Post by Firelizard on Feb 8, 2024 3:50:12 GMT
Hannah’s boots shoved off against an outcropping of rock, leaving all manner of dust and pebbles in her wake as she worked her way up the dried out hiking trail. The sky above was clear save for the scant, wispy cloud drifting lazily across its periphery. Her boots still somehow managed to gather some remnants of each step’s dust cloud, smudged with dirt and mud waging a war for territory on their respective and literal footholds against one another. Their owner had been working her way up this lazily snaking expanse of trails for almost an hour. The lack of clouds made for an almost too scenic view of the mountain off in the distance. Though what they made up for in aesthetics they definitely lacked in ways of protection from the harsh Nevada sun crackling up above.
“Always opt for this instead of just flying in. Hannah, when will you learn…”
She let the half hearted question spill out of her mouth as she took a giant stride across a gap in the trail below her feet. It might have even sounded genuine to whichever government drone who was monitoring the camera feeds on the unmarked paths leading up to Thunderbolt Mountain. But if Hannah was being honest, she enjoyed the trudge through nature more than she valued the time she would have saved by simply flying into one of the many hangars that dotted the gargantuan Protectorate base. These trails and the mountains they led to reminded her of the lands that surrounded the Kurdish village she had lived in as a child. The most recent memories of her old home were far from idyllic and peaceful, but Hannah chose to focus upon the ones that came before even those. Memories of her running down a sandy road, one far more dry and much less green than the one she currently found herself trudging upon. Her father calling ahead for her to slow down, a package of sweets held above his head as the most parental of bribes for his young daughter.
Hannah shook her head and swept the memories out of her head as her father’s laughingly uttered pleas for her to slow down turned into Turkish commands to run faster. When his simple white frock transformed into a sharply trim Turkish uniform and red beret…
“Fuck.”
Hannah shakily moved her hand to wipe the sweat off her brow, handily blaming the watering of her eyes on the sodium laced water splashing down her face. She shook her head again and pulled her near iconic bandana away from her face and down once more around her neck. She let her quick stride through the outcropping of greenery and snow falter and then came to a complete stop as she approached a small ridge. She sucked in air and planted herself down on a large rock, taking in the sights the ridge provided. The peak of Thunderbolt Mountain shot up into the sky, far more majestic and intimidating at this distance as opposed to from the air or from a few miles out at the starting point for the hiking trail. She had only been here a few times, usually circulating around the Protectorate bases dotted in and around the east coast of the United States. It was sights like this that made her yearn to explore and move out west. The lofty aspirations for a life ensconced in nature soon died when Hannah considered just how little there would be for her to do out here. The fact that she hadn’t slept a wink in over twenty years meant that she often had to find things to do to keep busy. Which usually boiled down to patrolling the streets of whichever city she was assigned to at the time. Something that might be difficult with nothing but miles of rocks and lizards as far as the eye could see. With that matter put to rest in less than a second, Hannah turned her attention back to Thunderbolt Mountain...taking in the sights as she caught her breath from her self inflicted workout.
“Always opt for this instead of just flying in. Hannah, when will you learn…”
She let the half hearted question spill out of her mouth as she took a giant stride across a gap in the trail below her feet. It might have even sounded genuine to whichever government drone who was monitoring the camera feeds on the unmarked paths leading up to Thunderbolt Mountain. But if Hannah was being honest, she enjoyed the trudge through nature more than she valued the time she would have saved by simply flying into one of the many hangars that dotted the gargantuan Protectorate base. These trails and the mountains they led to reminded her of the lands that surrounded the Kurdish village she had lived in as a child. The most recent memories of her old home were far from idyllic and peaceful, but Hannah chose to focus upon the ones that came before even those. Memories of her running down a sandy road, one far more dry and much less green than the one she currently found herself trudging upon. Her father calling ahead for her to slow down, a package of sweets held above his head as the most parental of bribes for his young daughter.
Hannah shook her head and swept the memories out of her head as her father’s laughingly uttered pleas for her to slow down turned into Turkish commands to run faster. When his simple white frock transformed into a sharply trim Turkish uniform and red beret…
“Fuck.”
Hannah shakily moved her hand to wipe the sweat off her brow, handily blaming the watering of her eyes on the sodium laced water splashing down her face. She shook her head again and pulled her near iconic bandana away from her face and down once more around her neck. She let her quick stride through the outcropping of greenery and snow falter and then came to a complete stop as she approached a small ridge. She sucked in air and planted herself down on a large rock, taking in the sights the ridge provided. The peak of Thunderbolt Mountain shot up into the sky, far more majestic and intimidating at this distance as opposed to from the air or from a few miles out at the starting point for the hiking trail. She had only been here a few times, usually circulating around the Protectorate bases dotted in and around the east coast of the United States. It was sights like this that made her yearn to explore and move out west. The lofty aspirations for a life ensconced in nature soon died when Hannah considered just how little there would be for her to do out here. The fact that she hadn’t slept a wink in over twenty years meant that she often had to find things to do to keep busy. Which usually boiled down to patrolling the streets of whichever city she was assigned to at the time. Something that might be difficult with nothing but miles of rocks and lizards as far as the eye could see. With that matter put to rest in less than a second, Hannah turned her attention back to Thunderbolt Mountain...taking in the sights as she caught her breath from her self inflicted workout.
