Ah Tuesday. So much less a shock to the system than Monday. So let’s see what today brings shell we? Timers set to fifteen minutes and lets get writing.
Okay I like the set up. No clue what sort of story it could be, at this point the genre is wide open. I kinda dig that in a prompt.
Tuesday, May 14th: The valley stretched out before them.
The valley stretched out before them. It was hard to believe they had finally reached it. The slog through the jungle was worse than she thought it would be. She knew it would be difficult. After all if it hadn’t been so difficult then she knew someone else would have come to catalog these ruins before.
However looking at the satellite and Lidar images it hadn’t seemed that bad. They had roads, at least for the first part and she expected that part to go quickly. It didn’t. The vehicles got bogged down in the mud and more times than she cred to count they had to get out, haul all of their gear out to make the vehicle lighter and then all work together to get the vehicle back into motion. By the time they were clear of the mud patch and reloaded the vehicle they often managed only a few miles before they had to repeat the process. All in all she was fairly certain it would have been quicker to walk.
Then of course they had to walk. While walking on the muddy road might have been quicker there was no way to speed up the trek through the pathless jungle. ‘At least we have several months before we have to reverse the trip, she thought.’
They had a mountain of supplies with them and more supplies would be air dropped at regular intervals. There was no way to survey the area without actually living close to the ruins. Already the others were complaining about missing loved ones and creature comforts. While she was having recurring fantasies of bathtubs filled with hot fragrant water where she could lather up with scent body wash to her hearts content, over all she was more relieved to be separated from humanity than she was missing it.
To say her divorce was acrimonious would be a vast understatement. Her one relief that it was finally officially settled. There were no more ties linking her to her ex. No more reasons for them ever to have contact. Being able to escape from the regular world felt a bit like a prize for surviving the separation process.
“Just a little father to go,” Scott said as he paused beside her. He too was looking down into the valley below with a sense of relief. She didn’t know his personally story, but suspected over the next few months she would learn more of him as he seemed an open and gregarious person who liked sharing. Even with the lack of breath during sections of the trip he had already managed to share a few humorous stories. At the comment though he just looked happy to see the end of the trail in sight.
“Bonus is that the rest of the path into the valley is down hill,” she told him. Scott and few others chuckled at the statement. They rested as they surveyed the area they would call home. Pictures were taken, drones were launched and a location for a base camp identified before they began their decent.
Ten til Midnight 