He sat there in the grass silently for a while staring at nothing in particular. Leaves rustled in the gentle breeze. This new forest wasn’t very thick allowing for the wind, and sound for that matter, to come through fairly consistently. Listening closely, he heard what was probably running water in the distance. After a time, Jack snapped back into reality.

“I knew I shouldn’t have taken one of those damn brownies. Just what in the hell did they spike em’ with?”

This was the best answer to his predicament that he could come up with. It didn’t take long for reality to set in. It probably wasn’t the brownies. He reached for his phone, normally it was in his pocket, but it wasn’t. He mumbled a number of profanities under his breath.

“Left it in the damn car. Typical pro play Jack,”

He rubbed his chin in thought:

That was wishful thinking anyway. No way I’m close to any towers. No tower exists in a place like this.

His heart sank. He realized the gravity of the situation, he was trapped here for an indefinite amount of time. There was no telling whether that aperture would return. For all he knew, he would spend the last of his days in this place.

The sting of those thoughts wore off after a time, after all, he had always gotten over these things pretty quick. There was always something around the corner he had to worry about next.

“Now's not the time for death," he mumbled. "Maybe later when the novelty wears off."

Pulling his backpack to his front, he laid out all its contents on the ground. A flashlight, a plastic comb, an old baseball cap, the small box which he opened to reveal a solar charger, a multitool containing all the typical tools and then some, and spare lead and erasers for his mechanical pencil. Lastly, there was his Colt with a single magazine. He frowned at the sight of it.

“Cool. Now what’s the deal with this place?”

He had seen plenty of survival shows in the past. After seeing what they had, the host would scope out their surroundings. He scanned the area around him looking for points of interest. The flora surrounding the clearing was a mix of familiar and unfamiliar. Pine trees, deciduous trees, various shrubs, all familiar. However, they stuck out like sore thumbs against the others. Along with the impressively flowered shrubs there were a variety of odd bushes and trees. One caught Jack’s attention immediately. He moved closer to inspect it after packing his bag.

It was a tree, that much he knew but its bark was impressively smooth. He figured it wouldn't take much work to polish it to a mirror finish with the proper tools. The bark was impressive, but the leaves were even more so. They were green, which was to be expected, but they’re structure was beyond bizarre. Fan like, it was strung between two twigs. They were rather large, much larger than the typical leaf. He pulled out his notebook and unclipped the pencil. Flipping to a blank page towards the back he began to furiously scribbling down notes:

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

[https://imgur.com/5dc5kp6.jpg]

“Not a single person is gonna believe me. Writing it down won’t change much but this is more for me.”

He stopped writing.

“Not that there's anyone to show this to.”

The forest seemed alive thanks to the breeze, all the plants swaying to and fro. The sounds of various creatures came from many directions. It was just him out here. An expression of grimace swept across his face.

Stop it! He though, smacking himself.

Now was the time for progress, he had to secure shelter by sun down. The sun was directly above him, it was about noon. The grassy area he had been moping around in so far was, by far, the best place for a camp. Open, near water, but most importantly, near where the aperture dumped him.

“Let’s get started,” he exclaimed, hands on his hips.

“First off—”

He was cut off by the sound of sticks breaking some distance away. They’re regularity confirmed it wasn’t a fluke, they were footsteps and were getting closer. He swept up his bag and ran to the nearest bush putting it between himself and where the sounds came from.

I ain’t taking any risks. Whatever it is could be dangerous.

His heart raced, as the footsteps drew closer. The bushes rustled at the edge of the clearing. Out stepped a person. Relief washed over him. He almost threw himself up out of the bush, but his skepticism stopped him. Motionless, he lay prone watching. Questions popped up in his head:

Could he trust her? What was she there for? Did she hear him talking to himself earlier?

He shook his head.

No. No way.

She stood there looking around, clearly looking for something. She said something to herself, but it was inaudible to Jack. She sat down in the grass twiddling her thumbs.

Just what the hell is she doing? He thought.

At that moment the bushes rustled behind her. Out ran a creature about the size of a small dog. She shot up.

“How!?” she yelled.

The creature ignored her and ran straight ahead, right towards Jack’s bush.

“Ah shit...” he said under his breath.

This deranged thing could blow his cover. It sprinted right up into the bush and climbed onto his back. Did it even know he was there? Jack froze fearing the creature would retaliate if he moved. It chirped as it stood there on his back. The girl slowly came closer, coming to a stop about 10 meters away, he was surprised he hadn’t been spotted. It seemed she knew the creature was there, but not him. She pulled something from her pocket, a roll of paper.

“I got you now...” she whispered, unrolling the paper.

He was beyond lost but couldn’t help finding all of this strangely comedic. Still, he remained quiet. She closed her eyes and began to mumble something to herself. A bright light now shown on the glyph inscribed on the paper. Before Jack could react, it shot out and hit him right between the eyes. It didn't feel pleasant by any means. He scrambled to his feet. The creature jumped off him and ran off into the forest. She shrieked, taken aback by his sudden appearance.

“What did you just do!?” he screamed.

With that, Jack keeled over into the grass, out cold.