Watching the End of the World – Nate gets captured 6
When no alarm was raised, he sat up and looked around. The camp was still quiet but it occurred to him that he could see the sleeping men more clearly than before.
Morning was coming.
Gathering up the chain, he slung it over his shoulder and headed for the trees, afraid with each step that the chain would rattle and wake his captors. The thick trees and undergrowth which had so terrified him since he���d arrived in this horrible place now looked like the promised land and when he passed into their welcome darkness he had to stifle a sob of relief.
At first he just ran heedlessly, wanting nothing more than to put as much distance between himself and his captors as possible. But the chain made running awkward and it caught on things. Eventually it caught on a fallen tree as he tried to jump over it and he fell hard. He struggled to his feet and stood there, breathing hard. The realization came that he had no idea where he was or which way it was back to the airfield. He tried to orient himself by the rising sun, but although he could see fairly clearly now the growth was so thick he couldn���t tell which way was east.
Finally he had no choice but to just keep going. Maybe he would come to a road he could follow. Anywhere had to be better than back in the hands of the General and his followers.
It occurred to him briefly that the General and his men hadn���t seemed all that concerned with the virus ravaging the world. But then, why would they? If civilization collapsed, would that really change their lives all that much? Might they not even be better off in some ways?
He heard a noise and froze, looking over his shoulder. Was someone following him?
There was the sound of a branch breaking.
Abandoning caution, he started to run. But he was tired from his escape efforts and from the terror of the entire night and the chain further weighed him down and he didn���t make it far before he had to slow, a stitch burning in his side. He made it a few more steps and then sagged down on a fallen tree. Panting, he looked back the way he���d come.
One of the General���s men was standing there, watching him, a smile on his face. He was skinny, shorter than Nate and wearing old fatigues torn off at the knee. He had a long, slender stick over his shoulder.
Nate froze. Slowly, he stood. The man didn���t move. He took a step back, then another.
The man waved him on, seemingly encouraging him to flee. ���Game,��� he said. ���Yes?���
Nate turned and started running. He ran as hard as he could, changing directions suddenly, ducking around trees and under low-hanging limbs. When he could run no more he slowed and looked over his shoulder.
The man was still there. He didn���t look tired at all. He still had the same half smile.
Nate got an idea. He let a couple feet of the chain slide through his hand. He didn���t see or hear anyone else and this guy was smaller than him. He didn���t have a weapon, just the stick. If he could just hit him hard just once, he could probably knock him down, maybe knock him out. He tried not to think beyond that. He had no idea what he was capable of.
���Go,��� the man said, motioning him on. ���Run. Game.���
Nate lunged at him and swung the chain.
The man sidestepped him deftly, smacking him on the back of the wrist hard enough that he dropped the chain, then giving him another smack on the side of the head, hard enough to really sting.
All of a sudden Nate just snapped. He threw himself blindly at the man, punching, kicking, wanting only to hurt him.
The man simply laughed and slapped him aside. Then he tripped him with the stick and Nate went down hard.
Nate rolled over onto his back. He lay there staring up at the man, breathing hard. After a minute the man prodded him with the stick, harder when he didn���t move. Slowly, Nate stood up. The man prodded him again and pointed through the trees back the way they���d come. For some reason Nate noticed that the man wasn���t wearing any shoes. It didn���t look like he���d ever worn shoes. Did it make any difference to him that the world had ended? Sure, the bullets would run out. The vehicles would quit running. But for this man and the rest of them that wouldn���t be much more than an inconvenience. He might not even know about the virus.
Nate gave up, the despair and futility of his situation weighting him down more surely than any chain. He was lost anyway. He would never be able to find the airfield again. He would stumble around out here until he starved or a lion ate him.
When the man pointed back the way they���d come, Nate lowered his head and began the weary walk back to the General���s camp.
