I don't know why I woke up. I bled out. I couldn't have had a half of a cup of blood left in me, but I somehow woke up.
I found myself slumped over on my right side, and sat up. And then the cold hit me... hard. There were no more thoughts of some impending horror, or thoughts of suicide. Just the cold. And not just any cold. I've slept in freezing weather before. Sometimes weather so cold, I wasn't sure I was gonna make it. But this cold was new to me. It was straight down to the bone cold, and all I could think of was finding some warmth, 'cause this was unbearable.
It was dark, but there was light at both ends of the concrete culvert I was in. I don't know what I was looking for. I had to find some way to get warm. I looked toward the smaller opening towards my right. I could make out brush, and some kind of shape. Maybe a rock or something. I couldn't think of anything else to do, so I headed towards it .
And that's when the pain hit. It was coming from every muscle in my body. I'm guessing it was another factor of the great loss of blood. No oxygen for my muscles.
I tried to get to my feet, and found that wasn't about to happen. I couldn't even crawl on my knees. So I used my forearms and elbows, and my right knee, and headed towards that shape, pants still down around my knees. It was agony. I stopped about four feet away, thinking I wasn't going to make it. The pain, and the cold, was excruciating.
I made myself keep going, and I screamed at the top of my lungs, til I got near whatever it was. I reached out to touch it, and realized it had give and that it was soft. I grabbed it, shakily, and watched the dust fly in the moonlight.
Didn't know exactly what it was until the next day, but I found that it covered me completely if I curled up.
I lay there listening to the trucks and cars traveling overhead. During a lull in the noise, I heard a man's voice, clearly shout, "We know where he's at! Why don't we go in there and get him!?"
A woman's voice answered, "We can't do that right now, and you know it!"
I just started screaming, "Noooo! Noooo!", and, "Leave me alone!", over and over until I passed out again.
I still don't know who they were. And what really freaks me out more than anything, besides surviving at all, is how did I know to head towards that shape? What really drove me, screaming, with massive blood loss, and pants around my knees, to that shape? I mean really?