Written for Chiaroscuro's Writing Extravaganza, Again event.

Part 1 by PolishFuze

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  I woke up early in the morning, ready to begin my journey again. Using my compass, I tried to keep heading north, the direction of the rumored sanctuary. I stayed pretty much on course, although every now and then I had to go out of the way to get around obstacles or difficult terrain. As the hours passed, I thought about the walks I used to take with my parents. We never went very far, since we didn’t want to get lost or bitten, but those walks had helped me be a little more prepared for what I was facing now.

  As the hours went by, I passed through mostly forested areas. After the plague, areas that had once been farmland became abandoned, and now, all these years later, trees stood where there had once been fields. Shortly before noon, I came across the ruins of what had once been a road. Its wide paved surface was now cracked and crumbling, but it was still mostly flat and free of obstacles. I stopped to take a break and ate some of the food from my pack. As I looked ahead, I could see that the road went almost straight north, the direction I was going. So I decided to follow it.

  The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, so I won’t say much about it. I just continued northward along the road. A few times near the end of the day, I heard noises coming from the forest nearby. Probably just animals, though. Finally I decided it was time to stop walking, eat, and rest in preparation for tomorrow.