Five: A Pack of Wolves

When I woke up, I found the status light of my pack blinking. Breakfast again.

Before anything, though, I got the bit of gel that the pack also produced, put it in my mouth and used a mouthful of water from the bottle to rinse my mouth out with the antibacterial gel – this was it. No toothbrush for me. I then freshened up as best I could with half of the water in the bottle.

Then I had my breakfast.

The containers were about a third full again, and I enjoyed my spaghetti and “fresh” apples.

And in less than thirty minutes, I had finished my morning routine.

- - - - -

Judging by the position of the sun, it was almost noon when I was attacked by wolves. But they clearly haven’t seen a human before so I made a lot of noise to scare them away.

It did help a little because they didn’t bother to close in further. But, when one of them, perhaps the pack leader, ran towards me, growling and teeth bared, I reacted instinctively and threw a rock at him.

I hit him right on his snout and he yelped and jumped backward.

Luckily, I was on target with my rock, and I could see blood oozing out from a large gash on his snout, and it took the fight right out of him.

In adventure videos, this would be the time when the wild feral wolves would jump the hero, so before that could happen, I fired one of my cartridges into the largest group.

In one fell swoop, I took out ten of the fifteen wolves (that included the pack leader), and the rest scattered in fear.

For good measure, I threw rocks at the unhurt ones that I could still reach, and I got another with a lucky throw, and he limped away with the others.

I didn’t know much about wolf behavior, but I had a suspicion these would be back again. So I’d better start being careful now. Tonight, I’d probably be sleeping among the branches of the biggest tree I could find.

I used the knife and cut up one of the wolf carcasses, knowing these rich sources of protein would allow my pack to produce better food later, and all without worrying about rabies or other viruses, parasites, bacteria, dirt or whatever. I put as much of the meat in the pack, reset it with a “best option setting” to allow it to pick the best option based on the organic material in its hopper, and I moved on.

I desperately wanted to see some more signs that would tell me I was still going the right way, but there were none. I just followed the “main flow of traffic,” i.e. the streets where there was a large concentration of vehicles, and continued on.

In the distance somewhere behind me, I heard some commotion – human-sounding commotion, and I concluded that my friends had found a way and were closing in on me. And my use of my rifle probably gave them a clue to where I was. Dammit.

Hopefully, I would be fast enough that they wouldn’t be able to catch up with me.

- - - - -

The air was unusually clear and clean smelling, and the sun, though bright, was pleasant since there was a cool breeze in the air. If I closed my eyes, I could imagine I was back home, maybe near the little park near my old house where I usually spent free afternoons with my wife just relaxing.

But those days were long gone.

I found what might have been a kind of bus station, and there were several painted metal signs tacked to the walls of the ruined building.

In one of them, I saw some half-worn printing where I made out the words “cape” and “space center.” It seemed I was on the right track.

I tried to decipher the rest of the sign, but there was virtually no paint remaining. From what was left, I deduced that the “space center” was due southeast. That was good. Now I had a direction to follow.

I looked around for anything I could salvage but there was nothing. So I continued on.

In the distance, I heard five loud explosions. Maybe my pursuers encountered more of the same wolves I ran into. One can only hope.

“Good luck with them, guys,” I said. “Frankly, though, I hope they eat you up.” I laughed and laughed. Weak-assed joke, but it’s better than nothing.

My pack dinged. What? It’s done already? Well… Maybe I’ll have my dinner early today. As soon as I found a place I can hole up in, I think I’ll stop and have some dinner.

So I resumed, and I saw what I suppose was a ruined motorcycle shop. Oh, how I wish some of those motorcycles were working. I could just imagine how much faster I would be if I had a motorcycle to ride

Even though the hope was futile, I still went in and looked around.

And as I thought it would be, there was nothing there I could use. Except…

Towards the back, against the wall were two bicycles and several bits of climbing equipment, like spiked hammers, pitons, half-disintegrated boots with what looked like clip-on spikes on their soles. Above the bikes were hung lengths of climbing rope hand-rolled up in loose rolls. They were probably made of some kind of synthetic long-lasting material since they were still intact while everything else had disintegrated.

What interested me, though, were the bikes. A bike might just be the ticket for me. But…

Most of the parts of the two bikes were still serviceable, except that the tires were totally gone, and the chains, gears and connections had totally seized. Damn.