I quickly stumbled upon a problem. Originally, I had just planned to search for drinkable water source and maybe if I was lucky a fruit while walking at a brisk pace and resting whenever my stamina dropped to one. I had even started out quite well, walking for some amount of distance but then I realized I was not the only one that searched for food.

I stopped, sweating heavily after from all that walking. Gritting my teeth, I faced the truth. I had spotted strange fruits on one particular tree and berries near the root of that tree. But...

A purple lizard, around the size of a small dog, sat on a low branch, gazing at me.

I supposed a few minutes had passed since we locked our eyes into each other, but it still hadn't shifted his gaze

I could continue to move slowly, trying my best to remain quiet, or I could simply dash in and grab some fruits, and then leave. I hadn’t seen any fruits or berry bushes on the other area, so leaving without gathering any of the fruits wasn't an option.

Bathump bathump bathump.

Between the former and the latter, I chose the former.

My stamina was now five... which from what I knew should last for about 100-200 steps if I walked in a brisk pace. I never tried running since I had 'this' and never planned to try that in my current situation so I didn't know what would happen if I chose the later.

I wound my way slowly forward. My body twitched and my heartbeat fastened everytime the lizard moved its eyes, scanning and following my movement.

Deep inside of my heart, I wanted to run away, but there was a bush that was heavy with light purple berries 10 meters down from me, still near the edge of the treeline.

I didn't know whether it was because of the hunger, or the thought that I wouldn't find another food besides for this one, which was very unlikely but I began creeping down in that direction, my breath sounding extremely heavy in my ears.

Surprisingly, I managed to reach the berries without any trouble, the lizard was now sliding back to the top of the tree.

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While wondering why the lizard did that, I just felt grateful and sighed a breath of relief, though at the same time I felt very weak on my knees. I wanted to rest and sat down to control my breath but I couldn't, at least not if when I was this close to that lizard. I just wanted to collect the berries and leave as soon as possible.

But I another conundrum; how would I carry them...?

Well, first things first. I tentatively bit into a berry, which was a little bit larger than a grape. It was sweet and juicy, filling my mouth with a wonderful fruity taste. I had to spit out some seeds, but initially, it seemed like they were good for eating. Satisfied, I pulled up my shirt and began filling it like a pouch.

Around the time the pouch was full was when I realized I was being watched. No, not by the lizard, but by a six-legged rhinoceros, but twice that size. Its massive, low-slung head had projections of bone giving it the look of a hammerhead shark. Its baleful eyes locked onto me. And it alerted me to go away by its snorts.

I... didn't know how in the heaven name that I hadn't realized the rhinoceros presence up until now.

I gulped my saliva down, the heartbeat from my chest was 100% went wild. I wanted to run but I couldn't do that. I could only slightly bend my body while closing my eyes and clutching my chest to cope with the pain.

I forced myself to open my eyes and raise my head with ashen complexion, only for me to see the rhinoceros bellowed and lowered its 3-meter wide sledgehammer of a skull.

It was pissed off. Like super pissed off. The rhinoceros bellowed again, pawing the earth. It slashed its head sideways, splintering saplings. I could see the purple lizard was jumping away from the tree as the rhinoceros did that.

It bellowed again, lowered its head and CHARGED --

I didn't know how I had the idea, but I SCREAMED at the top of my lungs, spreads my arms wide and ran straight at the thing.

Much to my surprise, it stopped abruptly, with an oversized bleat and standing on its hind legs before it wheeled around, trumpeting in fear, and crashed away through splintering undergrowth.

I... just amazed the gambit worked.

Maybe the rhinoceros only had a big body and no gut? I didn't know about that but...

Another sharp pain hit my chest. I... got too excited. I couldn't help it, in front of me there was a giant rhinoceros and I managed to scare it away. Even though as the result my chest now had an unpleasant warmth to it, eating at my chest all the way through my stomach. There was nausea too, enough to make me fell to the ground and hold onto the ferns for support and breathed slow.

As I thought, I never got used to the pain, I couldn't just ignore it and rock on regardless, it owned me, dominated every thought, controlled every action.

Laying back, my eyelids grew heavy... I just hoped that this was all a dream, that I would wake up and find myself in the hospital bed.