James looked up from his textbook, sighing for the tenth time in as many minutes. 

“Jesus Christ, why am I taking finance as a subject. I'm just going to end up back on the farm once i graduate anyway” James leaned back in his chair stretching out after hours of sitting in the cramped study room. 

“Oh yea, I forgot that farmers don't need to worry about paying taxes, financing equipment, or forecasting what the milk companies are going to be paying out for the season” Grace shot back. 

“They don't if they hire the right accountant!” James complained again. “And i could have been off hunting with the boys!” 

James thought about his hunting pack sitting at home, begging for him to use it. He'd been minutes from leaving south with the rest of his flatmates before Grace had come over to remind him of their study date before mid-term exams next week. Normally he would have just skipped and gone hunting, but Grace had managed to convince him, as she always did.  

“And now you're just stuck with me” Grace said.

“Not the worst” James replied with a smile, before it quickly disappeared as he looked back at his textbook. “I honestly don't know why my parents want me to get a degree, what benefit does it have to milking cows?” James swung his chair forward again, settling in for another argument. It wasn't that he disagreed with what Grace said, in fact 90% of the time he agreed. He simply liked annoying the small red haired girl, liked seeing the fire build in her at his increasingly stupid remarks. 

“Because you know as well as I do that farming isn't going to remain the same as how your parents farm, even they know that. It's only a matter of time before some large corp start buying  up more and more land. If your parents want you to have the farm you're going to have to work smarter than them not just doing what they and their parents did. Our generation is going to fight to survive in the capitalist world, but what's the point in that? We need to thrive. And that means embracing the world we are in. Where cash is king”  Grace had actually crossed her arms while talking to him, daring him to disagree.. 

“I know you're right Mrs Gekko.” James said, holding up his hands in surrender.

“But what exactly is so wrong with just selling the farm? Reap those sweet capital gains. My parents will be able to enjoy the money, go on holiday, see something more than just the South Island. They've never even left the southern hemisphere before.” 

“That's probably because they love that farm more than anywhere else. And don't try and pretend that you want that for them. You just want to live off of inheritance and hunt instead of having to farm sunrise to sunset.” Grace turned back to her textbook, letting James know that she was done with an argument that she knew she would win. 

“Sunset, that's an early day.” Looking around he decided that he needed more of a break than discussing financial strategies with Grace. Which he thought was just her way of getting some extra study in. 

“I'm going to grab something from the shop. Need anything?” As much as they argued she really was the only reason he hadn't already failed out of his classes with her constant study sessions. Buying her some food every now and then was the least he could do. 

“Na im alright thanks. If you want to buy me something, how about you take me out for a pint and a meal once I’m done with the next chapter. A date” the words flew out of Grace before she buried her head in the textbook in front of her. 

“Date?” James asked, instantly feeling his face flush red. “I mean yea, that sounds good to me” he quickly got to his feet. “I’ll, ahhh… I'll just grab a protein bar now to keep me going… these muscles dont fuel themselves” and before he knew what he was doing he'd already adopted a schwarzenegger esc pose. Puffing out his chest and tensing his biceps as hard as he could. 

“Yea sure.” Grace spared a quick glance, her face seemed to be just as red as James felt. He hadn’t been to the gym in a fucking year. 

James turned exiting the room as quickly as possible. 

“A date?” the whisper carried across the silent library, getting him a few looks from the other students. 

The sweat was already building on his forehead. How can a few words have this much of an effect on him? It's not like he’d never been on a date before. It's just that… it's just Grace. Yea they were friends, they laughed and argued and they'd been at the pub together before. But a date? That changed everything… Didn't it?

Lost in his head James made his way to the student store, packed with staples such as energy drinks and pies. Picking up a coke and a small bag of chips he continued to the counter, his heart still pumping through his head making it hard to hear the guy behind the counter.

“Sorry, what was that?” James asked him. 

“I said that was $5” the bored worker answered as he pointed to the terminal on the counter.

“Right, paying, yea.” reaching into his back pocket his hand came out empty. “Wheres my wallet” 

Thinking back he just now remembered showing Grace his embarrassing drivers licence photo. Mullets were cool then when you're 16. The flush he felt across his face only deepened as he had to explain that he didn't actually have any money on him. 

“It's 2020 mate, we take apple pay too” the worker replied. 

“Ahh yea, Its just I left my phone in the study room. Ill just put these back, cheers” James quickly put the items back, not making eye contact with the other students in the shop. The flush on his face now accompanied by a deep ringing in his ears. 

“Come on” the whisper low enough this time that no one gave him a look as he made his way to the bathroom, he just needed to cool down, sort out his head. Luckily the bathroom he found was empty.. 

“It's not a date is it. Who the fuck would want to go on a date with you” Looking into the smudged bathroom mirror James quickly critiqued every inch of his body, the wide shoulders and six pack and clean shaven face he wished were his nowhere to be seen. Instead he was sporting a beer belly and the beginnings of a scraggly beard accompanied by the odd spot of acne, the consequences of a year and a half of student life living off alcohol and takeaway. 

The flush, apparent across his face deepend as he thought again of Grace. The ringing turned into pounding in his ears and a thudding pain behind the eyes, as if they were swelling. Sweat building on his forehead as a nausea built in his stomach. Quickly turning and charging for one of the cubicles lining the wall he pushed open the stall door and emptied his stomach…. onto grass?

“What the fuck” He choked out

James stood on a grass bank, a short stony beach ahead of him with water stretching into the distance, steep snow capped mountains towered him on both sides. The rank smell of a university bathroom instantly replaced with the smell of seawater, the pounding in his ears now gone, instead there was the gentle lapping of waves on the stony shore. 

Taking a few steps forward James slowly spun in a circle taking a scene straight out of the sound of music, mountains and green fields stretching in three directions, the water snaking away in the forth. The only sign of life was a small flock of sheep grazing in the distance behind him. 

“This is like Fiordland on crack” he said, right before his foot came down on something slippery, his feet instantly shooting to the side as James landed heavily on his side, a squelch mixed in with the impact of all his 90kg landing on wet ground. Rolling to his back James squeezed his eyes shut as the sun, directly overhead bore down on him. 

“I just fell in my own spew didn't i…” A rumbling groan escaped him as he rolled onto his hands and knees. . 

Standing once again he walked slowly towards the lake to clean himself of. 

“This must be a dream? Maybe i was sick? Who spews in their dreams?” 

Reaching down he cupped his hands in the water, splashing his face to wake himself up. 

“A dream.” Looking around the mountains on his short walk, movement caught his eye on a mountain side in the distance. Raising his hand to shield his eyes he focused on the distant slope. A small rockslide falling down, too far away for him to see the cause.

Not even removing his clothes James dove below the water before him, expecting to surface back in the university bathroom, probably covered in spew from whatever fever dream this was. Breaking the surface James rolled onto his back, spreading his legs and arms settling in for a float. 

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Shit” 

The water was welcoming, not the frigid waters of southern New Zealand, that was for sure, instead closing his eyes James could imagine he was relaxing in the salt pools of Fiji, Grace tanning on the side of the pool as he made his way to the pool bar for another beer. They hadnt even gone on a date and she's invading my dreams… within dreams?

A clatter of stones forced James to reopen his eyes. Disappointingly the sun and blue sky greeted him standing up he looked and realised hed floated maybe ten meters from the shore, the water reaching the middle of his chest, looking back at the shore he was finally met with a familiar sight to any New Zealander. Sheep. Perfectly still sheep, just watching. Staring. 

“You are some fucked up sheep” taking a gulp of the water as he made his way back to shore James squirted the salt water out at the sheep, as the mouthful of water made contact with the sheep standing at the front the reaction was instant. 

‘Baaaaaaaaaaa’ all of the sheep shrieked out at once sending shivers down his spine.confusion gripping him as small static shocks passed over the sheeps wool starting at the outer sheep flowing towards the centre sheep, it stood a bit taller, having more wool than any other. As if in slow motion, the movement joining together on the centre sheep, the whole flock had been touching and now he could hear a buzzing as well as their baaing. 

Crack

A thin line of pure white extended from the centre sheep hitting James directly in the centre of the chest, sending him backwards into the water. Instantly he felt all his muscles seiz as the current grounded itself in the water, his lungs squeezing tight, forcing the air right out of him. The ringing now back in his ear, accompanied by more baaing. 

Floating back out in the water, he finally managed to get his breathing back under control. 

“What the fuck”

He'd never felt pain in a dream like that before. Probing his chest with one hand he half expected to find a hole there, instead it was met with just a small hole in his shirt tender burnt skin beneath. It definitely packed more power than the electric fences they used on his home farm. It felt more like a taser, or what he assumed a taser would feel like. 

“Fucking electric sheep” 

Bringing his feet below him to stand in the water he once again looked back at the shore, still the whole flock was standing there, watching now he noticed every time a wave came in they moved back, not wanting to get wet. He also saw faint sparks traveling across the flock all of them standing together their slight shuffles creating sparks. Flashes of teeth showing whenever they belted their taunts out to him, the teeth looking sharper than any sheep's teeth he'd seen before.. 

Shaking his head, James decided the only logical thing to do was swim further along the beach, but as he did so the flock simply moved along with him. Mimicking his movements and blocking access to the beach. For ten minutes he moved, and from ten minutes the simply mimicked his movement, staring the whole time.

James felt the muscles in his legs and shoulders getting tired from the floating and swimming. Deciding he had to try approach again, maybe he could just run if he got passed them. This time he used a bit more caution than before. Waiting to see if another spark of electricity would reach him. When he finally got to knee height he saw a surge starting at the ends of the flock and immediately dived back under the water. Waiting for the inevitable rush of electricity James braced himself, he knew that the current would still travel through the water but he hoped the impact would be lessened. After ten seconds he still hadn’t felt anything. The small breath he had taken before diving was running out. Slowly he swam backwards and then breached the surface looking back to where the sheep had been standing. 

“Fuck sake” 

Still they stood there, watching, small jolts of electricity running across the wool. Deciding that he did not want another bolt to hit him while he was in the water he turned and swam back out until his feet barely touched the bottom. Luckily it seemed to be at least summer wherever he was, the water cool but not to the point where it was uncomfortable. Rolling over to float once again on his back James mused to himself. 

“What would Grace do?”

James blushed as his thoughts returned to Grace.

“She's smart, so she'd probably wouldnt be trapped in a lake by fucking sheep in the first place. Ok, talking to myself isn't helping'' Returning to his eggbeater style float looking back at the shore James looked around at the valley one more time. The mountains on either side could only have been a few miles apart, space between a rolling grassland, the mountains seemed to converge in the distance, or at least the valley turned at some point. Given that behind him was only water and steep mountains the grasslands were his only option. He could swim but he was not wanting to swim into the middle of a random inlet, getting sucked out to sea would be the least of his issues.  

Finally his eyes settled on his savior, on the mountain side furthest from him he could see a waterfall streaming down the face of the mountain sending a mist of water upwards.  

“If theres a waterfall there must be a river, or at least a stream which hopefully thise fucking sheep wont want to cross.”

Looking back to the shore and the staring sheep he raised his middle finger before moving close enough to the shore so that walking through the water wasn't too much of an issue, It was much slower than just swimming but he wanted to save his energy if he could. 

It took the better part of two hours by James’s guess to make his way across the shore towards the waterfall. Having largely underestimated the distance due to the sheer proportions of the mountains towering above him. 

“Fucking finally” he shouted as the river mouth finally came into view around a bend in the shore coughing as he said as his lungs tried to suck in more air. The waterwalk has been a lot harder than he expected. His year and a half of near sedentary movement at university had been a welcome break from an upbringing on the farm, but he was regretting his lack of cardio right now. Looking towards the shore he saw the now familiar line of sheep that had been following his progress the entire swim. 

Sighing he made for the far side of the river mouth. Crawling onto the rocky shore he quickly shot to his feet as he heard the baaing from the flock before laughing for the first time since arriving in this valley. The lead sheep obviously not wanting to pass up an easy meal was doing the sheep equivalent of yelling abuse. 

“Yea fuck you sheep! Me one, you nil.” James pumped his hands in the air celebrating standing on the rocky shore.

“God, I'm glad no one heard that” James said walking towards the river.

The mouth was around 30 meters wide making him feel confident that their lightning attack wouldn't be able to reach. Sure enough as the lead sheeps baaing hit a crescendo a small blast shot out the thin white line crackling its way towards him, muscles clenching he dived to the side, back onto the rocky shore. Laughter escaped him again as he realised he needn't have worried. The blast landing in the water after travelling about two thirds of the gap. 

Getting back to his feet James's hand closed around a palm sized rock.

“My turn” he muttered. Taking two steps before launching the rock in the direction of the sheep. 

Following the thrown rock with held breath he watched it arch across the river before landing with a satisfying thunk as it landed directly on the head of the lead sheep, one of the luckiest throws he had ever achieved.

Of course the rock wasn't going to put the sheep down, he just expected it to scare it into running away but instead a blood curdling scream erupted from the leading sheep as it  launched itself into the water.

“BAAAAAAAAAAA” 

“What the actual fuck” the move seemed to shock the rest of the flock as much as it did James as the sheep started to seize in the water, crackling from the sheep could be heard as it quickly realised its mistake. Slowly shocking itself to death in the water it tried to turn and exit, however the current of the river swiftly pushed it out of the river mouth and into the lake where it slowly fell beneath the water. 

Looking back to the flock James saw they had already decided that he was no longer worth the effort, as they headed back towards where James had originally appeared. Rubbing his eye he took one more glance out to where the lead sheep had disappeared. Just in time to see the water stir and bubble as the deep blue slowly turned a dark red color. 

“Where the fuck am I?” James whispered as he sat down, looking out to the water, half expecting someone to respond in this messed up place.

----------------------------------------

The sun was well hidden by the time James stood again. Pushing his palms against his eyes to alleviate some pain of his own thoughts running through his head. The events of the day weighing on his shoulders. Two hours of swimming, constant fear from sheep trying to murder him, and his brain frying from trying to figure out why he wasnt waking up!

While the sky was still a light blue the mountains shielded the sun's rays, making it impossible to gauge how long before nightfall. And already he could feel the noticeable drop in temperature.

Finally focusing back on himself and not letting his thought wonder to the impossible scenarios that had near comatosed him earlier, Murder sheep, piranahs in the water?, and a thousand other ways to die, James took stock as he often did before heading hunting. 

“Boots are still wet, spew has washed off though so that's a plus. Jeans are dry but won't offer much protection if the temp drops a lot overnight. T Shirt with a fresh singed look thanks to a blast of lightning. No phone, no food, no coat, no fucking idea where i am, no idea how i got here, hopefully the water in the river is fresh if it comes from the mountains. No clue where to go. The mountains look too steep to climb with no equipment. The water obviously has something that enjoys eating meat.'' A full minutes silence followed his quiet words. 

“So…” Looking upriver all that met the eye were snow capped mountains and rolling grassland before the mountains seemed to meet in the distance.

“Im better to head inland along the river and hope that theres a path through the mountains somewhere. If theres a town in the valley itl be along the river.” 

A path decided, the pressure behind his eyes seemed to lessen, a goal was exactly what he needed, something to work to. Survive, no what had Grace said? Thrive, not just survive. Looking around one final time he started on a walk keeping close to the river, if more sheep came along he could always jump in and cross to the other side. 

On his walk his thoughts turned back to where he was, the scenery was familiar to Fiordland, the large mountains and valleys similar to those he had trekked over before. But the temperature was far too warm for this time of year, the only reason James hadn't been wearing a jersey or coat was because he had been at the library. Easily the warmest place to be in a Dunedin winter where his flat was usually colder inside than it was outside. 

While he had no clue where he was the blue sky darkening let him know that night was coming quickly and that he would need to find somewhere to sleep soon. But he had seen no cover along the river, only the odd copse of trees along the walk leaving little for him to work with. 

“Hmmm.. I could just keep walking along the river until its too dark to continue and then get a few quick hours of sleep. At least moving should keep me warm., I havnt seen any murder sheep around.” 

In fact there was very little sign of any life in the valley, there were birds flying overhead, occasionally disappearing, assuming that they flew back to the copse of trees where they would nest, or even on the mountains to either side which slowly crept closer the further he trekked into the valley. 

After another hour James stumbled across the first sign of buildings in the valley, a smile creeping across his face as he stepped onto circular stone foundation, raised a foot of the ground it seemed to be the remains of an old storage silo or something similar. Now all that remained was a small wall and a pile of broken wall to one side. 

Deciding that some protection from the cool wind that now blew down the valley coming from the water. James lay down, propping himself up against the edge of the wall being spooned wasn't exactly how he thought this night was going to go when he woke up this morning. He should have been flying high after a date with Grace. Instead he was shivering, tired and hungry, trying to sleep in the middle of fucking nowhere. 

The valley seemed to explode with life as the sun fell. Twice something flew over his hiding space, too quick to see in the near darkness but the sound of its wings flapping let him know it wasn't a small bird. The only light other than the stars coming from occasional flashes of electricity and cracks resounding around the valley, despite the cloudless sky, the bolts happening worryingly close on both sides of the river.  

Huddling in the foetal position, his fears of a cold night were realised as he battled his mouth from chattering, trying to stay as quiet as possible. Although the sound would have had to battle with his stomach. He didnt dare to speak for fear of attracting any murder sheep, or whatever else was causing them to loose their lightning attacks. 

Finally as exhaustion from the day that involved studying finance in New Zealand, spewing on his own shoes, and running away from sheep his eyes finally shut as if gravity itself forced them down, his breathing calmed and sleep took its hold. 

As actual dreams of sheep and lighting came so did a voice.

Level Gained:

[Hunter] Level 1

Skill Gained:

[Hunters accuracy]

“What the fuck”