This is too soon, I know I went to sleep at around 3 in the morning but the sun came up way too fast. I know that I have to change my sleeping habits… I can’t keep this sleeping schedule forever.
With the virus going around it’s not like I have to wake up early anyways. And I really need to set some money aside to change that mattress, the springs are really digging in my back, more so than usual.
I heard the rustling of leaves and snapped my eyes open, this was definitely not my bedroom. There were some trees and bushes around, I was laying on the ground, my blanket still covering me. Is this a dream? I think that I have experienced lucid dreaming before and it never felt like that. Everything feels so… real. The roots in my back, the vibrant green of the leaves and grass, even the slight breeze of the wind feel so real. I have to stand up, figure out what’s going on.
I placed the blanket to my side and pinched my arm while standing up. The little bit of pain was uncharacteristic of a dream. So what, I was sleepwalking with my blanket and ended in a park somehow, even assuming that I sleepwalked here, I don’t recall any park like that near my house. I quickly searched my pockets, a bit of hope flashing through my eyes. “That would have been too easy, of course”. While stretching I observe my surroundings, it looks like some kind of plain, there are a few trees here and there. But mostly the ground is covered by rocks and grass with some bushes clustered next to the trees.
“Ok don’t panic, I don’t have my phone, I am wearing my pyjamas in the middle of God knows where. I have my blanket and my pillow so at least I won’t freeze to death, not that it’s cold right now.”
I picked my blanket and wrapped it around my shoulders, guess I’ll carry the pillow with me. I really hope that I won’t have to sleep on the ground again tonight.
“I don’t know where I am and all the survivalist training I have is from watching videos or documentaries online. I’ll choose some direction and hope to find a river or something. There are usually towns or cities close to rivers.”
The sun rises in the east I think, I’ll just follow it until I find something. It’s an easy to follow point of repair. I will be able to use it to backtrack if I need to. No point in waiting here, start to walk, figure things out after.
Walking barefoot in the wilderness is about as comfortable as you would imagine,I can’t stop stepping on rocks or branches emerging from the ground. The tedium of watching every step wouldn’t be worth it, I don’t know where I am better to keep an eye on the surroundings.
The sun is steadily rising, it can’t be earlier than 9 or ten, I have been walking almost nonstop for almost 3 hours now only stopping to take short pauses here and there. I examined some trees and I can say with absolute certainty that I have no idea what kind of tree they were. I also tried to look for a trail or a sign but my luck came short.
This is not normal, there are no parks that big in the city. Did someone kidnap me and drop me here? But why, there are no cameras, none that I can see at least and I’m certain that it wouldn’t be legal to just kidnap someone. “Hey if this is a hidden camera thing I don’t want to participate.” Unsurprisingly no one answered, probably not a show then.
Gotta keep walking, stay focused on moving forward. I’ve been trying to stay calm, not to let my mind wander but there is absolutely nothing interesting to see around me. No distractions to keep my mind off of things.
At some point I’ll start to get hungry and thirsty, I’ll have to do something soon. Sure there are some birds and other critters walking around but I wouldn’t know how to catch them, or how to make a fire to cook them. I remember that you can start a fire with dry wood but it would take a lot of time and effort, tools would also be incredibly useful.
I miss my phone, I’m sure I could find an answer for everything if I had my phone. I could call for help and not need to worry about anything, that would certainly be even better. No point in keeping that line of thought, I have to keep walking, I’m sure I’ll find a road soon. I’ll stop a car and get a ride home, just need to find someone now.
It’s official I’m lost, the sun past his zenith a little while ago. I’m pretty sure that I wasn’t walking in a straight line, I’ll just keep going in mostly the same direction. I’ve been walking almost without breaks since the morning and I’m starting to feel hungry and thirsty and afraid…
“Don’t panic, breath in…” 1,2,3,4,5, hold… breath out 1,2,3,4,5.
What if I’m stuck here and no one finds me?
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in… 1,2,3,4,5, hold… breath out 1,2,3,4,5.
I have to rest a little bit, I laid the pillow on a tree and sat down with my back leaning on it. I’ll just stop here for a few minutes, but I have to get moving soon. I don’t want to be here when the night falls. I closed my eyes and focused on the sounds around me, not much going on.
Forty minutes later I felt somewhat better, still thirsty and hungry but I can go on for a while. 3 minutes without oxygen 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food I think. If I don’t find anything I’ll have to start worrying about water tomorrow.
“Oh my God, finally. I really didn’t want to spend the night outside” The sun was slowly setting behind me when I happened upon a road. Calling it a road was generous, it was more like a trail road packed by years of people walking on it. But it was a road nonetheless, and that meant that there were people nearby. I’ve been walking east, or at least I tried to. The road followed my previous path more or less going a little bit to the south I think. I felt bad about going backward so I started walking in that direction.
Walking on a road is without a doubt, much better than walking in the wilderness. My feet are scratched and certainly dirtier than they have been in years, should have slept with socks, not much protection but better than nothing.
As the sun started to set I saw shapes further up the road. Finally, people, and it looks like they’re getting closer. The slow walk between us was agonizing, time seemed to crawl to a stop.
As they got close enough, something twisted in my guts, there was something wrong, there were many things wrong. I’ve been feeling uneasy ever since I first saw them from afar, I thought it was just the situation making me paranoid but something keeps nagging at me.
The group stopped about 3 meters in front of me, there were four of them. Three men and a woman all wearing the same type of clothes, woolen shirts and pants with some leather protecting their chest and legs. They all had a bow, a quiver and an assortment of knives hanging on their outfit. Some rabbits and other small animals were tied up at their belt or being held by one of the hunters.
What the hell is going on??? Have I gone back in time, or maybe I’m in another world. Sure that makes about as much sense as waking up in the middle of nowhere…
One of the men said something while I was analysing them, I wasn’t paying enough attention but I should probably say something.
“Hum sorry I didn’t hear what you said, I woke up out there this morning I’ve been walking all day, do you know where we are?”
The man looked at me for a few seconds, as if trying to decipher my words, confusion written on his face, despite all that I still had the impression that he was gauging me. One of the hunters had his bow in his hands, the other had a hand on his belt, right next to a knife.
The leader, I assume he is the leader then turned his head towards his companions and started talking to them. His body was still facing me, everyone in the group seemed wary but not tense.
I am clearly unarmed, unless you expect me to beat someone to death with my pillow. I somehow doubt that my pillow fighting expertise would help me much here.
That’s not English, I don’t recognize the language. How the Hell did I end up here overnight?
The group argued for a few minutes while I just stood there waiting, I couldn’t understand what they were saying, the language didn’t even feel familiar. No way to guess where I could be.
Everything felt surreal, I was in the middle of a mysterious land, transported by unknown means. Surrounded by people but as lost as I was before, they have knives and know how to use them. I felt panic settling over but didn’t let it, somehow I remained calm, almost… disconnected.
The discussion quieted down drawing my attention back to the people in front of me. The female hunter took a few steps towards me, she tried to talk to me, it sounded as foreign as what the man said earlier. After a while she stopped trying and while pointing at herself said “Anya” then pointed to me. That I can understand. Following suit I answered “Josh..., nice to meet you Anya”, “Josh” she repeated tryingly, she seemed relieved when I nodded. We could somewhat communicate with gestures it seemed.
Anya started talking to me and gestured to follow her, “understood”, I nodded and the group started walking back the way I came.
Looks like I picked the wrong way, at least I met people, and they didn’t shoot me with their bows. That must count as a win somehow.
The group walked mostly in silence, I didn’t know how to start a talk with them, wasn’t even sure if I wanted to talk right now. The silence felt heavy nonetheless, it exacerbated the sounds of the night. The only source of light piercing the darkness was a torch, lit up by one of the hunters while they were talking. I couldn’t see much further ahead, there was not much to see regardless probably more rocks and trees.
The night was cool, but with a blanket wrapped around him, Josh would certainly not be cold anytime soon. By now they certainly had passed the point where he had found the road.
After a bend in the path, Josh could see wooden walls, they stopped at a gate made of a mix between metal and wood aligned with the road. It wasn’t far, they arrived at the foot of the gate after a dozen minutes. A guard up on an observation tower shouted at them, the guard was barely visible by the lights of the torch on the tower. He wasn’t alone, the guards up there probably had bows to defend the town, or was it a village? The place didn’t look that big from the road.
The leader of the hunting party was shouting back and forth with the guard, I couldn’t understand anything so I tuned them out and continued to observe my surroundings.
I looked up at the sky and suddenly my feelings that something was wrong returned at full force, out there in the starry sky the moon shone its majestic brilliance upon the world. As the clouds parted revealing the full painting of the sky, my feeling of unease flared. The presence of a second smaller satellite sharing the sky with the rest of the celestial bodies shattered my hopes of returning home.