I started walking. Then, I continued walking. On and on. The canopy was thick and high, the forest floor below kept shaded throughout the day, limiting the underbrush, so the way was easy enough. At first I gave a start at every sound, convinced each sudden rustling was Karyn or Leonard, and then nothing would do but to stop and start calling again. But after the fourth time, I gave up and settled into a brooding silence. But...I kept walking.
After what must have been three or four hours, the forest began getting even darker, causing me to stumble over hidden roots and vines. It would be night soon, I realized. I was beginning to get, well...not afraid, but let's say nervous. Or at least, even more nervous. I didn't relish the idea of spending the night in a forest on what was for all I knew an alien planet. It was only then I realized that I'd been making far too much noise. I had no idea what sort of creatures might live here. Wolves at the least, if I was lucky...or worse things. Things I couldn't even imagine. I shivered.
Still, in a way, being chased by some abominable alien hellbeast would be better than this. When all I could do was walk blindly in one direction there was nothing stopping me from thinking. About Leonard and the stone. Karyn. And...home. Would I ever see my mom or my siblings again? Would I ever be able to go to sleep in my own bed? Be bored to tears in math class? I was trying to stay calm, but the darker it got, the more these thoughts filled my mind.
Stubbornly, I tried to chase my dread away with more practical concerns. It would be nightfall in another couple of hours. There was no point traveling by night. I didn't know how to navigate by the stars, and even if I did, I had no way of knowing the stars wherever I was were the same as the ones at home. I'd just get turned around. I'd need to find a place to sleep. I might be able to sleep safely on the forest floor...if I had a fire. It didn't seem to get particularly cold here, at least not this time of year, but fire was useful for other things. Like scaring off abominable alien hellbeasts. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lighter, or matches. That left me with one option...I'd have to sleep in one of the trees. They were quite large, and I'm sure the branches could support my weight. Besides, I'd always been a good climber.
After that, I'd need water, and food, in that order. I knew nothing about finding either one. None of the plants looked familiar...not that I'd know what was edible in the wild within a mile of my home town anyway. And I hadn't been hunting in my life. Water was easier...if only because all I could really do to find that was what I was already doing. Walk in one direction until I found it.
Speak of the devil.
At last, on the edge of sight, partially hidden among the trees, I saw a long line of silver. A lake. Suddenly glad for any diversion, I had to keep myself from running and breaking a leg in the twilight forest. As I came closer, the line grew, becoming elliptical. Truth be told it was more a large pond than a lake. But it was water. That meant I'd live at least long enough to starve to death...or be eaten. But it was a start.
I dropped to my knees along the bank, cupped my hands, drew up some of the dark waters of the lake and recoiled, letting it slide between my open fingers before I could drink any of the stuff. The water was foul. It smelled of rot and sulphur. In my rush I hadn't realized that the lake was horribly stagnant, and from the stink, possibly volcanic. I was no Survivorman, but I knew enough to realize that if I drank this I'd spend the next couple days squatting behind a bush. And out here, without a ready source of water, diarrhea could be fatal. I leaned back, despairing.
There!
Just out of the corner of my eye, flowing steadily into the lake, was a small stream. If I followed it up, towards its source, would I find a source of clean water? Perhaps a spring? I seized on the thought desperately, and rose to my feet.
Sure enough, the further upstream I went along the brook, the clearer and sweeter smelling the water became, until finally I came to its source. There, in the side of a wooded hill, yawned the mouth of a cave.
