Rambo steals a motorcycle and races into the mountains. Rambo manages to escape the jail in the chaos that follows the cutting of the deputy. When a deputy comes close to him with a straight razor, Rambo takes it from him and cuts him across the abdomen. However, when Teasle begins to cut Rambo's hair and attempts to shave his beard, Rambo cannot bear the similarities to his time in captivity in Vietnam. Although Rambo is weary of the small and wet jail cells, he submits to everything Teasle wants, including the search and a shower.

Teasle takes Rambo back to the jail and instructs him to strip so that he can be searched. Rambo is arraigned on vagrancy and resisting arrest charges and is given a thirty-five day jail sentence. Teasle spots him quickly and arrests him when Rambo refuses to get into the squad car a third time. Memories of his time in the camp and his subsequent escape haunt Rambo and he refuses to allow someone like Teasle to treat him with such disrespect. Rambo is a Vietnam War veteran who spent time in a prisoner of war camp. Rambo has grown tired of being treated in this fashion. Sheriff Teasle allows Rambo to get his order, but then drives him back outside the city limits and again warning him not to return. Before Rambo has been there long enough to make his order, the sheriff returns. Rambo, however, tired of being treated like he is less than a civilian with the same rights as everyone else, walks back into town and stops in a diner to pick up some lunch.

The sheriff offers Rambo a ride and politely drops him off outside the city limits, making it clear that he is not welcome in this town. It has happened to him fifteen times before in other small towns. Rambo knows the moment that the police car pulls up what is about to happen. First Blood is a novel about war, about choosing sides, and about the gray areas that make it difficult for either side to be a clear winner. Rambo uses the skills he was taught in the Green Berets to fight Teasle and his deputies, but neither man will allow his pride to let him stop, to admit defeat, despite mounting losses. However, in making his stand, Rambo becomes the most wanted man in the state. Rambo decides to make a stand in Kentucky against small town sheriff Wilfred Teasle. Rambo becomes wary of the small town sheriffs who are constantly forcing him to move on due to his appearance and lack of employment. First Blood is about a Vietnam veteran, Rambo, who is travelling across the country alone. First Blood is the debut novel by writer David Morrell.

First Blood by David Morrell