Before the great Wandering Outbreak hit, the town’s population was well over two thousand.

Back then Wandering was thought of like Chicken Pox; you caught it as a child and it never came back. Occasionally, an adult whose younger years had been suspiciously still would contract the disease, but for the most part, Wandering formed in the bones of the young and containable.

Then, one night at dusk, the Gumperts were seen walking aimlessly through a hay field. When their house remained dark for a week, the neighbors decided they must have left town.

In retrospect, the Gumperts were clearly the first victims of the Wandering Outbreak. Others would blame them for what came later, saying if only they had quarantined themselves in their basement, the disease wouldn’t have spread like it did. The one thing that no one could answer, however (and this is the central mystery of the Outbreak), was how a disease could spread when the disease itself involves moving away.

The townspeople didn’t consider of any of this at the time, though. The Gumperts could leave if they wanted to; those who were close to them were understandably upset that they hadn’t said goodbye, but if that was how they wanted to make their exit, so be it. Only when others began displaying Wandering symptoms – a newly dismissive attitude regarding trails, a distinct negligence of area-defining landmarks – did the townspeople consider the Gumperts’ significance. But by then it was too late.

By then, townspeople would be seen walking into woods, through pastures, over hills into the distance. Those that witnessed their departure watched in terror, too afraid that to run after them would be to follow their directionless trajectory.

The town grew quiet. Bars and restaurants that had been bustling social hubs appeared deserted. Each night, more and more houses remained dark. But when an elementary school teacher wandered out over the playground and away, leaving her class outside and unattended for hours until the principal looked out and noticed something amiss, only then did the people gather for a town meeting.

Interim Interim Mayor Helen Schuntz – who had only taken office two days earlier, stepping in for the Wandered-off interim mayor Joe Neilson who had himself taken over for Mayor Richard Marcus, one of the first Wanderers to go after a state of emergency had been declared – addressed the angry crowd in the high school gymnasium.

“There is a serious problem here,” she said.

“Thank you for your profound insight,” yelled Tyler Marcus, brother of the town’s true mayor.

“That’s why I’m declaring lockdown. Until this thing blows over, all residents must remain inside their houses,” said Schuntz.

“And who will make sure of that?” yelled Nancy Martin.

“We’ll have police on patrol at all hours.”

“And when they wander away? What then?” yelled Tyler Marcus once again.

“Pipe down, Tyler!” yelled Steven Hudson. “Maybe if your brother hadn’t disappeared, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

“Why don’t you come over here and I’ll make you disappear the old-fashioned way?” That was all it took for the crowd to erupt in a cacophony of heated screaming. Only Doctor Henson could raise his voice loud enough to bring them to silence.

“Be calm, everyone!” He shouted, and then he waited as the room settled back into tentative order before he spoke further. “I believe I can offer a solution, if you’ll just listen. All along, we’ve viewed Wandering as a malicious disease, but I know for a fact that we can suffer it peacefully. We can let it invade us without fear that it will take us away forever. You see, the problem is not going to places that you do not know; the problem is not knowing how to get back.”

At that point, he began rolling up the sleeve of his sweater. “To be truthful, I contracted Wandering several months ago.” This brought about a collective gasp from the townspeople. He continued, “But there’s no need to worry about me, because after all, here I am. Like the rest of them, I left. Unlike the rest of them, I came back. You see when the symptoms started, I put on my Schwinn GPS-Enabled Sport Watch with Heart Rate Monitor and I have yet to take it off.” He held up his wrist to display the peculiar device.

“With it I was able to log my routes and monitor my heart rate. So, when the disease had run its course two weeks ago, and I found myself in unfamiliar territory, all I needed to do was retrace my steps. Literally, actually, as the Schwinn also features a pedometer.”

He let the townspeople speak among themselves for a moment, then cleared his throat. “Now, I understand it’s frightening to let yourself go. But trust me: you’ll be back. You’ll all be back.”

Later, many of those in attendance would come to see the Doctor’s solution as less than perfect. Many would blame him, much like they blamed the Gumperts. They’d curse him for promoting “Guided Wandering” when he could have put his energies towards developing an actual cure, such a preventative vaccine or a twice-a-day tablet to subdue the urge to Wander. But that night, everyone cheered and praised the doctor.

Well, everyone but the two or three people who’d slipped out of the back doors of the gymnasium before the Doctor had even finished his explanation, trudging towards a place they didn’t know.

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