Riley watched the clouds as they continued to roll in. “We also won’t be able to see him. How did you know the universe would send you fog at precisely three P.M.?”
Emerson held up his iPad. “The universe works in mysterious ways. In this case, the universe sent me a Weather Channel app. Besides, the clouds always come back in the afternoon.”
Thirty minutes later, Emerson, Riley, Vernon, and Wayan Bagus were standing outside the Onizuka Center. Thick clouds covered the lower elevations of the mountain, and the temperature was noticeably cooler.
Vernon shifted from foot to foot. “What the heck are we doing out here?”
“Waiting for our transportation,” Emerson said.
“Is it being provided by the universe?” Riley asked.
“In a manner of speaking,” Emerson said.
Alani pulled up to the front of the center in a six-person Polaris ATV. “Ready to go?” she asked.
“I’m ready to go nowhere with you behind the wheel of this thing,” Vernon said. “I’d rather walk.”
“Good idea,” Alani said. “You go wandering around in the zero-visibility fog. I’ll follow you in the ATV. I’m sure you’ll be perfectly safe. I’m an excellent driver. Only had one accident.”
“Emerson, did you hear that? Devil Woman threatened me,” Vernon said. “She’s probably planning on driving us all over a cliff.”
“There aren’t any cliffs here,” Alani said. “You’re safe…for now.”
“Okay then,” Vernon said, getting into the back sea
t next to Wayan Bagus, “but I’m keeping my eye on you.”
Alani drove into the cloud cover down the access road to Saddle Road and toward Pohakuloa.
“I wouldn’t think it was possible, but it’s even more dense than it was this morning,” Riley said.
Emerson pointed to an unimproved Jeep trail, barely visible through the fog, off to the right side of the road. “Turn there.”
Alani turned onto the gravelly path and followed the tire tracks as best she could.
“We need to stay on the trail,” she said. “We’re officially trespassing on the army training area, and there’s unexploded ordnance left over from past military exercises all over the place. As long as we stay on the trail we’re safe.”
“Well, I don’t feel safe,” Vernon said. “I feel like I’m a character in some horror movie. You know, the kind of dumbass who’s being chased by a serial killer and decides to hide in a graveyard or an abandoned warehouse or some seriously scary fog.”
“I am certain that this is perfectly normal fog,” Emerson said. “Except for the unexploded artillery and top-secret government research facility guarded by a sociopathic axe murderer. But other than that, it’s a perfectly normal fog.”
“It would be easier to stay on the trail if someone walked in front of me,” Alani said.
Emerson got out of the ATV and picked his way over the disturbed gravel with the ATV bumping along behind him, making slow progress. After ten minutes of walking he held his hand up as a signal that they should stop.
“We should park the Polaris and go on foot from here on,” Emerson said. “We’re getting close to where the SUV disappeared, and I don’t want to risk them hearing the sound of a motor approaching.”
Riley looked around. She couldn’t see more than a couple feet in front of her face.
“This cloud cover is completely disorienting,” she said. “If someone accidentally wanders off the trail they’ll never find their way back.”
“I have that all worked out,” Emerson said. He reached into his daypack and fished around. “When I was packing our gear at the ranch, I had the foresight to pack whistles for each of us. Wayan will stay with the ATV while the rest of us snoop around. If we get separated or can’t find the Polaris in the fog, all we have to do is blow our whistle.”
Emerson pulled from his pack five long metal tubes with pistons on one end and mouthpieces on the other.
“Here you go,” he said, handing everyone a whistle.
Riley’s eyebrows went halfway up her forehead. “For real? It’s a slide whistle. What are we supposed to do with these?”