I sat in front of the fire at the new camp. Leon, Heidi, and Christine were all awake and chatting amicably as a makeshift ladle spun around and around in the cooking pot. The smell of soup had awaken me from a rough night of sleep, and when Christine told me she was making breakfast, I had hopped out of bed in an instant. It was a cold morning and I warmed my hands on the fire as the three of them conversed, wishing I had a steaming mug of coffee in my hands. The thought was enough to make the icy morning feel a little more bitter.

“You’re up early,” I said to Leon, trying to join in the conversation. “Didn’t you say you usually wake up at noon?”

He scratched his head and frowned. “I have a hard time sleeping when it’s cold out. The tent hardly keeps any heat at all. It’s the worst.”

Christine passed around bowls of soup and I took a sip gratefully, ignoring how it scalded my tongue and throat. I glanced at Leon’s tent then thought about our hard bamboo bed. It seemed weird that he was complaining about his sleeping situation while Christine and I were actually sleeping out in the cold. The only thing to block the wind was a loose tarp propped over the top of it.

Does this guy have no self-awareness?

I held back the words on my lips and sipped my soup in silence. From the corner of my eye, I could see Heidi casting me the occasional look, and it reminded me that she was sleeping in the tent as well. Trying to change the subject, I smiled at Christine and thanked her for the soup. She smiled back shyly, unaware of the tension.

“It’s all thanks to Heidi. She found a loot box with a few large rations in them, and all I had to do was add water and a few mushrooms I found.”

“There’s loot in the woods?” I asked, turning to Heidi with my eyebrows raised. I knew you could forage and craft, but this was my first time hearing that there were supplies in the woods that were meant to be found. It suddenly clicked why Leon and Heidi were wearing gear that looked like it was made for military personnel— they must have found it in one of the caches.

Heidi, who was sitting on the ground by the fire, leaned against the log behind her and crossed her arms. She smirked and replied, “It’s easy to find supplies if you know where to look. Maybe I’ll take you on one of my runs soon.”

“I’d like that.”

The idea of knowing how to find loot on my own was enticing. If I wanted them to trust me with more things, then I would need to do well at my foraging job today and prove myself. I stood up and brushed myself off.

“Getting out there already?” asked Leon mid-yawn.

I nodded. “I need to earn my keep around here, right?”

“Atta girl.”

Grabbing my backpack, I headed out of the camp and into the woods beyond while my eyes roamed the ground. After hearing about the loot caches, I couldn’t help but scan for boxes lying around, but no matter how much I looked there was nothing. I did manage to find another patch of mushrooms and spent a good amount of time plucking them carefully from the ground.

I think that something is going on between Heidi and Leon. The thought struck me out of nowhere and my hands paused mid-air. I don’t know why, but I feel like they’re hiding something from me.

Not only that but when I asked them their levels this morning, the two of them had told me “not to worry about it.” Since they had demanded to know my levels upon arriving, it felt like an odd development. Any time I mentioned game mechanics they seemed to become disinterested and unresponsive. Perhaps it was just my imagination, but any time they used items, they pulled them from their toolbelts or backpacks instead of the inventory screen, to the point that I felt awkward pulling anything out of mine.

But now that I was alone, I opened my menu and glanced at my new levels. Then, I pulled out a hunting knife and sliced a few mushrooms from their roots, murmuring, “Something is definitely going on.”

LEVEL UP!

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FORAGING - LVL 4 (+2) | HARVESTING - LVL 4 (+1) | STRENGTH - LVL 3 (+1)

This morning, instead of just the, Ding! like before, a whole leveling screen had appeared before me. It surprised me that I had gained so many levels when it felt like I really hadn’t been working that hard at it— especially not as hard as I worked on the shelter in my camp.

With that thought in mind, I continued exploring the area. There were plenty of sticks to choose from and I grabbed as many as I could, grateful that my inventory didn’t account for size. At one point, I stumbled across a pond and marked it on my map for future reference. I was about to forage in another area when I noticed a few lilypads with blooming flowers rich over the top.

Weren’t those useful in Green Hell? I’m pretty sure they had some sort of medical use and they were really valuable. Perhaps I should grab them just in case.

I wandered around until I found a sapling and carved a long limb from the small tree. After that, I went back to the pond and used it as a sort of leverage to pull the lilypads from the pond. There were a few frogs that were greatly unhappy with what I was doing and I apologized internally as I moved the flowers to the bank then stuffed them into my inventory.

??? - 🛠️ ??? ✅ ???

The same text I had seen many times popped up, but this time there was a crafting symbol instead of a food symbol. That was curious. Even though it was tempting to experiment, I figured it was better to keep foraging and worry about that when I got back to camp. There was a possibility someone at camp knew what to do with it, but for some reason I highly doubted it.

Once I was done, I grimaced at the pond slime that had gathered on my hands from the lilypads and stuck my hand into the water. It wasn’t clean by no means but it was better than nothing. I dried my hands on my clothes, and just as I was about to leave the area, I heard a strange noise— a whistling, like wind cutting through a tunnel.

Standing slowly, I looked at the forest around me. There were plenty of trees dotting the area as well as a couple of tall rises in the landscape. I perked up my ears and scrunched my eyes, listening for the sound I heard before. It happened again, and my feet carried me closer and closer towards the noise.

The sound was coming from one of the plateaus. I had to crane my neck to see the top of it, but it looked like there was just more forest sprawled out above. The edge of the cliffside was all rock while most of them I had seen before now were either clay or dirt tangled with roots. I followed alongside it curiously, running my hand across it, when something caught my attention.

There was an opening. It was small, but it looked large enough that I could squeeze through. The whistling sound was clearly coming from the entrance, but even as I acknowledged that, I knew in the back of my mind that the sound coming from it was unnatural— like it was luring me there.

My heart pounded as I wondered closer. Part of me wanted to run, to get as far away from the hole as possible, but another part of me was drawn to it. Despite the danger, I couldn’t help but hope it held some answers.

I reached the opening and reached my hand inside. The air was much cooler. A much larger person might have issues squeezing through, but it seemed I could go in relatively easily even with my backpack. Squinting my eyes, I tried seeing beyond the outer stone, but it was no use; it was so dark inside that my eyes couldn’t adjust. I looked around for a moment, hesitating.

I know caves in The Forest were bad news. There were all sorts of mutant creatures that would try to kill you— but I don’t think this is that kind of game. Or is it?

I shook my head. It would be silly and dangerous for me to go inside alone. As curious as I was, if I managed to get hurt there would be no one to help me. And besides, if this cave could help me earn the camp’s trust then it would be worth it to share what I found.

Nodding to myself, I marked the opening on my map and started walking in the direction of camp. As the nerves faded away, I found myself more than a little to excited to explore the cave and see what was inside, but I knew that we would need to prepare before going in. I didn’t have any experience fighting yet, but since Leon was a guard there was a chance that he would be better suited for it than I was.

“I hope there’s something good inside,” I said, blowing out a breath.

Even if the cave didn’t have answers, there was a chance we could find one of the caches that Heidi mentioned. I walked back to camp and continued to forage as I went, but my mind was a long ways away. For the first time in three days, I had hope that I might found my way out. I imagined taking a hot shower, being able to change into clean clothes, and sleeping in my soft bed under a pile of thick blankets. The thought was enough for a hint of hope to spark inside of me.

I nodded to myself. I have to convince the camp to explore the cave with me. That should be easy, right? It would be an insane thing to ignore.

But even as I thought it, worry made my stomach churn. I had a really bad feeling about telling the camp. It felt like the right thing to do— I knew it was— but I suddenly realized that I… didn’t trust them. They had taken me in, given me food, and let me be part of their camp while only asking me to help out in return.

And yet, something was bothering me. Something wasn’t right about the whole thing. Even though I had only been out here for three days, I had a distinct feeling that Leon’s group was far too relaxed for people stranded in a survival game.