Free Will of Man - Part Three by William Scanlan Page B
Authors: William Scanlan
ate earlier.
Traveling under the cover of night will be better than traveling during the day. During the day, people are active and can see me. Fortunately, its spring time and the nights are mostly windy. The sound of the rustling wind will muffle any sounds my clumpy footsteps make. The swaying of the trees will disguise my movements.
There are winding roads all around and I will follow them, but only at night. Dad showed me how to find the North Star using the Big Dipper constellation. I have a compass, but it will be too dark to see. The North Star will take me home (as long as it's a somewhat clear night). If it's too cloudy, I can take a bearing off my compass using my lighter to see. And then gage my direction from the moon.
Once I see a sign or something with an address on it, I can then find my location on the atlas my Dad supplied. I’m excited, yet scared to find out where I'm at. I know I'm far from my destination, but how far is the question?
I contemplated following the same train tracks that guided me here. But the atlas my Dad supplied me, doesn’t have train tracks on it.
I chose to follow the winding roads instead. I figured it would be more to my benefit to know where I am and where I’m heading.
Train tracks branch off in many directions. I won’t know where I’m at and I will need to know when I’m approaching larger-unpredictable cities - so I can go around them.
Avoiding the large cities may take longer, but it may save my life. Besides, there’s no food to be found in the scavenged cities anymore. The people there are violent and I don’t want to have to deal with that.
I tried studying the atlas, but it was really useless until I knew for sure where I was. All I know, is that I am near a big flowing river, in a small-shallow cave, in the middle of a dense woods with a road about two hundred meters away. The road heads north and south, so I will follow it north when night comes.
I had a few hours before night time, so I spent my time boiling water and gathering grubs and berries. However, I ate most the delicious berries and not-so-delicious grubs as I found them. I have two MRE’s (meals-ready-to-eat), but I want to save them for when I really need them.
Earthworms are abundant, and I know they are high in protein, but they are just too slimy for me to take the plunge right now. Maybe I’ll try them later when I’m starving. My plan is to try one or two a day and build up a tolerant taste for them, but no worm sandwiches for me today.
The sun’s nearing the horizon so I decided to check my traps and fish line. No luck catching anything, which was fine since I didn’t feel like cleaning any catch and having to cook it. I just wanted to get started with my walk.
I packed all my gear and waited for the sun to set. I waited an hour before I headed out to make sure it was good and dark. I figured anyone hunting late would have called it a day and headed in for the night.
As I took my first step on that long road, I told myself that this was the beginning of a long and hard journey. I accepted the fact that the days ahead were going to be tough, dangerous, and the hardest journey of life. I’m anticipating starvation, exhaustion, near death experiences, horrific scenes, and even more than I can imagine. But I accept it, so I am ready to face this journey. Maybe I will survive, maybe I won’t. But I will try, and I will not give up until I find my family.
Tyler's Journal Entry: 356
Date: May 19
Day: Tuesday
Weather: Sunny and cool
Days Since the LAST DAY: 2yrs, 10 months, 18 days
I walked for a long time each of the last two nights. The terrain is very hilly and is taking its toll on my legs. Being from Michigan, which is very flat thanks to a glacier millions of years ago, I am not used to ascending such steep elevations.
Thankfully my mind and body are used to pain from training and racing. This type of continuous walking and climbing, I think, would be very hard for
Traveling under the cover of night will be better than traveling during the day. During the day, people are active and can see me. Fortunately, its spring time and the nights are mostly windy. The sound of the rustling wind will muffle any sounds my clumpy footsteps make. The swaying of the trees will disguise my movements.
There are winding roads all around and I will follow them, but only at night. Dad showed me how to find the North Star using the Big Dipper constellation. I have a compass, but it will be too dark to see. The North Star will take me home (as long as it's a somewhat clear night). If it's too cloudy, I can take a bearing off my compass using my lighter to see. And then gage my direction from the moon.
Once I see a sign or something with an address on it, I can then find my location on the atlas my Dad supplied. I’m excited, yet scared to find out where I'm at. I know I'm far from my destination, but how far is the question?
I contemplated following the same train tracks that guided me here. But the atlas my Dad supplied me, doesn’t have train tracks on it.
I chose to follow the winding roads instead. I figured it would be more to my benefit to know where I am and where I’m heading.
Train tracks branch off in many directions. I won’t know where I’m at and I will need to know when I’m approaching larger-unpredictable cities - so I can go around them.
Avoiding the large cities may take longer, but it may save my life. Besides, there’s no food to be found in the scavenged cities anymore. The people there are violent and I don’t want to have to deal with that.
I tried studying the atlas, but it was really useless until I knew for sure where I was. All I know, is that I am near a big flowing river, in a small-shallow cave, in the middle of a dense woods with a road about two hundred meters away. The road heads north and south, so I will follow it north when night comes.
I had a few hours before night time, so I spent my time boiling water and gathering grubs and berries. However, I ate most the delicious berries and not-so-delicious grubs as I found them. I have two MRE’s (meals-ready-to-eat), but I want to save them for when I really need them.
Earthworms are abundant, and I know they are high in protein, but they are just too slimy for me to take the plunge right now. Maybe I’ll try them later when I’m starving. My plan is to try one or two a day and build up a tolerant taste for them, but no worm sandwiches for me today.
The sun’s nearing the horizon so I decided to check my traps and fish line. No luck catching anything, which was fine since I didn’t feel like cleaning any catch and having to cook it. I just wanted to get started with my walk.
I packed all my gear and waited for the sun to set. I waited an hour before I headed out to make sure it was good and dark. I figured anyone hunting late would have called it a day and headed in for the night.
As I took my first step on that long road, I told myself that this was the beginning of a long and hard journey. I accepted the fact that the days ahead were going to be tough, dangerous, and the hardest journey of life. I’m anticipating starvation, exhaustion, near death experiences, horrific scenes, and even more than I can imagine. But I accept it, so I am ready to face this journey. Maybe I will survive, maybe I won’t. But I will try, and I will not give up until I find my family.
Tyler's Journal Entry: 356
Date: May 19
Day: Tuesday
Weather: Sunny and cool
Days Since the LAST DAY: 2yrs, 10 months, 18 days
I walked for a long time each of the last two nights. The terrain is very hilly and is taking its toll on my legs. Being from Michigan, which is very flat thanks to a glacier millions of years ago, I am not used to ascending such steep elevations.
Thankfully my mind and body are used to pain from training and racing. This type of continuous walking and climbing, I think, would be very hard for