After traveling about 30 minutes, Yore and Morrow came across a gruesome sight. In a small clearing, there was blood splattered everywhere. It looked like someone tried to paint the clearing in blood. However, there were only two Mantis bodies and a Human arm that Yore could find.
“Well, it appears that there were other survivors. Whether they are still survivors looks unlikely,” Yore said solemnly.
“Hey, if people made it this long after the Wyvern attack, it is likely that there were other survivors or even other portals like you were asking.”
Yore perked up. “You’re right. This is too fresh to be from over a week ago, and we are too far for this group to have likely wandered here from our portal. There must have been other portals!”
“I agree,” Morrow chirped with Yore’s excited attitude. “Maybe next time you won’t die alone!”
Yore jubilance ground to a halt. “Very funny Morrow, but you’re with me.”
“That doesn’t count, I’m a part of you. It is like you’re dying with yourself by your side.”
“That’s just sad.”
“That is what I’m saying.”
“Prick!”
Yore looked over at the Mantis remains. They were already hollowed out, however one of them had its skull crushed and was missing an arm. The other one had a third arm shoved into its chest and was most likely the missing arm from the first mantis.
Whatever happened here looked like it had been a brutal fight. The only non-Mantis remains was the Human arm, but there was way too much blood to be one person’s. The Mantises must have dragged off the corpses afterwards.
“Hey Yore, why don’t you see if these bodies have gems in them like the others we killed.”
“Good idea Morrow!”
Yore checked and sure enough, there were gems in the chests right where the others had been. Yore added them to his satchel and began following the tracks most likely left from the dragged off missing bodies.
After a couple of minutes of cautiously following the tracks, Yore heard something.
“Psspt! Psspt!”
Yore looked around for where the noise was coming from and was then hit with a stone. Yore whipped around to the direction the stone hit him from and saw a man behind a tree waving at him. A SURVIVOR!
Once they made eye contact, the man held a finger to his mouth making a shushing gesture and waved Yore over. Yore got the message and obliged. Cautiously he made his way to the man.
When Yore reached the man, he saw that he was a beast of a man. He was about two meters tall and built like a bear. His clothes were torn and he was all scratched up and wielded what looked like a Mantis’ claw arm.
“Are you hunting these aliens too,” the bear man asked Yore.
“Haha, I thought they looked like aliens too,” chuckled Yore. “Yeah, I was attacked by a group a few kilometers back and then found a bloody mess a little ways from here.”
The bear man gave Yore a funny look. “You seem to take slaughter pretty light-heartedly,” the man admonished Yore. “Those monsters tore my friends apart, not too far from here. I killed two while they were slaughtered and chased them back to this here portal. That was three days ago. Ever since I’ve been hunting smaller groups that have been coming out, but a bigger one hauled my friends’ corpses back to their portal two days ago.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Yore said. “My names Yore and I would be happy to help you if I can.”
Yore extended a hand to shake.
“Anthony [an-thuh-nee] Bear [bair],” the man said as he took Yore’s hand and shook it.
Yore thought how ironic it was that the man looking like he ate a bear, had Bear for a last name.
“We shouldn’t stay here,” Anthony said. “The portal that they come from is less than a mile in that direction. We should get to shelter and see what we can do for one another.”
“Agreed,” Yore said.
Yore thought to himself that this must have been an American if he was using the imperial system of measurement instead of metric. Or maybe he was from the UK or Australia. Either way, he understood both, so he knew what Anthony meant.
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Yore followed Anthony as they cautiously and quietly left the area. Anthony led Yore back to a cave opening in a hillside a few kilometers away. Anthony had clearly made camp here.
“So tell me,” Anthony said. “You look pretty prepared. Were you a trapper or something before the portal spit you out here a few days ago?”
“A few days? I’ve been roaming around for over a week.”
“So there were other portals then! We were wondering if ours was the only one. Do you have any idea where we ended up or what those creatures are?”
“I might be the only survivor from mine. I’m not sure though. A Wyvern attacked as we got dumped out of mine and it’s been one thing after another ever since. I have no idea where we are. I’ve been following the river downstream and haven’t come across any recognizable landmarks or cities. I’m starting to think we aren’t even on Earth anymore.”
“I’m sorry. Did you come through with family or friends? When we arrived my friends and I decided to follow the river downstream and my brother and his friends decided to follow it upstream. We were supposed to meet back up after a week to decide which way to follow or sooner if one of us found civilization. You didn’t happen to come across them did you? My brother’s name is Thomas [tom-uhs] and looks a lot like me in size and facial features.”
“I don’t know if I came through with anyone. I don’t remember much about myself or family before arriving here. Also no, you’re the first Human I’ve come across since arriving. I’ve seen Wyverns, Giants, Minotaurs, bears, wolves, and those Mantis alien things, but no other Humans.”
“Wyverns, Giants, and Minotaurs huh? It definitely doesn’t sound like Earth anymore. You’ve had one heck of a run if you’ve already seen all of that. Lucky you’re still alive!”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“What have you been eating to survive? Those Mantises, that you call them, all have their meat dissolve when they die. I’ve been eating nuts and acorns that I’ve been able to scavenge. Those Mantises have killed and dragged off any nearby meat.”
“Here, I’ve got some bear and wolf jerky. Take your pick.”
“Really?! You’re a lifesaver Yore!”
As Yore pulled out some of each and offered it to Anthony, Anthony took it all and started horking down as much of it as fast as he could.
“This is delicious compared to what I’ve been having! I could kiss you. Thank you so much!”
“Here wash it down with some water. It’s really dry. I didn’t know how long I’d need it to last which is why I turned it all into jerky.”
Anthony took the waterskin and took a few big gulps before shoving more of the jerky into his face again.
“Hey Anthony, what is your plan for those Mantises?” Yore asked him while he ate.
Between mouthfuls Anthony replied, “I’ve been trying to kill the ones that go upstream. I figured I’d hold out before heading back to meet with my brother and his friends, that way the Mantises don’t surprise them. I also figured I could whittle down their numbers, but there are just so damn many of them. They usually travel in packs of three to six though. I’ve been just picking off the packs of three and hiding from the bigger groups.”
“Have you been collecting the gems from them?” Yore asked, pulling an obsidian gem out of his satchel and handed it to Anthony.
Taking the gem to look at, Anthony replied, “No. Where have you been getting those?”
“I’ve been pulling them out of their chests after their innards dissolve.”
“I never thought to look in their chests. I’ve been using their arms as weapons, but they seem to be hollow once they evaporate into smoke.”
“How have you been dealing with that awful smoke when they dissolve?”
“That’s easy, just stay away from their corpses. I only recover their arms while fighting them or after the smoke has cleared. That stuff is rancid!”
Yore realizing that the smoke didn’t seek out Anthony like it did him, thought for a moment whether or not to tell him about his experience with the smoke.
“Hey Yore, where did you get your spear from? Did you get it from the Giants or Minotaurs that you mentioned? It looks like a tetanus pole to me, all rusty like that.”
“Yeah, I got it from the Minotaur. The Giants I mentioned ended up killing it and leaving its weapons behind. Along with the spear, I also got some daggers that are just as gnarly looking.”
As Yore was talking, he morphed all of his blood iron darts into daggers in his cloak and then opened his cloak to show them off.
Anthony whistled. “Those do look gnarly! I wouldn’t want to scratch myself with one of those.”
“Yeah, if it wasn’t for those Giants, I wouldn’t be armed at all,” Yore lied. “Thankfully one Giant’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
Anthony chuckled at Yore’s quip.
“So would you like help killing those things Anthony? I’d be more than happy to split the gems with you. I’m not really sure what they are worth, but they seem to be like they could be worth something to whatever civilization is out there. Maybe those Giants have a use for them.”
“Yeah, I really don’t want those fucking things getting too far and finding my brother’s party. Plus I really hate them after they tore my friends apart.”
Any mirth that had been between them, now leaving the room as the conversation turned back to the heaviness of death.
“Do you have a plan,” Yore asked Anthony.
“I’ve been just picking off the small groups because it is just me out there fighting. Based on your stories, you seem capable, but I haven’t seen you in action. I think we should take on a group of three or four and see how plausible it would be to take on the bigger ones.”
“I can get behind that. Let’s do it,” Yore agreed with a joyful façade. Yore wasn’t sure how he would explain absorbing the smoke. He knew it had to do something with having a familiar and Morrow’s unknown familiarity to the gems. He hoped the problem would solve itself or that Anthony would be accepting once something weird happened.
“Let’s head back to where we found each other then. I don’t like leaving the river open for too long,” Anthony said as he got up and grabbed his Mantis arm.
“Let’s do it,” Yore agreed.