Journey Of A Thousand Miles
Dawn.
My first full day of my endeavor. Sure, yesterday was a full day, but I was still in the safety of our camp. That, and I was unconscious for about half of it. So today is the first full day that I'm conscious, alert, and nearly cut off from any civilized life. Today was the first day I was alone, and in danger. And I felt something that I haven't felt in a long time: Isolation.
It wasn't a good feeling. That feeling where you become paranoid, thinking that there's not a pony for miles, and yet you still feel like you'd be shot at any moment. It makes no sense, but you can't shake it. It's awful.
But I had a way to remedy that. I pulled the blanket from off my body, rolled it up, and turned on the virtual map that Wire gave me. The blue landscape was now green. Apparently, it changed from night to day. But the blue line and dot were the same as they were the night before. And I felt better thinking that the dot was my friends. They might not have known where I was, but I knew where they were, and that gave me comfort.
Feeling slightly rejuvenated, I stood up, picked up my bag, and flung it over my shoulder. Then, my stomach growled. I forgot.
I didn't pack any food.
"Well," I said aloud. "Survival instincts, don't fail me now." I thought for a moment. "What is there to eat around here..." Saying that made me wish I had Craw with me. He'd know what to do. In fact, he still did.
"Remember, Golden. When you're in the middle of nature, and you're hungry, you'd think just about anything's edible. Well, that ain't true. One weird berry or one pretty flower, and you'll drop dead before you can swallow. You gotta think before you eat. The easiest thing to find is a daisy patch. You just gotta know where to find it. They can grow practically anywhere, but usually in open fields or clearings. Find a patch of those, and you'll eat good for a day!"
Of course, while Craw was smart, he wasn't always helpful.
The problem was that I was in the middle of the jungle. There was barely a clearing to be found. So, I decided to look for the next best thing. The bottom of a cliff.
I knew that at the base of a cliff, there's always a small open patch, since trees can't grow in the shade. There had to be a daisy patch there. I was only a few minutes' walk from the base of the giant rock in the middle of the island. If I moved quickly, I'd be there in time for breakfast.
I packed up my things, stuffed my blanket back into my bag, and checked my map again before I left. Nothing changed, but it still let me know that I wasn't alone out here. I smiled, and threw my bag over my back. Time to go. I was starving.
In front of me, there was a small gap in the trees that led onward toward the rocks. I'd have to be careful, though. There could be danger under any bush. Watching everywhere I put my hoof, I ventured into the forest.
---
I'd made it about ten minutes into the jungle without a problem, which is a new record for me.
But then, there was a problem.
Bandits.
I managed to make my way through the forest, until I'd reached a fallen boulder about thirty yards from the mountain. When I approached it, I heard something quietly cracking behind it, and dim light leaked into the shadows around it. There was a campfire on the other side. I heard ponies talking, all stallions, laughing. I sneaked up to the boulder, and carefully craned my neck around the side.
Three stallions dressed in cargo pants, sleeveless shirts, and survival packs. One of them, a brown stallion with a pair of goggles over his brown mane, had an automatic rifle strapped across his chest. I got a closer look, only to see that another, a white stallion with an orange mane, had a shotgun, and a third, much smaller stallion, blue with a red mane, had two pistols strapped to his flanks. The stallion in the goggles was telling a story about how he'd run into a wild Timber Wolf in the jungle a while back. Being a "resourceful badflank", he sent a hail of bullets through it's head, tearing it to splinters, and used it's remaining corpse as firewood.
"Kept me warm all night!" he said. "The bucker never stood'a chance." The other two just laughed.
"Too lazy to chop down a tree, eh?" the stallion with the shotgun asked.
"Nah, bro!" the stallion with the pistols spoke up. "You kill a Timber Wolf in it's own territory, you ain't just gonna leave it! Sent a little message to it's friends! 'Cross us, and we'll burn your flank too'!" All three of them laughed.
I sneered in disgust. Bandits never cared about who heard them. If they found somepony snooping around, they'd just shoot them. I decided not to take that chance. I slipped away from the boulder into the surrounding vegetation, and made my way back toward the rock, But, when I stepped into the forest, out of sheer bad luck, I stepped on a rat. A bloody rat! In the middle of a Celestia forsaken jungle! The rat squeaked, and scampered off into the vegetation. Which, of course, got the attention of the bandits.
All three of them drew their guns, pointing them straight at the tree I was hiding behind. One of them, it sounded like the one with the goggles, shouted, "Who's back there? Come out quietly, and we won't hafta waste bullets on ya!"
I froze where I stood, back to the tree, standing on my hind legs. I tried to stand up a little taller to thin myself behind the tree, but as I moved, my stomach decided to growl. Loudly.
"Aww, they're hungry!" the stallion with the shotgun yelled. "C'mon out, and we'll feed ya!" He chuckled. After a long pause, he called out again. "Not comin' out? Then I'll just come on back there, and hold yer hoof for ya! Walk ya out on a nice red carpet, eh?" The other two stallions chuckled again, and I heard the stallion with the shotgun begin to trot toward me, cautiously.
That was my chance.
I pulled one of my climbing axes from my back, and hid it in front of me. The stallion got closer.
"Last chance, buddy!" he yelled.
The barrel of his shotgun came into view to my left. I took that as an opportunity.
I pushed the barrel of the shotgun up with my open hoof, and he fired it into the air in surprise. I dodged out from behind the tree, and swung my climbing axe around, stabbing the stallion through the throat. Hot blood sprayed across my leg, and the stallion's orange eyes went wide with shock. The other two cursed behind me.
"I got 'em!" The stallion with the rifle yelled.
"Oh, no, you don't!" I yelled back.
"You're a buckin' mare!?" he yelled.
I didn't respond. I grabbed up the shotgun, twisted half of my body around the tree, and fired once. The shrapnel hit the stallion in the area of his right shoulder. His shoulder and neck were torn up by the buckshot, and the stallion screamed in pain. I fired another shot straight at his chest, silencing him.
It was bad enough that I killed him. Worse that he had to suffer. I hated having to kill, but I had no choice.
I tried to find the last one, to tell him to put his pistols down so that I didn't have to kill him, but he was gone. Something barreled into me from the other side of the tree, knocking me to the ground, and I felt something stab into my hind leg, and I screamed out in pain. The third stallion had circled around me, his blue eyes laced with rage. He had stabbed me in the leg, and tried to aim a pistol at my face, but I stopped it with my hoof, holding it back with all my strength. I pushed back, trying to push it away, and with one final shove, I did just that.
Right back into the stallion's neck, causing him to pull the trigger.
The bullet blasted through his skull, leaving a small hole just under his jaw, but left a large hole next to his right ear where his skull had been. His face was splattered with his blood, as was mine. I gagged and choked, and shoved the body off. I rolled over, coughing and sobbing, trying to rub the blood from my face.
I killed him. I didn't want to, but I killed him.
I spent the next minute sobbing and wiping blood from my body. I looked down at my leg. The skin was badly cut, and the bone felt like it had a small cut into it. It hurt, bad. And I was bleeding, alot. Then, I decided to start thinking tactically.
I was in the middle of the jungle, bleeding, and there was bound to be dozens of other bandits in the jungle. First, I pulled the med-kit out of my bag, pulled out some anesthetic, some disinfectant, and some bandages. I opened the anesthetic with my mouth, poured it onto a piece of bandage, and patted it onto the wound. It stung, but then the pain faded away, and I sighed in relief. I tried to gently lean the bottle against a rock, but my hooves were still shaking, and I somehow managed to drop the bloody, spilling the medicine into the dirt. I cursed, and tried to grab it back up, but it was nearly gone, and there wasn't nearly enough to stop any pain. I threw the bottle away in frustration, and went back to my wound. I put some disinfectant on another piece of bandage, and patted it onto my wound. It stung a lot more, but not nearly as bad as it would have without antiseptic. I winced, and wrapped the cotton bandage around it. Blood had already started to seep through, but it would hold.
Next, I'd needed to be armed. I already had the pistols that Coral gave me, but I'd need a little more than that. I grabbed the brown stallion's rifle, slung it over my back, and took all the ammo he had on him, about five mags, and stuffed them into my pack next to my pistol ammo. I looked over the rifle. It was worn, with a wooden stock and grip, and cloth taped to the stock for padding. There were a few scratches in the grip, probably from how many ponies the stallion killed. There were about seven.
Finally having everything I need, I scavenged the camp, found some extra food rations and firewood, and packed them up.
I trotted away from the camp, but I never had anything to eat. I wasn't hungry anymore.
---
Finally, after several hours of trotting, and doing everything in my power to avoid the bandits, I reached the base of the rock in the middle of the island. I searched the side of the mountain, and found a small cave in the base. I trotted inside, set down my bag, and looked back at the exit of the cave. Sadness spread across my face. I was alone in the woods, forced to be armed, and already injured. Aura would be so terrified if she saw me now. I was worried about her more than I was about me.
I sighed, set up some of the firewood I scavenged, and started a fire. I put one blanket down on the floor as a bed, and wrapped the other around me. Night was falling, and I was very tired. I decided I'd write a journal entry for the day, but I'd leave out the bad details for Aura. I didn't want her to know how bad it'd gotten.
---
Day Four
Been a great first day. Found a nice patch of daisies for breakfast, and had plenty more for the rest of the day. I did find a small bandit camp, but I did manage to sneak around them. I knew Aura would be upset if I got myself into trouble, especially so soon. I knew if I just left them be, then they wouldn't bother me. I trotted on for several hours until I reached the base of the enormous rock. If you can still see it Aura, just think, that's where I am, and I'm still thinking about you. And I'm alive, safe and sound.
Safe and sound.
~Golden Compass