Inferno: A Firewatch Themed Story

Welcome Walks

Ryan finally, after an hour and a half of driving in the isolated forest, stops his pickup truck just outside of the towering sign ahead of him. 

SHOSHONE NATIONAL PARK -15 Miles Ahead

"Well, on the bright side, it can't get that much worse." Ryan muttered as he pulled his backpack out of the passenger seat, stepping out of the car into the landscape around him. 

"Might be a long couple of months" he said looking around him. He wasn't sure what to expect when he saw a flyer to work as a fire watcher. Out of a job and now a girlfriend, he just get needed to get the fuck out of Boulder, and fast. The nights at the bar started to turn repetitive, expensive, and didn't end well most nights. 

 Ryan slung his backpack over his shoulders and began to make his way down the winding path towards his designated lookout tower. 

He had no idea where the fuck he was going. 

He's barely ever had to read a map, minutes turned into hours, and by the time Ryan reached the main path, it was almost dark. He started walking in the morning. 

As he walked, memories of his past life in Boulder flooded his mind. The nights spent drowning his sorrows in alcohol, the bitter arguments with his now ex-girlfriend, the crushing weight of unemployment – it all seemed like a distant nightmare, a chapter he was eager to leave behind. 

But nonetheless, Ryan was lying. He still clung on to bits and pieces of the relationship like a fading dream. A keychain, a photo of him and his ex girlfriend, Kiera, hung low on the side of his backpack. Tucked away, hidden, like he wanted nobody and yet everybody to see his clinging onto of hope. Not like anyone would see. Tucked away in the Shoshone forrest for 3 months or so sounded exactly what Ryan needed to lay low. He told very few people where he was going.

 Not like it mattered.