26th
Signs of life?
After a good hour or so rest at the stream and finding some interesting plants, I started towards what I assumed was East, where I passed over a large hill that led to flatter ground. A great expanse of grassy fields lay before me, speckled with flowers of all colors and an occasional leafy shrub dotting the landscape. Far off in the distance a gray and white haze hung over the shadow of a mountain range, many miles away. Also, perhaps a few miles away, there was a forest, thick and green stretching north as far as I could see. Do places of such beauty even exist anymore?
The sun was passing over me at this point, so it must have been around noon. I continued slowly this time, making sure to watch where I stepped. Being barefoot, this seems like the perfect place for a garter snake or small mammal to live and I didn’t want to risk it, dream or not.
I covered a good distance in a short period of time despite being cautious and the forest was a good measure of how far I’d come. I decided to stop for a break and took a good look around. I was looking for civilization of some kind. A small town, something, anything where there might be a phone.
Looking towards the mountain range again I noticed that some of the haze that I’d seen earlier was starting to look like small billows of smoke. I immediately got excited and raised a fist in the air in triumph. Finally, I’d be able to figure out what the hell is going on and make sure Alicia and Jessica are OK.
It seemed as if there was a rise and then a drop in the land that way and I’d have to get over it to see if it really was a town. I’d settle for a camper with a cell phone at this point. Southeast it is then.
