How long had been walking? He honestly had no idea the forest was not all that well-lit by the sun in the first place. By the time he found any sort of edge of the forest it was a pitch-black night, but the cleaning seemed to be a worn path of some sort. A little more of an animal path of sorts. At least it would be easier to follow than winding around the trees.
It had been so hard to make progress through the forest. Smaller trees and undergrowth on top of the damaged leg made him feel slower than he ever had. He could not see very well in the dark at the best of times. Truly exhausted but fear still drove him forward. Honestly he only truly wanted to make sure more of those monstrous creatures did not catch him sleeping..... or at all ideally. He had gotten lucky against the first one
He slowly walked down the path he could not stop, he was never very good at working tired his mind in a deep fog to try to keep himself focused mentally he started talking to himself or whatever thing took interest in." Mister stick it seems like I am not in Kansas anymore ... Not that I have ever been in Kansas. Australian-born and bred or however that saying goes. I know making all this noise talking is possibly not the best idea but I am so slow and noisy as I hop along."
He suddenly heard a noise in the trees, a branch bending he froze completely. Listening out holding his branch a little tighter slowing his breath as he hoped whatever that was was just the wind or moved on. He waited for a few moments then continued along the path at his slow pace. The path finally led him to what seemed like a broad river a feeling of relief washed over him. Water was a great thing if those survival shows were to be beloved people built near water. Plus he didn't have to worry as much about dehydration, then he remembered that things like crocodiles could be living in it. He looked along the river and then started to head downstream hoping travelling along the riverbank would be easier.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
It was progress or at least it was feeling like it currently then suddenly a strange four-legged creature almost like a deer but instead of the typical thick branch-like antlers, it had practically ram-like curled horns however they had split into four separate points luckily for James the bizarre creature was on the other side of the river. it had come to drink from the water he continued after glancing in its direction then suddenly a tendril burst up through the creature then bloomed almost like a flower as other tendrils wrapped around the creature and pulled it into the water. "OH MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS HOLY NO SWIMMING!" he picked up the pace.
The crutch was rubbing his armpit raw despite his best attempts to pad it with his shirt he was hurting in several ways from the abrasions and scratches and of course the broken ankle but he had to MOVE whatever the hell that was fast and as dangerous as a thing as he could even think of it punched through that animal like it was tissue paper.
He continued to move as fast as he could for as long as he could after moving away from the river little ways but keeping it in sight hoping whatever that had been was an ambush predator or better yet not amphibious. He finally slowed down and then he noticed a light in the distance it was odd. It wasn't sunlight it most reminded him of the sort of light you might see from a distance in a light polluted City.
He walked for a few more hours seeing a large pillar-like tower in the distance that reminded him somewhat of a large lighthouse only slightly off and alien for one thing the source of the light seemed to be a floating cube above the main body of the tower. It seemed to be in the middle of a city in the style of a medieval castle town with large stone walls surrounding it.
He walked up to the gate of the city and struck it three times with his solid branch and fell into one side of it into a pile falling asleep almost instantly.