Forever Fighting | ✔️ | [previously Espionage: double-cross]

Chapter 54

By the time the cab had dropped Alex off, the sun with high in the sky, emitting a warm glow over the landscape. She paid the taxi driver with some of her cash and began to say thank you, until her sped off. 0 to 60 in 2 seconds, great. What a lovely person.

She sighed and looked around her. She hadn't been to the cabin for a few years now, not since her dad started absorbing himself in his work a few years after his wife's death. She just hoped and prayed she remotely remembered the way. She gripped her suitcase even more tightly and prepared herself for some hiking. 

Oh joy.

"Are you kidding me! Why universe why?" Alex grappled with her suitcase which was currently stuck in a hole while her satchel was snagged on a rather pointy branch from a very dead-looking tree. She had been walking for the past six hours now, only taking a short break twice on her long trek, determined to reach the cabin before dark. Unfortunately for her, getting stuck and being unable to find the engravings on the trees needed to reach the well protected cabin for a long time had left her wandering around until the early hours of the night. 

At around 17:30, Alex spotted the first carving. It took the form of two swords crossed over. While old and faded, Alex's keen eyes managed to make them out in the overgrown bark. If on wasn't looking for it, the small symbols would be virtually impossible to spot, even for the most eagle-eyed of people. After spotting the first symbol it was only a matter of walking in a direction the swords were pointing at, mainly leading Alex west from her mainly northward path.

Now 19:45, she could make out the silhouette of a comfortable looking cabin through the trees. It wasn't as broken as the one in stranger things but had the look of something about to be attacked by a monster from another reality. On the inside, however, it was fairly modern  - designed by her mother herself. The only people that knew of its existence now were just her and her dad. So you can imagine her caution when she found the front door already open, yet with no signs of forced entry.

"Strange."

Leaving her suitcase on the porch in case of a fight, she opened the door carefully. The September sun was setting behind her, casting an eerie glow on the broken into house. 

Thank goodness I didn't arrive any later. 

Not that she was afraid of a little dark or anything. 

The floorboards creaked with her footsteps, the dust she was expecting filtering into the air in swirling patterns. The kitchen too was covered in a layer of dust, thick with years of neglect. 

Alex crept over to the cupboards that contained the emergency stash of food. It wasn't at all depleted, making it unlikely that someone was there before her. 

Everything was undisturbed.

At least she didn't have to worry about any current squatters. While she would have to spend some time cleaning if she didn't want to inhale dead cells, she wouldn't have to risk a journey back into town, enjoying the safety of isolation. 

A strong gust of wind probably blew open the door since it is possible Dad didn't lock the door.

Alex internally cursed her dad's scatter-brain.

Her shoulders dropped as the tension dissipated. Shaking her head, she went back to retrieve her suitcase from the front porch, missing the shadow in the trees while she pulled it into the house, firmly closing and locking the door behind her. 

Even though the chance there was someone in the house was low, she still opted for completing a more thorough check of the rest of the house. 

Knowing that the kitchen-diner-living room was empty, she checked the snug, the library and bathroom on the bottom floor, all of which yielded no recent traces.