Sitting on this highway eating cereal makes me reflect again on the past few days. It’s only been four days since I was driving to work thinking everything was perfect and normal in the world. Now I think of all the stupid decisions I’ve made to get me to this point. If I could do it over again, I would stay home. There I would have been safe and had months and months of food and water stocked up. If I ran out of something, a grocery store would be right around the corner. I could have lived for years until someone came and found me. And I could have slept in my own bed.
Instead, I’ve put my life in serious jeopardy. I could have died in that crash, and now I only have a couple days of water left. I’m leaving my fate in the hopes of a town being close. Why was I so stupid getting in that wreck? There weren’t even any cars around! If I think about it anymore I’ll get angry, so I grab my stuff and hop back on my feet.
It’s going to be a long walk, and I can imagine a bear coming out of the woods at any time. With just my cheap little ax, I wouldn’t stand a chance. I hope my death would be quick and painless.
I think about how long it will be before I get to the next town. Assuming I walk two miles per hour – which, with all of the stuff I’m carrying, may be even slower – and figuring there should be a town within sixty miles, I have two full days of walking ahead of me, realistically three.
I realize now I didn’t bring any maps. At the time, I didn’t think I needed any but now I wish I had. I could have looked to see exactly how far it’s going to be before the nearest town. It doesn’t matter though; knowing how far away it is isn’t going to make it any closer.
I mentally prepare myself for three days of walking. I hope it’s not true but that’s what I have to plan my food and water for. It would be great if I came up to a town sooner, but I have to expect the worst at this point.
With that thought, I pick up my pace and continue walking forward.
After two hours, I become more and more annoyed by what I’m carrying with me. This would be a lot easier if I didn’t have to hold four boxes of cereal in my arms and have bottles of water stuffed in my pockets.
I’m already using the last of my energy reserves, which isn’t good considering I may have another six hours of walking ahead of me today. I’m almost guaranteed to be sleeping outside tonight. It’s starting to get dark and cloudy, and the last thing I want is for it to rain. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble sleeping outside as long as I can lie down, but if it rains all night there’s no chance.
I continue walking but am startled when I feel something brush up against my leg. My first thought is that it must be a snake. Like most people, I’m terrified of the slithering creatures. Sure, if there’s a big glass wall between us at the zoo they aren’t that frightening, but when you see one in the wild you have no idea whether it’s poisonous or not.
When I look down though, I see it’s not a snake. Not even close. It’s another black cat.
“Well hello there kitty.”
Where on Earth did this thing come from? I look around behind me and see it may have come out of the woods. How strange it is that I keep running into black cats, and I notice it’s usually around this time of day too.
I think back to the last four days like I did with the car. On the first day, I saw a cat on the way to Abby’s office. On day two, there was a little black cat that came up next to me when I was siphoning gas by my house. Yesterday… I didn’t see a cat. Does that disprove my theory? What was I doing yesterday around this time? It seems like so long ago.
I remember going to the electronics store and getting attacked by Cujo #2. That was later in the day though. Before that I drove a lot then had a little meltdown at the gas station. Somewhere during that stretch of events was four o’clock.
Then I remember that I started drinking around this time yesterday and passed out soon after. It must have been then, when I had my nap, which would explain why I didn’t see a cat.
It seems crazy, but then I remember the same thing happened with the car – always around the same time of the day. I’m not a betting man, but I would wager a fresh bottle of water that there was a little black cat hovering around the car while I was napping.
As I look down at the cat, I wonder if it’s the same one I saw before. I get a close look, but can’t decide one way or the other. At the least it looks very similar.
Another thing that seems strange to me is every time I see something it’s always black. The cars have always been black. The cats have always been black. Even Cujo #1 and Cujo #2 have been black.
I reach down to pet the cat but forget about the sharp pain in my side. I wince in pain, which is enough to scare her off and run into the woods.
“Hey, where are you going? I’m not going to hurt you.”
It feels stupid, but I’m actually quite sad the cat ran off. I could sure use a friend right now. I give her a name, even though I’m not sure it’s a her.
“Tabby, come back!”
I think about going into the woods after her, but decide it’s not worth it. I need to save all the energy I have to continue my walk up the highway.
For the next hour I make my way up a large, inclining hill. I have to make several rest stops to catch my breath and shake out the cramps in my legs. The excitement of seeing what’s beyond the hill is the only thing motivating me to move forward. With each step, I get closer to seeing what scenery I’ll get to look at for the next hour of my life.
As I continue forward, I see more and more of the land on the other side. My heart skips a beat.
It’s not a town I see — I’m not that lucky — but far off in the distance I see houses! Of course, why didn’t I think of that? I don’t have to make it all the way to a new town to find shelter. There are always houses right off the highway. Climbing the hill left me slow and sluggish and ready to take another break, but now I have a newfound pep in my step and start fast-walking my way down the hill.
Even at this rate, it’s still going to take an hour to get there. If I only had a car or even a bicycle, I could coast my way down there in minutes.
It’s no surprise that walking down a hill is much more pleasant than walking up one. Walking also really allows you to soak in your surroundings in a way you just don’t get while driving. You can hear the beautiful trees singing from the wind and smell the freshness of the air.
The wind and the dark sky above remind me that it could start raining any minute now. It doesn’t bother me as much as it did earlier, though; because now I know I’m only an hour walk from shelter.
Sure enough, as soon as I’m reminded of it I feel my first raindrops. I try to remember the last time I was outside walking when it started to rain and can only think of one time during a golf outing a few years ago.
The rain doesn’t waste any time and starts coming down hard fast. I take back what I said about not caring if it rains; this is miserable. The drops are big and cold on my skin. With all of my layers of clothes on, it makes me feel even heavier.
The cereal boxes start to feel soggy. I didn’t think about it before, but why am I even carrying the boxes when I can just hold the plastic bags? I stop walking for a moment to do just that, throwing the cardboard to the ground. That’s so much better! I stuff a couple bags in my pants, and now I can carry two bags in my free hand — much better than stuffed under my arms.
The rain beating down on my face is rather annoying, so I flip up my hood. I look up at the clouds to see which direction they are moving and if the rain will end soon. Outdoor skills are not my area of expertise; I’m a city boy. All I know is the breeze is starting to pick up, so hopefully that means the wind will push the rain clouds away, whatever direction that may be.