Day 7—

I woke up this morning with a bitter taste in my mouth. Miraculously, it seemed that my mind was clearer this morning. I think the little green vial had something to do with it.

There was a problem, though—when I tried to stand up first thing in the morning, I found that I couldn’t put any pressure on my bitten ankle. I rolled up the cuff of my pants to find that there was a red ring on my skin just above where I had been bitten. Everything above that ring was fine and normal, but I couldn’t seem to feel anything below that ring. Moreover, I think I’m starting to see some necrosis in the flesh of my bitten foot. Hopefully that was meant to happen.

Anyway, I know that I needed to find medical attention as soon as possible, and the only place I knew that existed for sure was the Sanctuary. I checked on my compass, and apparently for the last few days, I had been heading westward instead of to the north, where I knew the Sanctuary was.

I knew that I wouldn’t be able to get very far very fast on my dying foot, so I took what felt like hours searching the vicinity for sticks that I could fashion into makeshift crutches. The sun was already high in the sky when I finally got around to heading in the right direction.

Another interesting symptom of my new condition, I’ve found, is that my bitten foot never seems to want to point straight forward. The entire time that I was traveling, it kept torqueing off to one side or another. Interestingly, it always seems to point in one direction, to the west. I wonder if that’s connected to the fact that I was traveling in that direction for the past few days. If I were healthier, I might’ve actually investigated.

I’ve made good headway today. Not sure how long it’ll be before I arrive at the Sanctuary—especially now that I had spent some time returning to the right course. At least the silence of night has helped me with my journaling. It used to always be filled with the sound of people screaming and crying out for help—better for my conscience this way.

Tomorrow is another day—hopefully I’ll still be around to see it.