Into the Wild

Chapter 1

Jake Bryant lay in bed thinking that his life wasn’t too bad. He was living and working in Seattle. Living was probably too strong of a word. He was staying in Seattle temporarily until he decided where he was going to go next. So far, he had really enjoyed his time in Seattle. It was definitely different from Chicago, Illinois where he grew up.

When he first arrived in Seattle, he didn’t know how long he was going to stay. He wanted to stay at least six months, maybe even up to a year. He had read articles on Seattle in magazines and it always looked nice with all the trees and greenery. However, he had heard that the downside to Seattle was that it rained all the time.

It did rain a lot, but it was a different kind of rain than what he had experienced in Chicago where they would get massive thunderstorms that would dump heavy rain in a couple of hours. In Seattle, it would drizzle all day long and it could last for several days. He once heard that it rained every day for sixty days. It wasn’t solid rain for sixty straight days he was told, but it was measurable rain each day. He wasn’t sure if that was true or not, but he believed that it probably was because it did rain a lot.

He was lying in a full-size bed that felt a little too small for him. He preferred a bed that had room to stretch out, but this bed didn’t allow that. Although it was small, the bed was comfortable so he was thankful for that. He had definitely slept in worse beds.

The walls were sparsely decorated with pictures. There was a window on the other side of the room where the curtains were letting sunlight fill the room. Jake figured it must be about eight o’clock in the morning based on how bright it was in the room. He had about seven hours of sleep, which was enough for him, so he felt refreshed. He was never one to lay in bed very long after he woke up, but in this case he decided he would give himself a couple of extra minutes.

The reason for the extra couple of minutes was lying right next to him. He looked over to his right and there was a brown haired beauty in a peaceful state. She was sleeping soundly, so he just continued to lay there watching her breathe. Her shallow breathing was barely audible.

Her mouth was slightly open with a little trickle of saliva running down her chin. He was thinking to himself how lucky he was that she was with him. She was a beautiful, kind, thoughtful, smart and caring woman. She was the exact opposite of Jake, so he wasn’t quite sure what she was doing with the likes of him. Not that Jake was a horrible person, but he had never been accused of being overly kind or thoughtful.

He had met Lauren Ferguson at The Last Chance Bar where they both worked. It was in a less than desirable part of the city. That part of town wasn’t the worst part of Seattle, but it certainly wasn’t the classiest part either. Jake thought that it should be called the Only Chance Bar because he didn’t know of any other bar for miles around. Maybe that’s why it was called the Last Chance because it was everyone’s last chance at a drink in that neighborhood.

The Last Chance Bar only served drinks, no food, unless popcorn and peanuts sitting out for days on end counted as food. Lauren was a cocktail waitress and Jake was a bartender. The clientele was just the guys from the neighborhood, which happened to be where Lauren grew up, so it was her neighborhood. They were blue collar workers that enjoyed a couple of beers after a hard day of work.

Jake and Lauren got along very well. She was his first real girlfriend. Sure he had dated before, but he never went out with a woman for more than a week. Either he knew right away there wasn’t a future or the girl realized it. Usually, it was the girl who realized it first. So, he wasn’t sure if there was a future with Lauren, but he was going to see where it went.

She had stunning green eyes set in a circular face. Her skin was white, but not pasty white. Her wavy brown hair was long, touching the middle of her back. She was one of those women that didn’t need any makeup to look beautiful. That was good, because she never wore any makeup. She was trim, fit and athletic from many hours of running and working out.

They had decided they would sleep in because neither of them had to work for a couple of days. Unfortunately, Jake was never able to sleep in. He wasn’t able to when he was a kid and he certainly wasn’t able to now. He wanted to stay in bed a little while longer because once he got out of bed, Lauren wouldn’t be too far behind him. No matter how quiet he was, she always woke up. He always felt guilty about that, but Lauren never seemed to mind.

He continued to gaze at Lauren. Jake could still smell the perfume that she wore the day before. Her hair was covering half her face and it flowed over his arm. Her smile was ever so crooked, but it gave her a unique look. She looked like she was having a good dream. Jake wondered if she was dreaming about him. She probably wasn’t. Knowing Lauren, she was probably dreaming about helping people. That was what she always wanted to do.

Jake instinctively looked for a clock to see what time it was, realizing quickly Lauren didn’t have a clock in her room. Much like everyone else in America these days, Lauren always used her phone for her clock, alarm and everything else. Jake didn’t have a cell phone and probably wouldn’t be able to figure one out. Not one for technology, he liked things simple and purposely avoided using anything that he didn’t have to. He often felt that he was born a hundred years too late.

Jake wanted to lie there longer, but he had been alone with his thoughts long enough. He was becoming restless so he decided to get out of bed and make some coffee. Lauren started stirring, so Jake quietly slid out of bed, put on some shorts that were lying on the floor and headed down the hallway to the kitchen.

Lauren lived in a small one bedroom apartment in the same run down part of town as the bar. As a result, the apartment complex had seen its better days. Jake didn’t mind what the complex looked like because he had definitely lived in worse places.

The bedroom opened up into a small hallway that had the bathroom on the opposite side of the bedroom. The hallway was only about three feet long before it opened up to a small living room to the left, the dining room on the right and then the kitchen. The walls in every room were painted white a long time ago, so now they had a brownish tinge to them.

The apartment was furnished with older furniture that Lauren had picked up here and there. As a result, nothing really matched. There was a light brown couch on one wall of the living room and a red leather easy chair against another wall. The worn chair was ripped in various places and Lauren had used red duct tape to cover it up. Unfortunately, the red tape and the red chair were different shades.

In front of the couch was a glass coffee table and on the other side of the living room was a small stand with an older model TV sitting on top of it. The TV was an older model that was big and bulky. It was probably a thirty-two inch TV, but weighed a ton.

Jake walked through the living room, turning into the dining room where there was a round, maple table with four chairs. There were scratches all over the top of the dining room table and the chairs had nicks and scratches in them. It was easy to see that the chairs had been picked up at a separate time than the table because they were mismatched.

Jake walked into a kitchen that had thin, green plastic counter tops that were splitting and peeling. The appliances looked like they had been there since the 1970s and were also green. There was wallpaper with blue pails and yellow flowers on the walls.

Jake rummaged around for the coffee and finally found it in the cupboard then grabbed a filter out of the adjacent cupboard and a spoon from the silverware drawer. Putting the filter into the coffee maker, he used two generous scoops of coffee. Next he filled the pot with water and poured it into the coffee maker then turned the machine on and started brewing a pot for them. Jake preferred strong coffee. Lauren didn’t like it very strong so Jake went easy on the grounds, using only half what he would have preferred.

Jake was six foot one and a hundred and eighty-five pounds. He had short brown hair parted on the left side, emerald green eyes and a hard look. He was one of those guys that looked mad even when he wasn’t. He wasn’t a big guy, but he was athletic and wiry. However, he was surprisingly strong for someone with his build. In fact, he was often underestimated because of his thin build. Bigger guys thought they could intimidate Jake. But he had grown up fighting all the time in Chicago, so he had no inclination of backing down to anyone. He liked to use people’s underestimation of him to his advantage.

One of the ways he did that was by challenging bigger guys to arm wrestling – for money or beers. He would do this in the bar after his shift. He would routinely beat bigger guys, which infuriated them. It was a way to make some extra cash after he was done bartending and he liked the feeling of beating bigger guys. It was an ego trip for Jake. Arm wrestling wasn’t always about strength. It certainly didn’t hurt to be strong, but he had found that technique played a big part of arm wrestling. As a result, he often won more times than he lost.

Once the coffee was brewed, Jake poured himself a cup and started thinking about his future. He would really like to stay in Seattle and see where his relationship with Lauren went. But he had lived all his life in one city and he really wanted to see the country. He was twenty-two years old and he wanted to experience living in different places. When he was growing up, he loved watching shows or reading articles about different cities, states and countries. He often fantasized about moving away. Not because he didn’t like Chicago, but because he didn’t like the environment he was living in.

About that time Lauren came walking through the dining room into the kitchen, interrupting his thoughts. She was wearing one of his tee shirts which came down to her upper thigh. He leaned against the counter, coffee in his hands looking at her. She hadn’t taken the time to do anything with her hair. She didn’t feel the need to fix herself up immediately after getting out of bed. He really liked the self-confidence she had in herself. It was one of the things that made him respect her. He just stared at her, thinking she looked really sexy.

Good morning beautiful, Jake said.

Lauren smiled one of her sly smiles that she had, walked over to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup of coffee. Good morning to you handsome, she said.

Jake walked across the kitchen to Lauren. She stood on her toes and he kissed her on the lips. Since both of us have the next two days off, what do you want to do this weekend? she asked.

The Bears are playing the Seahawks tomorrow; we should go to the game.

Lauren crinkled her nose. She didn’t mind watching football games on TV with Jake, but she didn’t like going to the stadium to watch games. She had to deal with drunks every day at the bar, so she didn’t like going anywhere on her days off that involved drunk people.

That doesn’t sound that great to me, she said.

Jake took a sip of coffee. I’ve never seen my Bears play in person before. That would be incredible.

Lauren put some sugar into her coffee, stirring it with a spoon. Do you know how much it costs to go to a game? she asked.

Jake took another drink of his coffee and then topped it off. He had always lived very simply, so he didn’t know how much things cost. I have no idea, Jake answered.

She just laughed. You live in your own little world Jake. You don’t know anything about what things cost. It will cost a minimum of eighty dollars for each of our tickets. It most likely will cost even more now because the Seahawks are in such high demand after winning the Super Bowl.

That’s crazy! Jake replied.

Lauren set her coffee down. That doesn’t even take into account the food and beer prices. Each beer is about ten dollars. I don’t know about you, but I have better things to do with my money.

Jake sighed in agreement. I do too. So, the game is out. What do you want to do this weekend?

Lauren thought for a second then said, I really just want to spend time alone with you.

I just want to spend time with you too. He took another sip of coffee and said, I have another idea. I'll take you into the wild.

What? she asked, not having a clue what he was talking about.

We could drive up to the mountains today.

She arched one of her eyebrows. What do you have in mind?

Nothing sexual, although I wouldn’t be against it, he replied, smiling.

Then what do you want to do in the mountains? Lauren asked.

It’s supposed to be really nice this weekend. I heard on the news that it was supposed to be in the sixties. It might be the last decent weekend of the year.

Where do you want to go?

"Remember the place we went camping a couple of months ago?

You bet I do. It was a very romantic weekend, Lauren answered.

Remember all the trails they had? I thought it would be fun to drive up there and go hiking. I could take you into the wild. I know it’s about a two hour drive, but I thought it would be nice to backpack through the forest and have a little picnic.

Lauren thought about that for a second and then said, That sounds wonderful. Let’s do it!

Since it was eight o’clock in the morning, they could get their backpacks together, leave in thirty minutes and be up to the mountains by ten thirty. They could hike for four or five hours and still be back in Seattle by seven that evening just in time for dinner.

Great! You go ahead and start getting ready. I’ll start making some sandwiches to take with us.

I didn’t know you could make anything to eat. I guess there is a first time for everything, she said with a smile.

He smiled back. I don’t think I can mess up ham and cheese sandwiches.

I’m sure they’ll be the best ham and cheese sandwiches I’ve ever tasted. We should take some warm clothes. If they’re forecasting sixty degree temperatures here, it will be at least ten degrees cooler in the mountains, maybe even more. Also, the sun stays hidden behind the mountains and it’s even colder in the shade.

Sounds good. Let’s plan on leaving within the next thirty minutes.

As Lauren went back to the bedroom to pack some extra clothes in a backpack, Jake started making the sandwiches. He made four ham and cheese sandwiches, grabbed eight bottles of water, a big bag of chips, and some granola bars. Looking at it for a second, he debated whether or not they needed all of that then decided that it was better to have too much than not enough.

He then put it all in a backpack, along with a couple of blankets, figuring they could sit on the blankets while they ate and if it started getting really cold they could use them to cover themselves up while they were eating. As Jake was getting everything packed, Lauren came down the hallway wearing some shorts, a tee shirt and hiking boots. She was also carrying a red backpack that was slung over one shoulder.

I grabbed a sweatshirt, a pair of pants and a long-sleeve shirt for you, Lauren said. Storms can come up very quickly up there. I have a couple of ponchos I packed as well just in case the weatherman is wrong and it starts raining.

That works for me. I think weathermen have been wrong from time to time, so it’s good to be prepared.

As much as I like looking at your chest, are you going to go put a shirt on?

I guess I will. Give me just a minute to throw a shirt on and then let’s get out of here, Jake answered.

Chapter 2

Jake and Lauren tossed the two backpacks into Lauren’s Jeep. It was a beat up, red Jeep with rust spots here and there. It was fifteen years old and looked every bit of it. Sometimes Jake wondered if it would even get them around the block, let alone out of the city. But Lauren loved it and couldn’t afford anything else.

She got in the driver’s side as Jake slid in the passenger side and they started down the road. Jake was excited to go up to the mountains. He had really enjoyed camping there during the summer and was looking forward to seeing the area now that it was fall.

His hometown of Chicago was in the middle of the plains, so he had never seen any kind of mountains before coming to Seattle. Nor had he ever gone camping or hiking. He had been surrounded by concrete all his life which made all of this a new experience for him and he enjoyed it immensely. Having Lauren with him just enhanced his enjoyment.

He thought to himself that this was much different than what he experienced in Chicago. He had a hard life growing up. His father abandoned him and his mother when he was five years old. Leaving him in his mother’s care was a bad choice because she was a drug addict. Eventually she abandoned Jake as well. Since he didn’t really have any other family, the state took Jake away. He never saw his mother or father again so he was sure they were either dead or in jail. At this time in his life, he really didn’t care one way or the other.

He bounced around different foster homes for the remainder of his childhood. Some were good, some were bad. Most of the people meant well, although Jake could always tell that some of them only did it so they could make extra money. In those cases, it was obvious that the money the state was giving the families wasn’t going to him.

Growing up, Jake had a bad temper and a short fuse so he started fights with anyone that said something negative to him. Even if Jake thought they had looked at him the wrong way, he was ready to fight. As a result, he was kicked out of every school he attended and he was too much trouble for the foster parents. So, they just kept getting rid of him. Not that Jake could blame them. He would kick himself out too.

When he was eighteen years old, the state said he was no longer their responsibility and he left the foster system. Jake worked several odd jobs around Chicago for four years. He ended up working as unskilled labor on construction jobs. It was actually good money for someone that had no education or skills. However, after a few years of that kind of work, he knew he didn’t want to keep doing that for the next sixty years.

So, he thought about what else he could do and where he could go. He had always been fascinated with other parts of the country and he always dreamed about seeing other places and experiencing different areas. So he decided it was time to get out of Chicago.

He was trying to decide where he should go, when one day he was watching a show on the Alaskan wilderness. The show was about people that lived off the land. He didn’t necessarily want to duplicate what they were doing, but he did think Alaska looked very beautiful. It certainly looked different than the flat lands he was used to. So, with that he decided he would go to Alaska. However, his plans changed when he got to Seattle.

He was able to save two thousand dollars working his construction job because of the way he lived. He lived in a very small, rundown apartment in Chicago that he shared with three other guys. He slept on an air mattress in the corner of the apartment. He didn’t own a car, so all he had to pay for was food and his share of the rent.

One day, he decided it was time to leave so he bought a bartending book and a bus ticket. The reason for the bartending book was that he had heard that people liked to drink in Alaska. Who could blame them, he thought. With the long, cold, dark winters, he figured he would probably drink a lot too. Because of that, he assumed there would be plenty of bars and plenty of bartending jobs.

Jake had no doubt that he could memorize all the drinks in the book. Although Jake never graduated from high school, it wasn’t because he was dumb. Actually, he was very smart. He had been tested many times in school and all the results came back that he was gifted. Part of his problem in school was that he was bored because the classes were too slow for him so the thought of memorizing drinks didn’t worry him.

Since he was taking a bus all the way to Alaska, he had plenty of time to memorize the drinks. Day and night on the bus, he memorized drinks. He would have people that sat next to him quiz him. At first they were hesitant, but traveling on a bus takes a long time so eventually the people were more than happy to do it as a way to pass the time.

The bus trip took less than a week to get from Chicago to Seattle. They took I-80 West through Illinois and Iowa. He had a little layover in Omaha. He then jumped on another bus through Nebraska and Wyoming ending up in Salt Lake City. From there, he caught another bus north through Boise, Idaho then headed west to Portland, Oregon. From there it was yet another bus to Seattle.

At that point, his original plan was for him to take another bus to Anchorage, Alaska. However, as they were driving into Seattle, he thought Seattle looked like an incredible city. It looked like a great place to live for a while. He was in no hurry to get to Alaska, so he figured he would stay in Seattle for a while then go to Alaska at a later date.

Once in Seattle, Jake started looking for a job and a place to stay. He found a motel that rented rooms by the month. The motel was a dump, but it would suit his needs fine. It wasn’t going to cost him much, but he still needed to find a job. He settled on the room and walked down the street to find a paper so he could look at the want ads. As he was walking, he happened across The Last Chance Bar and it had a help wanted, sign in the window.

He walked into the dark, dingy bar. It looked like a thousand other bars across the country. It wasn’t smoky like the bars used to be. There were too many anti-smoking laws these days, especially in a liberal state like Washington. It had a pool table in the corner and beer signs all over the walls. There was an L-shaped bar that could seat ten people with a handful of tables with chairs around them.

He asked the bartender if he could talk to the manager about a job. The guy behind the bar said he was the owner. He asked Jake some questions about different drinks, although he said that he really only needed to know how to pour a glass of beer and a shot of whisky. Jake must have passed the test because he hired him on the spot. Jake was pleased with himself because he had found a room and a job in one day.

His first day on the job is when he met Lauren. It took her a little while to warm up to him. She was used to getting hit on by the patrons and the other employees. So, she thought he was after the same thing everyone else was. But he persisted, and eventually, he wore her defenses down and she finally agreed to go out with him.

Once they started dating, they couldn’t get enough of each other. Like all new relationships, they wanted to be with each other day and night. So, about a month after their first date, he started staying at her place and he stopped staying at the motel. He didn’t have much to move into her apartment, just a couple of shirts and pants that he had bought to wear while he worked at the bar. So it was a really easy move for him.

It had been four months since he first arrived in Seattle. He was far happier now than he had ever been in Chicago. He couldn’t remember a time when he had truly been happy in Chicago, so this was a new feeling for him. He had concluded that it had been the best decision of his life to stay in Washington.

Jake! What are you day dreaming about now? Lauren asked.

Sorry, I was just thinking how happy I am to be here with you right now, he said.

She smiled and patted his leg as she kept her eyes on the road. I’m happy too, Jake.

There sure isn’t much traffic on the road today. I figured with the good weather we would see a lot of other people, Jake said.

It’s still early. We might see some other cars later, she replied.

I hope not. I would like to have the trails to ourselves today. That way we could have some alone time up in the mountains, Jake said with a smile.

That’s all you think about.

That’s only because I’m with the sexiest and most beautiful woman in America.

That’s real smooth, Casanova.

They continued taking Highway 9 out of the city. That took them to Highway 2 and they followed that east to the mountains. After driving through the mountains for a short time, they saw the sign for Boulder Lake and turned left which took them north.

They were now off the main east/west highway, following a smaller, windy road. The road wound through the mountains which had thick, lush trees and green vegetation right next to the road. Even though it was only fifteen miles, due to the curvy road, they couldn’t go too fast, so it took them about a half-hour to travel the road.

They saw another sign for Boulder Lake, so they turned off the paved road and started on the dirt road that would take them to the campground. They had to drive about three miles on the windy, bumpy, dirt road until they got to the road that split three ways. One went straight ahead; one went left and one went right. They took a right which led them to the main campground where they camped during the summer. It was a nice campground and it was a short hike to the lake. In fact, there were camping spots around the lake as well, so if people liked primitive camping that’s where they went.

That’s what they had done last time. This time, however they weren’t going to camp. They would follow the same trail to the lake. They would have a picnic and then follow the trail which looped around the lake and take them into the woods for a while.

There were a lot