Titan: The Dark Path

Into the Wilderness

Eric didn't stop walking for three straight days after leaving Charles Town. His path took him into Maryland briefly and then back into West Virginia again. He didn't notice reentering the same state twice; he was only happy to be out of Maryland once he saw signs indicating that afterwards. He followed signs for roadways going west and eventually linked up with US-50.

This was deep country, sweeping and beautiful. He had never breathed air quite like this before. The sky opened up in front of him blue and clear and seemingly endless. The foliage and fields were bright and vivid green. In the daytime, he could almost forget the darkness he felt inside.

Nighttime was a different story. He walked in darkness he'd not known before save for his dreams and visions. There were no electric lights. No cars passed either, which was just as well since they would have had a hell of a time seeing him and the highway shoulder was narrow. It was the only time when he was truly scared. Still, he walked. Always forward. He moved slower at night and followed the road by feeling with his feet and using careful steps. The fear was almost more exhausting than the walking.

Eric had never been camping. It just wasn't something to which his parents exposed him. When he was a kid, his parents took turns going to the movies with him while the other one stayed home with Sarah. That was probably why he loved movies and TV shows like he did—he'd seen a lot of them and they were associated with happy memories. At home, he watched the same films and TVs shows again and again. But he was unfamiliar with the woods at night. Walking along the road wasn't exactly the woods, but this road wasn't US-495 in D.C. either. It was two lanes with narrow shoulders, a guard rail, and open country on either side. All night long he heard animals and rustling and noises he couldn't identify. He knew he wasn't alone. In the early morning of the first night, he heard movement behind him off the road many yards back (he guessed). It stopped when he did and resumed moving when he did. Since he couldn't see very well, he just continued moving along and kept his ears open.

When the sun pierced the dawn sky behind him and his road bore light again, Eric felt safe enough to relieve himself. If something attacked him at night, he preferred not to die with his junk in-hand. While doing his business off the shoulder, he eyed the tree line going back the way he came. There was movement and a shape maybe thirty feet away. At first glance, it looked like a man. After a moment, he realized it wasn't so.

"Holy shit, that's a bear."

The creature trudged behind the trees sampling smells as it went. It wasn't very big, maybe as big as a German shepherd. But it was definitely a bear. Eric had never seen one before. When he went to the zoo as a boy, the bears wouldn't come out, so he never saw them. He muttered mostly to keep himself calm, "It's black... a black bear? Is it that easy?" The only things Eric knew about bears he knew from Stephen Colbert and Dwight from The Office. So, he knew nothing.

Eric zipped up and walked sideways keeping his eye on the bear. It still followed but kept a distance and seemed more curious than dangerous. A strange, but lucid, thought occurred to Eric as he watched the creature amble along: I've seen my best friend become a man made of rocky bones and a skull for a head, but I've never seen a bear before now. Hell, I met a faerie yesterday before seeing a bear, too.

"What will I see tomorrow?"

The sun beat down; the road took its toll on his feet and his shoes; and his mind turned in on itself, sampling the past and the present, mixing memories with dreams and fantasy with reality. The Source continued to flow, surging nearby, but Eric kept a healthy distance. He resisted slipping into the current for the time being, but he knew that time would come.

Eric should have rested long before Parkersburg, West Virginia, but his stubbornness and desperation drove him farther still. The sole on his left shoe had worn out and the road was wearing on his foot. The pain was curbed by the numbness in his feet.