She spends her first night near a waterfall, and although it would make a great camp site, she’s worried it’s still too close to the crash site in case the bad guys are still looking for her. So she decides to keep going upstream along the river. She’s not able to climb the rocks the water is coming from, so she decides to go around instead.
There was the faintest of trails around the rocks, and she followed as best she could. It sloped uphill, and her calves felt the strain after only a mile or so. She wasn’t used to walking so much, although she did work out at the fitness center on a regular basis.
Suddenly, she stopped. How long had she been walking? Judging by the angle of the path, she should be above the waterfall by now, but there was no sign of the river. How could she have lost an entire river?
Remembering the hand held scanner, she pulled it out and switched it on. Damn and double damn. In her efforts to skirt around the edge of the rocks, she angled away from the river. It would take her hours to get back on track. Her shoulders sagged in disappointment.
A quick check of one of the survival packs showed no water, just empty bottles waiting to be filled. There were several foil packets with colour coding that meant nothing to her. She picked one at random and tore it open. Inside was some kind of grey paste. Making a face, she squeezed some of it into her mouth. It didn’t taste as bad as it looked, and she was sure it was nourishing, but the texture left a lot to be desired. Maybe it was meant to be spread on crackers or bread or something.
Whatever, at least it partially filled the hole inside her. Taking up her packs again – as soon as she found a place for a proper rest, she was going to have to go through the packs and take stock, maybe even reduce them down to a single pack. One last glance at the scanner, and she was ready to start out again in a new direction.
It occurred to her, after an hour or so of walking, that she hadn’t really seen any trace of animal life. There were more plants and trees than she’d ever known existed, but shouldn’t there be animals as well? There were birds, she’d heard a veritable cacophony of chirps and tweets and songs. And a couple of times she’d surprised groups of birds with her presence and they’d taken flight in a colorful flurry of feathers and squawking.
Was the lack of animals a good thing or a bad thing, she couldn’t decide. Maybe they were there, but up in the trees, or hiding in the bushes. Apparently they were more afraid of her than she was of them, although she highly doubted it. The closest she’d come to a live animal was one of the nature vids the service ran on rest days.
What would she do if ran into an animal? Being a trained linguist in no way prepared her for an introduction to wild creatures. Didn’t people use to kill and eat wild animals? And seriously, she could tell herself that there would be fish in the river, but even if she could figure out how to catch one, what was she supposed to do with it?
No, she couldn’t let these undesirable thoughts fill her head. She was beginning to freak herself out. What she needed to do was focus on getting back to the river. She needed fresh water. And if she was lucky, she’d find some fruit or roots or something to eat. If she was really lucky, one of the packs might hold a data cube of edible plants.
The sun was becoming uncomfortably warm, and she was all too aware of the insects that were buzzing around her. So far she hadn’t been bitten, but she figured it was only a matter of time. Finally, after what seemed like hours of walking, she found herself on the bank of the river again. Not that it was going to do her any good.
Sabella stood on the edge, looking down. The land had risen more than she realized. It was several feet down to the water, and no way to get down to it. She supposed, if she was desperate enough, she could just jump, but she couldn’t swim very well, and there was no way to get back up again.
With a sigh, she turned and began to follow along the top of the edge, hoping that either the land would lower again, or the river rise. Her footsteps began to drag a bit. She no longer feared the Tal-Cor men finding her, now she was worried about surviving. But surviving to do what, she hadn’t the faintest idea.
The reality of her situation was beginning to sink in. Yes, she’d escaped the Tal-Cor thugs, at least for now, but now what was she supposed to do? How was she going to survive?
“One day at a time,” she muttered under her breath. “First priority, find a new camping spot, preferably near the water.”
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