Rot and decay dominated the forest floor. Hallow decomposing corpses made the perfect home for a wide variety of sporulating fungi. The air was ticklish with a pinch of foul odors.
'Sheesh.' Duncan thought. 'Must've been a wild night...'
The two boys and robot casually walked along the moonlit forest until they emerged at the barren lands. As they got closer, the sun got brighter until their eyes struggled to adjust once they exited.
"... And then when they come out we hide, they can't see us. If they don't get tired then we can pick them off one by one since we CAN see them." Duncan explained as the winged boy listened intently.
The boy looked over to the dense tangle of dark green in the distance.
"What about that?" he asked. "Isn't there food in there too?"
"Um... I tried looking, but when I got near a bunch of hungry animals jumped out and tried to bite me. Also, I don't really see any birds flying over it..."
"Ah. Not even the birds, huh... Speaking of which, how about we call the blue ones with sickles flying raptors?"
"Sure!"
The trio eventually faced the thick green wall made of blades of grass. They were further along its stretch, aiming to avoid the area they were in last time.
Duncan took out the drone body with a kinked propeller and inserted his phone inside the frustum's bottom side. 'I really hope this works...' he continued to carry the device in his hand.
The two determined boys looked at each other and nodded before plunging into the tangled overgrowth.
Slowly and carefully they tiptoed their way inside the vegetation until they reached a thorny bush filled with bright red berries.
"Alright, Duke, mimic." the survivor said in a low voice whilst the angel pushed aside the thorny branches with his gray staff.
[Behold my power.] the machine said with a lower volume as it focused its eye lens on the boy.
The boy carefully slid his hand inside the brown bush and chipped off a berry. He then stored it in the dark green backpack he carried.
Duke soon unfolded its single long mechanical arm on its back. It struggled to maneuver it, often shaking or getting slightly scratched on one of the thorns.
Upon hearing the subtle scratching of aluminum the boy winced and immediately flipped over the drone he had left on the ground to make manual adjustments to the robot's movements.
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With some help, the robot dog clenched a berry using its two bottom fingers and then rocked its finger disk back and forth to break off the crystalline fruit. It then pulled back its arm and handed the red fruit to Duncan which he promptly stored.
The machine then repeated what it had done, but faster. It swiftly and effectively picked off berry after berry with mechanical precision and accuracy. As it worked, Duke turned on its side such that its body lined with cameras was facing the thorny bush.
'Wow! Who knew that this thing would actually be useful? I only brought it along cause I'm attached to it... And because I couldn't take my desktop with me...' he thought as he stored the fruits the robot had picked.
"Woah, good job doggy. That would've taken forever." the winged boy whispered, helping Duncan in his task.
[Good job on praising me, too. However, you should try it again, this time harder and with more fervour.]
"..." Angelo remained silent. "Looks like we took everything, let's continue."
"Ah, wait up. I wanted to try something." Duncan said as he took out a knife.
He grabbed the nearest blade of grass and began sawing it at its base. The plant was hoarse and hard to cut. As it was ripped apart by the sharp edge, it leaked a milky substance that caused a small burning sensation. Eventually the plant could be ripped off by hand.
Taking it off, the boy observed its physical properties. It was as thick as one of his fingers and as wide as his forearm. Its length was greater than the boy's height. It's width changed along its length, it was wider at the base and thinner as it reached the thin peak shaped like a spike.
The blade of grass was flabby and flexible. Upon being bent it'd return to its natural shape. Despite that, it was durable and near impossible for the boy to damage further by hand.
"Maybe we could use these to make stuff out of..." Duncan muttered. "Gotta test these out later." he wrapped up the blade and got up.
***
The trio slid their way from bush to bush and picked them clean without incident. They were gathering fruit much faster in comparison to the last time.
'Darn, at this rate we might even have to go back cause we're nearly full.' the survivor thought as they neared a tree.
The nut rich ground had far shorter blades of grass and a cool shade. The trio instantly got to work gathering all the kernels. Just as they were about to leave, a tussling in the overgrowth interrupted them.
From within the veil of greenery emerged two wheat yellow cassowary like creatures. Their bodies were lean and long, supporting a long neck stretched parallel to the ground. They curiously cocked their heads towards the survivors.
"... What are those?!" Duncan asked in distress.
"I dunno..." Angelo's feathers stood on end.
The animals carefully threaded the ground, tapping and prodding with their two bulky and muscular taloned legs. Their sharp beaks scanned the ground around them in a circle as their long flexible necks allowed them to position their heads anywhere they pleased. Eventually, they lost interest and stiffed their necks back into a line. They turned away from the boys and leapt far into the air with incredible speeds. They could be seen jumping and landing in the distance as they disappeared from view.
"Huff!" Duncan relaxed. "Seems like they aren't bad?"
"Yea... Let's go, quick."
They plunged into the wall of grass.
***
"Ugh, we're out of space." Duncan said as food rolled out the backpack.
"Alright, let's head back!"
As they prepared to leave, they could feel the ground quake beneath them. Looking around, they spotted a huge stampede of dark bovines heading their way.