Evelyn stayed near a lit torch while Michael continued to process the brine.
Bob was sleeping on a small fur pile that Michael set for him.
Ugh… this is so boring… How long have we been here?
Evelyn takes a chunk of the hunk of dried meat.
At least, this tastes good.
The three of them have spent 2 days in the dark. Michael and Evelyn took turns processing the brine into salt. They also took turns taking watch during their sleeping periods.
Evelyn knew that they were about to finish but she was still bored. These past few days have been nothing but a constant routine. And the annoying thing was, Michael barely talked to her these past few days.
Well… he can’t talk but still. The silence is killing me! That’s it! I’ll get something out of this man even if I have to act cute.
Evelyn hypes herself up then she speaks.
“Hey”
Evelyn called out to Michael who was boiling the brine.
“Hey… Heyyyy”
Michael ignored her.
Evelyn pokes Michael.
“Heyyyyyyy”
Michael turns to her while continuing to fan the fire that’s boiling the brine.
He raises an eyebrow.
“So… in your time alone, you haven’t thought of creating a board game yet?”
That question surprised Michael but he quickly shook his head.
“Why? Is it because you have no one else to play with?”
Michael nods.
“What about Bob?”
Michael doesn’t answer.
“Oh, it’s because you haven’t tried yet huh?”
Michael didn’t react at first but he eventually nodded.
“Hmmm, when we get back, why not make a chess set? We can teach Bob how to play chess. Maybe through evolution, he’d become this super chess grandmaster, even beat our world’s AI.”
Michael smiles at the idea. It was sure something.
“Oh, you like that?”
Michael shakes his head as he continues to boil the brine.
Evelyn runs out of things to talk about and for a moment, the two of them just stare at the boiling liquid.
Michael puts the fan down when the fire is burning hot enough. Then he signs to her.
+I lost my speech around the end of the 6th month.+
“Was it… an accident? Did your throat get ripped apart by some animal?”
Michael smiles.
+No. It was nothing that harsh. I just stopped speaking.+
“What???”
Evelyn was confused.
“So you can speak?”
Michael shrugs.
+I’m not sure. I haven’t tried in so long.+
“Try.”
+Why?+
“Because I want to hear your voice.”
Michael is silent. He then tries to speak. Opening his mouth, Michael tries to conjure his voice but nothing comes out.
“...”
He gives Evelyn a wry smile.
“Nothing?”
Michael shrugs.
+Nothing. I’ve tried that before too when you first came here. I tried to call your name.+
“Wait? Really?”
+Yeah. I would like to call your name too.+
Evelyn turns around a bit. She didn’t want Michael to see her face. She calmed down and quickly turned back to him.
“Mouth it.”
+What do you mean?+
“I’ll just imagine your voice.”
+Okay?+
Evelyn started to speak while Michael copied her mouth movements.
“E”
+E+
“Ve”
+Ve+
“Lyn”
+Lyn+
“Evelyn.”
+Evelyn.+
Evelyn smiles as she recognizes her name coming from Michael’s mouth.
“That’s good. If you ever recover your voice… I want you to call my name… Okay?”
Michael turns away. He didn’t want her to see his face. He quickly calms down and looks back at her.
He nods.
“Good!”
Once again, silence descends between the both of them but this time, they didn’t feel awkward.
Michael and Evelyn quietly watched the boiling liquid with light smiles.
While the two were sitting side by side, Bob woke up. He watched the two of them fool around. He was going to join them but seeing the atmosphere, he decided against it.
He chooses to sleep instead.
Eventually, Michael finishes the large majority of the salt brine. He ended up with a tightly leaf-woven basket full of salt.
“Oooh… that’s a lot more compared to the one we have back at home.”
Michael nods.
+Yeah. I have you to help me this time.+
Evelyn chuckles.
“Yep. What about Bob though?”
+Well, he doesn’t have the same dexterity or strength as you.+
“True.”
Evelyn turns around to look at their monkey but finds that he was still fast asleep.
“Heh, he looks sound asleep.”
+Nope.+
“What?”
+He was awake earlier. He just slept when he saw us talking.+
Evelyn looked perplexed.
“Oh? You didn’t turn your head though?”
+Don't need to.+
Evelyn scoffs playfully.
“Braggart.”
Michael smirks.
+The first thing that will evolve in your body is your senses.+
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Evelyn suddenly loses her lax attitude and she starts to listen. She’s always been envious of Michael’s superhuman traits. She wanted to be stronger than she was now.
She didn’t like that, most of the time, Michael was looking out for her.
I look out for myself… no one else… but I guess… having someone look out for you is also nice.
But Michael didn’t continue talking about human evolution.
“So?”
+So?+
“Aren’t you going to continue?”
+No, we have to fix our tools so we can go home. I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.+
“Ugh, but you have to tell me more about it later.”
Michael nods then the two of them start to pack up. They quickly finish packing up their tools. Once the tubes were hidden and the salt pack secured, they turned off their torches and slowly made their way back.
As they slowly reach the brine pool, Evelyn notices something.
Huh… where are they?
Michael’s steps slowed down as well.
The bodies of the night beasts they killed earlier were gone.
Michael and Evelyn look at each other and for a moment, they see the smallest amount of light reflected from their eyes.
Fuck!
The light grows as Evelyn sees her reflection and the reflection of a large creature in Michael’s eyes.
The large creature was behind her.
~ROAR!~
Evelyn ducks.
She looks up and sees two scaled arms lunge forward to grab her. She rolls forward and quickly turns around with a knife in her hand.
The fish monster’s attached light becomes brighter as it starts to illuminate its surroundings.
It releases a powerful roar.
“FUCK!”
Michael scowls when he realizes what just happened.
Evelyn dodges again as the creature tries to grab her with its webbed hand. Bob perks up from his fur bag and he screeches at Evelyn to run.
Michael takes out a javelin from his pack and throws it at the monstrous fish monster. Michael’s throw hits but it doesn’t pierce a vital point and causes the creature to scream.
Evelyn ducks under the rage-fueled attack of the monster. She stabs the creature on its knee. Despite the monster’s tough scales, Evelyn’s knife pierces its knee. It falls to the ground as Evelyn uses her momentum to wrench the knee cap open.
Michael runs behind her and jumps forward. With a downward thrust, Michael stabs the monster’s head with his stone knife. The knife goes deep and gores the monster’s brain. It thrashes but Michael holds on and he drives the knife deeper.
Evelyn ruins the monster’s other knee, preventing the creature from being able to exert all its strength as it falls down.
Once only a small part of the handle is left for Michael to use, he then twists it to the side, wrenching the skull open with monstrous force.
Then he punches the knife inward, crushing whatever brain the monster had left.
It stops moving then it falls to the ground.
Without missing a beat, Michael pulls out the bloody knife from the creature’s skull and cuts off the appendage holding the light.
Evelyn secures her pack.
Michael looks at her.
She nods.
Then they both run.
Despite quickly finishing off the fish creature, they both hear the footfalls of many monsters.
“They’re coming!”
Michael nods.
Using the bright appendage, Michael manages to secure a path. Michael kept a steady pace so he wouldn’t leave Evelyn behind.
They were safe for now but that didn’t last long.
Even without the light illuminating the area around them, Michael could see the distant silhouettes of the night beasts running toward them.
There were many.
With the light, Evelyn saw the incoming horde of night beasts. She looked around if there were any areas they could try to go to but there was nothing but night beast after night beast.
FUCK! HOW DO I GET OUT OF HERE?!
Michael pulls out a spear and quickly surveys the area. They needed a place to go to or else they were dead.
Then he turned to look at the cave walls.
He pulls out his 2nd spear and hands it to Evelyn.
“Michael?”
He points at the walls. Evelyn looked confused but Michael continued onward. He then hefts his spear and throws it towards the wall. The spear deeply embeds itself into the dirt wall.
Evelyn sees that and she nods.
“Okay!”
Michael pulls out his vine rope attached to a wooden hook.
Evelyn aims.
Strength! Don’t fail me now!
She throws the spear just below Michael’s spear.
The spear sticks to the dirt wall.
Yes!
“Michael, let’s go!”
Michael nods and he starts to swing the vine grappling hook.
~SNARL!~
~ROAR!!~
The creatures roar in unison as they quickly approach Michael and Evelyn.
Michael continues to swing the vine grappling hook. The vine spins so fast that it’s almost a green circle. Then he throws it toward Evelyn’s spear. The vine rope flies through the air and hooks itself on the spear.
Michael looks at Evelyn and he quickly gestures for her to go to him.
Evelyn goes to Michael.
+Go up now.+
~SNARL!!!~
She knew that this wasn’t the time to argue and she went up. Michael takes Bob out of his bag and tells him to climb up.
~SNARL!!!~
The horde was getting closer and closer.
Bob sees the monsters and he climbs up as fast as he can.
Evelyn reaches her spear.
She looks down and sees Bob climbing up. She quickly offers the monkey her hand which Bob takes.
Looking down, she sees Michael just starting to climb up.
“Michael! LOOK OUT!”
The torrent of monsters was fast and Michael just started climbing. His lower body was snagged by the beasts and he was sent flying to the ground.
“Michael! NO!”
The darkness almost swallowed Michael but Evelyn could see the weakening light that Michael took from the fish monster.
Evelyn removed her pack and hung it on Michael’s spear.
~SNARL!~
Evelyn could see Michael as he is overwhelmed by many of the beasts. Unlike Evelyn, Michael didn’t have the gift of almost invulnerability. She could see the horde of monsters start to rip into him.
But Michael wasn’t the type to just roll over. Using the horde’s momentum, Michael let the creatures crash into each other. He was scratched and clawed but he pushed his body so he could avoid any lethal wounds.
Michael’s head worked overtime as he focused on surviving while looking for a way out. The grappling hook’s rope wasn’t far away but it was blocked by a tidal wave of monsters. Instead of looking for the impossible, Michael focused on not dying.
Brandishing his sharpened stone knife, Michael attacked the monsters with brutal efficiency. Each strike delivered a mortal wound that cut necks and stabbed vital organs but in exchange, Michael was suffering more wounds.
And his blood along with the bloody bodies of the other night beasts was starting to attract the horde’s focus.
Evelyn opened her pack and took out her grappling hook. Balancing on top of the embedded spear, Evelyn starts to swing her grappling hook. The light source was weakening and it didn’t help that it was getting submerged in the crowd of bodies.
Michael, where are you?!
Michael uses his bone dagger to rend a creature’s face but he suffers a claw attack from the creature. By this point, his body was nothing but a large collection of wounds and bite marks. He managed to avoid his vital organs getting hit but at this rate, he would die of blood loss.
~Roar!~
A night beast jumps from the horde toward Michael. Michael moves faster and he stabs his bone knife into the incoming night beast’s skull.
Michael tries to pull the knife out but he can't. The dagger was too caked with gore and it was impossible to quickly pull it out.
Before he could force it out, the other night beasts push through and Michael has to let go of the knife.
As time passes by, the light from the severed appendage starts to flicker out. Losing his weapon, Michael was being slowly pulled into the dark.
Slick with blood and knee-deep in gore, Michael felt his chances for survival turn to zero. The dark slowly encroached on him with only the monsters to keep him company. All he could do was rage against the dark, as much as he could.
While bleeding and slowly getting crushed, he felt a weird inclination to just surrender and accept his death.
FUCK THIS!
Michael roars in his mind as he snaps the head of the creature in front of him. He then proceeds to jump up using the body of one of his victims. Once Michael jumps, Evelyn sees his silhouette and she throws the hook toward him.
“MICHAEL!”
Turning his head towards the source of the voice, Michael sees the incoming hook. He catches it and Evelyn immediately tenses the rope.
Michael uses the heads of the beasts to jump over the crowd. They try to grab him but the moment Michael forms momentum, he uses the rope to run on the uneven cave wall and swing upwards.
Evelyn screams as she uses all her strength to support Michael’s weight.
“AHHHHHHHHHH!”
Michael swings upward and he lands on his spear. Evelyn looks at Michael and finds that his fur cloak was gone and his body was full of wounds.
“Are you okay??”
Michael raises an eyebrow. He looked annoyed.
“Stupid question… Now, how do we get out of here?”
Michael’s breathing was ragged but he was doing his best to stabilize himself.
The two of them look down and see the horde of beasts trying to climb the wall.
They didn’t evolve to climb walls so they could only pathetically scrape the walls with their sharp claws.
“Michael… not to alarm you but won’t these things evolve?”
Michael looks at Evelyn with an exasperated look.
+Not the time.+
“What if they do? Don’t we need to wipe them out??”
+I know but that’s not the focus right now.+
“Yeah, you’re right. But where?”
The light appendage was slowly going weak and their vision was slowly being engulfed by darkness.
+Evelyn.+
“Yeah?”
+Let’s stop moving, and breathing, and disappear for a bit. These monsters will surely lose interest.+
“Would that work?”
+We don’t really have a choice right now.+
The light flickers in and out of existence and their vision of each other almost disappears.
“Okay, but what about your wounds?”
Michael gives Evelyn a wry smile
+I’ll be fine.+
Evelyn watched Michael’s breathing. Michael’s breathing was labored and he was sweating profusely. She wanted to get him out of here but they were stuck.
“Tsk… okay. Let’s do it. Let’s go quiet.”
Before the darkness fully disappears, the two of them look at each other and nod.
The light completely flickers out and the two of them are plunged into the dark.
Silence.
More silence.
Then more silence.
The sound of scritching slowly weakened and the sound of groaning was slowly disappearing.
Evelyn felt tense but she knew that some of the creatures were slowly moving away. Her darkness-adjusted eyes see groups of night beasts move away.
That’s good! Just a bit more… Michael’s not going to last.
She could hear faint labored breathing.
Michael… just a bit more, okay? I’m going to get you out of here.
Michael, on the other hand, focused on not dying. He could hear his heartbeat slow down. The adrenaline was gone and his body felt heavy as if it was full of lead. His vision was blurry and the darkness seemed blinding. Breathing felt painful.
Bob was beside Michael. The monkey was quiet but he was terrified for Michael. Bob raises his hand to touch Michael’s chest. He feels a slick and warm liquid stick to his hand. Sniffing his hand, Bob smells nothing but blood. Bob’s poor monkey heart cries as he realizes that his friend is in danger.
The monsters are fewer now but Evelyn knew that if they jumped off now, they would still be overwhelmed.
Come on… get out of here!
Evelyn could see the silhouettes of the night beasts slowly lessen but it was still not enough.
The three of them continue being quiet.
Eventually, there were only a few monsters. Most of them were walking away.
Yes, that’s it!
Looking towards Michael, Evelyn whispers.
“Hey… we’re gonna jump in a bit.”
But she doesn’t get a reply, causing Evelyn to slightly panic.
“Michael? Michael?? Michael???”
Evelyn’s voice was getting louder and she was about to scream but Michael eventually nodded.
“Michael… fuck… don’t die on me…”
Michael nodded again.
“We’re going to jump okay? Nod twice if you understand.”
Michael nods three times.
“Prick.”
Evelyn chuckles at Michael’s response.
At least he has enough energy to joke.
They waited for a bit and eventually only a few stragglers were left. Evelyn nodded to herself. She whispers again.
“Okay, let’s go. On the count of three, let’s jump.”
Michael doesn’t respond. Evelyn started to count.
“One.”
Evelyn readies herself.
Michael wavers a bit.
“Two.”
Michael steadies himself.
“Thr-”
Michael falls off the spear.
Shit!
Evelyn immediately jumps while cursing in her mind. When she jumps off, she grabs the vine hook’s rope and quickly ties it to her body.
Michael’s eyes were closed. He fainted for a split second. Opening his eyes, he looks down and sees the ground quickly approaching.
Looking back up, he sees Evelyn with her hand outstretched toward him.
Michael maneuvers his body and he extends his arm toward Evelyn.
Just as he was about to hit the floor, Evelyn managed to grab him.
The duo looks at each other with a look of relief.
“That was pretty close.”
Michael nods.
Bob wipes his brow in a gesture of relief.
Then the vine rope snaps and the two of them fall to the ground.
~Thud~
“Ow.”
Michael shudders in pain.
Evelyn quickly gets up from Michael’s body.
~Snarl~
Shit.
Looking up, Evelyn and Michael see that the nearby stragglers heard their light fall.
Evelyn quickly stands up and pulls out her knife. She helps Michael stand up.
She speaks to him with a controlled voice.
“Let’s go!”
Michael nods and they start to run.
Bob jumps toward Evelyn’s back and he starts to throw his rocks at the night beast stragglers.
He makes silent gestures of celebration when his stones manage to delay them.
They continue to run but the stragglers start to roar and howl, calling their fellow night beasts.
Evelyn was in the lead. Michael’s wounded and weakened body could not exert all of his strength and with each step, he lagged even more behind. Unfortunately for Michael, he couldn’t stop. Stopping meant dying.
Michael is lagging behind… fuck… if we only had something we can use to clear these guys out… Couldn’t God have given me some explosive power instead??
The three of them reached the brine pool and they had to quickly move around it. Despite being blind, the night beasts were aware of the brine pool and followed Evelyn and Michael. These creatures regularly crossed the brine pool this way.
Seeing the silhouettes of the night beasts get closer, Michael takes out all of his empty leaf tubes and rolls them towards the horde of monsters.
Made out of tough dried leaves, the leaf tubes helped knock down the first wave of monsters which cascaded into many of them falling into the brine pool.
They scream and writhe in pain as the concentrated pool of salt sends them into an epileptic shock.
Despite knocking over the vanguard, the beasts continue, spurred on by their everlasting hunger for anything they could grab and devour.
Evelyn hears the screams and she compliments Michael.
“Nice!”
Michael’s vision was becoming blurry but he continued to run.
His breathing was erratic and he felt his body start to become cold.
“Michael, you can do it! We’re close! Don’t fall!”
Michael’s hearing was weakening as well and he couldn’t fully make out what Evelyn was saying.
Despite that, he continued to run.
The feeling of his body slowly weakened to the point that he didn’t even know if he was still alive but he kept moving his legs if he even still had legs.
“I see the exit! Let’s continue!”
Michael didn’t hear her but he kept moving.
Then he felt the night air hit his bloody body.
But he didn’t stop. Michael kept running.
Evelyn screamed again but he didn’t hear her.
She screamed again.
Evelyn…?
Then he felt a heavy object hit his body and he was sent flying to the dirt.
Once he hits the dirt, he opens his eyes and hears a sound that sends ripples on his body.
Wha-... what?
Looking up, Michael sees the horde of night beasts being ripped apart by three large creatures. As his vision slowly sharpened, Michael saw the familiar creatures.
His heart was already weak but it became slower.
They’re… not supposed to be here… this is far from their territory.
Michael felt his heart being wrenched apart as he watched the three super reptiles rip into the horde of night beasts.