by Sage du Toit
Occasionally they had to skirt around a dirt road or path that ran through the woods, and when they passed a Rest stop she got really nervous, wondering if those thugs had someone lying in wait there too. They made a big detour around the Rest stop.
Sam wished she had a pedometer so she could gauge how far they walked. She probably would have found one before they left if she knew they were going to be walking. Her mind ran in circles as they walked. They didn’t want to talk and risk giving themselves away in case anybody was near. She realized they were being a bit paranoid, after all they were in the freakin’ woods!
They didn’t see many houses or businesses, but when they did they gave them a wide girth, or if they didn’t have a choice they sat in the tree line and waited, watching before they crossed. She was glad that Georgia had so many trees and thick wooded areas, but she wondered what they would do when that gave out.
They passed quite a few ponds and small lakes, so Sam quit worrying about water, with the filter he had they could filter just about any water and make it drinkable. Of course, they could also boil water. They stopped occasionally for short rests or to change out their socks. Both of them started out with damp boots and it was hard on the feet. When they changed their socks out they hung the previous ones on the outside of their packs so they could dry as they walked.
At midday Sam asked Tom how far he thought they had walked. He said he would guess about 10 miles. They were stopped for a break, sitting near a small lake. Their boots were dry now and they had changed socks again. Tom had also taken the cheese and crackers out of their daily MRE and they were snacking on that for lunch. He had her take the atlas out and they looked at the map of Georgia and found Augusta and then estimated where they had crashed. Tom had seen a sign for the lake they were at and said it was ‘Upper Folly Lake’. They compared the distance and it came out right at 10 miles. Sam was impressed. She didn’t need a pedometer when she had Tom!
Tom drew a straight line from where they were at to where they needed to go in Atlanta. It measured out at 112 miles. Sam thought if they walked 20 miles a day it would take them 5 days to get there, assuming of course they walked another 10 miles today and if they walked in a straight line! Tom took a bearing on the map using his compass. He said they were going to try to walk a straight line. From how it looked on the map they would end up walking a lot more miles if they kept following the highway. Plus, if they followed a straight line, it would take them between most of the heavily populated areas.
He said there was a small area ahead where a small airport was marked and the rest of their day should be through the woods. Tom always checked the area they were stopping for contaminates before they removed their masks but they always replaced them before moving on. When he started to put his mask back on Sam knew it was time to move.
As they were passing through the small-town Sam thought they might stop and check for food, but it was obvious someone had been here before, all of the windows were broken everywhere they looked. Cutting through the little populated area took them longer than expected, they had to keep stopping and hiding to be sure no one was around. Once they were back in the trees, Tom picked up the pace.
He had clipped his compass to his tactical vest and occasionally he would check it. He had her get her compass out and he was showing her how to check it and verify they were heading in the right direction and how to navigate over the land and through the trees without getting off course. Sam found it fascinating and would occasionally ask questions as they went. Her first question after he explained what they were doing was, “Isn’t this orienteering? And aren't all Green beret’s experts at this?”
Tom gave her a lopsided grin, “Well... what aren’t we experts at?” Sam smacked him on the shoulder.
They were both starting to relax. Walking through the quiet woods was enjoyable and after the crash yesterday both of their nerves had been frazzled. They were making good time, much faster than the morning. They had to occasionally climb over a fence or cross over a dirt road, but they didn’t see any more houses. But Sam’s feet were starting to kill her. She had put some moleskin on when they stopped at midday, but that didn’t remove the blisters that had already formed.
Sam was starting to limp and Tom checked his watch and said they should probably look for a place to make camp now. They crossed over a dirt road and walked about another mile and found a small space under the trees where the tent would fit perfect.
They both took their packs off and stretched their backs. Tom had checked her pack each time they started out to make sure she had the straps tightened and the belt cinched tight around her waist to make the load lighter and prevent the straps from chaffing her. Tom pulled out his chemical meter and said the area was clear. He even stuck it down in the leaves on the ground.
They removed their masks and then worked together to put the small tent up. The sun was still up but Sam didn’t think they had too much daylight left, it was also darker and a bit gloomy under the trees. Tom laid a poncho out on the ground and had her remove her boots so he could check her feet.
She had several blisters. Two had already popped on her left foot and there was a big unpopped one on the heal of her right foot. Tom peeled off the moleskin she had applied and told her he would help her put it on tomorrow. She reasoned that meant she didn’t do it right. He lightly massaged her feet and she leaned back enjoying it. He put her foot back down and said he would be right back and he walked off in the woods. She wondered if his bladder had suddenly hit him.
He wasn’t gone long and she looked at him questioningly. He picked her up and carried her off into the woods. She asked, “Ummm...where are you taking me?” Often the quiet man, he just raised his eyebrows at her.
Just a short distance away she heard water flowing. They walked out of the trees and there was a clear stream flowing through the woods. It was a very shallow stream but it had cut through the loamy soil and had a few rocks she could see at the bottom. He told her he had already tested the water and he sat her down on the side of the bank and told her to put her feet in. He then took his boots off and put his feet in too. The water was cold and it felt wonderful on her feet. She leaned her head back and enjoyed the numbing sensation.
The light was fading fast and after what Sam felt was too short a time, Tom took his shirt off and dried his feet and slipped his boots back on he then had her pull her feet out and he lightly patted them dry then picked her up to carry her back. She commented, “I could get use to you carrying me around like this.”
Tom laughed lightly, “My back already hurts, are you trying to kill me? You know I’m older than you. That makes me an old man!”
Sam rolled her eyes, “Oh please! You aren’t even thirty yet!”
When they were back at the camp he handed her some foot powder and told her he would check her blisters in the morning and tape them if needed then. He said in the meantime just to wear clean socks. Sam had one pair of clean socks left. She had rotated the other three each time they stopped.
After they ate the rest of their shared daily MRE Sam was still hungry. She sipped water and thought if she was hungry how does Tom feel? He saw her sipping water and told her they would refill their canteens and hydration packs in the morning before they left. Sam was starting to feel grungy from not showering and she asked, “Could I wash in the stream too?”
He answered, “Well...it’s going to be cold but it’s your butt, so you can if you want to.”
19 November 2020 N-day +132
Somewhere in GA
In the morning when Sam woke up she moaned out loud. Not only did her neck, shoulders and back hurt from the accident, but now they hurt from carrying the rucksack and her legs and feet hurt too! Tom was already up and when she came out of the tent to go pee she saw he was making coffee. She thought, “This is turning into a routine already.”
She hobbled back from peeing and he frowned at her. She said, “What??”
With a concerned look he
replied, “I’m just worried about you love, we have a long way to go and I don’t want you to be crippled before we get there.”
He called her love and it melted her heart. Suddenly her irritation was gone. She beamed at him and said, “Coffee?” Her sudden change of expression surprised him and he just held out a hot cup. She laughed lightly and said, “You called me ‘love’ and it completely changed how I was feeling.”
He laughed at the explanation and told her he was going to the stream to filter some water if she wanted to grab whatever she needed to wash with. Sam quickly gathered her soap, shampoo, towel, canteen cup and a change of clothes. She had already slipped her boots on when she came out of the tent.
She followed him to the stream and watched as he walked upstream a short way and set up his filter hose. He slowly pumped the filtered water through the hose and into the hydration packs. He could only filter a small amount at a time, so it was a tedious process to fill everything.
Sam stripped off all of her clothes and then wondered what she was doing, it was a little too cool to be bathing in a cold stream. But she figured she might as well grin and bear it, this is probably how it’s going to be for a while. Besides they were originally taking cold showers at Dozier Hall, but it had been hot outside then.
She stepped in the cold water and it felt good on her feet. She looked up stream at Tom and he was watching her with a lascivious grin. She faced him as she dipped the canteen cup in the stream and poured it over her body. She kept dipping and pouring until she was wet all over, including her hair. Knowing he was watching her helped keep her mind off the fact that the water was so cold.
She knew her nipples were pointing straight out from the cold and she hoped he was enjoying himself. She looked up at him and he had quit pumping the water, he was just sitting there holding the bulb in his hand. She told him, “It’s going to take you all day to fill those at that rate.”
He replied, “It would be worth it if I get to keep watching you.”
She laughed and put shampoo in her hair and rubbed it in. She then took her bar of soap and wet it in the water and washed her body. Paying special attention to her feet. She then turned and put her back toward him and bent over, scooping water from the stream and pouring it over her hair, rinsing the shampoo out. Once she was sure all of the shampoo was gone, she squeezed the water out of her hair and flipped it back up over her shoulder.
She turned slightly and looked at Tom over her shoulder. He had packed up his filter kit and was standing there watching her, absentmindedly rubbing the huge bulge in his pants. She said, “Why don’t you come join me?” Tom was already taking his clothes off before she could finish the sentence.
She finished rinsing the soap off her body, paying special attention to rinse carefully between her legs. He came up behind her and said, “Here, let me do that.” He took the canteen cup from her hand and had her bend over at the waist. He poured the cold water down her backside as he ran his hand down between her legs. “I think it needs some more rinsing.”
He knelled down in the water and stuck his face between her legs, tasting her with his tongue. She moaned loudly and it encouraged him to continue. He stuck his tongue in her slit and started rubbing her nub with his finger. This didn’t last too long, he stood back up and holding her shoulders down he pushed the head of his shaft inside of her. He felt even bigger than normal and he had to work to push himself inside. Slowly pulling in and out until he was completely buried inside of her.
He then started pumping hard, one hand on her hip and the other on her back, keeping her bent over. Sam put her hand on the ground in front of her to keep herself from falling over and grunted in pleasure each time he pushed inside. It didn’t take either of them long, soon he was pounding short hard thrusts as he erupted inside of her which set her off and she was climaxing hard, trying to keep her knees from collapsing as her body clenched and pulsed on his hard shaft.
Tom pulled out of her and pulled her up straight turning her around for a kiss. “Wow, you are so sexy.” He ran his finger down the side of her face, “Are you mine? Really mine?” She smiled and nodded.
“I love you Tom, I’m yours forever.” Sam realized how corny that sounded, but she didn’t care, that was how she felt.
He kissed her deeply and held her close. Sam cleaned up again and Tom used her soap to give himself a quick wash. Sam was dried and dressed by the time Tom was drying off and he just slipped his boots on and wrapped the towel around himself so he could put clean clothes on back at the camp. They gathered everything, including the full canteen’s and water bladders and headed back to camp.
It felt good to be clean. After Tom was dressed he checked Sam’s forehead and then her feet. Taking a clean sterilized needle, he popped the big blister on her right foot. He then applied some superglue to it which made her cringe worse than the stitches did. Anywhere she had blistered skin he put the superglue then for added measure he put tape over it too. He asked if she had any other spots that felt hot and he applied moleskin around those. He then helped her to carefully put her socks on so it didn’t mess up the tape.
Once they were packed and ready to go he had Sam orient her compass using the map, and when he confirmed it was right he let her lead the way. He said he was going to let her set the pace today because he didn’t want her feet getting worse.
They started out slow because Sam was being extra careful and checking her compass and map as she went. She felt like she was getting the hang of it but checked with Tom on a regular basis, she didn’t want to get them lost.
Glad that Tom had refilled the water bladders that morning, she felt like she was constantly sipping on water to keep her stomach from nagging her so much. After about an hour of walking they came upon some RV’’s in a clearing. Sam had been checking her compass and almost walked out of the trees into the open.
They didn’t see any signs of people so they circled around the edge and when Tom said he didn’t even see any evidence of recent foot prints they decided to check the trailers. The first one was locked, but Tom showed her how to take her Bowie knife and stick it in the edge of the door and pop it open. He said it worked for most flimsy doors like that.
The RV smelled like cigarette smoke and there wasn’t any food in it. All they found was a bottle of whiskey under the sink. Tom put it in his pack and said it would make a good trade item or it could be used as a disinfectant if they needed it. They searched the other trailers and still no food. Tom said they looked like workers trailers, not campers.
About midway through the morning they stopped by a green pond to change their socks. The could see some building through the trees and when Tom told her it was safe to remove her mask Sam gagged as soon as she removed it. The smell was horrible! She quickly put her mask back on and cleared it. She looked at Tom and said, “What the hell?”
Tom had put his mask back on too and was looking toward the buildings. “I would say it’s some type of meat processing or packing plant. That smells like lots of rotting meat.”
They continued and saw several houses but didn’t stop, they just carefully made their way around them. It was getting close to noon and the water just wasn’t cutting it anymore. Sam’s stomach was growling loudly. They had just crossed over a dirt track and they could see a house to the south. Tom signaled to her that he wanted to check the house out.
It was a decent sized house with a garage on the front that was closed. So they couldn’t tell if there were any cars. Tom spent some time studying the house and the drive. Then he looked at the road and the field around the house. The grass was grown up as could be expected but he said he didn’t see any tracks where someone might have walked out of or around the house. They decided to creep up and peak in the windows.
There were light curtains over the windows and they were all closed. That was a good sign the house could be clean. Tom tried the back door and it was locked. So, he tried the front door and it was locked too. He looked at Sam and shrugged,
then knocked. She looked at him with wide eyes because she didn’t expect that. She signed and asked him, “Why did you knock?”
He signed back, “What better way to see if someone is in the house?”
They waited a bit and no one came so he used his knife to open the door, luckily it didn’t have a deadbolt. The entered the house and Tom went one way and Sam the other, clearing the room like he taught her. The moved through the house one room at a time, and when they got to the bedroom they saw two figures lying in bed together. They were both very dead. Tom shut the door to that room and they went to check out the kitchen.
Tom tested the air in the kitchen first, then they removed their masks. The couple didn’t have a lot of canned food, most of their food had been fresh and when Sam opened the refrigerator she quickly shut it again. She did find a can of corned beef hash. She held it up to Tom and he said, “Sounds delicious!” She looked through the rest of the pantry and there were lots of dried beans, flour, spices, tomato paste and oils. Then at the back she found three cans of tuna and a box of saltine crackers.
She brought the crackers and tuna to the table along with the corned beef hash. The stove was electric, so they couldn’t heat it up unless they made a fire or used a fuel cube. They decided tuna and crackers were fine. Sam was hungry enough, she didn’t care. She scooped the tuna on to a cracker and ate until the whole can was gone. Tom was done before her.
Out of courtesy to the dead owners they cleaned up their mess and after Tom checked the water they washed their hands. They also both changed their socks again and Tom checked her feet. They were doing better than yesterday and the tape was holding.
After eating, Sam felt a lot better and they made much better time. They had checked the map before leaving again and Tom had estimated they should be coming up on a small city called Union Point by the end of the day. The reached it much sooner than expected and Tom said that meant they were making good time.
When they finally stopped for the night Tom said they had walked about 30 miles that day. Sam felt it too. She had pushed herself harder than Tom probably would have. Plus, she was getting better at orienteering and it gave her something to think about other than her feet or shoulders.