Chapter 11: Survivors

As Aeden finished his chat with the system, he looked over to Erika who was staring at him, a mix between bored and frustrated.

“Done with your little brooding session.” she said with a twinge of anger.

“Yeah sorry,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. He never had anyone to really focus on or pay attention too. He could explore his mind as much as he wanted in the past. He would have to work on that.

“Seriously that's like the third time you’ve just gone radio silence on me and just spaced out in your own little world.”

“I needed time to think okay.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” she replied curtly. “You wouldn’t respond even when I called your name earlier.” Had he really been that deep in thought. “Please don’t do that anymore. It's creepy, and it's worrying especially while we're out here, alone!” she said emphasizing ‘alone’. Her words cut deep; it was every man's worst fear for a woman to call him creepy. He thought for a moment and agreed with her. How would he feel if someone wouldn’t respond while semi lost in the woods. Even though they weren't really lost because they had no idea where they were to begin with.

“Okay I’m sorry I’ll try not to do that in the future.”

“Please,” she said, sinking into herself.

“Okay I had a moment to think, and I have a short-term plan. “First, we should find more survivors.” Aeden realized that if he was gonna capitalize on the chaos of their awakening in this world. He needed to gather as many people as possible while they were desperate for some sense of order. Aeden just didn’t want to be the leader if they did find a group, he hated leading roles. “We aren’t the only ones out here. I saw a lot of people escape into the woods. Plus, it would be better to have more numbers out here with so many unknowns.” Erika nodded her head in agreement.

“Yeah, it's creepy just the two of us being alone out here.”

Dang his self-esteem was taking a hit today, but he pushed on. “If we can find other survivors, we'll need some basic supplies. We’ll need a fire, water, food, and shelter. At least for the night.” Erika decided to interrupt at this point.

“So, are you some kind of soldier or something, because you seemed pretty well versed in this whole survivor thing? Plus, you don’t seem averse to fighting”

“No, I went camping and hunting with my dad when I was younger, and he taught me a lot of survival techniques for fun. I mostly worked in retail,” he stated flatly. Her opinion of Aeden went down a few points in her head. Now it was her turn to be a little disappointed in his choice of job. She decided not to touch on it. It wasn’t the time or place, and as if it really mattered now. He had saved her although she had to bail him out too.

Aeden looked to the sky and the sun was getting close to peak, so it was probably somewhere around 11ish. “We have some time to walk around and explore before we need to focus on the survival aspect. He inspected himself and the new cuts the goblins left. Surprisingly they had stopped bleeding. Thankfully because they hadn’t cut deep when they got him. However, for their size they shouldn’t have stopped bleeding yet. His wounds would still need dressing and he also noticed that the pain in his legs or cuts didn’t hurt as much as they did before. This was probably thanks to the boost in constitution. He wondered if he stopped bleeding also thanks to his CON as well.

“Well, it's not even noon yet and thankfully my wounds don’t hurt that bad so we could explore for some time.” He still had to stand up slowly and with some difficulty as his leg still protested some. Erika got up as well and they decided they would continue to head in a straight line away from the ruins.

As they walked Aeden decided to look at the scenery of their new planet. The tall trees were thankfully spaced out and didn’t block the sun with the canopy up above. It let in plenty of light for several types of plant life to thrive on the forest floor. Nothing seemed out of place; only the occasional patch of brightly colored flowers really caught his attention. The further they walked the forest began to become more alive. Some birds had started to call to one another. Some squirrel type creatures could be seen running up and down the massive tree stalks. They were peculiar; they looked like normal squirrels of browns and reds, but they had a small horn protruding from their heads. Thankfully the squirrels seemed wary of them and kept their distance when they got close.

As they walked, they came by a sizeable bush filled with berries. Erika plucked one from the branch and was about to eat it. Aeden grabbed her wrist before she could eat it. “What the hell Aeden?!” she said angrily before taking a second to realize what she was about to do. “Oh, right sorry.” She dropped the berry and it hit the ground bouncing a little before stopping by their feet. Aeden inspected the berries carefully. He tried to remember what his dad had taught him. They had a blue hue so that was a good sign. They seemed to be packed in tight clusters all over so if he had to guess they were probably alright to eat. They even had a slight sweet scent to them. Aeden was still scared to eat one even if logic would dictate, they were safe for consumption. Aeden decided to pick two handfuls and put them in his pocket.

His stomach growled in protest. Aeden had exerted himself a lot with the events of the morning. He knew he needed the energy, but he wasn’t desperate enough yet to be this world’s first test subject on edible plants. This would be his last resort if they couldn’t find anything else. Erika did the same and picked a handful and they continued their walk.

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They had probably walked for an hour before they could hear some noise off in the distance. It was voices, there had to be a group nearby, and they heard shouting. Aeden and Erika looked at each and both agreed to pick up the pace, well as fast as Aeden could go. As they got closer, they could make out seven, eight, nine people! Since they hadn’t taken a stealthy approach a few in the back quickly spun around to see the approaching duo while a few kept arguing. When they approached the group in the middle was a tall man about as tall as Aeden around 6.3ft, he was well built you could tell even though he was wearing a suit. He had a nice undercut of black hair with a well-trimmed beard to match. It looked like he was trying to calm someone down, a black woman who looked both equal measures pissed and distraught. The man stopped and turned to look with a pair of hazel eyes when he heard the two approaching.

There was a nervous air as the two walked up to the group, nobody said anything leaving an awkward pause for all of them to indulge in. Erika, not being a fan of the silence or awkward situations, she decided she would be the speak first. “Hi, we're glad we finally found someone, we just escaped the ruins and were wandering around when we heard your voices in the distance.” The group stared at the duo. Aeden watched the group while the tall man looked them over before he spoke.

“You're injured,” as he pointed to Aeden.

“Yeah, we had some trouble as we were leaving the ruins,” as he gently rubbed his leg. The man looked a little sad upon looking at Aeden’s injuries.

“Well good for you.” The black woman said with a tinge of apathy in her voice. The man put a hand on the woman's shoulder before she shrugged it off and turned away a little.

The man didn’t seem to mind her reaction but turned back towards the duo and introduced himself. “Well, I’m for one glad you made it out of there, mostly intact,” he turned to Aeden and gave him a smile. “My names John, John Kravitz it's a pleasure to meet you two despite current circumstances. He walked up a bit and reached out a hand. Erika took it first and returned it with a delicate handshake. That was definitely on purpose Aeden thought to himself. “It's nice to meet you John, I’m Erika,” she said with as much bashfulness as she could muster. John let out a simple laugh in response. He reached out to Aeden and Aeden just did a simple firm handshake, “Aeden,” John nodded as if that was what he was expecting. Erika decided she would continue the conversation.

“Is this all from your group or are there more up ahead?” John’s somber expression returned a little. “Maybe, I don’t know, unfortunately we got separated… separated in the mayhem from earlier,” he said with a dower expression. This group is all I managed to grab from the initial scuffle. I’m a manager at the company we all work at, and these are my colleagues. He gestured to the small group of people. They each gave a nervous wave. “What about you two? Anyone else with you?” He asked tentatively.

“No or at least I don’t know. I was out with some friends before everything and when we got here, I thought I saw two of them in the distance, but I couldn't make sure before… before that whole mess kicked off.” Aeden didn’t realize that she may have saw some people she knew. Then again, she was probably just realizing that now that she had a moment to think about it. John nodded, taking in the information with a hint of sorrow. He turned to Aeden. “What about you?” Aeden just replied, “I was by myself.” Aeden kept his answers short. He decided he would let Erika do most of the talking, he would just quietly observe the group. He would only answer when needed and only ask questions about information the group might have about this place. Who knows how much they’ve learned after a few hours and Aeden wanted information.

But John had beat him to it and started fishing for information from Erika. He should have been expecting that. They were after all stranded in a bizarre place with very little information to go off. Aeden hoped that Erika wouldn’t give anything to valuable away. “I don’t expect much but do you know anything about what happened?”

Erika just looked thoughtful and said, “Not much, all we know is that there was a giant sign in the sky that said a system deemed us fit for continuation and then ‘whoosh’ now we’re here.” Aeden let out a sigh of relief internally. His body had tensed the fact she mentioned the system Aeden wanted to monopolize any information about the system as much as possible. Information on the system could be worth its weight in gold. But apparently his posture hadn’t gone unnoticed. Both John and the black woman who had apparently joined the conversation at the mention of finding more information about their predicament began a silent investigation on Aeden. There was one more person who took interest, a tall young lanky man was looking at him as well. ‘Damn they were observant,’ Aeden screamed in his own mind. Aeden tried his best to relax and act as if it wasn’t important as he looked over the group. When Aeden’s eyes fell on the lanky guy his gaze shrunk away from him. He focused on him for a little and noted that down for later.

John broke his gaze from Aeden and continued his questions. Thankfully he asked questions that Erika didn’t know the answers to or that were just general as to how they arrived here. To be frank Aeden didn’t really know how to answer some of John’s questions. When there was a lull in the conversation Aeden decided to test the waters and ask, “what about you guys have you discovered anything about this place?” “Not really, he said pensively. “You two seems to know a little more about what's going on.” Aeden looked over the group and when his eyes fell on the lanky guy again, he looked away. That settled it he needed to talk to that guy.

John felt satisfied with his questions for now. Although he would have to talk to this Aeden guy later, probably in private. He seemed to know something and wasn’t telling. His reactions to certain questions were faint but they didn’t go unnoticed. ‘Aeden seemed like a secretive guy, but he wasn’t as good as he thought he was. He would have to thank his last job for some of the skills they had taught him,’ John thought to himself.

John decided he would make things a little more lighthearted after all the serious questions. It seemed to put everyone on edge, at least Aeden was more than the others. John thought it didn’t do anyone any good to start distrusting each other. “So, since you didn’t arrive together how did you two meet?” A wicked grin spread across Erika’s face.

“Well since this guy is in desperate need of help, I’ve decided to help the poor guy out,” she said patting Aeden’s chest. “I may not look it but I’m pretty strong.” She started flexing a little bit. ‘Wait a minute, wasn't he the rescuer in this story,’ Aeden thought to himself. Yes, he needed to be rescued in the last encounter, but he still did most of the work. Aeden didn’t like the look of where this tale was going and slowly put his hood up and turned slightly away from the group as his face redden a little at having to be rescued in the end.

“But he did rescue me in the beginning. He fought a weird goblin-like creature for me and dragged me out of that chaotic place. He even offered to help me look for my family back at the ruins.” She said with some genuine bashfulness as she brushed back some of her hair. Aeden didn’t notice it because he was too busy being self-conscious about having to be rescued himself. When he did turn back to the group John was just looking at him with his arms crossed nodding approvingly. Though the fact they had returned to the ruins had piqued John’s interest. When John asked about it, it was Erika’s turn to look somber. She tried but couldn’t get any words out to describe what they saw. Thankfully Aeden answered the rest for her. Aeden deemed that it wouldn't hurt to tell them what they saw while they were there.

Aeden told them about the ruins and how large they were. He told them how well constructed some of the buildings were. The ones that were fully intact that is. He also told them about the goblins plus the giant death lizard sculking the main road. John asked if they found anyone. Aeden just shook his head. “We didn’t find anyone back there just… it was a rough scene,” he said measuredly. “The place is a lot bigger than I thought because we spawned at the edge of it. There are also lots of creatures and other powerful monsters roaming around. We had to bail before we could even walk fully around the outside. I wouldn’t recommend going back there for a while, not without a lot of people.” All John could do was nod taking in the information. John was done with his questions but thankfully the rest of the group decided to relax a little as these two didn’t seem like a danger well at the very least Erika didn’t in John’s mind. The small group swarmed Erika engaging in small talk and asking questions about who she was. John could only chuckle to himself ‘it’s always the cute ones’ he said to himself. John noticed Aeden start to walk towards the edge of the group to where Matthew was standing. Before he could go over to talk to Aeden someone else grabbed his attention.