The Strange Road to Redding Pt I

I 'woke up (If you can call it that) one hour later, unable to sleep due to the crisp air and steady raindrops. I stupidly thought, "Those savages are gone, they were probably just defending their territory. Right? What's the harm in starting a little fire?"

So, I pushed the damp dirt in the tree cradle aside and placed a bundle of dry(er) sticks in the center. I came across a prewar camping kit in an old building some months ago. The kit had these black little cubes in them, and the package said that they could continuously burn for up to ten hours. I had them in the bottom of my pack when the slavers took it, so I fumbled through my old gear, and sure enough; there they were. I'd only used them a couple times in the past, so I thought I had a few good hours left on them. "Anything to beat this cold!"

I placed the cubes in the center and lit one of them on fire with my handiest lighter. The glow was nice, but the warmth was even better. I put on both of my hoods and rested on my side to keep out the rain. Clutching my auto rifle to my chest like a newborn baby, I drifted off to sleep while counting the gentle rain taps on my body.

I wasn't sure what time it was when I awoke, but something yanked me out of sleep. In dreamland, I heard a whisper and my eyes shot open into blackness. The faint moonlight barely illuminated the woods and I noticed my fire was snuffed. There was the outline shadow of a man sitting cross legged opposite the dead flame. I frantically whipped up my rifle to aim it straight at the man. Before I could say anything or move my finger to the trigger, I felt three spearpoints prick my neck. Two on the left, and one on the right. I lowered my gun and the spearpoints drew back a few inches.

The shadow man broke the silence of the woods, "Not good have fire out here."

I asked semi-sarcastically, "How else would you find me? What happens now? Kill me? Eat me?"

The shadow man said, "You want us to find you? But, We are not always here…"

I sat there with a puzzled look but doubted he could see it. The shadow continued very sternly in tribalish dialect, "Man eaters are always here. You say you want us to find you, so what is it you seek?"

I asked in a hushed tone, "You mean you aren't the guys who were chasing me all evening?"

He immediately responded, "No, but we heard the thunder of old world machines and felt the fate of another fallen spirit… We were wrong, but glad you found safety. Advice of friendship: no more fires; unless you want to feel one."

His English sounded very broken, clearly these people who found me were used to their usual tribal language and thankfully not with the cannibals.

The shadow man stood up to leave and I heard the shuffling of footsteps behind me. I quickly asked, "If you aint the savages or cannibals or whatever? Who are you?"

The shadow knelt back down and said, "We are hunters from Arroyo to the north."

I asked, "Isn't that place like, WAY north?" Even though I couldn't see his face, I knew the tribal was puzzled by the way I talked.

I blurted out, "Where are you guys headed?"

He said, "We go home, moving in the night. This place bad. Ghost of the California Roads possess the people of this land, driving them mad in the day light."

I had another stupid idea to alter my plans after realizing these Arroyo tribals were actually pretty nice, and crazily asked, "Can I come with?"

Standing up again to leave, the shadowy hunter said, "No, Arroyo is being punished by our ancestors and our people must suffer alone."

Speaking generally, the hunter added, "Wish this rain come to Arroyo..."

I had another quick question and whispered, "Then why go back?"

He said very stern and monotonously, "Whole tribe must be when our Chosen One runs the 'Temple of Trials.'"

I asked as he threw on his leather pack, "When's that?"

He said, "Soon, when our Chosen One has great realization of destiny…"

I asked, "Who's the Chosen One?"

The tribal said, "The man or woman of Arroyo with spirit and lineage of our great ancestor. One with great power not yet discovered."

I asked, "You said Arroyo is not getting rain... or even snow?"

"Yes..." said the tribal and remained silent.

He turned his shadowy head and whispered something to the other hunters when I interrupted, "What's that 'Temple of Trials' thing?"

Sounding frustrated by my questions, the tribal shadow man dropped his "Tribal Accent", let out a heavy and long sigh, then said, "It's like a cave full of danger and shit. Our guy, 'The Chosen One' is gonna enter the cave, and if he comes out alive, the Elder'll send him on a quest to end our drought and save Arroyo… Just… Don't even worry about it... Okay?"

I was about to ask something else, but the Arroyo hunter heard this and interrupted again without his accent, "Just sleep through the cold, no more fires, and as soon as the sun rises, head that way to the I-5. It'll take you straight to Redding, that's the nearest town this far south."

He pointed off to the west and I turned my head. When I looked back from the black woods to the west, the Arroyo hunters were quietly running north.

I saw the fire cubes still giving off a tiny black smoke and I wrapped them in a cloth tucking them into my hood. With that, I drifted off to sleep, warm from the covered fire cubes. I remember wondering how or even why the Arroyo hunter simply dropped his "Tribal Accent." I don't know what time the Arroyo hunters woke me up, but I remembered where he pointed off to when I awoke to the early sunrise. Before long, the sun illuminated the gray landscape enough for me to leave. At that point, I was all packed up and ready to go. I checked the time and started moving west through the woods only hearing the whistling breeze and sticks cracking from each step.

When I reached the clearing, I saw the asphalt remains of the road they talked about and climbed over the rusted railing. As soon as I stepped onto the "I-5" the rain stopped. I didn't think anything of it, but I stared straight ahead at the seemingly endless prewar road. I walked on for a good hour and a half, passed burnt out cars with skeletons hanging out of the drivers seats, and sometimes families in the passenger seats. I looked off at a large mountain range far to the south. Looking at the map, I knew Redding was in a valley, so I presumed that was where I was heading. I took the moment to rest. I yanked open a nearly rusted shut car door, tossed the skeleton onto the ground and sat in the seat to further study the map. Then something weird happened that was almost completely irrelevant to my story, but I swear it happened.