Jack allowed himself to cool off on the beach, but his mind was made up that he didn't want or need Maia's help. Still he needed to get his gear so back to the village he went, and back to the break room where his things were. Without a word he grabbed his backpack and walked out the door, he figured if she wanted him to stay bad enough she would have said something, but seeing that neither one of them apologized he figured it was best to go on his merry path.<br/><br/>It didn't matter how long the day had been already, Jack had enough adrenaline surging through his veins to put some distance between himself and the town of Eureka, or whatever the people called it now. The map said Eureka and that was all that mattered. The moonlight was plenty bright and up highway 101 he traveled along Arcata bay. Outside of the cars that still littered the highway it was easy to travel and lead a fairly direct path north. He had about an hour worth of energy to burn off, and in that time he made it about two miles out of town. Not much by the standards of someone who would be riding a horse, but then again he had also travelled several miles that day alone. Just outside of Indianola Jack laid out his sleeping bag and passed out for the night.<br/><br/>Sunlight crept along the horizon to the east, it peered into his sleeping eyes egging him awake. It was in that moment that Jack regretted his actions from the previous night, a cot would surely have been more comfortable, and surely sleeping in along with some breakfast would have been better than the granola bar he had to eat along with a fading water supply. While he could have filtered the water from the bay it was salt water and his system would not help too much. He needed fresh water sources, another reason he was going to head up north.<br/><br/>Jack willed himself to get his ass in gear, and from there he made progress up north along the highway. He ignored anything Maia had told him about the dangers that could lie ahead. He had run into people before and always worked his way out of a jam, there was no reason to think this would be any different. As he headed north the towns were deserted and ransacked. The supplies had been drained, and Jack's heart sank just a little bit.<br/><br/>By about noon however Jack had approached the county airport, there was sure to be something on one of the airplanes. He had scavenged some before in Texas, so he understood the challenges of climbing in and out. As he got closer though he heard a rumbling in the distance, one behind him and one in front. The outline of a motorcycle could be seen, and as he turned his head he saw another approaching raplidly.<br/><br/>A small part of his brain told Jack to run, get off the road and run like hell, but he didn't obey. The two bikes were approaching from either side and it was far too late when the Louisville Slugger connected with his chest. Jack found himself sailing backward and landed with a hard thud on the ground.<br/><br/>"Woooohooooo!" He could hear the whooping and hollaring in the background. There were at least ten or more voices celebrating. "Looks like we caught us a stray boys, Big Daddy Cool gonna love this fish, fry him up real nice, milk him for all he is worth, then toss his ass in da ocean."<br/><br/>Those were not encouraging words at all as Jack found a chain wrapped around his throat before he knew what was happening, and then three large fellows wrapped more around his torso before placing him on the back of a bike. They removed his sword, left his bag after emptying it, and Jack was blindfolded as they took off. All he could think about was how his life was going to end.