I distracted myself by eating a bit more food to restore my stamina before walking outside to find the shed. It was up against the garage. That seemed like a great place for it. I saw the numbers above it.
0/15 logs
I went to work, trying to focus on something other than Theo. It partially worked. My mind focused on how the wolf wouldn’t come for hours yet, since it was the first day after their attack. This wasn’t as big as the barn, but that’d be okay. I was really excited about repairing the lawn before wintertime. I assumed there’d be some game logic to it all. Kind of like how tomatoes and carrots only took a day to grow.
I dropped one tree, then a second. The third tree dropped eight logs instead of seven, which I thought was nice, but a lot more than I needed right now. It didn’t matter, as I assumed the shed would ask for boards. I went to work placing the logs in my inventory before walking over to the shed, dropping the logs inside. I tried to imagine how beautiful this lawn would look. The flowerbeds especially. Now that I had finished the back porch, I wanted to work on the front porch. The dead hanging plants would look so pretty when they were revived. Could I plant some flowers of my own? I wouldn’t mind a hanging basket full of purple petunias. And some tulips leading up to the porch? That would be delightful!
I would at least be able to see that before the winter came, right? I glanced at the vibrant orange, red, and gold leaves of the trees around me. I’d better get on it if I was going to see those tulips.
As expected, when the last log was in the shed, the words changed.
0/40 boards
I walked over to one of the logs and almost chopped it when Killie bolted out of the screen door, heading straight for me. I dropped everything and ran for Theo.
I ran toward the door, throwing it open right as Theo burst through. Theo pushed past me and stumbled onto the lawn. He collapsed on the ground and vomited. He was on his hands and knees, throwing up the oily, black substance.
“Theo?”
He held up a trembling hand. “Stay away.” It came out so weak, which alarmed me more when his body gave a violent shake I knew he wasn’t capable of before he vomited again.
“Theo,” I whispered, wanting to approach him.
He was gasping for air, too weak to hold himself up. He collapsed, his torso resting against the wall of the storage room. He looked bad. I had a feeling he would look this bad, but seeing him there made my heart break. The only color in his face was the oily blackness still trailing from his eyes, nose, ears, and lips.
I knelt down next to him, but he raised a hand, keeping me at a distance. It was the only communication he could do, as he was far too weak to do much else.
“What can I do to help?” I asked.
Theo kept his eyes closed as his arm sank to the ground. “Just… give me… a minute.”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek before nodding and getting up. I entered the covered back porch and started cleaning the pillow. I had the percentage in the corner of my vision as I cleaned, watching the house slowly getting cleaner. Once the pillow and the blanket were done, I moved onto cleaning the floor. It seemed like Theo didn’t vomit until he reached outside, but it seemed like as the day went on, more of the corruption came out of him. There was a lot of oily darkness on the ground that I quickly scrubbed up until the percentage told me it was one hundred percent cleaned. I then grabbed the pillow and blanket and moved it back to my room before tentatively stepping outside again. Theo was still against the storage unit wall, eyes still closed. He barely opened them when I stepped up next to him. I could see the corruption inside his body. They were thick, black lines like his blood had been replaced with them, showing black veins right underneath his skin. His eyes were rimmed with black tears.
“I guess this is what happens if you attack them,” I whispered. Theo closed his eyes again, saying nothing. A black tear stained his cheek. I struggled against feelings of helplessness, and clung to the one idea I could think of. “Would you like some comfort food?”
There was a pause, then Theo nodded. I quickly got up and entered my storage unit. I’d need to cook some more after I gave him some fish and chips, but that was fine. All of this was just rising my cooking levels.
I knelt next to Theo, making sure he could grab hold of the plate before I dared let go. Theo rested the plate on his lap before he closed his eyes, preparing to eat it. I could tell he wanted some space, so I gave him a smile even though his eyes were closed.
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“I’ve got to do some foraging. But I’ll be back, okay?”
Theo nodded, keeping his eyes closed. I got up, heading toward the forest. Theo was safe by the house, and I think he just needed a moment. So, I used the excuse to forage.
I entered the wolf territory, feeling the forest silently around me. It was the day after their attack, but I still did not want to run into the wolf.
When I came across my traps, I realized I still hadn’t built a box trap for a cow. Now would be a great time to set one up. I’d have to remember that when I got back home. I gathered the meat into my inventory before setting the traps again. I knew there was a lot more exploring to do, but I wanted to go to that orchard again. Despite the forest being so dark, the fruit grew. I thought it would need sunlight, but apparently it didn’t. Game logic.
I walked through the dark forest, entering the orchard. I picked until I had two slots left in my inventory. As I returned, I checked for clues as to where the wolf was. As far as I could tell, it wasn’t near me. They must have spooked the wolf, too, which made it ideal for foraging. It was information I logged away in my brain.
As I walked back to the house, I picked whatever I saw. It was a good portion of mushrooms, and a few blueberries.
I broke through the trees, which is when the sun was touching the treetops, on its way to setting. Theo was still resting against the storage unit. His legs were up, his arms resting against them, his head bowed. I walked over to him, my arms folded.
“Hey, Theo.”
He glanced up, his face still oily and smudged. The black tears had dried on his face, but they still dripped from his ears. “Hey.”
“I’ve got some more meat now. I can make more chicken wings if you’d like.”
Theo shook his head. “I… should get back.”
I paused. “Get back… where?”
“My base camp. I should do some grinding while I still can,” he said, bowing his head again.
“Theo… are you sure?”
“Yeah.” He started to get up, but I held out a hand to help him. He checked his hand of cleanliness before reaching out and clasping mine. I helped him up, and he didn’t look at me as he brushed himself off.
“How strong were they?” I asked.
Theo sighed, checking his hands and seeing the blackness in his veins. “Level one hundred and sixteen. I’m guessing what with the odd leveling, that they get stronger.”
“They do,” I said. “From what I can tell, they grow stronger throughout the season. At the end they push as hard as possible, before returning in a weakened state.”
Theo sighed, hand through his hair. “So… I’ve got to kill it at the beginning of the season if I have a chance.”
“One hundred and sixteen, Theo,” I said. “That’s… really powerful. Stronger than the wolf.”
“I know. But the monsters wouldn’t be here if they can’t be defeated,” Theo said.
My sigh escaped in slow, careful breaths. I glanced behind my shoulder at the forest I just left. “There’s still a lot of forest I haven’t explored. Perhaps… perhaps once I get my chores done, we can spend a while exploring more of the wolf’s territory. See… see if they have a base or something.” The thought of their base made me use every ounce of strength I had to suppress a shiver.
Theo didn’t notice, and instead nodded. “Yeah. That’d be great. Later.”
“Please take it easy, Theo,” I said.
He nodded, stumbling toward the bridge. “I’ll… be back. Tomorrow. I’ve… got to grind.”
“Okay. We’ll figure something out.”
He nodded, already past the greenhouses. Once again, the hopeless feeling returned. I didn’t know what to do about Theo.
There was nothing more to do but keep doing my chores. I had stopped in the middle of making the shed to help Theo, so I went back to that. I broke apart logs into boards and placed them in the shed next to the garage. Forty boards was not nearly as many as the hundreds of boards the barn asked for. I needed to do something. Anything to distract my mind.
I chopped down trees as the shadows stretched to touch the foundation of the house. It didn’t take me too long to get the boards in place, my mind dancing with the thoughts of lush grass and colorful tulips.
Once the boards were done, I waited for more instructions.
0/10 firewood
I could do that. In no time at all, I placed the firewood in the shed and shingles appeared. I waited again, my heart dropping as I saw the next instructions.
0/1 glass
It wasn’t that big of a deal, but glass was the one thing I struggled to keep hold of. I really needed to do another trip with Theo to get more sand. I’d burned through at least half of my reserves of sand.
Though I probably wouldn’t be able to do that until much later. Theo got hit hard, and I wanted to make sure he was fine before asking him to do something like this again.
My mind quickly moved from the topic. Theo would be fine. He’d take his time, do what he needed to for recovery. I had time. I had a short to-do list, and the fences were strengthened. I would not rush Theo’s recovery.
Instead, I sat down by the fire with all the food I had and started another round of cooking. I started some more chicken wings, as it seemed like that was Theo’s favorite, then pulled out my to-do list.
Strengthen the fence
Purchase shed
Build shed
Begin lawn care
Make sure no essence of them remains in your house
It was my last to-do list. On this, the very first day, I was crushing it. That or I was just really excited to move on to getting this lawn looking gorgeous again.
I kept cooking, focusing more on the roasted chicken and veggies. Those gave a lot of stamina. I leaned back, giving myself a moment to relax. The wolf wouldn’t appear for hours yet. I was making food. I was getting my storage unit packed with stuff. I would survive. Survive long enough to figure out a way to get out. I didn’t care what Theo said. There had to be a way out of here.