Previously, she told that she wasn’t listening to anyone while working on something. It seemed Roder wanted to get her angry. He could do this sometimes.

"Stop acting like everyone's talking and I'm just trying to listen to you!" Esme raised her voice. She didn't seem to like what he said. She wouldn't like to ghost listening to anyone in general, and she'd narrow down the toleratement of those who make such accusations. But of course, it was a joke what Roder said.

"Oh, come on! You were listening to us." said Nina with a smile on her face. She seemed to be in mood.

"Okay! I was. Because no one was talking, and you were the first to start babbling!"

"Someone is not in the mood!" intervened Kate with a joyous voice.

"Guys!" Marcus interrupted by adjusting his voice as if he were going to say something important. Everyone stopped talking and started looking at him. He was always like this every time he talked.

"Aren't J and Sime back yet?" he asked as everyone looked at him. In fact, he already knew the answer.

"I bet they have forgotten to come back!" I said as I turned my head from the darkened sky towards them.

"Don't worry about it. They'll be here soon." Roder replied.

“I think so.” Said Esme feeding the fire more. “They’re probably enjoying being kids again.” It was exactly that moment we heart them singing the poem from Garrison Keiler’s book named Lake Wobegon Days.

O blessed Muse grant us ere long

The gift of glorious word and song

That we may sing, ere breath is gone

The praises of New Albion.

As Kate heard this verse, she said, "Okay. Oh, here they are. Now J will sing the rest." She complained. Kate looked towards the direction of their singing as if she were tired of those two fantastic dui who constantly read the same poem as a song. Simon had just finished when Jason started singing the rest.

What dazzling sights mine eyes behold,

So beautieous, bountiful and bold,

Where blessing are made thousand fold-

Our noble home New Albion

"What's wrong with these boys?" asked Esme curiously.

"Oh! Every time they think they do something good; they sing this poem." I said reminding her that what they did was normal.

"So?" asked Kate.

"Although they don't always do good things, maybe they found something useful this time. Or sometimes-" Simon's voice came before I finished my sentence.

"Hey guys, here comes the festival!" he shouted.

"Yes, babies!" said Jason trying to catch up with him. His excitement was peaked with two wild geese he held with one hand. Both of the geese were already dead and seemed to be hunted by those two guys. Both were excited for that event.

"That's great!" shouted Roder cheerfully. "So, there's a feast for dinner! A healthy and yummy feast?"

"I think so!" Marcus nodded smiling at Roder.

"Hey, guys, you did a good job! The fire is almost ready." Esme said. She looked like she finally had found her mood. She looked at the cans with the expression of goodbye.

"I think I'd better find something to keep them on fire." Nina suggested to herself. I knew she liked to be helpful. She was someone who always wanted to contribute something, and now she was happy to get a chance to help. So, she acted as if she read my mind by looking for something for the geese.

"We couldn't clean them up though." Simon said sighing. Roder spoke with joy in his voice as they got closer.

"Okay, guys! You did well anyway. Now let us take care of the rest," he said, "And the smell of blood attracts wild animals. Remember this. So, let's clean them up down the river so their blood gets in the water and go away." He was a meat lover and had skills to do such things. It was because of that long time ago he spent his early years as a soldier. He always knew how to get food and prepare it.

When Marcus looked at all of us and nodded positively, Roder continued again. "Ed, do you want to help me?" His long hair and brunette face always made him look friendly. In reality, he was actually friendlier than he seemed. He had that Kurdish look all over his face and he had warm eyes that somehow would cause you to make a bond with him. He was charming in a friendly way. But he rarely would express his feelings even though it was all over in his behaviors. He couldn’t hide his hate or love but he would show as behaviors not as words. I think it was probably for being a soldier back when he was growing up. His past was written in sadness but later, he found a way out and joined our group and soon we all loved him the way he was.

"Are you sure?" I was a little surprised and he asked me. I wasn’t that kind of guy who would clean up a dead animal. And besides, he usually liked to do these things on his own and by his own. But when he picked me this time, I responded positively with my head and kept going. "Of course! Why not!" I said. Actually, I liked that because he was fun to be with. My mind was in kind of timeless motion at the time and a good distraction would do. Roder seemed a good choice. That's why I walked with him without waiting more. We walked together and went down to the water.

"What else did you find?" Marcus asked Jason and Simon as we walked away.

"Well... And some fruit!" Jason answered.

"All right," Kate said. "Give them to me. I'll go and wash them."

"Was the hunt easy?" asked Marcus again as Roder and I went down the water together. Because of the snowfall, it was actually warm and we both seemed to like it. Roder had a childhood in a mountain village and he had many memories with snow. I think he kind of liked it here even though he didn’t speak about it.

Soon, their conversation turned into a whisper and faded as we got closer to the water. Roder also tried to his knife from the side of his right leg as he kept walking on the accumulated snow on the surface. So, I took the geese from him to give him some help for preparing. Their gray colors and heavy bodies showed they were fat even though I was sad that they were dead now.

After cutting and washing the geese, Roder went upside of the river with the goose in his hand. That's when Kate came and looked at us with a smile. I was washing my hands at the moment. Roder smiled for me, too. Kate was carefully walking down and trying not to spill the fruit at the time.

"I think you'd better hurry up." She said looking at us.

"We're done!" said Roder, looking at her with admiration. There was a smiling expression in his eyes as he saw the woman. I think he might have a crush on her but I wasn’t really good at reading hidden romantic feelings. I could easily mix them.

"I think J and Sime have found something cave-like." She said with an excited voice. I wasn't sure why she was excited. But I felt that same feeling in Roder as well. It was actually nice and I liked it there.

"Oh, good lord! Let's go and find out." I said trying to seem excited. Then I started feeling excited because I always had that curiosity about caves.

"Okay, I'll be right there." Kate said as she leaned into the water and began washing the fruit.

"A cave, huh?" Roder asked in a statement of surprise. He acted like he was trying to get my attention there. He's already done it to be honest.

"What do you think?" I asked with the same expression.

"Actually, it would be nicer if we could spend the night there than being here."

"I think it's a little late for that, but I'd still like to try.” I said.

When we got back there, the fire was bigger and steady, and it was brightening the darkness as the evening was still in progress. The white snowflakes were like butterflies descending in the glory of fire. Nina, Esme and Marcus were sitting on a tree stump, laughing at the jokes of Jason and Simon standing in front of them.

Outside the known world, experiencing winter in the summer months that we were accustomed to, and in this place where no one has been yet, the elegance of fire, which was an element of civilization, undoubtedly led us to our thoughts that we were proud of being human. Fire was the first power we discovered as a species and it was never the same after we found it. Though, I tried not to think about fire as we walked there.

There could surely be something worth being happy about by remembering every tedious mission. Maybe we would make something good to remember for this one as well. Besides, New Zealand was a beautiful place to remember at first place. The nature was clean, and we were actually having a nice vacation by this special mission. It was almost like a camping trip and when we approached them.

Our mission to find a team of scientists who were considered lost a while ago. A few scientists and their associates had disappeared in these mountains a while ago and they might not be alive anymore. On progress of searching for these people, we were asked to scan this location and if possible, to locate them. Because we were also the best with what we were doing. Yet, we haven’t achieved to find them. Even though we put life and movement detectors everywhere we passed that indicated the next place, there was no sign of them. There was no response to the gunshots Marcus fired every hour just as a visual sign to them. We had tried every way to get a sing but we still didn’t have anything even though we were supposed to be the best in our work. It seemed these lost people were vanished in the thin air. When we got to the foothills, we could only throw flares in case of avalanches. Maybe a few of the flares could light up the sky in the evening and increase our chances of finding them. at this level, we couldn’t rely on their actions because they could be anywhere. It was best we use the old fashion ways like scanning with normal gear and by searching the ground because nothing had come up with searching from the sky.

"Here they are!" said Jason with the look of happiness on his face as we appeared. He looked directly at the prepared and ready to go geese.