#101: Daniel Freemartin - Sporting Goods Survivor

..............................................................................................................................................

Daniel Freemartin woke up.

He’d slept like the dead. He didn’t realize how tired he was nor how MUCH stress he’d been under from of the flood, the cold, and the rowing. He hadn’t realized how stressed he’d been under even when he wasn’t rowing. Just sitting in the boat, staring off into the fog was stressful enough, in the day time. At night it was worse. Much, much worse.

He had found the boat at the last minute to tell the truth. His car had stalled while he was trying to make it to high ground. He’d abandoned the car and taken out walking, stumbling and running thru the fog covered water. He had no choice. The water was rising. If he stayed with his car he would drown. It had been cold, and he’d been in it up to mid-thigh. Lucky for him the water was still or he would have been swept away. Even so his legs were numb. He couldn’t even feel his feet anymore. He doubted that he’d been able to survive much longer had he not, literally, stumbled into that semi-trailer. He didn’t see it in the fog and smacked right into it with his nose.

To be perfectly honest he’d not broken the seal on the trailer and climbed aboard looking for loot so much as for shelter. The trailer floor was above water level and thus dry. He might be able to warm up some if he could get out of the damn water. When he busted in he had no idea what it carried.

It carried life itself, for him. He would probably still be in it if the damn water hadn’t kept rising. He hadn’t wanted to leave.

The trailer had been mostly empty and loaded at the front. The lack of weight on the trailer wheels and the poor distribution of the cargo might have contributed in the rear tires breaking traction and the trailer sliding sideways into the ditch. Once the tires were in the ditch the truck was stuck for sure and for certain even though it was still upright and the tractor was on the road. The underwater pavement was slick as slime and the truck couldn’t get enough traction to move. The driver must have realized that. He’d released the trailer and driven the truck away. The trailer was sitting crosswise in the road, on it’s landing gear, abandoned.

It had been made to order for Daniel. The rear two thirds of the trailer was empty. He could get inside, get OUT of those icy pants and begin to warm up. Even bare legs in still air was better than wet pants. Water conducted heat better than still air. That done he explored what was in the nose of the trailer.

Wealth beyond imagining, a camp heater. He was set! He made sure he had adequate ventilation, he was no dummy, then fired it up. Ah...heavenly warmth.

The truck apparently had only one stop left and that was to a sporting goods store. Daniel found everything that he needed. He found dry clothing of the Extreme weather variety, food, sleeping bags, food, water, food, survival gear and food. He even found a boat and a dry suit. Several boats actually even if they were inflatables. They would be sufficient to keep him out of the water.

Speaking of water. Danielle had checked as soon as he fed himself and warmed up a bit. Yup. Much to his dismay the damn stuff was still rising. He’d be lucky to have two days in that trailer before it flooded.

He only had one.

One was enough to sort through the loot, pick what he needed, get warm, eat a meal and take a nap. Then he packed what he thought he needed, mostly food, into inflatables kayaks, rafts or pool toys. He took as much as they would hold. He took ALL the food and drink. The loot rode low in the rafts so there was little chance of a capsize. Then he selected the biggest of the plastic kayaks for himself, one that had outriggers, a pedal drive and a sail.

He had all of the rafts loaded, lined up and tied together. He’d even managed another nap, when the rising water floated all the boats, while he was still inside the trailer. He’d been reluctant to leave. He’d pedaled slowly away, never to see that trailer again.

It had saved his life.

That had been a long, long time ago. He’d probably been wandering in circles. The dark, the drizzle and the fog gave him no reference point. He’d not especially thought to look for a portable GPS and he might not have recognized one had he seen it, but he hadn’t. Seen one that is. He was well and truly lost. The emergency food buckets contained sixty servings each, the label said. He’d loaded all of them buckets into the rubber rafts. He was down to the last half of the last bucket.

Yeah. He’d been paddling around in the damp and the fog for a long long time.

He’d never been so glad to see a talking dragon in his life.

........................
The Next Episode Is
#103: Henry Drake: Your ride is here…
The Previous Episode was
#100: The EggChild - The Dragon Lady Arrived…
The First Episode was
# 1 : Prologue…
..............
Book One: SoulStone
..................................................
I'm

@everittdmickey
.
I write
SPECULATIVE FICTION
My books on Amazon.
I engage in political commentary
and
generally talk about anything that strikes my fancy
on
Steemit
and
Sola

When watching the LameStream FakeNews Media

it's hard to tell what’s true or when they are lying isn’t it? It seems that they are more interested in influencing public opinion than they are reporting the facts.
SteemPunk Snail Image from Pixabay