Joe Doe   

 

The sky was blue overhead and the white clouds drifted lazily across his line of vision. He felt disoriented and dizzy even though he was flat on his back looking up. At first he thought he had taken a walk and fallen asleep but then he got to a sitting position and saw that he was totally naked. His entire body ached and his head throbbed mercilessly. He reached up to touch the spot on his head and it felt wet and caked with blood on his hair. When he assessed his condition by scanning carefully with his eyes and his fingertips, he made an effort to move again. He had no clothing, no jewelry and no identifying marks or tags. When he raised himself up, his hand landed on a sharp and jagged rock. He looked at the palm of his left hand. It was bleeding and it had left a mark that looked like the letter ‘G’. He knew at that moment that God had marked him. He remembered God. He knew he would be safe. He would be delivered. He had an eerie realization that came to mind; he had no thoughts previous to waking up just now. He hit his head - that could be the reason, he knew that much. But he had no idea about how he had gotten to the bottom of this hill or why. He gently turned his head to look up the hill. It was steep enough to have kept him rolling down but not steep enough to crack his skull against the rock at the bottom that stopped his progression. His wounds were superficial. Beyond the top of the hill was a train trestle. Had he been mugged on a train and thrown off? That was the most logical explanation he could come up with. He also had an uneasy feeling that he would never find out. He somehow knew that he shouldn’t try to find out either.

            He was alive and that was the amazing thing! It was a beautiful day and the sun was warm. His first strategy was to find water to drink and to bathe in. When he thought of climbing the hill to the train track, he had an uneasy feeling. Since the sun was high, his plan was to follow it and go south. He hoped he would eventually find someone who could help him. It wasn’t as easy as he had thought it would be. Walking without shoes was extremely uncomfortable. Every step was painful and deliberate. He watched where he put his feet and that made his progress slow. He had no clue as to the time except the movement of the sun over his head. His thought processes were all right now. He was thinking about the nighttime and had to find a safe and protected place to sleep. He came upon a little stream of running water. It was either a creek or a runoff ditch. It smelled OK so he took a sip. It was delicious. There was still time to take a quick bath before it got dark. He bent over to wash his head and he almost passed out with the pain. Instead he lay down on his back in the water and pushed the water onto his head to get the blood off and wash any dirt out of the gash. When he did that, the wound started to bleed again. He could feel the warmth of the blood on his fingers. He couldn’t help that now. He rinsed off the rest of his body and everything looked better without the mud, grass and blood. He felt refreshed but a little cold so he sat in the sun out of the wind. He didn’t know how to start a fire and didn’t think he could have made the effort even if he had.

His first night was long and cold but he survived and that was the goal. He ended up covering his body with loose sticks and twigs and leaves and mulch. Anything loose and dry helped insulate him and kept the heat from escaping into the night air. He was getting hungry now. At first light he was going to get started but decided he would wait for the day to warm up a little more. He had not been into survival guides. Now he wished he had been. He had no idea what he could eat other than the obvious fruits and nuts. He wasn’t about to try any mushrooms. He thought it might be the wrong season for fruits. Could he eat roots and grass? He didn’t know the answer. He would keep going as long as he could. He would try not to think about food. As long as he could find water he should be OK for a while. Then the thought came to him. Worms!  It almost turned his stomach but he knew they were a source of protein. Actually any insects probably would work. He had seen some grasshoppers back a ways but wasn’t thinking ‘food’ at the time. He could try that. No sooner had he thought about the grasshoppers than he saw a few making short flights from plant to plan. He caught one and looked at it and thought that the soft body would be his best bet. He ripped off the head and picked off the legs and wings and had one bite. It was gross but he swallowed it anyway. Maybe starving would be easier than he thought it would. He dug in some dark rich soil and found some big juicy night crawlers. He tried one and it was slimy. He thought maybe the next one he would try swallowing whole. He almost threw up because it got stuck half way down. The next one he pulled into bite size pieces and swallowed those without difficulty- but still not good.

He promised himself, if he survived this he would take wilderness survival training. Heck, he might be able to teach a course after this…if he survived.  His feet were looking pretty bad. They were cut and swollen. Maybe tomorrow he would rest. He found another creek and soaked his feet in the cool water. He drank and bathed. It made him feel more normal when he was clean. He saw some mushrooms growing in the shade of a large tree but he wouldn’t let himself even think about it. They would have made a filling meal but would death be worth it? He couldn’t decide at the moment. He was getting light headed and delirious. 

After seven sunrises, he lost count of the days that had gone by. He forgot to look for food. He was beyond hunger but he still needed water. When he stepped into water he drank it, when he got tired, he slept. He slept a lot. He barely had enough strength to cover himself to keep from dying from exposure but he kept moving south. The day he broke into the clearing was like a dream. The night before he was one hundred feet from the opening but for all he knew it could have been one hundred miles. There were children playing in the field. When they saw him they stood still for a minute then they ran away screaming. He fell to the ground unconscious.