The Long Road Home

Chapter Eleven

It was not until late the next day that the woods had been quiet enough where she felt safe leaving the tree. The first thing Page did was go to the river and look for something she could boil water in. She found an old cola can and rinsed it out the best she could before filling it up. Next she gathered wood. She frowned down at her four little matches knowing they would not last. Tomorrow when she had more time, she would make a fire bow drill set. Her mom had taught her how they worked. As soon as she had a good fire going, she set the cola can next to it, and then dug for worms. Finding a fat one not too far from the surface, she baited her hook with it. With such a small hook, she knew the only thing she could get were panfish. They were small but as hungry as she was, the worm was looking yummy.

The entire time Page worked she watched the woods for signs of the infected. Four fat sunfish later, she checked her can of water and found it boiling. Page pulled it from the fire using tongs made of wood. She set it aside to cool, and then cleaned her catch. Once they were hung over the fire to cook, she checked the water. It was still hot, but to her relief cool enough to drink.

As her fish cooked, she looked around the woods. She had no clue where she was right now and her atlas was back at the store. Page sighed and looked to her cooking fish. Tomorrow she would head east and hope she found the road again.

As the next days passed, Page spent her time gathering everything she could find that was edible. The weather was warm, but Page knew that was not normal for late September and any moment now it could turn bitter cold.

As she was picking berries off of a blackberry bush, her hand caught on a thorn and she let out a curse before she could stop herself. A scream came from behind her and she turned to see an infected man running at her. Page grabbed a thick fallen branch and swung up out of sheer desperation. The makeshift club caved in the side of the man's head and he fell thrashing in the dead leaves. She struck him one more time in the head and he became still.

Page looked around worried for more. She saw none, but moved on not wanting to chance it. The branch in her hand was heavy, but she kept it anyway. It was an effective weapon and had more range than her knife.

At her camp that night, she pulled out her knife and went to work carving the branch to look more like a baseball bat. When she finished, she looked it over. It wasn't perfect, but it would serve its purpose.

Page sighed looking around the dark woods. Things had gotten bad as soon as she left the river. The cold summer had retarded most of the vegetation growth in the forest, and food was scarce. She needed to find her way out of here or she would starve to death.

Beside her, was an old plastic grocery bag, which she was using as a sack to carry any edibles she could find. Right now it just held a handful of wild carrots and some lemon grass incase she found somewhere to fish again.

Closing her eyes, she thought over her adventures in the woods around the cabin with her family. Her father had a vast knowledge of edible plants.

'Don't rush.' He warned her and Mic. 'Take your time and see the world around you. You can't walk more than a foot without passing something that can be eaten.' Page opened her eyes and looked around the forest.

She had been rushing this last week. It did not help that there were infected everywhere in this forest and she was half distracted watching for them. In the morning she would take her father's advice and slow down.

Extinguishing her small campfire with dirt, Page climbed the nearest tree and settled herself in for some sleep.

As it turned out, her father had been right. The next days, Page took her time looking at almost every plant she passed. She was happy to find a treasure trove of edibles including wild asparagus, blueberries, and field greens. A small pond provided her a fat bass and fresh cattails. By the end of her second week, she had enough to sustain her, and she was enjoying her time in the woods. Even better, there had been no sign of any infected in days.