HOTS UPDATE: 96 HOURS: this is monday… right?
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four days they have been on the road.
four days of winnowing has reduced the number from 109 to 90.
.
bleary eyed, sore footed,
limping and shuffling
they move on…
.
it is all they know
it is their world.
.
weaving, winding.
small towns come and go
periodically the long trek thru a larger city
verdant forests
rolling pastureland
rushing streams,
and roiling rivers…
.
everything passes beneath their feet.
and something new is around every bend.
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it has been 4 days since they started
they remember another life
homes, jobs, families…
.
going places in a car!
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none of it seems real.
.
the leaders are still 115 miles from the rock.
too far to imagine actually arriving.
.
no.
this is life.
life is patching butchered feet
life is sleeping on concrete
life is wondering where you will find the next drink
or when there will be anything to eat.
life is knowing the weather
because you are in it.
.
if it rains, you are wet
if it is hot, you sweat
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but you move on.
because that is what you do
that is what you are.
.
somewhere out there is the rock.
the call is faint
and distant.
but it is calling to you.
between the sounds of passing trucks
you can hear it.
.
and you have gone too far
endured too much
to stop now.
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at the front, the team of zemach and wheatley have been together for more than 60 hours.
they made it through columbia last night
and started for lewisburg on the newest highway.
the one that runs straight as an arrow
climbing hills as if they were nothing.
after crossing the interstate
they turned onto the oldest road into lewisburg.
the one that predates highway numbers
the one designed for animal powered transport.
the one that goes around steep slopes.
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along with all the other bonuses the hotties enjoy
there is a lot of history along the way.
.
but probably they will have to reflect on that later
when all this is over
(a time most of them can no longer imagine)
.
for all that has happened,
less than half of them have reached the halfway mark.
for those in the back half of the field
the real struggle has only just begun.
Categories: HOTS 2025