After another few hours of flying I came upon what looked to be a small town surrounded by dense green forest. Circling the area to get an idea of what was around, I could just make out what appeared to be a very worn down and overgrown gated entrance, descending slightly, a back road stretching out beyond said gates came into view along with multiple signs and boards showing the word 'foreclosed' in bold red letters.. Following the road lead me to a small cabin of sorts with a calm river running just behind.
With no clear signs of life, I dropped down gently a few yards away before approaching cautiously. It was situated almost perfectly at the edge of a clearing with the river at its rear, meaning there would be a very slim chance of being caught off guard here.
Upon closer inspection is was clear that this place had been abandoned long ago. The only sign of the place being touched, were the fresh boot prints I left behind. Without taking in many details, I swept both rooms for any signs of life. A precaution I'd been trained to carry out without fail.
Coming up empty, I removed myself from the house and made my way down to the river that sat just outside of the clearing.
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Only now, as the gentle current flowed along the river bed, engulfing me with a calmness I do not think I've ever felt did I start to think about what I'd done and what on earth I was going to do going forward. I knew no one, and while I was extremely trained in many areas, the real world was a foreign concept to me. The only things I actually knew were those I'd read about in books.
Despite the panic these thoughts brought however, it was nothing compared to what I felt at the thought of going back to HYDRA.
No longer wanting to give myself time to spiral I decided to make a mental list of what I needed at this moment - food and water.
The latter was the easiest seeing as I was staring at a fresh water source but in order to venture out for food, I'd need to look far more presentable than I did right now. Without waiting any longer I stripped down to nothing and began cleaning off the remnants of sweat and dried blood that caked my body. Ice cold water engulfed me, sending flashbacks of previous experiments across my mind which refused to stop until I'd clawed my way up the bank onto dry land. With no clean clothing I had no choice but to quickly throw on the plain back t-shirt and trousers HYDRA always dressed me in, onto my shivering body. Thankfully the 'armour' they usually put over my clothes for missions had caught most of the blood. Leaving this where I'd thrown it, I gathered up the money I'd stolen from the poker table before I escaped, over 4 thousand dollars in total.
Next up - food. My scope of the area had alerted me to what looked like a large convenience store on the outskirts of town. It was light enough for this to hopefully be open, yet dark enough to cover myself in the sky.
While my body was fully covered easily, the same couldn't be said about my face. The usual mask that covered me from the eyes down would do nothing but draw suspicions my way but I also couldn't wander into a public place without it.
