It had been two hours since Adam woke, and he was currently rather perplexed.
He was sitting on a beautiful beach, of pure white sands, the colours crisp and fresh in the morning sunlight. In front of him stretched an ocean of vibrant aquamarine its waves lapping gently on the shoreline, to the north they broke upon the outstretched cliff face, the force if it sending spittle’s of foaming white flying up into the sky. Further out he could see the occasional fish jump through the oceans surface, whilst above large birds circled overhead. Behind him stretched a verdant forest reaching up to the shoreline was directly. The lush greens interspaced with hues of violet and golden yellow called to him, and the allure almost dragged him underneath their boughs, into the sunlight dappled forest.
He was in a veritable paradise, a place many would die to be, but rather than simply enjoy it he had questions. Why was he here? How could he be here? And above all else why were there a bunch of strangers lying across the shoreline wearing a mismatched assortment of random clothes?
“Well no time like the present to find out” He muttered to himself as he finally started to move. He’d felt rather groggy for a while, but that having cleared he felt that some kind of action was warranted. Wandering cautiously up to the first man, the one nearest to him, he hesitated slightly. The man in question was tall and heavily built. Several scars marked his face, he looked like a human troll, large and potentially dangerous.
Stealing himself Adam slowly approached, knelt down and began to gently shake him. Nothing happened for a few minutes, then the man began to come to. Blearily his eyes opened, but there was nothing really there, a shallow and glazed look was embodied in his eyes. They looked at him, but didn’t really see him, even when pinched there was no response, no pain, no anger, not even mild annoyance, just…. Nothing.
So, Adam wandered the beach, trying again, and again, and again, to wake people, growing ever more desperate and manic in the process, he went faster and faster, around and around, from person to person then back again. It was only when he began to realise that he was getting ever more hungry, ever more tired, that he stopped. Panting crouched over he began to cry.
He remained there, hunched over sobbing, for a full fifteen minutes, and slowly, but surely, he came back to himself. Slapping himself a couple of times around the face, he began to collect himself. He was on an island, there were a bunch of random people lying comatose on the beech and they had no food, no shelter, no fire, no water.
So, he did the only thing he could.
He began to walk south along the beach. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, a town maybe, some kind of help or assistance? Food or water would be pretty nice as well. He wandered not really all that there, his mind muddled, but on he went. Soon enough he could barely see the others, but he kept on.
About an hour later he found a small break in the almost perfect border of sand. A small stream, barely a hands width wide. He knelt, and apprehensively tried the small scoops of water he could bring up with his cupped hands. It was cool, almost unnaturally so, and slightly sweet, fresh and delicious, it was by far the best thing he’d ever tasted. He practically started to inhale the water, not even bothering to cup his hands, but rather directly drinking straight from the small stream, drinking beyond the point of simple satiation, but to an almost bloated extreme.
He leaned back, full to the point of discomfort, and drifted for a moment, then collected himself. He’d found water and that was at least one item off of the list, sure it wasn’t help, it wasn’t an explanation, but at least he wasn’t going to die of dehydration. He got up, and looked both down along the shoreline, and left towards the direction the stream was flowing from, for a moment he was halted by indecision, if he continued along the shoreline maybe he might find some kind of help a village maybe? Or perhaps a passing boat? But finding the water had changed that idea, it was well, too clean, too pure, and it pointed towards one, rather devastating conclusion.
And so, Adam began to walk upstream, hoping to find some kind of food or the source of the water. Frankly anything that might be of use to him, with hope fading as to whether or not there would be an immediate rescue, he figured that he might as well try to find something, anything of utility. Following its twists and turns he quickly found a few items, a beginning of a small collection. A couple of fist sized rocks, smoothed by the flowing water, a few stands of some kind of creeper, which seemed kind of pliable, and the star of his collection. A long thin sapling, about a meter and a half in length. He’d spent about ten minutes ripping out of the ground, then about half an hour stripping off the budding outgrowths, he then used one of the rocks to bash one end into a thin sharp point. His makeshift spear probably wouldn’t be very effective, but it could be used to threaten if he ran into some kind of hostile wildlife, and it felt good to have something, anything to show that he was making some kind of progress.
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Wandering along the quietly gurgling stream, the butt of his makeshift spear gently prodding the small streams bank he had time to think, and naturally his thoughts turned to home, his small bunk in new London, and his parents, he frowned slightly at the thought. They’d never really gotten along, but he didn’t want them to suffer, him being missing was certainly going to drive his poor mother to distraction, it might even break her. His dad, well, they never saw eye to eye, but he respected the old man, he hoped he’d remain strong. More than anything he missed the normalcy, the quiet tedium of being a simple cog in a much larger machine, knowing what was expected of him, which normally grated, but given his present circumstances he’d trade in a heartbeat. Sure, the surroundings were beautiful, but the sudden uncertainty interjected into his life, the lack of knowledge about his surroundings or circumstances all of it, was just getting to him.
Sighing to himself he kept on, nothing for it really, he couldn’t really do anything beyond trying to be rescued, though by this stage it really looked as if there was little immediate chance of that. Pausing momentarily, he grabbed a handful of some kind of small bulbous plant growth. They looked a bit like nuts, and he figured, that maybe if he got some kind of fire going, he could perhaps roast them. The stream kept on and so did Adam, eventually arriving at a deep pool, heralded by a faint rushing sound, which gradually overwhelmed the gentle bubbling of the small creek.
It was gorgeous in a way Adam had never really seen before, a faint mist hung at the far end, where the water crashed down into the pool below, on the rocks there were thin lines of creeper, vegetation clinging desperately onto the sheer rock. The surrounding shores led smoothly into the pool, and its azure depths contrasted strikingly with the sheer white of the cascading water. The forest was denser here, dense undergrowth, and thick bushes bedecked in violet and saffron blumes lined the outskirts of the oasis, whilst overhead darting flocks of small brightly coloured birds shrilled and chirped, a small piece of a natural paradise.
Rustling in the nearby undergrowth caused him however to rapidly divert his attention. Crouching down he edged slowly backwards, his makeshift spear pointing directly in front of him, his knuckles pure white with the force used to grasp it. Only when he’d managed to get a few trees between himself and the pond that he allowed himself to relax, letting out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding he risked a peak through the foliage between him and the waterfall.
Large, that was his first impression, some kind of huge and furry four-legged beast had wandered into the oasis from the forest; he thought for a moment it was perhaps some kind of big cat, but dismissed the thought immediately. No cat was as tall as a full-grown man. Risking it he decided to try and move closer, to get a better look. He began to move, but as soon as he left the shelter of the tree he was cowering behind, the creature’s ears flipped back… and were aimed directly towards him.
Panicking Adam froze, spear clutched tightly pointing straight at it. The creatures head turned rapidly towards him, the gold and slitted iris’s regarding him almost coldly. Adam backed up slowly his back covered in cold sweat, the creature’s eyes following him through the trees. When he was sure it could no longer see him, he was off. Racing recklessly down the side of the creek.
Scrambling along the bank, through thinning forest he fell several times, his face whipped by passing twigs as he burst through foliage, reckless of any obstacles he ran, his heart almost bursting out of his chest, such was his fear and desperation. Within the shadows he imagined he could see the beast. Each hint of gold it’s eyes, every deep shadow a hiding place for the beast. And so he ran, and ran, and ran, had he not been focused on the potential upcoming mauling he might have noticed that he wasn’t tiring, or that he was moving far faster than was natural, but alas imminent death has a way of focusing the mind.
He almost exploded out of the forest back onto the beach, gasping lightly he turned rapidly, and eyed the forest suspiciously, spear ready, and he waited, watching for any sight of movement, twitching at any sound.
He stood there for some time, adrenaline coursing through his veins. It was only when it became apparent that he wasn’t about to be set upon by the beast that he stopped and took stock. He had two cuts on his face, bloody but already scabbed over and healing, a bruise on his left thigh, the result of one of the rocks he’d collected earlier bouncing around and striking him on his mad dash back to the shoreline. His small collection of items was almost completely depleted, he still had the spear and one of the rocks, but the rest had been abandoned in his rapid flight from the watering hole.
Taking a second quick drink from the stream, eyes never leaving the forest he began to warily make his way back north, if there was some kind of dangerous beast roaming near them, then he had to do something, he wasn’t sure what that was, but well anything would be better than nothing. However, when he got back these concerns were blown away, most of the others that had been lying on the shoreline were now awake, a couple of them wandering the wood line, whilst the rest had formed in a rough circle holding some kind of meeting.
Swallowing slightly he hailed them, and began to jog up and join them.