Tied Up in Knots

Chapter 2-2

At around midday, he came across a large granite outcrop and decided it would make a great place to have lunch. He’d packed chicken-and-salad sandwiches for his first meal in the wilderness. They were fresh and delicious.

After lunch, he allowed himself a few minutes to relax and let his modest meal settle in his stomach. The sun felt good on his face, and on the exposed flesh of his arms and legs. Resting on his backpack, he could have almost nodded off. The combination of a long walk, food, and the warm sun made him feel suddenly lethargic.

The sound of more people moving in his direction sparked him into action. He swallowed a mouthful of water, then struggled into his backpack, nearly tumbling backwards as he adjusted the straps on his shoulders. With great care, he clambered down from the rock and immediately came face to face with a pair of men appearing from around the other side of the outcrop.

“Nice day for it,” said the shorter, slimmer man.

Cody smiled. “Apparently so.” He put his head down and continued walking.

“Where are you headed?” asked the shorter man’s stockier companion.

“Wherever my feet take me,” Cody replied, looking at each stranger in turn.

He saw on their faces an expression of hopeful expectation. A forest could be a gay man’s paradise. Out in the wilderness, with no-one else around, anything could happen, and when he saw the bulge in the stockier man’s running shorts, it was obvious at least one of them was hoping for a bit of naturist fun.

“Sounds like a good plan,” said the stocky guy.

“Don’t get lost,” said the slimmer man. “We went off-track and had a damned hard time finding our way back.”

It wasn’t difficult to imagine why they’d gone off-track, but Cody wasn’t interested in any of that. He was in the forest to get away from it all. Everything. Not to get caught up in a risky woodlands threesome with a pair of hot-looking strangers.

“Thanks,” he said, brushing by them. “I’ll try not to.”

He continued walking, adjusting both his backpack and the unexpected erection in his shorts.

“Nice chatting,” the slimmer man called out, hopeful till the end.

Without turning back, Cody raised a hand and waved at them. If they needed any further evidence he wasn’t interested, his barely interested wave would do the trick.

Off-track. He hadn’t considered going off-track, but why not? It was one way to escape other hikers, and he would probably discover more interesting things than he would on the well-worn, and possibly busy, pathways.

He waited for a suitable opening in the undergrowth and disappeared into it. Feathery fern fronds brushed against his arms and legs, and occasionally his face. The ground was uneven and littered with pebbles. Every sound in the leaf litter captured his attention. It paid to be mindful of snakes. In preparing for his sojourn in the forest, he’d read that as long as he made enough noise and didn’t surprise them, snakes would either try to get away or ignore him.

It didn’t take long for him to reach a denser part of the forest. A place where the canopy of leaves blocked most of the light and various types of fungi grew on rotting logs and in the leaf litter. Where granite rocks were almost entirely covered in moss. It made sense. Without the constant stream of human traffic winding its way through the trees, nature was left undisturbed and unspoilt. Even higher up, on trunks shaded by the leafy canopy, Cody noticed different varieties of epiphytes growing, and vines, which hung in great loops. They made Cody a little uncomfortable since any one of them might be a snake in disguise.

It was hard-going, hiking through the wilderness with such a large, heavy backpack. By mid-afternoon, his back was aching, and his calf and thigh muscles were stiff and starting to burn. Despite the mild temperature, he was sweating. He was also hopeful he might find a stream or river to bathe in. Yet as the sun began to sink, throwing large patches of shadow across the forest floor, Cody realised he should stop hoping to find water and start looking for a decent place to sleep. As far as he was aware, he wouldn’t be in danger from any wild animals while he slept—with the possible exception of snakes.

He shuddered at the thought. Another titbit he had read was that snakes sometimes liked to slip into occupied sleeping bags, where it was warm, and curl up. It was for that reason alone he had purchased a snake-proof sleeping bag, with a hood he could secure around his head by pulling the drawstring tight. It had the added advantage of covering his ears and therefore preventing any other smaller, creepy crawlies from climbing into his ears.

It was late afternoon, almost evening, when he happened upon a small clearing where the sunlight had kept the ground relatively dry. The perfect place to pitch his tent for the night. He undid the harness holding his backpack in place and wriggled out of it, letting it drop to the ground with a dull thud. What sweet relief it was to be free of that necessary burden.

Dinner was half a cooked chicken and some cherry tomatoes, followed by an apple. Tomorrow he’d have to find water and catch some fish, otherwise he’d have to go into his emergency rations—boring and extremely unappetising, though nutrient rich, dried, and powdered food.

He tried his cell phone and wasn’t surprised when he was unable to get a signal. He knew there wouldn’t be a signal even before starting his journey. But rather than unsettle him, it offered him a great sense of peace. No one could contact him. No one could interrupt his communion with nature. He smiled as he shoved it back into a side pocket of his backpack.

After dinner, he balled up the foil that had contained the chicken and he buried it along with his apple core. He then pissed into the leaf litter, watching as a thin, barely visible column of steam rose up. With all his bodily requirements taken care of, he was now ready for his first night in the forest.

He pitched his tent, crawled inside, and zipped it up. After unrolling his sleeping bag, which measured the length of the small tent, he removed his boots and socks, taking a moment to massage his feet before removing the rest of his clothes. Naked, he climbed into his sleeping bag and pulled the drawstring. As dusk faded into night, Cody closed his eyes.