Chapter Seven - Breakfast Planning

Breakfast was at eight in the morning and was cooked by a couple of the counselors. It was comprised of scrambled eggs, bacon, grilled potatoes, and sausage patties. One of the cabins had a functional kitchen in the back, along with a gaslit stove, oven, counters, and fridges. Apparently, the EMP, or whatever knocked the power out, had also destroyed the generator which had been keeping the freezers running.

One of the students with a bit of experience with repairing damaged appliances said they’d try to get it back up and running, but she was busy taking a look at the bus first. Jaricko didn’t see how the bus would be useful, on account of the road being blocked off by the expanding forest, but he didn’t point that out. The last thing he wanted to do was earn the ire of the students in the camp. He would be living with them for the foreseeable future.

Don't poop where you eat, and all that.

Jaricko looked at his empty plate and went for seconds, the spread of food was laid out near the back of the room. He wasn’t sure how long the meals would last, and he wanted to take advantage of it as much as possible. There was already talk of serving the thawing meat for meals as it thawed from the freezer and fridge.

Survival shows always spoke of rationing, and Jaricko reckoned that Clair would soon implement a similar strategy.

She was the de facto leader. Her age, experience, and authority had everyone looking towards her for advice in this confusing event. The woman was occupied conversing with the upperclassmen, discussing possible solutions to a myriad of problems.

“They aren’t including us in anything,” Blake grumbled while stabbing a slice of potato with a silver fork. The boy’s hair was matted and unkempt, along with a bedhead that had it sticking up on one side.

“I don’t blame them. Clair called us adults but do we really feel like one? We only just graduated high school. I still feel like a child half of the time,” Tatum admitted. The young man was doing better after a night’s rest, although he had bags under his eyes and displayed a haunted visage.

“I bet they feel useless. No precedence for a scenario like this. I watched Clair hand out the hunting rifles to the counselors and it looked like she was visibly distressed the entire time,” Timothy commented. The teenager had been throwing countless possibilities at the group the entire breakfast, and Jaricko had been the one to reply to them the most.

“Put yourself in her shoes. Handing out guns to anyone, even college juniors and seniors, would be weird. It’s for self-defense too. The whole giant spider thing has people on edge. Even I'm scared to leave the cabin.” Tatum stated with a conflicted frown. The corpse of the spider that had been shot earlier had been left there. No one wanted to touch it.

Jaricko had considered trying to absorb the essence that would have inevitably been left in the corpse, but by the time he made a decision, the essence would have dissipated.

“I still bet she has more stashed away somewhere,” Blake said while narrowing his eyes. He ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to tame the mess.

“I don’t think she’s desperate enough to start handing firearms out to teenagers. Give it a week when half of us are dead,” Jaricko joked. Uneasy laughs came from the others, they cast their gaze down to the food. Jaricko mentally cursed himself for the blunder. It probably wasn’t wise to bring up a potentially real possibility like that.

Timothy set his utensils on his plate and wrung his hands together.

“We need to take advantage of this while we can. I’m predicting that this is likely the safest it’ll be to grind monsters for their essence,” The boy commented while adjusting his glasses. It sounded like he almost couldn't believe his own words. The strange reality of killing monsters for the equivalent of game-like EXP was hard to come to terms with.

“What makes you say that?” Jaricko asked with a raised eyebrow. He wouldn’t exactly consider being stabbed by a spider’s claw to be safe. There was also the whole forest expanding at an extreme rate that would make leaving extremely difficult.

“The system just appeared. I’m reasoning that everything is trying to adapt to it. The arachnids are 'low leveled' and juvenile. If we don’t strike now then the monsters will grow up and become an even greater threat.” Timothy explained methodically. His glasses gleamed in the rays of sunlight. He gained a bit of confidence as he spoke, his words coming out at a rapid pace.

“Jaricko has already discovered their weakness. We just need to light them on fire and they're toast, literally.” The boy giggled darkly. Jaricko shrunk back a bit at the sound.

“You’re talking about risking our lives and killing these…monsters for what? Some perverse satisfaction?” Blake scowled at the smaller boy. Timothy waved him away.

“I don’t derive joy out of murdering things if that’s what you’re asking. No, what I’m talking about is getting an advantage early,” he lowered his voice, “I don’t want to be on the receiving end when everyone else has upgraded their attributes. Essence is the metaphorical name of the game, the more you have, the stronger I predict you'll be.”

Jaricko felt a sudden chill as he took stock of the people eating in the pseudo-cabin kitchen. It was a common theme in novels and entertainment to show what happened when the average person was given enough strength and authority. Jaricko didn’t want to see that happen in reality. Especially with him on the losing end.

“You think we should start killing the arachnids for their essence so we can upgrade our attributes?” Jaricko questioned Timothy, speaking no louder than a whisper. He didn’t want others getting wind of their potential strategy. The pale boy nodded in confirmation.

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“Pure common sense makes me think that raising an attribute will increase our capabilities in real-time. Increase the body attribute? Get stronger. The rest of the attributes are a little more vague.”

“Stronger, huh?” Jack whispered while gazing at the ceiling. Jaricko already thought the man was robust enough and he shuddered to think of him as even more potent. The young man considered himself lucky that Jack seemed kind.

“Indeed. Others will assuredly have identical thoughts once they realize they need to embrace the system. There’s still the whole fae portion that we haven’t even run into yet.” Timothy said and Jaricko nodded along. His face was scrunched up in contemplation. He had effortlessly pretended not to know what fae was.

Jaricko had a problematic time completely trusting others. It was best to keep at least one ace up his sleeve, especially when anyone could break under the stress and start stabbing or shooting people. Individuals who gave everything away and expected nothing back were idealists. Jaricko considered himself more grounded in reality.

“I’m in,” Jaricko affirmed while nodding. He felt safer with the sudden addition of the [Pocket Watch] fae. Accumulating more essence would also let him upgrade his attributes, which would then help him make his way back home to his family.

“I will join you,” Jack said with a deep rumble. Jaricko was relieved the man would accompany them. His strength and willingness to protect would be invaluable. Although, Jaricko did wonder if that was his true personality, and what might pop up during a strenuous moment.

The other two were less than convinced.

“You three are idiots,” Blake growled, his narrow eyes filled with scorn. “You can perish in the woods, but I will be waiting here for the rescue. The police or military will surely send someone to save us. I won’t put my hopes in this game.”

Tatum nodded along, caught up with Blake's impassioned speech. Jaricko hadn’t anticipated much from either of them but felt the loss. It would be safer to travel in a group, and he didn’t have a connection with any of the other campers. Briar would be too much of a liability, judging by how he’d acted so far. It wasn’t a risk he was willing to take.

“You’ll realize eventually that help won’t be coming,” Jaricko said while frowning. He couldn’t help the sense that monsters were appearing everywhere across the globe. It would have been short-sighted to believe it was just happening in this small corner of the world.

Blake only persisted glowering. Tatum seemed absent from the conversation, only picking idly at his food.

“You will have a place among us when you are ready,” Jack uttered. Jaricko didn’t want to dispute the steadfast man, but he couldn’t help but feel peeved at Blake’s attitude. He tried to be understanding, but his own emotions were clouding his best judgment.

Blake gave a hesitant nod of his head. Something in the young man’s mind must have told him to not piss off the dude that could manhandle him. He and Tatum left after a bit, unwilling to listen to the trio talking about their plan. Blake seemed like he didn’t want to acknowledge what was happening, and the less he heard of it the easier it was for him to pretend.

“When do we leave?” Jaricko questioned. Jack and the teenager looked toward Timothy, unconsciously declaring him the leader. Timothy squirmed under the attention and fiddled with his fork.

“We’ll need a torch or something that we can start a fire with. And maybe a first aid kit if we can find one. I’m skeptical they’d give us one, but it wouldn’t hurt to see. We also need a way to make sure we can find our way back. It's like a jungle out there and we’d get lost within seconds,” Timothy suggested with renewed interest. He seemed to enjoy the problem and continued to give some more advice on what to do. Jack commented occasionally, stating what would be possible and not.

“We tie a cloth around branches. It will lead us back here,” Jack stated. There were a few more things such as taking some of the metal fire pokers and a compass. Unsurprisingly, Jack already had a compass in his belongings.

“We should stay close to the camp. Best not to risk it,” Jaricko reminded. His cautious nature was screaming at him not to get ahead of themselves. There was so much that could go wrong and the young man wanted to have a safe zone to retreat to if need be.

“Should we go now or wait a bit?” Timothy asked with trepidation. He seemed unsure of himself and was shocked by what he had been talking about. Timothy didn’t strike Jaricko as the sort to take action, so this must have been out of character.

“Now. While the day is young,” Jack replied, conviction evident in his voice. “The sooner we leave, the bigger advantage we will have over that which hunts us.”

Jay shuddered with barely noticeable doubt. The plan was good in theory and had reasoning to back it up, but the thought of burning something alive again filled Jaricko with trepidation. After a moment of contemplation, he hardened his heart. He wouldn’t let monsters stand in his way, even if he had to reduce them to cinders.

The trio nodded to each other and left the cabin. Jaricko noticed immediately that there was a small gathering of people near the totem pole. He saw Clair and a few counselors curled up, they appeared to be waiting for more students to finish their breakfast. Jaricko pointed this out to the others.

“We should wait, see what they have to say.”

“Doesn’t hurt. Hopefully it doesn’t take long,” Timothy acknowledged. Jack gave a brief nod. He seemed antsy to venture out beyond the camp, and waiting for any more might cause him physical pain.

It wasn’t long before those still in the cabin eating their food joined everyone else outside. Clair stepped onto the base of the totem pole and looked out onto the sea of faces. Jaricko saw her gulp and her eyes shifted from side to side. Out of curiosity, he looked at the bell on top of the monument but didn’t notice anything strange.

“Good morning campers, I hope you all slept well,” she chuckled dryly, “I know we were interrupted last night, so I wanted to start this day off correctly! I hope everyone can form a circle so we can introduce ourselves and then get on with our planned activities.”

Jaricko stared at the professor with wide eyes.

She wants us to do icebreakers?! Is she nuts?

The rest of the students seemed to share Jaricko’s sentiments but formed a circle nonetheless. Years of schooling and following administrative figures caused them to default to Clair’s commands. Jaricko was no different, although he did question the process the entire time.

“She’s trying to take everyone’s mind off what’s happening,” Timothy whispered quietly next to Jaricko. The teenager frowned at his words. They didn’t need a distraction. They needed to start planning on how to get back to civilization. What would happen when a spider got into the camp? Would the student introduce themselves before dying under their claws?

Jaricko didn’t resist what was transpiring. While he did not believe this was what the group needed, it didn’t hurt to finally take stock of the different people here. There were around thirty campers, with what Jaricko believed was an even split of men and women.

While the young man tried his best to remember the names as they were called out, it was simply too many at once. There was one good thing Jaricko was good at, and it was faces. While he couldn’t put names to looks, he could recall someone he’d seen before. An ability he’d developed during school, connecting patterns and behaviors to best figure out an individual.

It felt insidious to think of it that way, but Jaricko had learned it subconsciously. He judged everyone ruthlessly, and picked them apart in his mind to try to find out what made them tick. Everyone acted a certain way and followed their set beliefs, Jaricko was no different. Find out what those beliefs were and you’d be able to predict the person.

Jaricko didn’t think he’d need to start compiling a profile of each student, but he let his eyes roam over the crowd.

It was better safe than sorry.