I'll Be Back

A Love Letter Can Save A Soul

Lisa comes to with a groan. She's sore all over and begins to sit up. She doesn't seem to be too injured and closes her eyes and murmurs a silent 'thank you' to whatever higher being is listening. She looks up at the ridge and it's completely empty. The sun was setting which made her think she had been out for at least an hour. It looks as though the rebels thought her dead from the fall and have let her be. Thinking her body probably wasn't worth having to come down the ridge and take it. She takes in her surroundings and notices the dead horse. Blood is pooling all around its body and Lisa sighs. She stands slowly and looks around at where she is. She looks for some sort of landmark and finds a sign for a trail. She realizes her impromptu horse race shoved her an extra two months off course. She groans and curses under her breath at her luck. It's like she gets somewhere one second then the next she gets pushed back further. She looks around and decides, she'll stay there for the evening to rest her sore muscles and bones.

She starts looking for her pack that must have fallen off when she fell from the ridge and tree. She looks all around the area and only finds the hand gun quite a few feet away. She moves over to the tall evergreen tree and looks up. There on a branch sits her pack, dangling like it's taunting her. Lisa huffs in frustration and studies the trunk of the tree. She knows for a fact a physical therapist would be having a heart attack right now at watching Lisa start to climb the tree. Her ankle burns a little as she runs and uses her feet to gain traction on the truck and bring her up high enough to grab ahold of a branch. She attempts it twice and on the third try is able to get a good grip. She then uses her not so great strength to hoist herself up and take a breather sitting on the thick branch. After a moment of rest, she starts climbing up the branches until she reaches her pack. She grabs it and puts it on her back and starts her descent back down. She hops off the tree and hisses at the radiating stinging that shoots up both her feet and into her legs.

She takes her canteen and starts sipping, sitting down with her back against the trunk of the evergreen. She stares at the horse and closes her eyes. Why can't things just stay their course for one second? She feels like she hasn't been making any progress and it feels like Murphy's Law right now. Anything that can happen will happen to her. She starts to wonder if this is all worth it. What if this is just her flight or fight instincts kicking in and soon, they're just going to run out. Lisa opens her eyes and sighs. She decides she's building a fire for the first time. At this point, she's very discouraged in her journey and doesn't care who sees it.

She begins making her way around to gather logs and sticks. She finds dried brush to use as an excellent for the flames. She then finds two rocks and starts setting up the fire pit. She clinks the rocks at an angle for a long while. Growing more and more frustrated the longer no spark is produced. Finally, after over an hour and several curse words and temper tantrums of throwing the rocks, she finally gets a spark and begins blowing furiously so it catches fire. It ignites and Lisa sighs and flops down on her back in relief. She sits back up and starts feeding the fire and stokes it, keeping the flames alive and well. She then makes a decision about the horse.

She searches in her backpack to see if she at least has a pocket knife she stored in there. She finds one better, a butterfly knife, and makes her way over to the fallen animal. Deciding not to get completely bloodied, she strips herself of her Army jacket and shirt, leaving her bare and exposed. She starts cutting into the large stomach of the animal and blood pours out of it. She then takes her hands and spreads the ribs wide. The stench makes her start gagging for a few seconds and then she pulls it together. She takes a deep breath and starts shoving her arms inside the body. It's warm, mushy and sticky. She starts scooping out it's intestines, gagging every now and then when she accidentally punctures something and it begins leaking. Once she has all the intestines removed she starts finding the sources of meat. She starts cutting meat from the horses breasts and starts cutting different muscles. She saws off meat from the legs and realizes she has enough meat for a very decent size meal or two. She wishes she'd be able to dry some of it out to make jerky but at this point, she'll take what she can get. Once she's finished she looks down at herself. She looks like she just got done going on a killing spree as her skin is covered in blood. She gives herself a pat on the back for thinking of taking off her jacket and shirt. Her pants are now a dark dark green though, stained with blood and dirt.