When I came to, the sun was just setting behind the hills. The birds were twittering peacefully and the chirping of crickets filled the air. I would have been happy to sit there listening to the trickling of the stream and other pleasant noises, but I was fatigued, my throat felt like parchment, and my knee was kind of swollen.
Wait, trickling of a stream? I painfully got up and limped to the source of the noise. Thank God! There was a tiny stream sunk deep into the forest ground of which I drank my fill. Then I peered around to see if I had been provided with something to eat.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t, so I had to satisfy myself by chewing on some evergreen bark. I sat down to have a look at my knee, which was more or less swollen. It felt painful and weak when I stood upon it. I set it in the cool stream for awhile then wrapped it up as best I could.
Once I was through with all this, I settled down under my bush and had a look at the relic. It still glowed faintly and was still the pretty light blue previously mentioned, though a closer look showed some hints of purple, pink and green. I was a little startled when I saw the inscription on it which read:
Relic of Windstorm681Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB0Ay7pQAoA
10 Points
The full moon rose into the sky, and the stars shone very clearly. A wolf-anarhichas howled in the distance. I huddled underneath my cloak and thought, the other members of squad six might be looking at these same stars, then sang softly,
The moon is rising681Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwqIXhY1v6X
The stars shine clear681Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPOgV24t3C7
In this deep, deep world681Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKd6cDTSkKu
Surrounded by fear.
Maybe there’s someone681Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnxc3jBoRp
Looking at this moon681Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDZB8irHgfB
In this deep, deep world681Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7eooJXgtoC
I’m not so alone.
The next morning I set off again. My knee was feeling a bit better, but still hurt when I stood on it. For the first part of the day, I traveled across a mostly level forest. It was warm and sunny, the trees casting splotchy shadows on the ground. Pine needles crackled beneath my feet and birds twittered overhead.
I tramped along at a brisk pace despite the pain in my knee. I planned on reaching the end of the forest before my comrades, but they were probably far ahead of me, so I’d have to go quickly to get there in time. I wondered how they were doing… It had been awhile, maybe two or three days, since I last saw them.
I wasn’t bothered by any monsters that morning, though twice I had to hide as a crounormae flew overhead, and another time when a nephropidae-scorpion crawled by. Once, when I was sitting in the branches of a tree resting, I heard something moving below. It was just a little red fox, who froze in eye contact with me before scampering off.
The rest of my day was uneventful, and passed quickly, By sundown I had traveled a good eight miles or so. I didn’t exactly have a camp to set up, so I just munched on some dandelion greens and ginger root before hitting the sack. I was still hungry, but the food options were few. I slept under a bush again that night.
On the eighth day of the test, I woke up dreaming of delicious meats. I could still smell them as my dream faded away. I sighed regretfully, wishing it were real. Wait a moment… I sniffed the air. Someone was cooking meat! I almost leapt out of the bush right then and there, but stopped myself in remembrance that one had to be cautious. I peeped out from under my bush.
A camp was set up just outside, and someone was cooking meat over a fire. It was dripping with juices and fat which were being caught by a pan. Unfortunately, the light-haired, tall, skinny girl tending the fire wasn’t someone from my squad.
She turned for a moment to yell at someone in the tents, and as she did so I caught a glimpse of her face. Oh, I know her. What’s her name again? Oh yes… it was Maya, from squad eight. Me and her weren’t exactly best friends, but we weren’t enemies either, and were from the same school. We sort of just lived and let live.
I almost cried out to her in my excitement in seeing someone I knew, but just because we from the same school didn’t mean I’d be able to trust her. She was in an enemy squad, after all. I watched as her comrades came out of the tents and helped themselves to the food. As they bit into it, greased dripped down their arms. I drooled.
There was Megan, a tall, skinny, blond with blue eyes, Sherry, a short, average brunette with grey eyes, Drew, a very tall and skinny guy with dark hair, Cody, a short, light-haired, pretty eyed guy with buff, and Paul, an average sized guy with orange-blond hair. They were all pretty average survivalists compared to everyone taking this test, but definitely better than me.
I sat there, waiting to see if a chance came to sneak a morsel or two. I watched their every bite for a long, torturous time, and my stomach growled anxiously. I began to consider the chances of them kindly giving me a piece if I asked for one, but eventually decided against it. Finally, I got my chance as they started packing up camp.
Megan and Paul were taking down the tent, Sherry and Maya were packing up and removing any traces of their stay, and Cody and Drew had gone off to refill the water bottles. When the remaining four had their backs turned, I dashed up to the fire, grabbed the remaining four pieces and ran back under the safety of my bush. I began to chew happily and watched in amusement as Sherry came up and looked at the empty stake with a confused look.681Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsYPPTVTPcm
“Hey, guys,” she called over her shoulder, “What happened to the poultry?”681Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOSJIcmIcQJ
“Um… I don’t know,” replied Maya, coming up and looking on perplexedly. “Maybe one of the boys took it.”
They asked Paul about it, but he denied taking it and said that “if Cody and Drew thought they could just stuff their faces…” and some other things not worth repeating. When the two suspects returned, they were questioned also. They too denied the accusation and said that the meat was still there when they left.
All the while as I lay on my stomach spectating, I was laughing silently to myself. I wonder who will eventually receive the blame. My hopes were dashed when Maya suggested that a monster came and stole the meat. The others decided that something along those lines happened, but it would be unlike a monster to come to the camp without attacking. Then they agreed on something that sent my giggles choking back down my throat.
“It was someone else, not from this squad. And they’re probably here this very moment!”
ns 15.158.61.13da2
