I woke again, and found I was still there under the trees. It was dark, but I could smell the wood, and decaying leaves. It was cooler now, and I could tell by the light I could still see out beyond the trees, that the sun had just set. I would have liked to have moved on, when the sun was gone, and the risk of aerial attack was less, but I was sure that stumbling around in the dark was more counter-productive than anything. I just sat there. My mind was awash with thoughts, issues, problems, questions. I ignored them all. I took them one at a time and mulled them over, looking at them from different angles to try and fathom what was going on. What was I doing here? Who put me here? What the hell were those bird-things? How do I get out? Where was I? When was I?

I decided to just relax and think. My best asset was my mind. My body was used to the comforts of city living, and had grown lazy. My mind was built up like a muscular athlete from the corporate whirlpool I lived and worked in every day. Thinking quick on my feet, contemplating and resolving issues, and working through the facts to come to effective conclusions. I lay on my side nursing all my parts that hurt (which was most of them) and put my thinking machine into action.

I must have nodded off again, because I awoke to the pain in my foot, throbbing and prodding me awake. The underside was starting to turn a bluish-black and felt like an enormous bruise. The light under the trees was still dim, but beyond the trees I saw that the sun was on it’s way up.

Before I had fallen asleep, I had come to two conclusions. I had to find civilisation, but first I had to find food and water. These were the imperatives. All other issues could wait. I crawled out from under the trees. My right foot throbbed and shot a wave of excruciating pain up my leg every time I used it. I stood up and stretched my weary body. I still had my stick in my hand, so held it in my right hand and used it to take a little of the weight off my right foot. I circled around the hill to the South, keeping the trees to my left, and made sure I was no more than a few hobbles away from them at all times, should I be spotted by another creature of some kind.

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