The Drifter

Chapter 9: The Decision

As the temperature started to grow colder as winter slowly approached, I resumed thinking about what life was like before all this. I remembered Gus and me joking around after school, I remembered my parents, and then I thought about all the crazy things I'd seen in the past few months. I was debating whether I should stay just a few more days or go ahead and head out, resume my travels as a loner when something sped up my decision. I had awoken one morning to people whispering and looked out of my tent to see everyone gathered around Joe's tent. I got up and walked over to see what was going on, and then I spotted Sophia. The look on her face said it all, and then I knew. Joe was dead, and his wife would never receive that call. Sophia pulled me inside the medical tent and told me that Joe had been sick for a while, and that only those two had known it was just a matter of time.

So, later that night, I wrote a note to all my friends and sat it in my tent, then slid on my beanie and gloves, put on my bag, and prepared to leave. I knew they would understand, but before I could leave, I bumped into Sophia, who was already leaving for the hospital. She wished me the best of luck, kissed me on my forehead, then let me go on my way as she went on hers. I pulled my bike into the bike lane in the street, and that was the last time I saw the base camp.

I wandered around the streets of San Francisco until morning as I thought about where to go. I realized I couldn't stay in San Francisco any longer now that people were looking for me. So, I pedaled faster until I arrived at the edge of town. I figured I would follow the path I had taken to get here, and now it was time to head South. I decided I would return to the first town I had arrived in that DJ had been staying in and figure out my next plan from there. So, I spent one last night looking around the great big city, bought me a large coffee, then left to ride off toward the mountains...

I had to push my bike up the steep mountain side, which was a bit more difficult with my bag on my back again. I made good speed down the mountain as I pushed my bike down, and eventually I went up to the abandoned getaway where I had found the large can of corn in. I searched around for sticks and such and quickly got another fire started. I figured I needed to get a good night's sleep, so I dropped my bag by the cabinets, got my blanket, and went to sleep. That morning, I trekked through the woods with my bike, staring at my surroundings. The tall buildings of San Francisco were now tall green trees, the roads were now large patches of grass and rocks. My friends were now reduced to my bike and my backpack. I walked for a few hours before coming up to my first real obstacle. A river. The river wasn't too wide, maybe forty-five feet, but the problem was I had no idea how deep it was. I checked my map and realized I must have gotten a little off course, because I had traveled a bit more east than I had meant to.

I figured instead of going around my best bet would be to try and traverse the wading water. So, I grabbed a long stick and pushed it down into the water. It was pretty shallow, maybe two or three feet deep. But I did have my bag and bike, which complicated things. I had an idea for my bag, but I couldn't think of anything about my bike and realized I'd have to push it across. The water wasn't rushing quickly enough to carry me downstream unless I lost my footing, so I prepared myself to cross.

I bent down and washed my face with water, took a swallow from my canteen that I had refilled before I left the base camp, then took a deep breath and turned to my bike. I slid the bag from my shoulders and dropped it onto the ground. I also took off all my clothes that were above my waist and packed them into the bag, along with everything in my pockets and my holstered pellet pistol. I wrapped my emergency blanket all around my bag and tied it shut, then I tied the rope to my bag and tied the rope to a tree. My plan was to get across the river and tie the other end of the rope to another tree, then slide the heavy bag across. I tied the knot on the first tree as tightly as I could, as I sure didn't want the rope to collapse, then I'd lose all my stuff.