“They must be bloody mad.” Commented Mary.
“Yeah, they must be…” agreed Alex, watching the figure disappear out of view, behind some rocks. Up on the glacial ridge, Howard Trenton glanced quickly back at his prey, down below, walking the flat-lands. He smiled to himself, before moving on…
Gary Ackley felt the lace on his hiking boot come loose.
"Damn it." He said, quietly, before kneeling down and re-fastening his footwear. Alex and Mary strolled past him, arms around each other. He might be one of my best friends, but that girl is way too good for him, observed Gary. Still, she'll learn the hard way, once she realises just how petty, whinging, and self-pitying Alex can be. I don't think that a girl like Mary's gonna stand for that sort of behaviour for very long… Gary's thoughts were interrupted by Shark, a woman who he had first met a few months back, during a night’s binge-drinking down at 'The Stagecoach’. together with her friend, Deb Holloway. Gary had known Deb, a fellow punk, for years, ever since they were kids at school. Gary and Shark had got on well, right from the first moment that they met, but he was painfully aware that she was, according to Deb, still getting over her break-up with Mike Gudden, who had upped and left her to go and live with another woman, somewhere down south. As much as Gary had wanted to, he’d never gotten around to asking Shark out.
Shark put a hand on Gary's shoulder, just as he was getting back to his feet, having tied up his bootlace.
"Problems with your boots?" She asked. Gary smiled.
"Nah, just a loose lace. Nothing to worry about." He replied.
"Unlike our friend Alex there." Said, Shark, nodding towards the couple in front of them.
"What do you mean?" Gary asked, slightly puzzled as to what Shark meant.
"Have you not noticed the hiking boots that he's wearing?" She said. Gary looked at Alex's boots, but failed to see anything wrong with them.
"They look perfectly fine to me." He commented.
"Yep, they are perfectly fine, and that's the problem… those boots that Alex is wearing look brand-spanking new." Shark pointed out.
"Yeah, you're right. He only bought them the day before last. I was with…"
"So he hasn't worn them in." Interrupted Shark. "Which means, in an hour or two, his feet are probably gonna start to blister." She advised. "Is this the first time that he's worn them, Gary?"
“Yeah, I think so… he didn't have them on yesterday, down at the pub." Gary replied. Shark rolled her eyes.
"Oh my word, this is going to be fun." She said. Gary looked ahead again, at Alex's new boots.
"Maybe he won't have a problem with them?" He wondered, hopefully. Shark gave him a glance that was full of skepticism.
"I guess that we'll soon find out." She replied. Not too far ahead of them, Howard Trenton was still working his way up the glacial ridge, rising higher and higher above his quarry. Time to make my first move, soon… let them know that they're not alone on the Black Pathway, smiled Howard, looking forward to the hunt that lay ahead.
Gary Ackley was finding it hard to focus on anything other than Alex Crennell's boots.
"What should we do?" He asked Shark. "Should we just abandon the walk?"
"Of course we don't just abandon the walk." Shark replied.
"But if those boots of Alex's begin to cripple him…"
"Relax," laughed Shark, "at the very worst, he's going to be hobbling a little bit into Knighton by this evening. In fact, I'm pretty sure that he will be. Then it'll be a simple case of him and Mary catching a bus or taxi back home to Coldsleet."
"I take it from that then, that you wouldn't be heading back home with the pair of ‘em?" Asked Gary.
"No way. I'm planning on making it all of the way to Salegate, right to the finish of the trail. What will you do when Alex's blistered feet get the better of him? Go back with them?" Wondered Shark.
"Nope. I'll be seeing this walk through to the end, just like you." Gary informed her. Shark nodded her head.
"So, it looks like us two are in it for the long haul then?" She asked.
"Yep, it looks that way." Confirmed Gary.
"That's good." Smiled Shark. "I'd rather have some company on this walk, but, if need be, I'd try and do it on my own."
"Well, you've got more chance than Alex, what with those boots he's wearing." Joked Gary, still unable to take his attention away from his friend, who was walking not too far ahead of him.
Shark took a backpack from off her shoulder, and pulled out a bottle of water. She unscrewed the lid of the bottle and took a long swig of the liquid inside.
"Want some?" She asked, offering the bottle to Gary. He shook his head.
"No, I'm fine, thanks." He replied.
"What I don't understand about Alex is, why would he wear brand new hiking boots? I mean, he's walked the Black Pathway Trail before, right? So surely he'd know…"
"Can you keep a secret, Shark?" Gary butted in.
"Yeah, of course I can." She answered.
"Promise? Because, if Alex finds out that I've told you what I'm about to tell you, then he'll go fucking ballistic." Warned Gary.
"I promise. Now just tell me!" Said Shark.
"Okay. It's Alex. He's been lying to Mary. He's never actually completed the Black Pathway." Revealed Gary.
"You're joking?" Said Shark, though she didn't look particularly surprised at Gary's revelation.
"No. We did the walk together, a few summers back. He got as far as Hoffen, but couldn't go on any further." Confided Gary.
"How come?" Shark wanted to know.
"He just wasn't fit enough. It nearly killed him… well, not literally, but you know what I mean. Alex wasn't up to it at all." Gary told her.
"Then what the hell is he doing coming up here, onto the Black Pathway, in the middle of winter?" Asked Shark.
"Ah, well, it's all to do with Mary. And Howard.” Said Gary.
“Who the fuck is Howard?” Queried Shark.
“Mary’s cousin… or something like that.” Answered Gary.
"Go on." Urged Shark, and Gary Ackley told her all about the reasons behind Alex Crennell's wanting to walk the Black Pathway again.
***
Howard Trenton scaled the glacier-ridge above the flat-lands with ease. For some of that time, Mary, Alex, Gary, and the young blonde woman that he didn't recognise, were in his sight. Other times, when the ridge would twist and turn a little, they weren't. This didn't worry Howard. By the time that he had reached the peak of the ridge, Howard knew that he'd already overtaken the group, and that soon, they'd be coming his way, albeit a couple of hundred feet below him. Neither was Howard particularly annoyed by the fact that Mary and Alex were travelling with another couple. This planet is over-populated anyway… taking out two more people than I'd planned to will be doing the Earth a favour, in the long run, was Howard's reasoning. Yes, it means a bit more work on my part, but what the hell? This'll be my last chance to really party… I just know that that Tom Grogan arse-hole and his piggy pals will be after me anytime now… and they can have me, too, but not before I've taught Mary and Alex a lesson that they'll never have the opportunity to forget…
Howard Trenton stood at the top of the ridge, his scarf pulled over his nose and mouth, concealing his identity. He looked down, at the Black Pathway, which was devoid of any walkers. It won't be for long though, coz in another five or ten minutes, Mary, Alex and their hangers-on are going to come walking right around the bend of the ridge, and, unless they're all looking down at the ground when they do that, they'll notice me, right up here, staring back down at them, smiled Howard. That'll freak 'em out a bit. Stupid fuckers. Howard listened out, carefully, for any sounds coming along the pathway. There was only silence.
"Jesus, these idiots are slower than I thought." He mumbled. Then Howard noticed something, approaching fast, from the direction of nearby Coldsleet Moor; a drifting sludge of dirty grey fog and moorland mist, tinged yellow from the sun, which was trying to filter through it. "No! Not now!" Howard Trenton said. "They won't be able to see me if the mist comes down." He whined, but it was too late. Already, below him, the Black Pathway was beginning to vanish under a thickening blanket of fog.