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Thirty seven, thirty eight, thirty nine.
Thirty nine steps. There are thirty nine steps between each pole holding the wiring of the compound. Half of thirty nine is....
Pioneer does the maths quickly in his head.
Nineteen and a half. Nine and a half feet is the halfway point between each post.
Pioneer walks back alongside the perimeter fence, mentally counting off the paces again.
Sixteen, seventeen eighteen.
He scrapes his feet along the soil, a red plume of dust rises as he toe digs in and a red stain taints his black boots. He stops, and looks back to the south where the closest turret stands. He turns further, the north turret is away. He finds the halfway point of the halfway section of the wire compound away from the castle.
Here.
He looks through the fence and beyond the cleared grass, there is something out there, on the edge of those trees. And he smells water, water being washed downstream through some rocks. The fresh smell and the cool of water.
He has found where the weakest link, where the fence will give the most rise, if he had to go under.
He touches his pockets where his possessions use to be, they are gone. He looks to the sky and back at his shadow. It is late afternoon, night is coming. Darkness will fall.
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