From Nothing to Nothing

Chapter 2

     I was back at the wall, its large grey stones bearing strange symbols and glyphs. Giving it a closer examination this time, it hadn't occurred to me when I was last here. The indentations were deep, alien, and gave off an ominous feel, at least to my untrained eye. The ground, up to about a foot away from this large stone erection was bare dirt. If you looked left or right facing the wall you could follow the curvature around what seemed like the world, until it was hidden behind the horizon.

     Memories of all that had transpired came flooding back to me. The small furry monster, the distracting buzzing, the strange person that showed up, and the glass globe I found. The throbbing in the back of my head worsened my mental state.

     At first I thought the typhoon of my mind was just distracting me from the wear and tear on my body. After waking up I felt no discomfort anywhere. Upon closer inspection and a quick strip, I realized my body had no injuries whatsoever.

"I hate dreams." I muttered quietly to anything willing to listen, but sadly there was only myself.

      Redressing, it didn't take very long for me to decide what I needed to do next. Nothing had changed, I needed to survive. This time; however, I would pull it off.

      Forcing myself to get serious, I retraced my steps. The area where my shelter had been built came into view. I quickly refashioned it, and made a mental note of where I actually was. There was no way for me to know my directions, so I could only do my best to keep my base's location in mind relative to where I was heading.

     Leaning against a tree, I let myself sink to the ground. What to do next? I wasn't sure I could survive for very long off berries, I wasn't even sure if I should be eating them at all. So the next step, I figured, would be to hunt.

     I hadn't the slightest clue where to start. I could probably replicate some snares and small traps that I had seen my dad set up. Skinning an animal isn't a skill in my small arsenal ether. But I had a direction to work towards at least, and so I got up.

      I twisted and leaned, making my back snapped and popping in all the best ways. Leaning back so far had revealed a new discovery. There were several lines of smoke on the horizon. Not the same as the smoke I had seen before, that looked like it was coming from the base of one of the nearby mountain ranges. I cracked my neck both ways and set off.

     Picking up various nuts out of the dirt, I made sure to keep a rough idea of my camp's location. Most of the trees looked pretty similar to home, a few of the leaves were oddly shaped however. The animals bore a likeness to the fauna back home as well. Maybe the ones here were more ferocious than the ones i knew.

     I hopped over a small creek, careful not to land on uneven ground. A hurt ankle would spell disaster for my situation. The brambles did their best to stand in my way, but my jacket protected my arms for the most part. Although they wouldn't last long if I continued hitting every batch of brambles along my way.

     After about an hour of walking, I came to an area where trees were cleared, and the dirt wore down. Lots of it was loose dust, maybe the area had been going through a drought? The overhead leaves and any protection from the sun had also been foolishly stripped away. What good was a road if it offered no protection from the elements?

    I glanced both ways from the safety of the forest before stepping out into the open. It wasn't as if I was worried about being robbed on the road, All I had on me were the handful of nuts I had gathered for bait. I continued marching towards my destination.

    After an uneventful hour of walking the rumbling from behind made me jump. A large wagon, or rather more of a carriage, was slowly catching up. It was pulled by two horses and a man driving it, it struck me as odd. Just where was I?