Desolate The Complete Trilogy

11



I have a feeling I know what you’re thinking. You’re getting tired of all this doom and gloom and listening to me bitch. You’re probably tempted to make the switch to a light-hearted romance about teenage vampires or something. Please, bear with me. I’ll admit that after spending the night on the tree trunk I was as depressed that morning as I’d ever been in my whole life. I was lonely, tired, starving, thirsty, in pain, and suffering from intense malaise. I’ve never been sure what that means, but it sounds important. Despite all that, I stumbled across a small miracle that morning.

At this point in my journey, I was on autopilot, simply putting one foot in front of the other. I wasn’t even paying attention to which direction I was headed anymore. Luckily, I didn’t get turned around and end back up at the crash site.

I must have been half asleep, walking with my eyes closed, when suddenly my right foot found empty space instead of the ground and I was airborne. I rolled down a steep incline and landed in icy cold water.

Purely by dumb luck I stumbled onto a stream. The current was fairly strong, the water clear and cool, and it instantly energized and refreshed me. I gulped down as much as I my stomach could hold before I crawled to the shore and collapsed in the cool grass.

I was going to survive. I still needed some real food, but the immediate danger had been lack of water. Now that I had found an unlimited supply, I’d bought some precious time. As an added bonus, I now had a landmark to follow. Everybody knows that water eventually leads to civilization or at least the ocean. It was a hell of a lot better than walking aimlessly through the trees. For the first time in a long time I was starting to feel optimistic again.

Not wanting to waste a minute of daylight, I forced myself to my feet and started walking downstream. It was liberating to know I could stop any time I wanted to get my fill of fresh water. I knew I was probably swallowing parasites and nasty microbes and I would be paying for it later, but I didn’t care. The boost from the water gave me the strength to go on.

I climbed up the rim of the little gorge and walked along the edge. The vegetation around the stream was thick and it was slow going. At certain points, I was forced to climb down and walk in the water. That was almost as slow as clawing through the brush as I navigated over slippery rocks. A couple of times I slipped and fell, but I was fortunate enough not to twist an ankle or break a wrist.

My spirits started to fade along with the daylight. Even though I was certain following the stream was the right idea, the thought of spending another night in the jungle had me feeling down again. I had started keeping an eye out for another suitable tree to sleep on when I came across miracle number two of the day. I walked around a bend in the stream and was greeted by the first manmade object I’d seen since leaving the plane.

I broke into a jog, scrambled up the edge of the stream, and stepped onto a gravel road. A rickety wooden bridge spanned the water and the road continued on out of sight as it turned off into the woods ahead.

Standing in the middle of the bridge, I tilted my head back and screamed in victory. I don’t remember if I said yahoo, or hell yeah, or what, but I remember it felt damn good. Let’s face it, following water might lead you to civilization but a road is a sure thing.

I wasn’t sure which way to go, but according to the sun, the way I was facing was sort of pointing north so I didn’t hesitate and started walking. So far my instincts were turning out to be pretty accurate, so now was no time to start second-guessing myself. I headed down the road dreaming of a burger and a cold Pepsi at a roadside cantina.