The Road Less Traveled by D.A.Sanford - HTML preview

Foolish actions

I now am on a different world. This one feels really different. I just know that I am the only one on this world. I need to qualify that. I am the only sentient on this world. All other life forms are predator or prey. The first thing that strikes me is that I do not have weapons.

The sniper life comes to the forefront of my mind. Get to the high ground and find a secure position.

I scan my surroundings and spot a good place. Rocky and high, I can see what looks like openings that could be caves. The biggest problem is that those could already be occupied. I will go there but I need a weapon or rather more types of weapons.

The poor me had a commercially made fire starter but he also had a curious talent, flint knapping. I was able to recognize the flint rocks that were present on this world. I soon had a cutting blade and a lot of various waste pieces. I now was able to make a rudimentary spear.

That old me, the first me did like those anime shows. Goblins. They always were pictured with clubs. What is a club? Just a thick broken branch. There are plenty lying around. I trapped some game and had something to eat.

The vegetation had to go through the process. Take a drop of the juice and put it on your arm. Then wait to see if there is a reaction. If there is, don’t eat it. If there isn’t, don’t eat it. Rub some fiber on the skin. No reaction, touch it on the tongue. Progress in small increments. Finally chew a small piece. Only after these steps, be safe, cook it. Always avoid milky saps or almond scents.

Now I have weapons and food. I now am ready to climb.

At the top, where I want to make my hide, it is almost at the tree line. There is a nice cave, unoccupied, that is now my hide.

This world has a lot of what I am calling chickens. I trap them regularly. The eggs are eatable. Good protein. I soon have a good store of dried meet. There is a goodly amount of fish here so I dry them also. A great thing is, lower down, there is a plant that has a lemon flavor. I have found that taking some of the chicken parts and soaking them into a lemon water marinate it tastes wonderful..

Predators, I find that I really need to be cautious. The biggest one is a bear like creature that would require my rifle to kill it and then it would be questionable. I avoid them at all costs. The wild cat and wolf ones, I do go after. Snare them then spear and club them. The fur is for winter clothing.

Despite the fact of being on edge all the time, I am so alone. All my other lives I have had people to talk with. Interact with. Here there is no one. There is not a single animal that comes close to being able to domesticate. Even if I could, they would not be able to hold a conversation.

It has been a few years now. Winter is coming on and the last thing is that I need to soak those chicken wings in the lemon water. That was in the large rock tub I made. My bath or marinating, it is used for both. They need to soak in that marinade for a day, then I can dry them.

There is a very large quantity. By night time, I go to bed. Tomorrow, I need to lay all them out to dry.

In the middle of the night, I am woken up by the sound of growling and crunching. My half awake mind knows that it must be a bear eating my chicken out of the tub. I grab my club and spear. The spear broke but it distracted it from eating the chicken. I hit it with the club but that only got it angry.

It caught me by the inner portion of my right arm and crunched through the bone. I was screaming in pain. The pain was all encompassing and it shook me. Raking my body with its claws. I was just screaming “Help me!”

Then I was on a road. Stopped, on my motorcycle, in my leather jacket. But there was nothing in the rear view.

I could still feel the pain and horror.