Sprinting through the back roads I cast a fleeting glance behind me, seeing the massive baker keeping pace was a harrowing sight. Give up already! It’s only one piece of bread. It’s not worth chasing me this far! ‘You Dirty little thief, when I get you!!’ He’s furious, maddeningly so, it's not like I wanted to, I didn’t have another option. Haa, how did it come to this again, that’s right, my grip tightening with my chest, calm down, breath in, breath out. Teeth clenching, that army massacred them all, pillaging the village. I ran and didn’t look back, just like the others.
While the older members of our village went to buy us time, we ran. The screams, the roars behind us, hahaha, I can’t help but laugh self-deprecatingly when thinking back. We actually thought they had let us go, no, no, they knew that the wild would take us. I was doing better out there, why did I come here. At least in the wild there were fruits, herbs, and the occasional animal to hunt.
At first, it was horrifying, half fell to poisonous plants. Of that, a bit more than half fell to the wildlife. A third of who remained got infections, sicknesses, and many didn’t make it. We tried to save them, going around gathering roots, leaves, flowers, anything else that could possibly be used to create tonics. Trying what we knew wasn’t deadly first, we relied on those of us that knew how to refine different ingredients to teach those willing to learn. Trying all of these we found some with numbing, paralysis, and even a nauseating effect. We found one plant that put us to sleep, it was a necessity at first with how many of us were getting no rest.
None helped with dealing with the infections or sicknesses however, so we moved on to those we weren't entirely... sure about. That night we... took a vote. We could use those who were in the worse conditions, or we could use ourselves to test these. Many broke down, even those who were thought tough, in the end, it was decided, we would test on those that wouldn’t make it.
We kept cleaning, taking care of those with infections to the best of our capabilities. They were only getting worse, we were running out of time, and fast. All but six passed during the tests. Some, I had I had been the one who administered the tests, but we found something that worked, not well, but it gave us hope. Like a ray of light through the dense foliage in the nightmare that was that forest. Over the course of these tests, some abandoned us, I still wonder what happened to them but it's likely a predator got them.
With something that could help, we got complacent, we now had time, with this time to think, everyone but a few ended broke down. On the fourth, or was it the sixth night, I had some time to myself, walking into the night I broke down, with the backdrop of the trees and sounds of bugs. With that meltdown, I calmed down enough to start piecing things together, and I realized something, we... were left to die, I was naïve, along with everyone else. The nation's armies were gathering, even the defending forces, like the force that was near our village. We didn't even get warned, nothing.
It was then I got more jaded, at least I believe so, getting cautious, keeping this to myself I was fearful of what might happen if they knew. Those with infections that weren’t as bad slowly got better. Then we started struggling to find food close by, we could have been called lucky though, we had a clean source of water nearby. With this crisis getting nearer and nearer we ended up taking risks, hunting, and going farther, deeper.
With the place that we were staying not being the best, whether it was the trees all around us, uneven ground, if a predator were to wander here, we would struggle to spot it, let alone deal with it. We attempted to make bows and arrows with sticks, vines, and stones, whatever we could use. We spent an entire day, maybe two, before we managed to make something usable. At this point some were getting weaker with hunger, the growling of stomachs becoming the norm. We came together to decide on the next course of action, even with us being as hungry as we were I suggested we practice first for a day. With the food we gathered each day we could get by with partly full stomachs. Unfortunately, those fools rushed into it, they clearly were letting their hunger control them, the odds of running into a predator while not high also wasn’t low and with a day of practice we may have had a shot were one to show up. Whether a day of practice or not would make a difference didn’t matter, I just wanted to know more about aiming so we wouldn’t miss.
While hunting, I had heard something to my right, turning to where I heard it there was a small animal, if I recall it was just a rabbit. With its small size we would have needed at least twenty of them to feed our whole group and that was assuming we supplemented the meal with anything else we could have found. I had been taking aim trying my best to steady my breathing and not miss... even thinking back to it I can’t help but shake with pure fury. The idiot to my left noticed and, and, clench, fired an arrow without even taking time to line up the shot. They had missed, completely, taking such a rapid shot with no practice, it wasn’t a surprise. It having been scared away with the noise, I had wanted to tear them apart, we were all hungry and they scared it away.
But I held my anger in, over that hunting trip we got lucky a few times and got four small animals and one slightly bigger animal. Three of those were rabbits, and the slightly bigger one was a snake that we were told later that we were lucky not to be bitten, as for the last one, we don’t know what it was. While it wasn’t much for how many of us there are, at least it was something. We miraculously didn’t run into a predator and shouldn’t as long as we’re careful. That night the kids who’re from families of butchers cut up the bodies as best they could with sharp stones.
Again, we watched so as to learn, we had been getting through this by sharing what we know even if just rudimentary knowledge. The meat got cooked and seasoned with some ground roots and leaves that had calming effects, though they didn’t taste great, so we added a couple others. When split it didn’t amount to much, not even a full bite each. Yet we had tears in our eyes, something other than fruit, mushrooms, and other foraged food.
That’s when things took a turn for the worse, again, we got sick, making us tired and slow. Only a few of us kept gathering and hunting. Those who stayed behind tried to make something that could help. They had started combining different things, even poisons. Testing these was complicated since most had already recovered at that time, by then we were lost as to how long we were there. We ended up taking small amounts at a time so that if it were deadly, we wouldn’t die. Or at least that was the hope.
Even with this measure occasionally it didn’t work, causing others to refuse. Again, it was left to the few of us who understood it was likely needed. With our situation it is unlikely many of us will naturally recover. Two of us that were willing gave their lives for the group, leading to the discovery of combinations that helped with a variety of situations. Three of them unfortunately were highly addictive and caused another four of us to pass due to overdose. One made the world seemingly slow down, another made you feel extremely comfortable as if you were on a cloud, and the last one, I’m not going to even think about the third one.
“Haaaa,” those times are over. If only the skills I learned would help here, they all see me and immediately think, there's no way this kid can do what I need. Right here and, “that’s not good,” guess I still don’t know all the alleys and streets as well as I should. ‘There you are you thief,’ turning around quickly the baker is now in front of me, “was it worth chasing me all the way here?” Slowly taking steps back, “how many of your goods have been taken as you waste your time?” Shaking, that grin isn’t a good sign, ‘no one else has the guts.’ That grin, ‘and you're about to find out why.’
Crap crap crap, as he gets closer, I suddenly feel the cold wall on my back. ‘Dead end, scared now, too late.’ Once he’s close enough I’ll dash past him! Just as they take a step within arm's length I dash, what, feeling a massive force ram into me I smash into something, what happened, what’s warm? ‘You’ll, example, the others.’ “Wha,” cough, cough, “my stomach.” Forcing my head up, squinting, that look, it’s just like, theirs.
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Opening my eyes slowly while groaning, my nose is assaulted by an awful stench of rot and blood. Everything hurts, “what...happened,” that’s right I tried to take that bread, then, that baker was bad prey. Touching my forehead, I feel my fingers getting wet and sticky, “this is going to take time to heal.” Struggling to my feet,” ow,” I'm going to need something to keep my leg in position. Isn’t this a bit much for bread, luckily this head injury doesn’t seem to be affecting me. It should heal in a day or two, if it's only as bad as it feels.
Limping through the alleys and darker paths of the town I see the other town folk smiling and enjoying their time. Sigh, “I miss them.” My father teaching me how to farm and maintain the tools, my mother teaching me what she knows about writing and tailoring. To think I was mad at them for being strict when I would give anything to go back to those times. “Finally,” too bad I’m coming home with nothing, at least I’m alive.
Creak, why did I block my home again? Hmm, a, that’s right someone took some things before. Taking a deep breath, “aahhh,” the smell of wet stone and mold, “home sweet home.” While a hole in a wall isn’t great, it protects from the weather. It does get stuffy in here if I don’t air it out occasionally. Clenching my teeth, crouching with this leg is going to be a bit of an issue. Crawling in I pull the box back in front. When blocked off the mold starts to glow a dull light blue. Taking a sample of this mold was a good idea.
Where is it? Feeling around for a stick that has a slight red hue I get a small cut; I should really try and smooth the stone. Every time I feel around, I end up needing to be careful. The stone’s also cold, sigh, “I need to move. Found it,” grabbing some cloth that’s lying around, time to straighten my leg, “mmmffff,” quickly tying the stick to my leg I take my shirt out of my mouth. Taking in deep breaths of cool damp air, just can’t get used to that. Releasing a breath, “another night hungry.”
.
.
.
.
‘Heeeey! whisper, we’re all going hunting do you want to join us.’ Looking down I smile, “sure!” Grabbing my bow from beside me I hop down the tree. “Where are we hunting today, Abi?” ‘We’re going through that path out North.’ “I thought we weren’t going to go through there?” Seeing Abi gain a grin I feel a migraine come along, ‘what, are you scared? We’ve been here our entire life besides some years, working together nothing can stop us now.’ Gaining a small smile, “yeah.”
‘Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!’ “Okay!” Running after her we get to what remains of our starting group, a mere fifteen of us. It’s been such a long time since we all last hunted together. “Hey everyone, how have you all been?” ‘Well look who it is, we’ve all been great, how about you?’ “I’ve been fine, a couple broken bones here and there, but we can ALL relate to that.” ‘Hahahaha,’ I missed this, the smiles, the laughter, the joy. ‘Well, let's go everyone!’
With us all walking through the forest it was, eerily still. Why am I getting the chills, “I’m getting a bad feeling maybe we should postpone this hunt?” ‘One of your gut feelings, whisper, when have we ever followed a gut feeling.’ ‘I don’t know Jake, maybe we should listen, his gut feelings have been right almost every time.’ ‘Not you too Austin, we’re going through that path.’ ‘It’s idiotic that we all fear it.’ Suddenly Abi chimed in, ‘Jake we don’t “fear” it, we’re cautious of it, after all, the roars that have come from it aren't, pleasant.’
Looking around while spreading my arms, “come on you all, what, have you all lost your voices after all this time. Are you just going to let Jake decide everything himself? We’ve fought and won against impossible odds, yet you let him just decide this and that for you.” A girl steps forward, ‘that was a long time ago. We aren’t the same.’ The rest start saying their own agreements. ‘Well, whisper, and Abigal are you coming or not.’ “I hope you know what you're doing Jake.” ‘Have I ever led us astray?’ “Do you really want me to answer that?” ‘Let's go everyone!’
Standing in front of a massive crack that’s wide enough for us to pass through with ease, we examine the sides. The sides appear to be extremely sharp and could likely cut us at even the lightest of touches. Looking around, there’s nothing around, no prints, no plants, nothing. What is this feeling, I’m completely drenched, I want to go back but, I can’t leave Abi. Clenching my teeth and fists, it’s just my nerves, it’s just my nerves. ‘Let's get going.’ Can’t you feel that Jake? The forest itself is quivering as if it's horrified of what lies beyond.
Following behind them Abi stands by my side with a smile, ‘what's wrong, you look terrible, hehe.’ Whispering, “Abi, whatever lies at the end of this isn’t something we can handle.” Sigh, ‘I don’t know what you mean, we have nearly died more times than we can count, what's another time.’ “What if this time it’s not “nearly,” what if,” ‘sshh, what ifs are what ifs. We will be fine, no need to over think it.’ Smiling, “yeah, thanks.” Abi gaining a joyful tone, ‘you're welcome.’
Rwwwwwwwwwwwwrrrrrrrrrr!!!! Feeling my senses get overwhelmed while the world around quakes, ‘What was that!!’ We all stop and look at Jake, ‘what! Why are you all looking at me!’ Everyone begins questioning Jake, ‘why are you getting defensive Jake?’ ‘Starting to have second thoughts?’ ‘Are we going to go back, now?’ ‘Of course not, come on!’ Answering just the last question he angerly walks forward as we all just stood there watching him. Sigh, “let's go Abi.” ‘Ha, now you want to go.’ Giving her the side eye, “no, but not like you're going to turn back.” ‘You know it.’ “Abi! Don’t go running ahead!”
Mouth open entirely at the sight before me, “it’s beautiful.” Trees with leaves of red, purple, green, and blue. Weird mushrooms and plants all over the place, if I didn’t know better, I would even think the air itself was glowing. Looking to the side, “what!? Abi, what's wrong!?” Helping her quickly to the ground, ‘the, haa, air, haa, burns, haa.’ Why am I not effected by whatever this is? “What should I do!?” ‘Haa, haa, first, haa, stop panicking.’ “Stop panicking, stop panicking, you're struggling to breathe!”
Cradling her in my arms I laid her back onto a nearby stone gently. Guess I’ll help the rest. Going back and forth carrying two at a time I laid them down. Taking Jake last, ‘can’t you be more careful,’ “no.” Crouching next to Abi, “how do you feel?” ‘Geez, stop looking at me like that.’ Why’s she blushing, ‘I’m starting to feel a bit better.’ “Don’t talk like that means anything, we don’t know even the smallest thing of this place, for all we know this could be a poison.” Watching her as she raises her hand she touches my face, ‘stop worrying, you have always worried too much.’ “How many friends of ours have died, just because we got confident.” ‘Whisper, none of those were your fault, you tried to save them.’ “And what did that accomplish other than making it worse, I failed.”
“Had I been stronger, had I been smarter, had,” ‘had you what, had you managed to convince them.’ Leaning into her hand I feel the rough calluses on them, smiling, “you were always the one who calmed me down. What would I do without you?” ‘Probably fall apart,’ laughing together I help her up. Keeping hold of her, “are you good,” ‘yeah,’ “what,” ‘yeah.’
Abi starts walking over to where I set the others then turns around, ‘if you want, you can go explore I’ll stay and keep an eye on the others.’ “Are you sure?” ‘Yeah, we’ll be fine.’ “Okay,” turning around I go towards where I see a particularly large tree that rises well above the tree line. With the leaves and sticks crunching under my leather shoes. I wonder how good the hide of animals here would be. Maybe a bow made of this wood. Looking up into the leaves of the nearest tree I don’t see anything, hmm now that I think about it, where are the living creatures? I haven’t even seen an insect yet.
The closer I get to this tree the harder it is to breathe, “is this what they were feeling.” Each breath is excruciating, my lungs feel as if thick lava is flowing into them. Haa, haa, my vision is getting blurry, why can’t I turn back, I can’t even look away from it. Coming here really was a huge mistake, the fact that I can swear those are lakes of gas flowing through the air. Just what kinds of hallucinogens are in the air.
When did I get to this tree? I want to touch it, raising my hand, NO! Fight it, as my hand crawls toward the tree this desire only gets stronger. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!” What, is this? This... feeling... of being one with all these plants, being interconnected? Soaking up the sun's rays, the refreshing water flowing through me, the feeling of my leaves fluttering in the breeze.