They had enough food for the next week but they had many challenges getting up the peaks with the carriage behind and they couldn't take the valleys either. Many things lurked there plus they was also the occasional spewing of larva
The few holy wars had rendered most of the lands uninhabitable to humans, those places had been taken over by monsters that could handle the fall out and the radiation.
There was nothing they could not expect and that filled them with dread of what was to come. They walk by the core of a giant crater the size of a small town, probably created by a nuke.
The gods would use any means necessary to vanquish each other. Ever since they were shut out of Olympus and they all fell to earth it's been like this, a constant tug of war.
They would use divine weapons and human weapons as they pleased, sometimes even combining the two, into some new something more destructive and battle where such weapons were used made the earth into what it is now a boiling pot of havoc and chaos.
They felt the end would justify their means. Whatever it took for the gods to get back to heaven, to dethrone Hades it didn't matter. No matter how men they slaughtered, no matter how many they fed to the machines. As long as the doors of Olympus are broken down.
They had a rough day, walking through the rocky peaks and fighting Napper, little flesh eating monsters the size of puppies. It took a lot out of them but when it eventually came time to rest Estiah would always run off somewhere to be alone.
He had gotten into the habit of following her, he didn't do it often, just every now and then when he felt the terrain was too dangerous for her to be alone.
As for Mr Dunn, he kept mourning his wife and mourning his lost life. One day when he followed her, he stayed closed as he'd had his fears about the terrain and many monsters roamed the parts.
Mr Dunn had insisted she stayed with them but she had used the excuse of it being something only a woman would understand, a personal matter had to attend to. Mr Dunn picked up the clues and let her go out but quietly set him on her tail
He never told Mr Dunn what she did all night. He kept shut about the whispering, he'd been through enough and he couldn't tell how he'd handle having a crazy daughter.
Estiah seemed to have her senses together, she didn't seem off nor did she speak to herself when they were together.
He hid behind a rock, crouching there, then she spoke on and on. She talked about missing the wind, the wind of the farm and the way her mother smelled.
It almost made Asher cry but then she talked about the future, about being his wife. While he almost cried when she spoke of the farm, he was smiling as she talked about being his wife.
Then she talked about going off to the northern reaches of hell to be with him. He was surprised, they weren't heading north and they were trying to get out of hell not live in it. He wondered if she was going crazy after all.
She turned towards the rock and said
"Over there? Some ones over there?"
He panicked how could she know, and why did she say it like that
"Who's there!"
He didn't say a word. She got off the rock she sat on, under the shade of a dead tree, she calmly picked up a long stick off the floor. She jumped off the back of the rock and swung a cane at him. It clashed against the rock and broke into pieces.
He could hear the cane smashed from the distance, he had already run off.
She must know it's me but why swing at me like that?
She looked on with disgust in her eyes. It could've easily been her father or her husband to be, so why swing like that.
The next day as they pulled the carriage through hell's valley, Mr Dunn threw an upset glance at the way Estiah ate her food, with a look of glee and joy. To him she seemed happy for no reason.
When they walked through a tight mountain part, the road was narrow and they had to walk in a line.
He had a hard time pulling the carriage up the mountain but Lucky for him the Mountain wasn't very high and the path was easy. They'd pull that carriage through worse terrains.
It's was his turn to pull the carriage, he and Mr Dunn, switch turns as some time they would give it to Estiah , just they'd catch a breather, every time they did, she'd call them weak with a tinge of disgust in her tone and pull the carriage the best she could, they laughed it off of course.
Mr Dunn had grown angered by her smile and he yelled at her,
"Would you cut that out"
She screamed back
"What are you talking about*
"Wipe that smile on your face, you know what your eating, it's pissing me off"
Look around you, old man! It's hell, if I find a little joy in it, you should be happy for me, where else I'm I gonna get it from you? from him?
She retorted, in a shrill and unloving way. He felt a bit stunged hearing her tone, he didn't know when he pulled the carriage wheel towards the edge of the narrow road.
Why do you feel the need to control me, old man? Why send your spy to watch me every night?
I'm worried about you dear
Worried? about what?
This place , it's tearing us apart, turning us into things we're not, I just wish…. I just wish…
You wish we still had the farm, is that it?
She saw the look on his face and knew she was correct.
Oh you wish we had the farm, you wish we had mom. Get over it already, you want your farm!? You can go back to it, you can go die there!
Me Dunn face twisted in anger, he balled his fist
….And you can take mother with you
She gestured for him to take the meat of her hand. Mr Dunn couldn't take it anymore long, he tightened his fist and in one swift move he punched her across the face
No! he screamed, he was still tied to the carriage and couldn't get there on time to hold Mr Dunn back but he quickly pulled the weight of it behind him.
As he ran in to hold him back Mr Dunn the wheel of the carriage slipped off the narrow part and the rest of it began to slip off the cliff. In a flash he was out of balance,he screamed and it alerted Mr Dunn who turned back just in time to watch him fall off the mountain.
As he felt he could see the expression on their faces, Mr Dunn looked shocked and deeply worried, Estiah looked indifferent, she had a mouth full of meat.