One day at a time
“Just take it one day at a time,” she said as I felt the pangs of hunger reach deep into the pit of despair. “You’ll be fine.”
I replied, “That’s easy for you to say. You’re the one with all the experience in survival training. I’m just a poor computer tech, with no signal available on my phone.”
We were deep in the forest where they left us to fend for ourselves. We had 3 days to make it back to civilization and let the authorities know of their plans. If we didn’t make it we would be too late. It’s tough to think straight when you are isolated in an unknown place with a time deadline, and I literally mean a “Dead” line.
We had managed to survive the first day by finding a direction to go in. Lucky for us it was a sunny, clear day so we could track the path of the sun to head east. There were no particular paths to follow, but there was enough a clearing through the trees to be able to maintain our direction. Alice, my companion, suggested that I use the MacGyver knife that I always carry with me, to notch the trees as we moved along so we would be able to determine if we somehow got turned around.
Food and water were a distinct disadvantage. As I said, my stomach kept grumbling, “Where’s the beef?” Which is interesting since I’m a vegetarian.
When we reached the first clearing at the end of the day, Alice was quick to notice some fresh edible vegetation that provided us with some sustenance. As I went behind a tree to relieve myself, I was lucky to discover a small stream, with hopefully drinkable water.
It was a warm summer’s night so we didn’t need much in the way of shelter that evening. We decided that we would take a short nap rather than trudge on throughout the night, having nothing to guide us and wanting to be fresh enough for the challenging road ahead.
The second day was a bit more of a challenge. Moving forward slowly as the way to go was not clear. Climbing around roots of trees and loose boulders made for a more safety concerning trek. We did spot a few rabbits and definitely, countless birds seemed to be following us. At one point I felt my eyes deceiving me as I thought I saw a drone flying overhead. But I blinked and it was gone.
That night, because we thought we had lost time during the day, we decided to push on using Alice’s knowledge about the night sky to guide us.
To make a long story…medium, we did manage to make it through the forest in time to catch up with the authorities. We really didn’t need to rush. The people that had placed us in the forest had already been caught and arrested. Their story unfolded well before we were able to warn anyone. In fact, when they confessed they neglected to mention us at all, which was probably why no one was out looking for us. It still didn’t explain why I might have seen a drone overhead. We weren’t even mentioned in the news report.
We both breathed a sigh of relief, having survived our ordeal and as you might have guessed, we made a beeline to our favorite eatery to get those veggie burgers with all the trimmings. It was quite an adventure. But as Alice said, “You gotta just take it one day at a time.”
