Tabitha blinked and glanced toward Chela to realign herself to now, to the daylight, to the work at hand, to show Chela she was still herself. To show Chela.
Walking to a weathered stone barrier that overlooked the water, Tabitha positioned herself over the harbor, making no surprise of discovering it for the first time. She could see Alfred struggle with the man at the end of one empty dock. She quickly found all of the docks were empty – not a single ship was moored in this massive bay with its wooden tendrils reaching across the water, bleeding into the sea, blindly grasping for something, someone. “I’ll cover you,” she said to Chela.
Chela descended the stairs directly beneath Tabitha’s station sending her momentarily out-of-sight behind the barrier. As she waited for Chela to reappear, Tabitha had an opportunity to better assess her position. The vantage point was good. Besides this blind-spot, she had a full view of the bay and good range on Alfred and his captor. The stone wall she stood at had been eaten away by decades of salty air and moss. The lines of mortar between the stones were now traced with green, which had climbed to the top to do battle with the elements. But instead of receding, the moss seemed to thrive here amongst the misty breeze. Tabitha placed her hand into the pad and found it plush and deep. Beneath her touch, she could sense it growing, blooming, breathing.
Chela reached the dock and quickly came into view, pulling Tabitha’s gaze back into focus. Her pace slowed, approaching the pair at the end with a confidence that was becoming familiar.
Tabitha pulled her goggles down from atop her head and dropped into her stance. Her rifle was now nearly complete. All that was left was to…