A World Apart The Jake Thomas Trilogy - By Steven A. Tolle Page 0,17

the slope of his path grew steeper, the trees began to thin out, allowing more sunlight to reach down to the rocks, warming the air. He navigated through a dense tangle of fallen trees and bushes, ducking and crawling over dried logs and branches, and found himself abruptly at the tree line. Open rocky ground spread out in front of him, steeply rising to form a ridgeline, clear blue sky above the edge. The river sounded as if it was just over the top.

He pulled out his cell phone and powered it up. He waited and soon the phone indicated that no signal was available. He tried the GPS and got the same result. He cautiously moved towards the river, trying his GPS every couple of minutes or so. He felt fear and worry worm into his mind again as he could not get any satellites, not even one. That shouldn't happen, he knew. Almost the entire surface of the Earth was covered by the GPS system. Realizing that he was just wasting his battery and doing himself no good, Jake turned off his phone and picked up his pace towards the river.

As he reached the top of the ridge, he saw the river spread out before him. It was at the bottom of the rocky slope, probably seventy to eighty feet wide, fast moving and frothing white as it rushed over the hidden rocks in its stream. He could see the rocky slope on the far bank was much like this one. It rose away from the river and Jake could see the tops of some large trees peaking over the far ridge.

The top of the ridge also gave Jake a better view of his surroundings. As he slowly turned and his gaze swept over the horizon, he saw that to the east was a range of mountains standing in sharp contrast to the blue sky, rising high into the air, the snow covered peaks giving way to dark forests along the base. He guessed that this river flowed down from those mountains. As he looked back the way he came, he could see that the forest he was in stretched far to the southern horizon while its trees covered rolling hills to the east that reached the mountains. Its western edge gradually sloped down into what looked like a large green plain. With trees clearly viable on the other side of the river, the river cut the forest in half, as if an impossibly large axe had landed here.

Jake, thirsty and sweating from his efforts, moved down over the gray rocks, their color washed out by the bright sun, and made his way next to the river. Stopping at a large rock next to the roaring river, he carefully removed his sweatshirt, wrapping it around his phone and setting it atop the rock. He looked for a place where he could drink and saw a small area between a group of rocks where a backflow from the fast moving current was gently swirling. Kneeling, he bent over the slowly flowing water and scooped up some water with his hand. It was cold, but not bitterly so.

While he remembered the lesson from his camping trips about not drinking river water without boiling it first, that option was clearly not available to him. So, he brought the water to his mouth and drank. The cold stung his injured lip as the water passed over it and he tasted the faint iron from his blood mixed in. However, he continued to drink, filling his stomach.

After drinking, he splashed some water on his face to help cool down. Satisfied, he went back to the rock with his sweatshirt and sat down. He removed his phone and tucked his sweatshirt into a makeshift pillow, then laid back and closed his eyes, trying to rest. He relaxed and began to enjoy the warm temperature and the sun on his face.

After a few minutes, though, he knew that he should get up and start moving or he may end up falling asleep. Rising, he put his phone into his pants pocket and wrapped the sweatshirt around his waist, tying off the sleeves in front. He saw that the river bank was rocky, but passable. He began to follow the river as it weaved its way down its westerly course.

The first hour or so was challenging, slowing his progress as he navigated over and around the rocks that made up the riverbank. The land began to