As the ship crashed Elva and her sisters were wedged into the space under the stairs because Ender had said he felt safer under there. The first hit that started the ship spinning freaked out all of the girls. The quickly transformed like Ender had suggested and ducked their heads down. Then they grabbed each other with their arms and tails. Zukoya and Etopha where were on the outside close to the open hold had even called some of the wood from the floor they were sitting on to grab around their back. When the second hit occurred it was like nothing Elva had ever felt. The world erupted around her sounds and sensations she had never felt overwhelmed her senses. Looking through the gaps of the girls around her she could see most of the left side of the ship had disappeared. The ground and trees were rushing by as the wind howled into the hold. Time slowed down for her, and she felt like she was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it. The sounds shut off and she closed her eyes to block out the horrors they were seeing.

After waiting for an indeterminate amount of time she opened her eyes again. She saw that everything was still going by the hole on the outside. As she watched with a macabre and detached mind she saw a young child slip out of the hole in the side. The head of the child hit a boulder and splattered sending the body cartwheeling through the hold. Her emotions had turned off at that point though she was unaware of it. She just thought ‘It’s not over yet. Let’s close my eyes until it’s over.’ as she closed her eyes again. She tightened her grip on her sisters again as they all rode out the wreck.

On some level she was aware that there was screaming going on and that the ship had once again hit the ground and was sliding and grinding and spinning and rolling it’s way to a stop. Ender’s shield over their head had started to flop around so she reached up and pressed it against the bottom of the stairs. This kept if from hitting her and gave her leverage to hold her position when the ship rolled over every now and then. Opening her eyes again she looked around as best she could. Sticking her head out of the group that was meshed together and holding on for dear life. Her mind had started processing things differently. Looking for threats when she saw multiple bodies flying towards them only to smack into floor and rebound of in another direction. She noticed debris flying around but most of it was blocked by the stairs or the motions of the ship. Nothing that looked like a threat though so it was discarded. Finally the ship ground to a halt laying on the left side where, what looked like, the entire side of the ship was missing.

A pile of bodies was laying towards the back of the ship where a small portion of the wall might still be intact. The mass of bodies was moving but their status was unknown. As this crossed her mind she turned and looked at the rest of her group of siblings to see if there were any problems. Zakoya and Etopha seemed to be fine but were moving slowly. They seemed dazed but alive. Lisyth was growling and reaching towards her side where a small trickle of blood could be seen. Yanking a splinter out of her side as she grunted. Seeing this Elva asked “Are you alright Lisyth?”

“I’m fine just a scratch.” she said.

Looking over at the last two Ethese was still lashed to Ender she didn’t look to be any worse for wear but since she was unconscious from the start so it was hard to tell. Ender on the other hand looked to be unconscious as well now. She looked up to see that she was still pinning the shield to the stairs while thinking ‘That explains why I had to hold this.’

“Let’s get out of here and see if we can find our parents. Zakoya if you could make some stairs for us so that we can get out of here without falling. Etopha can you create some hand holds for the rest of us so that when she we start moving we don’t just go sliding. Also Ender is unconscious attach him to the stairs like you did with yourselves to the floor.” Elva started to give out instructions.

The girls worked at disentangling themselves. Zakoya turned around to survey where she should start placing hand and foot holds. As she surveyed the area she could see There were other people moving. Some had done like she had and attached themselves to the floor of the ship and had even attached their children to the floor as well. There were many people that did not have the wood affinity and did not have the benefit of securing themselves. ‘It was truly fortunate that Ender had wanted to move under the stairs. I can only imagine what would have happened otherwise.’ She thought to herself. Looking around some more she could see streaks of blood across the deck as well as large spots where it looked like some fruit had smashed on the floor.

She made a ledge to stand on and looked back at the others asking if they were ready. Elva said “Let’s see if we can wake Ender up first. It would be easier if we don’t have two people to carry.” Lisyth who was on Ender left started to shake him and she yelled his name. Etopha who was on his right side positioned herself and clapped her hands right next to his ear.

When the clap sounded Endrian jerked a little and then slowly opened his eyes. Looking around he saw these strange lizard like monsters that look as big as he was. He could see them moving their mouths but he wasn’t hearing anything. “Whoa, I am tripping balls so hard right now.” He said to whoever was listening in english.

Lisyth watched him start to wake up. It looked like he was speaking but what he said made no sense what so ever. Trying to get him to response she shouted at him “Ender!!” He blinked groggily and looked at her. Then he blinked his eyes a few more times and seemed to come back from wherever he was.

“Are you okay?” Both Lisyth and Elva asked.

“What…” Endrian said. Looking around his brain was trying to focus and process everything. He held up a hand and closed his eyes for a moment. Shaking his head gently. He started to become aware of his body again. He could tell that his thoughts were hazy and guessed that he had a concussion of some sort. He could feel pain in his body but nothing felt seriously out of place. Done assessing his physical condition he said “As well as can be expected. What happened?”

Lisyth gave him a strange look “We crashed.” she stated.

“I know that.” He said exasperatedly. “What happened after. Is everyone alright? How long have I been out, uh… unconscious?”

While Lisyth had an expression of enlightenment and then followed quickly by one of embarrassment Elva said “I have no idea how long you were unconscious, but we just came to a stop a short while ago and we are trying to get out of the ship now. Are you in good enough condition to carry Ethese with you while we get down from here?”

“Right now I have no clue. As soon as we start moving I should know. If it’s not too hard I should be fine.” Endrian made these statements but the girls were unsure which one was true. Ah the joys of head trauma. What little filter and control he had of what came out of his mouth was gone, at least for right now.

As they started making their way down from their position Zakoya could be heard saying “Seriously why would someone bring along such a big fruit?” Hearing this Endrian was curious what she was talking about. He saw the large splatter area and then quickly moved to the side and puked. He had seen dead bodies before but those were just the bodies at a hospital morgue, nothing as gruesome as what he just saw. The small bone fragments that were visibly embedded in the wooden deck surrounded by meat and gore was just overwhelming to the senses.

After he puked the girls were yelling at him and complaining. Wondering if he was alright. After he caught his breath and had closed his eyes for a second he could talk again. He then proceeded to tell them “That’s not from a fruit exploding on the deck.”

Zakoya scoffed and said “What do you mean it’s not a fruit? It looks just like the insides of the red seeded fruit of divine sweetness.”

Endrian shook his head still with his eyes closed as he tried to keep his gorge in check. “No. It’s what’s left of one of the passengers.”

“What?! That’s not even poss….” Zakoya started to protest as she looked at the spot and as she started to pick out the details in the light that was available. She realized what it truly was. As soon as that realization hit her she threw up as well. This was quickly followed by the other girls as they examined the spot. While the light wasn’t great being in the hold of the ship, there were a few stones that were embedded in the walls and support beams that were shedding light inside allowing people to see.

Endrian had just noticed them when he was looking around. He had wondered how they could see so well inside the hold when there were no windows he guessed that since it wasn’t necessary for his survival at the time he didn’t make note of them. “We should probably try to get one of those glowing stones for each of us. It will help us search for survivors and avoid injuring ourselves.” As he watched Zakoya and Etopha recover and start to make more footholds and handholds. It finally clicked in his head causing him to curse out loud again “Shit!!” Everyone looked at him but he just shook his head. If he would have thought about it he could have asked the girls and anyone in the hold with a wood affinity to strap everyone down. Hindsight was a bitch! Sighing in his heart he put away his recriminations so that he could focus on what was needed now.

They worked their way down to the ground. Finally arriving they could see the pile of people and bodies strewn across the ground and across the bottom of the hold. There were a number of people that were attached to the deck in certain areas. The horrors that they could see were too much to describe. To Endrian it looked like someone had set off a bomb the only difference was that there were no scorch marks anywhere.

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“Let’s get out of here for now. We can find a good defensible place and assess our options.” Endrian said this as he started to prioritize the things that were needed and the things wanted and the future possibilities.

“We need to help these people. Didn’t you just say we needed to look for survivors?” Elva said while looking at Endrian in disbelief.

“You’re right we do need to help these people and we will look for survivors, but not right now. What we need to do right now is make sure we can help them and not move them from one problem into another. We do not know where the horde of animals and beasts are, we do not know where to get water, we don’t even know if our parents are still alive. I don’t know about you but I don’t have a clue which direction Ampleforth is in. If we move these people who is going to help them get better? Do we have supplies that will heal others?” He let his barrage of questions hang in the air. Letting the weight of their situation settle on these, all too young, girls. “What we need to do is get to a secure location that we can survive in. Once we do that we can see about searching for other survivors. If our parents haven’t found us in a few days then we can try find them or other adults that know the area. We also need to thoroughly check each other over to make sure there are no hidden injuries. Once we have ourselves and our position secured then we can come and look for survivors here and move them to a location that will not attract monsters.”

“Everything has an order to it. I want to help as many people as we can but we need to do things in the proper order. Find a safe place to rest. Make sure there are no critical injuries to any of us. Make sure we have access to water. We can hunt for food or forage while we search for others. Speaking of injuries was anyone injured during the crash?” Endrian listed out some objectives and then asked everyone.

Lisyth responded “I was injured but it wasn’t bad.”

“Did you have someone look you over?” Endrain asked her with worry. He remembered watching a guy who wrecked his motorcycle. The guy had torn an inch wide and inch deep and more than six inches long gouge from his ankle to his calf. He was walking around like there wasn’t a problem. Endrian didn’t want to overlook a potential problem because the girls couldn’t feel it. When Lisyth heard the question she shook her head.

Endrian grabbed one of the light stones that he could get and wrenched it out of the wall then brought it over to examine her. When she pointed to where the injury was he could see a small wound as he looked around the area he found another piece of wood sticking out of her back. It looked like the piece that she took out had actually penetrated all the way through her body and she had only removed a portion of it. Still it was mostly a flesh wound but something that could and would be debilitating in a fight or an emergency. Looking over at Etopha he said “I’m going to need your help.”

She gave him a questioning look but came over to see what was needed. When she arrived he told her before showing her “You need to not freak out- uh, you need to keep control of your emotions. There is a piece of wood in her side. It needs to come out but we need to get it all out of her. Do you think you can do this?”

Looking over at her sister Etopha’s eyes got very big but she managed to keep from saying anything or from gasping. She could see the piece of wood sticking out of her sister back. The problem was that it was inside her sister’s field of resistance so she couldn’t just grab the wood and manipulate it with her elemental control. Shaking her head she explained that she couldn’t do anything like that because of the resistance of her sister.

‘Either way this is going to have to come out. If we leave it in there it’s just going to turn septic and she may die so let’s try an experiment.’ He thought and then he explained to her “Okay we are going to try something. It may not work but if it does it will be a big help. Lisyth there is still a piece of wood in you-”

“What!!!” she exclaimed. “Get it out!”

“I know but I would rather have your sister help with her wood affinity. If we leave even the smallest piece in you it could make you very sick or you could die.” As he said it he realized he was talking to a child and regretted not filtering his thoughts better. “I need to you to listen to me. We are going to get this out of you so I want you to calm down. Focus on what I am saying. Do you trust your sister?” He asked her as he tried to regain control of the situation before emotions took over.

“Of course I do.” Lisyth responded.

“She would never try to hurt you intentionally, right?” Seeing Lisyth shake her head Endrian continued. “I want you to think about how much you trust her. Focus on letting her do what is needed so that she can help you.” Keep concentrating on that until I tell you to stop. When he said that Lisyth was thinking about how their birth mother trained them as a team to work together and fight together and to always watch out for each other.

Endrian then leaned over and started to whisper in Etopha’s ear “I want you to grab the wood and try and control it like you usually do. Try and feel for any wood inside the wound and once you have it pull it all out. Make sure you have control with your affinity and then reduce the size so that it comes out without hurting her any more than necessary.”

Etopha looked at Endrian then looked at her sister and then she moved over and touched the wood with her fingers. Closing her eyes in concentration she tried to grab the wood like she would normally extending her thoughts and feelings so that she could touch the wood with her feelings. She was focused on this and her senses gradually started to get a hold of the wood and then she pulled telling the wood to thin out and become one piece. It slid out easily and cleanly. It was so smooth that Lisyth didn’t even flinch.

“Lisyth you can stop thinking about how much you trust your sister now.” Endrian spoke out.

“That’s it? Are you going to get the piece of wood out of me now?” She asked.

“It’s already out.” He said with a smile and then turned to talk with Elva who was staring at the whole thing in surprise. “We need to pair up and check each other out make sure there are no hidden injuries. You, me and Ethese can be one group Zakoya, Etopha and Lisyth can be the other. Look for any blood on their clothes and if they say someplace hurts check it out for any form of discoloration.” After he said that he was thinking about the rules of survival in zombieland again. Rule number 9 the buddy system.

“How do you know all of this?” Elva asked in both shock and awe.

Endrian was a little stunned as he felt these things were common sense but then he realized that it was only common sense from his old world. Quickly thinking up something he blurted out “I read it in a book. Look it doesn’t matter where I know it from we just need to keep moving and get to safety.” While he was saying this he was ripping up his last remaining workout shirt to make a wrapping for Lisyth.

The others quickly checked each other over and found that there were no other major issues. “Okay let’s get moving. We should get away from the crash site but keep it close enough that we can watch for others. We also need to find water.”

“Shouldn’t we go look for our parents?” Etopha asked.

Elva looked at Endrian to see what he was going to say. Taking his que from Elva he said “No. Going to look for them while they look for us and we could both miss each other. The crash site is easy to find and they will surely come here to look for us.” He rounded out his statement with a thought that he managed to keep to himself which was, ‘At least if they can.’ “So if we stay close we will see other survivors and if our parents come here we should be able to find them.”

Endrian looked at Elva and said “You have the most experience foraging in the forest. This probably isn’t the same area where you normally go but we will have to rely on you to help guide us through here.” After saying this Elva seemed to swell with pride a little as she took over.

“Zakoya open a hole in the ship so we can get out of here then fall back into the pocket. Etopha, Lisyth, form up on me. Make sure to watch my sides and protect Zakoya.” Elva barked as she prepared to take the lead. While she didn’t have the armor her mother had she did have a large shield and a smaller version of the bearded battle axe her mother had.

Etopha and Lisyth were on Elva’s left and right respectively. Lisyth had a sword that was two thirds as tall as she was and was as wide as her arm. It had a longer grip so that she could use it one handed or two handed. Etopha had a long spear that was actually taller than her at two meters in length. It had a little tassle just behind the spear head with a couple of feathers hanging from it.

Zakoya touched the wood of the ship and a doorway opened in front of her. It was night but the forest was alight with different glowing patches. After looking around they could see no signs of any monsters or actually pretty much anything. They stepped out of cover and started walking for the tree line. Endrian took up the rear guard position but since he was in his transformed state he had to carry Ethese in front of him and it was much more difficult. He still had his shield strapped to his arm but both hands were holding Ethese. It’s a good thing body strengthening was inherent to the absorption of mana. Otherwise he wouldn’t be able to carry her at all. That said he still wouldn’t last long.

The moved their way into the forest, before they completely left the crash site they looked back to see the ship in all it’s destroyed glory. The left side or port side of the ship was almost entirely gone. Either shattered or sanded down. Boulders and trees stuck out of the hull from all sides. The top of the ship, the main deck, was completely empty save for the spots of discoloration which Endrian assumed were blood. Whether it was the defenders or the attackers he couldn’t tell. The railing was cracked or broken in many places. The steering wheel or helm on the quarterdeck was completely gone. The wings on the side were nowhere to be seen and the steering fin on the back was missing along with the side of the ship that it was attached to. Looking behind the ship a meandering swath of destruction could be seen cutting through the thick jungle foliage. On this path were shadowed lumps. Some were moving most were not. Be they bits of the ship or bits of people was unclear.

It was very eerie in it’s quiet. There were some muffled groans that could just barely be heard but Endrian chose to ignore them for now. Unsure of the mentality of the survivors and unwilling to risk his siblings on the chance that they don’t go crazy from the loss or whatever they suffered. Turning away from the shadowed scene of destruction he followed behind the girls as they made their way into the forest to find a safe location where they could monitor the ship and watch for other survivors. Hopefully they would have the chance to help others soon. As Endrian thought about helping others he was forced to look at his own strength and at that time he truly understood that mercy and compassion, while given to the weak, were a luxury of the strong. With their current strength it would only take one person not in their right mind to kill one or all of them, at least if they weren’t careful. To Endrian the lives of his sisters and himself were more important than the lives of others. His other concern that he hadn’t voiced was what would happen if they take too long to rescue us. What will happen to Ethese when she wakes up in the wild, without her parents?