TARYN’S OTHERLAND: Chapter 2 by Ike Man
A SciFi/ Fantasy: A young woman finds herself trapped in another time dimension with her dog to survive in a primitive land. , TARYN’S OTHERLAND: Chapter 2
I felt pain in my right leg and left shoulder. There was probably more than that, but those were the worst. I opened my eyes and thought my vision was messed up, too, then realized that I was face down in the leaves and dirt. I turned my head and I only saw seemingly random objects close to my face, but as I concentrated, the images cleared to branches and leaves. I was underneath a bush.
Underneath a bush? My mind fumbled with this new reality and it was having difficulty, it was having difficulty releasing what had been my reality. Bushes, leaves, dirt … what my mind was processing was black nothing … blinding white … I had been in the lab. My mind was bringing up events now, like a computer processor that was forced to reboot after a power surge or fault. I was crouched behind the desk, my arms protectively around Bo … the feeling of the air changing, the look of the air warping … Anderson at the chamber door, the hiss of it opening … the rabbit appearing … the rabbit! The rabbit had come back from ….
I bolted up, but unsuccessfully. The bush I was under was more substantial than I had considered. And, the movement hurt. I backed out from under the bush, got to my knees, and looked around. It looked like a dumping ground with litter and stuff all over the slope. I wasn’t interested in that, though, not right now.
“Bo! Bo, where are you?”
He had to be here. I had been holding him protectively in my arms … why couldn’t I have kept hold of him?!? If anything happened to him …
I heard a whimper to my left and slightly up the slope. I called for him, again. I heard a whimper and soft bark coming from a bush with something metal over it. I got to my feet and felt a pain shooting down my leg. I looked down and saw a lot of scrapes and raw skin on the outside of my right leg. Reaching over to feel the joint, which was when I noticed the pain in my left shoulder. My leg seemed okay. The damage seemed to be superficial. I could move the joint fine, just with tenderness when I put a lot of effort into it. My shoulder was similar. My t-shirt was ripped at the shoulder and I found several cuts, quite possibly from branches while tumbling down the slope.
I moved along the slope, calling gently to Bo. I couldn’t see him immediately but determined he was pinned under the bush by something metal. The metal object was a desk. No wonder the slope looked like a dumping ground if even a desk came through the portal with us. I tried pulling the desk away from Bo, but that proved futile. It meant I was trying to pull the desk up the slope. I reached in to touch him and give him some assurance while I thought of my next option. I encountered a frantic tongue and more whimpers. I shifted to the end of the desk that was slightly up slope from the other end. If I could just get it started, gravity could be my friend and do the rest.
When he came out, he was limping, too. He was favoring his left hind leg, but as I loved him with pets and strokes, he was putting weight on it. I inspected his leg as I had my own and determined that he was in no worse shape than I was. We had both been banged up, but that was all.
With my arm around his neck, we sat back down on the ground. I muttered to myself, “Well, wherever or whenever we are, at least we’re still together.” My voice seemed to hold his attention and I wondered if he experienced the light and dark the same way I had. I had to think he had because he pushed me back and started licking my face and neck, which cause me to squirm, roll, and laugh under his playful assault.
After begging him to stop and finally pushing him off and away, I regained my feet and turned to look up the slope. All I saw was a wild, primitive landscape up the slope, through the tree line, and up to the top. No massive concrete structure with a top floor of windows overlooking the valley. Well, we didn’t go forward in time. There was no way all that concrete would completely disappear. So, if not forward in time, did we go back in time? And, if so, how far? I turned 180 degrees, looked out over the valley, and had a funny feeling. I squatted down next to Bo, “It sure looks different from this perspective, doesn’t it?” Not being up high and overlooking the trees, the valley looked somehow different than looking at it through the trees from the slope. However, if I had learned anything in my wilderness adventures, it was how confusing surrounds can appear depending on your perspective. Once in the trees, it is easy to become disoriented and glimpses of distant views can give very misleading impressions.
Survival. All my training for survival experience kicked in. I never thought I would actually have to depend on it to live, I thought it was a challenge I gave myself, an exercise to force me to not become complacent in life and my independence. Bo and I found ourselves in a place we didn’t know … and it was looking like this might be our existence for the rest of our lives. That, at least, had to be my frame of mind until something happened to prove me wrong. One of the first rules of survival in an unexpected situation is to inventory everything that might be useful. I turned to look over my shoulder. It had been late afternoon and I could see that the sun would be behind the far mountains too soon for much effort. The inventory would have to wait, we needed a fire for protection and warmth during the coming night. We needed a safe place to spend the night and the options were limited. I didn’t have time to build something. And, I needed the basics for the night … my pack! Where are the packs?
“Bo, get your pack.” His pack was his responsibility and he knew the command. He started scouring the area immediately, his nose working near the ground and he was soon moving around in search mode. The packs were together and next to us when hell happened ….
As Bo moved off in search of the packs, my thought completed itself. When hell happened … Anderson was right in front of the opening chamber and the sergeant was moving towards him as I ducked with Bo behind the desk. So … if we came through … where are … I searched with my eyes until I found some legs protruding from behind a large boulder. I scrambled up the slope and jumped around the boulder, but pulled up short. It was the sergeant. His head was bashed in … the face. I touched his neck and verified what I knew just by looking at the damage.
Bo started barking, ran nearly to me and then retreated in the brush. I followed and found the packs. I grabbed both of them and renewed my search for Anderson. I couldn’t find anything indication and a sick feeling came over me and looked up. I searched the trees. It stood to reason that we fell quite a ways, so I searched further up the slope and found him, about 10 feet off the ground, in a large tree and non-responsive, a branch protruding through his body. I didn’t have time for the bodies; however, as badly as I felt about just leaving them exposed to scavengers and predators of the forest, I needed to find a secure place for Bo and me to spend the night, even if it was sleepless. I spotted a ledge about 12 feet above the ground with an access for Bo on the left. I led him up and found a ledge in the granite that was about 5 feet wide at the widest and tapered to nothing a little further. It would be perfect for the night. Tomorrow I would create a better shelter against weather and wind.
I left Bo on the ledge with the packs and returned to the ground to gather kindling and dry wood. I pulled one of the drawers out of the desk and filled it with loose paper and kindling and small branches. On my second trip, I sought out larger pieces of wood that would burn longer and generate good, sustaining coals, and some pieces long enough that could be used to ward off any wild intruder that might venture up the path toward us out of curiosity or aggression. Long ago, I had committed to never being without fire, if possible. My pack contained a four pack of Bic lighters, a box of wood safety matches, and a flint fire starter, all in a Ziploc bag. Fire was one of the most critical elements of survival.
I started the fire at the head of the narrow trail onto the ledge; I hoped that would deter anything else from coming up to join us. Once started, though, I reconsidered the sergeant’s body. I dug into my pack and found the headlamp I used around camp on my trips. I had three of them, but I would need to use them sparingly to save the batteries for as long as possible. I went back down to the sergeant body. The darkness and narrow beam of light helped me not getting a full reminder of what he looked like now. I rolled him over, unbuckled his sidearm at the waist and the leg. I unbuttoned his shirt and rolled him again to remove it, then took his belt. The shirt would be large enough to use as a light jacket and to wrap myself in at night. It was now dark and was all that I dared to try to accomplish.
Now sitting on the ledge, Bo tightly on one side of me and the fire on the other, the reality of our situation was sinking into me. Up to this point, my actions had been rote, responses drilled into me by my father and years of practice and experience. Now, sitting in the quiet of a darkened forest, the new reality of existence came crashing down over me. Despite all the experience in survival hiking, purposely forcing myself to live as much off the land as possible, this situation would provide no alternative. Before, there was always the underlying knowledge that after the 4 days, week, or even 2 weeks, I would be back to the jeep, then a warm shower, bed and clothes, and whatever food I desired. A sense of almost overwhelming hopelessness began to come over me … almost overwhelming because, as though feeling my mood change, Bo lifted his head off my lap and pressed it into my body seeking petting and ear scratching. I smiled down at him and hugged him tightly. Thank god, I had Bo!