So why had the powers behind Armageddon separated them? Surely Nina's memory loss could be overcome. But no, Trevor had not been allowed to be with Nina for another reason: he was pre-ordained to be with Ashley.
She turned away from the soldier and gazed at her son. A son with a brain that worked far beyond the capabilities of the normal; a boy with unnatural insights into the world around him. A child who had apparently slaughtered legions of monsters inside The Order's base with his mind.
What Trevor had needed from Ashley…what the Gods had fated…her genes. Her womb. She was a vessel, contributing half of a powerful equation. But to what end? Ashley did not know. She only knew that her life might serve no meaning beyond being a mother, and that saddened her. She stared at her hands and listened to the engines hum. Nina went on cleaning her rifle. — Despite their name, the Catskill Mountains are a dissected plateau. This discrepancy, however, made no practical difference to the rescue party onboard Eagle One. The mountainous ranges rolled away from the crash site one after another covered in dense forest with streams, rivers, dramatic waterfalls, and dense foliage presenting a variety of obstacles to any search.
According to the Scout Four pilot-who had suffered a concussion-Trevor Stone had raced off into the forest when the ship fell from the sky in a kind of controlled crash, what a helicopter pilot such as Nina might call a 'hard landing.'
"We can't search from the sky," Hauser explained while the medics looked over the wounded pilot in Eagle One's passenger module.
"Why not? We have to get father!"
Hauser answered, "Regional air defense has a couple of fighter jets out looking for us. I can get us out of here when the time comes but a slow search over all this terrain is a different story. We'd be an easy target."
Ashley-the de facto commander of the mission-resolved the issue. "Then we go after him on foot. He's got a two-hour head start on us. I can't imagine he'd get far in his condition." Nina threw a back pack with emergency gear over her shoulders, picked up her M-4, and moved toward the exit with Odin at her heel. "Okay then, I say we get going." "Yes, mommy, she's right. We should get going right away."
"You're not going anywhere," Ashley told her boy. "I'm not going to lose you again. You stay here with Mr. Hauser and the medical team. We'll radio for you when we find his location." Hauser protested, "Ma'am, I mean, shouldn't we all go?" "This is not a military matter, Rick, it's a personal one. Family. Besides, the fewer people the faster we can move." Hauser did not like the idea but had no choice but relent. "Okay then, we'll wait to hear from you."
Nina pushed a button and the door slid open. A cool breeze-surprisingly cool for July-eased in as did the smell of wild flowers, the sound of a nearby waterfall, and birdsong
Eagle One sat on one side of a meadow cut in a deciduous forest by a fire decades before. A few charred stumps remained but otherwise the area had grown over in weeds and flowers. On the other side of the clearing sat Scout Four, its starboard side smashed into a clump of trees.
Nina and Odin descended the ramp. Ashley followed, saying, "He headed northeast. I think there's a path-"
Her sentence stopped in a grunt of pain. Ashley fell to one knee and grabbed her right ankle. Nina snapped about and raced to her. JB eyed his mother suspiciously. "What is it? What happened?" "I slipped off the ramp. I think I sprained it. You go ahead. Radio when you find him." Nina hesitated. Ashley said, "Go, I'll be okay. Find Trevor. You have to catch up to him." "Okay, I'll go. And I promise, I'll find your husband." She then turned and followed Odin into the forest on a game trail leading northeast.
Ashley remained on a knee until Nina entered the brush. At that point she calmly stood and-in perfect strides-ascended the ramp into the ship telling a stunned Hauser, "We wait until we hear from her."
– Nina entered the woods with a sense of urgency, moving at a fast walk and following the obvious signs: footsteps in soft ground along the trail, broken branches, trampled flowers, and flattened brush. It seemed that in his current state Trevor moved like an enraged bull, pushing through and knocking over anything in his way.
As the day wore on, she realized that while he had not moved softly he had moved quick. Whatever damage The Order had done to her leader, they had left him full of adrenaline.
The thick green canopy of forest could not keep out the heat of a strong afternoon sun. The air grew heavy with humidity, becoming another weight on her shoulders conspiring to drain her strength. But Nina did not slow. She willed herself forward. Her loyal companion-Odin-suffered even more so due to his heavy black and gray coat.
At the edge of a great waterfall she hid behind a fallen tree to avoid a massive StumpHide. Its long body and heavy feet crashed through the wilderness reminding her that amidst the natural beauty of the Catskills lurked the unnatural dangers of alien wildlife.
When the trail seemed to disappear at a stream, Odin's keen nose miraculously found Trevor's scent.
From the top of an open ridge she paused to drink from her canteen and watch the sun begin its descent, its rays changing to burnt orange.
In the forest again a yard of Bloodhorns crossed their path. She stopped and watched the graceful beasts graze at a patch of berry bushes before moving on. One regarded her through its crimson eyes. The ungulates wore a pair of slender horns similar to pronghorns and seemed to dance, not run. Not all aliens were predators.
As the forest darkened a wobble grew in her knees from exhaustion. Just as she worried she would have to make camp for the night, she came upon a lonely cabin sitting atop a clearing where a land owner had long ago cut away the trees, and shrubs, and grass and blanketed it all with gravel and rock.
Nina surveyed the clearing surrounding the cabin and Odin stood at her side with his nose in the air sniffing. She heard song birds celebrate the end of another summer day, her eyes saw no reason to fear, and her Elkhound did not advance any warning.
She adjusted the M-4 on her shoulder and then stepped out of the shadows. Her footfalls crunched on the white gravel. As they crossed the distance, Nina took note of the cabin’s isolation; of her isolation in those mountains. Inside the forest, she had not given it much thought. But there, seeing the cabin in the clearing under the wide open sky and against the backdrop of forested mountain walls, emphasized the point.
Nina and her dog arrived at and climbed the wooden stairs then stopped perfectly still. The door stood slightly ajar. Scrapes and splinters along the frame indicated forced entry.
She drew her pistol and pushed the door. It swayed open with a creak much too loud for her liking, but no response came from within.
She stepped inside first. A fresh cedar smell greeted her, riding on cold air trapped inside the home for a decade.
To her right, a small room with a desk and dusty wildlife oil paintings, an ancient typewriter, and a bundle of straw in one corner no doubt home for a mouse. To her left, a closet with empty clothes hangers and a cache of dusty fishing gear scattered below.
In front of her the hallway continued toward a kitchen. First, however, an archway to her left just beyond the closet.
Nina instinctively felt a presence in that room even before she peered inside. When she did, she saw a bundle on the floor; a person curled in a fetal position in front of a dormant stone fireplace and at the foot of a plush sofa. Trevor Stone. Before entering the room she listened and looked along the hall but her instincts now told her they were alone. Those instincts were wrong. She stepped into the living room, holstered her weapon, and cautiously took to a knee. Odin stood nearby, his nose in the air.