Day 160: Foggy Bridges

     I couldn't really sleep very well, and spent the majority of the night staring up at the few stars I could glimpse through the mist. Despite the expanse of snow around us, and no sun to cast down its warming rays, I wasn't actually cold. The fire had almost gone out by the time I could see light peeking over the Eastern horizon, and I took this opportunity to break away from the others whilst they slept, and took off with a rifle to the top of the hill. I was still unsure whether I had actually seen anything last night before we settled down, but it had bugged me ever since. A small flicker of light that seemed to poke out for a fraction of a second through the layers of mist and fog. Reaching the top, I cleared a patch of snow and lay down on the damp, flattened grass. Bringing the rifle in front of me, I peered through the scope, in the exact same direction I saw it yesterday, but I couldn't see anything at all. The fog hadn't dissipated at all since last night, and it was doing a good job of obscuring a lot more ahead to the West. Feeling a little deflated at not being able to back up my sighting, I headed back to the camp to wake the others.

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     Setting off again as soon as we had packed up and buried all trace of our presence, it wasn't long until COLUS and UOPETA broke off for their initial scout of the area. I was hoping that one of them would spot the same thing I had the night before, but I kept it to myself, as I usually did with these little things. I was more concerned about what I thought they'd say rather than what they were more likely to say. Before when I voiced my concerns, which up until then I had thought was paranoia, they had been supporting. Often a concern of anyone's should be a concern for us all, as it was likely to affect everyone. The light I saw yesterday could have been a torch, something burning, a flashlight or some form of structural lighting for a large building. All I saw though was the light, and very little in the way to suggest what it was or why it was there. Well I could guess the latter, and it probably involved HoN Co., unsurprisingly...

"we should be getting close to the far Western edge of the shore soon. It's then that we have to determine the best course of action to get across. Let's hope they've got a small dock with at least one boat set up for us to "commandeer". It would certainly make our lives a whole lot easier."

"Provided we didn't get caught taking the boat, driving the boat or attempting to pull up to the island. Or at any point along the way..."

COLUS and UOPETA returned from their initial scouting trip, giving us the all clear to proceed West as planned. Remembering that UOPETA had spotted and taken down a HoN Co. guard on one of his missions ahead, I began to wonder whether today would be as eventful as yesterday. Well whether it would be or it wouldn't, either way we would be heading in the direction of the light source I spotted, so hopefully we would all see something.


     Despite the blanket of snow, the swirling fog and the unusually low terrain, we all noticed a slight rise in temperature, suggesting that we were reaching the Western edge of the landmass. From there we should be heading into warmer waters, especially when you consider that the island the HQ is based on is infested with jungle flora. As the sun reached its apex, the fog seemed to ease off a little bit, allowing us to see further ahead of ourselves, but even with the complete lack of hills ahead and around us, there was still nothing in sight. Certainly nothing that would cause us to be concerned about being seen. It definitely made COLUS and UOPETA's job a lot easier, and they seemed to return a lot more quickly after each trip ahead.

"Do you see anything that looks like a dock? Or anything at all that isn't natural or out of place...?"

"Nothing. The fog may have cleared up a little, but it's still playing with extreme range scouting. The rifle scopes are more or less redundant at the moment as they don't allow us to see any further than we currently can with just plain sight."

We continued the cycle of continuing forward, slowing down waiting for our scouts and then continuing on for a further half hour or so, before repeating. But as the day wore on, we noticed that, not only did the temperature steadily rise again, but the fog began to slowly lift. This was definitely helping COLUS and UOPETA with their job, which in turn helped us. near to the end of the day, as the sun began to dip very low in the Western sky, we climbed to the top of a single hill in the middle of a flat expanse. From there we saw something that proved we were very close indeed. Up ahead, more or less in the direction I was looking last night, was a large light source. More than that, there was an actual structure standing quite tall against the otherwise low scenery, which appeared to be a tower of some sort...

Everyone else spotted the same structure as well, COLUS and UOPETA bringing their rifles up to take a closer look. We all stood in silence, waiting for them to respond with what we were seeing, before they slowly, and almost in unison, lowered the rifles.

"That's HoN Co. alright. Looks like we're nearly there..."

"What is it? A guard tower? A dock? Part of the HQ?"

"Well... It sort of looks like... Well, have a look yourself..."

Taking my own rifle from over my shoulder I joined Joe and AMPHIS in peering through the scopes across to the North West, in the direction of the strange structure. I couldn't believe what I was seeing; it wasn't part of the HQ or a dock, but there was a tower. Two towers in fact, flanking a wooden platform that stretched out across the water... Almost like a...

"It's a bridge! HoN Co. have built a bridge!"

"What do we do now...?"

Syeonyx signing off