《Surviving the Gods' Game》 Prologue: A New Reason Does God truly exist? Humanity for the past few centuries have struggled with this question along with many others related to God. Are there multiple gods or just one? And if God truly does exist, is humanity even an afterthought to it? So many questions about if there is a higher being and if that higher being cares for us, yet there are no true answers, only speculation. People are given answers to their questions by opportunists, who quickly gained power in the past as they were the ¡®emissaries¡¯ of beings that even the strongest of men could not hold a thumb to. Most of these opportunists were quickly realized as fakes and scorned, but for some lucky few, they were immortalized for their ¡®wisdom¡¯ and ¡®knowledge¡¯ of those above. But as time went on, humanity has become more and more desensitized to the premise of a higher being, and to some, it has just become a fiction with no base in the modern age. Such things like magic and destiny have become relegated to the fiction section on a website or bookstore. The reason why we now start to scoff at the idea of God and higher powers is because of technology and common knowledge. In the far past, humanity could easily blow off natural phenomena such as lightning or storms as ¡®magical¡¯, or ¡®the will of the Gods¡¯. But as they are now explained by science, the mysticism of them has disappeared and now merely lie in the back of people¡¯s minds rather than them being viewed as ¡®divine retribution¡¯ for a perceived wrong. As humanity learned, religion and faith waned. And unbeknownst to humanity, the beings that watched them became more and more irritated by this. SOMEWHERE IN A HIGHER REALM OF EXISTENCE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Look at how they now scoff at even the idea of us existing! Have their hubris grown so astronomical that they can¡¯t even believe that something is better than them?¡± The being that first spoke does not have a corporeal form. If a person were to look at it, they would only see a spirit-like being so big, that even the biggest man-made structures are dwarfed by it. With a reddish hue and a vaguely human-like appearance, it would be very difficult for even the most short-sighted people to not see it in front of them.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°They now mock our existence and only put us in their pitiful forms of entertainment! Where have prostrating ones gone, do they now mock us as well?¡± The being grows brighter in rage of the treatment humanity is unintentionally giving it. As it starts to think about unleashing Ragnar?k upon humanity by erupting the Pacific Rim, another being near it interrupts it. ¡°Calm now Hadeon, even though their impudence is truly infuriating, they still have some use to us.¡± The smaller being, who looks as if they are a cloud of very fine grey mist, interrupting convinces Hadeon to not send humanity to oblivion¡­ for now. ¡°It is agreeable that their lack of faith is unforgivable, we sent a prophet down a mere ten years ago and that prophet is already in a place where it can never preach for the rest of its life. But it would be a shame to ruin the millennia of fun they have given us.¡± Knowing how to appeal to the giant, the mist easily calms Hadeon down. ¡°*sigh*, you are right Khentimentiu, it would be a shame to get rid of them so abruptly but remember that this world was specifically created to create faith for us, and you know how hard that is to create! The conditions have to be just right for us to properly extract it from the shelled.¡± ¡°Of course, my friend, that much is common knowledge, it is quite hard to create enough faith to extract, refine, and then sell to the others. But when it is extracted and refined, it tastes so damn good.¡± Khentimentiu, by just remembering the taste of refined human faith, starts to shake like an addict, their misty form moving erratically. ¡°Yes, it has quite the taste, but the planet¡¯s use has quickly disappeared as the shelled have rid themselves of their faith, even though we create reasons for them to fight each other!¡± Upon hearing Hadeon¡¯s critique of Earth and its shel- ¡­ humans, Khentimentiu stops shaking and thinks. ¡°That is quite disturbing, in their past, wars created an excess of faith, which is why we caused so much of it, but if even that now fails, we must think of a new way to extract faith from them.¡± ¡°A NEW WAY?¡± Hadeon shouts at Khentimentiu. ¡°EXCUSE MY IMPUDENT RAGE, BUT WE HAVE ALREADY TRIED EVERY WAY THAT DOES NOT REQUIRE DIVINE INTERVENTION! WAR, DIVINE OCCURRENCES, WE EVEN TRIED TO TRICK THE TWO MAJOR POWERS TO KILL EACH OTHER WITH THEIR NUKES AND EVEN THAT SOMEHOW DIDN¡¯T WORK!¡± ¡°Calm now Hadeon, I understand that, which is why we must take some more¡­ drastic measures...¡± Intrigued, Hadeon focuses his being towards Khentimentiu. ¡°Oh?¡± Hadeon says, ¡°I¡¯m listening¡­¡± Time Anew: Verse 1-1: The Calm SOMEWHERE IN SOUTHWESTERN AMERICA, 2021 AD, Monday, 12:34 AM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Devin Santos turned off his car and laid back in the driver¡¯s seat, basking in the 12 AM Monday moonlight. He had just gotten into the parking lot of his apartment complex from another long day of work and it was taking everything in him to not scream like a lunatic in the car. He didn¡¯t want the neighbors to think even lower of him, if that was even possible. Ever since he started working in ¡®customer service¡¯, which, for him, is just a corporate bullshit way of saying that he is a cashier at the local Walmart, he has been slowly losing his damn mind from the people he has had to deal with. From drunk middle aged men who stumble around the store, knocking things over (which I¡¯ll be forced to put back in place) to get the liquor area in the back of the store, to the frankly obnoxious kids who run around the store screaming and squealing. To Devin, it has gotten to the point where his senses at work have dulled to the point of nothing. Some random person is berating him for no reason? ¡°Here we go again,¡± is his first thought. The toilet has been clogged by yet another asshole stuffing toilet paper or whatever the hell in the toilet this time? ¡°At least I¡¯ll be working in the back for the rest of the day.¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Occurrence after occurrence, day after day, Devin has worked there for so long that all the things that would seem absurd and unusual in a store to the common customer have become things that he just has to toil through. ¡°Damn it,¡± he thinks, ¡°if I could leave this job I¡¯d be gone without even sending the two weeks notice.¡± Sadly for him though, that wasn¡¯t an option, he needed the money to pay his rent, with the little remaining after that going into food and tuition for the local college. And at the end of the day, there wasn¡¯t enough money to splurge on something substantial. Finally calming down, he gets out of his car, makes sure to lock it, and walks to his apartment. The apartment complex and its buildings aren¡¯t special or noteworthy. There were seven different buildings. Six of them were the two story apartment buildings, they were made out of brick and each had ten apartments. As for the last building, it was a small office for the landlord to sit at his desk and nap all day. In addition to the buildings, there was a small pool in the center of the apartment buildings and a basketball court that had its nets quickly stolen every time a new set was installed. Not wanting to grab the attention of his neighbors, he quickly went to his building and entered his apartment. Compared to the outside, the inside of his apartment¡­ really wasn¡¯t that much different. Even though he has lived in the same apartment for the past few years, he never really got to decorating his small abode. Quickly tossing his keys into the small kitchen area after closing the door, he heads straight for his couch and plops himself on it. Sure he may have the energy to try to walk to his bed to pass out, but it was much easier to flop on the closer-to-the-door couch rather than spend a few more seconds walking. Quickly feeling the allure of sleep overtake him, he allows himself to relax, close his eyes, and goes to sleep, unaware of what will happen in the next few hours. Time Anew: Verse 1-2: The First Storm 2021 AD, Monday, 4:21 AM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *BOOM*¡­. *THUMP* Quickly awoken by what sounds like a large explosion, Devin frantically moves his arms and legs in a panicked manner before falling off the couch he had been sleeping on and hitting the ground in an awkward position. ¡°Son of a...¡± Cursing, he quickly wakes up due to a mix of adrenaline caused by the loud boom and the pain from falling off the couch. Fully awake now, he slowly gets up and starts to head to the door. Before reaching the door though he realizes that there is a bright reddish light shining into his house from the outside. In fact, it is so bright that it is even seeping into his apartment through the bottom of his doorway. ¡°Who the hell is shining a floodlight through my door?¡± This isn¡¯t the first time a loud noise has woken Devin up early in the morning. The first time was actually when some idiot was drunk driving on the road and somehow managed to drive his car over the curb and ram their car into his neighbor¡¯s car. He did not get any sleep after that since the neighbor got really pissed and started yelling at the drunk man. It got the point where police had to be called as the neighbor was about to start attacking the drunkard. However, this is the first time that a bright light was shining into his house. So with a grumble and a pain in his side from falling down, he opens the door. However, surprisingly to Devin, the light does not get any brighter, nor does it get any dimmer. It just shines at the same intensity as when it was shining through his window. Confused, he looks around to try and find the source of the light. As he is looking around, the people who occupy the other apartments start to come out as well, seemingly woken by the loud noise and light as well. About as grumpy and annoyed as Devin is, some of them try to look for the light that is ruining their sleep while some of the more acquainted neighbors start to talk to each other. As he is observing this, he comes to a realization, he hasn¡¯t seen a single shadow. ¡®Weird, it''s as if the light is coming from everywhere, there should be a shadow somewhere.¡¯ Proceeding to look at the ground by his feet, he doesn¡¯t see even a slimmer of a bodily shadow. Confused as to why the laws of physics were seemingly being broken, he is startled when he hears his neighbors gasping at the same time. Looking towards them, he sees them murmuring amongst themselves, eyes wide, with some of them pointing where the sun usually rises. Confused, he turns to see where they are pointing towards and immediately realizes what has them all so shocked. In what should be the horizon, there is something that is definitely not the sun rising. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. What was rising in place of the sun though, was what seemed like a giant red pillar that had a circular top. In terms of size, it would be considered a joke if the sun was compared to this monstrosity. Not even ten seconds had passed since he first saw the massive pillar when he noticed two other pillars rising alongside the first one, with both of the new pillars being about the same size as the first one. Not knowing what to do, all he can do is stare, waiting for whatever comes next. After around another 20 seconds of the pillars rising, they grind to halt and stay in the sky. Though even after they stop, all Devin can do is stare at them. ¡®Where the hell did they come from? What are they? Did they stop for a reason?...¡¯ His mind was in chaos, there was no real explanation that he could come up with that could explain what the pillars in the sky were. Even if tried to think of a ¡°reasonable¡± explanation, his mind simply could not accept every reason due to how absurd they were. But while he was trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for what the hell was going on, a noise reached his ears. ¡°G???????????r??e??????????e?????????t?????????i?????????n??????????g?????s?????,???? ??????s??????????h??????e?????????????l????????????l????????s?????????.?????? ????????????D???????o?????????n??????????????''?????????t?????? ?????w????????o???????r??????????r???????????y????? ???????y??????????o???????u???????r?????????? ??????f????????e?????????e???b?????????????l??????e?????? ?????????????m?????????i?????n????????d?????????s??????? ?????????????w????i??t????????h???????? ?????w??????h?????????o????????? ?????????I??? ????????a?????m????? ????????????o??????r???????? ????h????????o???????w?????????????? ???????I?????? ??a??????m?????? ????????????r??????????????e??????????a???????c??????h?????????i???????n???????g??????????? ???????a?????l?????l???????? ?????????????o?????????f?????? ????y???????o?????????u?????.???????????? ?????W????????????h????????????a??t????????? ??y???????????o???????????u????? ???????d???????????o???? ???????????n?????????e???????e?????????????d?????????? ?????????????t???????????o ??????k???????n??????o??????????????w??? ????????i????????s????? ??????????????t????h??????????a???t?????????? ???????f???????o???????????r????????? ??????y????o???????u???????r????????? ?????????c?????????u????????r???????????r???e???????n???????t??????????? ???????????p???????????u?????r??????????p????????????o?????s?????????e????,?????? ???????y??????????????o???????u?????? ????h?????????????a??????????v???e?????? ?????????e??????????x???????p??????i???????r????????????e??d?.?????????????¡± ???????????? Devin could not understand what the voice was saying at all. Worse, it hurt to even listen to it. But even as he tried to block out the noise by putting his hands to his ears, the voice came through to him all the same. ¡°B???????e?????? ?????g?????????????r??a????????????t?????????e??????????f????u???????l ??t?????????h??????o??????????u???????g??????h??????????,????????? ???????f??o???????????????r?????????????? ????y??o????????u?????? ???????h??????a?????ve?????? ????a????????????? ???????????n???????????????e????????????w??????? ?????????p????u?????r????p?????????????o??????s??????e???????!?????? ???T??????hi???????s????????? ???????????n?e???w????? ??p???????????u???r????????p????o?????????????s??????????e??????? ???t???????????h??????o?????????u??????????g???????h??????,??? ???????d???????o???????????????e????s??????????? ???????????n?????o??t????? ????t???a????????k??????????e??????? ???p????????l?????a??????????c???????????e? ???w???????????h????e??????r?????????e?????? ???????????y???????????o????????u????????? ???a?????????r???????e?????????,?????????? ?????f????o??????????????r??????? ??????????y???????????????o????????????u???????????? ????a??????r?????????????e???????? ?????????u??????n???d??????e?????????s?????????????e??????r??????v??????i???????n??????g????? ???????o?????f? ????????s??????u??????c????????h??? ?l???????????u??????????????x??????????u????????r????????y???????.???????????¡± As the voice continued to talk, Devin felt his consciousness slipping from him. As hard as he may try, the pain and uncomfortableness from hearing it was too much for him. ¡°F??????o???????????r???? ????n??????o???????w???? ????????????y????o????u?????? ?????????s???????h???????a??????????l?????????l????????.??????????.????.??????????¡± His mind and body simply couldn¡¯t hold on any longer as he collapsed to the ground. The last thing he saw before passing out completely was a grey mist enveloping everything around him. Time Anew: Verse 1-3: The Eye ??? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡®Uhhhh¡­ what the hell happened? Wait¡­ WHERE AM I?!¡¯ Waking up after his forced slumber, caused by the red pillars, Devin awakes to see himself soaring through space at a rapid speed. Panicked, he tries to move around to try and at least go somewhat slower than he is going currently, but quickly realizes that he can not move his arms or legs. The only thing he can really do is look around. Of course, the first thing that he does is attempt to look at himself as to why he is unable to move. ¡®Ok, legs¡­ check. Feet¡­ check. Arms¡­ check. Fingers¡­ check. Great, I still have everything, so why can¡¯t I move?¡¯ Confused, he fruitlessly attempts to move for a few more minutes before giving himself up to fate. He is going somewhere, but he has no control over where he is going. ¡®Might as well just wait for this journey to end.¡¯ Resigning himself to waiting for the end, he decides to watch the astral scenery go by, as there really isn¡¯t anything else to do other than count sheep or think to himself, and he¡¯d rather give himself a distraction than ponder what the hell is going on. ... As the planets and solar systems go by, he realizes something. ¡®Aren¡¯t I passing by planets and stars more often than I should?¡¯ ¡®Sure, I¡¯m not some space geek, but aren¡¯t solar systems really spaced out?¡¯ By now, he had gone through maybe fifteen or so different solar systems with the waits in-between each system being only around 30 seconds long. And each time they were going through a solar system, he was going at a speed at which he was able to easily look at the planets and asteroid belts that were in each system. ¡®It¡¯s almost as if there is something guiding me.¡¯ Leaving himself confused about this fact, he unwillingly continues his journey and marvels at the systems passing by him. Along his forced journey, he sees many planets and suns. One of the more interesting planets that he sees is a tidally locked planet that he flies right over. On the side of the planet facing the sun, he sees a burning wasteland with large lakes of magma on it. On the other side, the side not facing the sun, he sees another wasteland, but this time of ice.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. This alone amazes him, as he is able to see the whole picture from so close but it is the center that fascinates him. Right between the wastelands of ice and fire is a ring of green. Is there life on that planet? He does not know, but before he can think much more on it, he is sent on his way. ¡­ After a while, Devin gets bored of looking around at the planets as they now aren¡¯t any different from the ones that he has seen before. Gauging his very limited options, he decides to just look in the direction he is headed and wait for the end of the journey, whatever that is. That decision, he realizes, was a very bad mistake. ¡®Hooray¡­ yet another solar system¡­¡¯ ¡®Wait a second¡­ that planet is pretty damn close to where I¡¯m going¡­ oh¡­ OH¡­¡¯ After slowing down yet again to pass through yet another solar system, Devin realizes that he is on an impact course with a planet. What¡¯s worse is that he is not slowing down. ¡®OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT¡­¡¯ His self-preservation instinct kicking in, he starts to try and stop himself from ramming into the planet, or at least put his hands in front of him so he wouldn¡¯t have to see what he is about to hit. ¡®PLEASE STOP¡­ PLEASE STOP¡­ AT LEAST TURN DAMNIT!¡¯ Continuing to panic, he gets closer and closer to the planet with no change in the speed at which he is going and before he realizes it, he is about to ram into the planet at a speed faster than light. ¡®FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU....¡± But right as he thinks he is going to hit the planet, everything goes black. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ???, 1 PT (Year 1, Post Transfer), Day 1, 8:00 AM? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡­ ¡°SHIT!¡± Awaking with a jolt, Devin panics and starts hyperventilating, still thinking he is about to die from ramming into the planet. *Pant*... *Pant*... *Pant*... It is only when he realizes that he is lying on grass, that he starts to calm down. ¡®Was¡­ was that just a dream?¡¯ ¡®I¡¯m on solid ground¡­ but¡­ hell I really thought that I was going to die.¡¯ *Haaaahhh* Knowing that his death is now not imminent, he gets into a fetal position, staring at the grass. ¡°Heh¡­ hehe¡­ haha¡­¡± Not knowing what else to do, Devin starts to laugh at himself... ¡°Hahahaha¡­ hahahahahahaha¡­ HAHAHAHAHA!¡± ...uncontrollably. ¡°HAHAHAHAHA¡­ *inhale*... hehe HAHAHAHA¡­¡± ¡®It was just a dream! Of course it would be!¡¯ ¡°HAHAHA *cough*... *cough cough cough*...¡± Laughing himself into a coughing fit, he finally starts to calm down from his part euphoric, part fear induced state. ¡®Oh¡­ I¡¯m an idiot¡­ I¡¯m such an idiot.¡¯ *sigh* ¡®Ok, then now where the hell am I?¡¯ Finally getting out of the fetal position, he quickly looks around, only to see that there are numerous other people around him, all of whom are sleeping. Time Anew: Verse 1-4: The Eyes End ???, 1 PT, Day 1, 8:12 AM? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡®Are¡­ are they all just sleeping?¡¯ Devin did not know how many bodies there were around him, there were so many. ¡®How many people are there¡­ one thousand¡­ one and a half¡­ maybe two thousand people?¡¯ The only thing that comforts him about this situation is that there is no blood in sight. ¡®Well at least we¡¯re not the victims of some war crime¡­¡¯ Looking around he notices another odd thing. ¡®Why is everyone lined up perfectly?¡¯ The sleeping bodies around him were lined up perfectly, organized as if they were larvae gestating in honeycombs, and it was just a matter of time before they ¡®hatched¡¯ and woke up. But while they have been organized in an OCD-esque manner, the way in which some of the people are sleeping is less than ideal. Some of the people were lying face first into the ground, others seemed like they were doing yoga. ¡®Well, they sure cared about putting us in a nice orderly fashion, but they definitely did not care for how sore we would be when we woke up. I guess I¡¯m lucky to not have woken up in such a bad position...¡¯ *groan*... *GASP*... ¡°AHHH!¡± ¡®It seems like the others are waking up. Though the manner in which they wake up is quite different.¡¯ From some groggily getting up as if they were rudely woken up from a great night¡¯s rest, to others who get up screaming like a war veteran who remembers the horrors of war, to even more who¡­ are still sleeping, it seems as if everyone is getting up in their own manner. Though none of them have been as noisy as Devin¡¯s awakening. ¡®At least no one saw me have a breakdown.¡¯ Getting a better look at everyone, it seems as if people from all different backgrounds and races. Some of the people are in dapper suits that are a bit ruffled up after taking a nap on the grass. Others are just in regular clothing, most likely taken when they were out on a casual trip or when they were home when the red pillars rose. Though the pitiful part of the group are in semi-states of undress, with some not having a shirt on while wearing pants and shoes, while others have a shirt and undergarments on, but no shorts. Though luck is on the group¡¯s side when Devin does not see a single person who is buck naked, the group won¡¯t be scarred by that today. However, the people in the group start to get up, and a question pops into Devin¡¯s head ¡®Uhh¡­ should I go and greet someone, make sure that they are ok? No, that would be weird wouldn¡¯t it? Argh, what should I do¡­ it¡¯s most likely that none of these people know where we even are, which leaves them as confused and scared as I am. But also, I don¡¯t even know who any of them are¡­ what if I go up to them, try to talk to them, and they freak out at me? Maybe¡­ maybe some of these people know each other¡­ yeah¡­ someone has to know someone here.¡¯ While Devin is standing around, looking like a chicken with its head cut off, the others start looking around to see where the hell they are and then proceed to ask the question, ¡°Where am I?¡± None of them know where they are, so they proceed to try and ask the people around them if they know. ¡®It seems like there are some people talking to each other.¡¯ *Phew* ¡®Seems like it was a good idea to wait and see what the others would do. Oh, it seems like everyone is up now. Guess I¡¯ll just wait then.¡¯ Satisfied with how things are unfolding, Devin leaves it to the others to try and organize the confused group. *Poke* ¡°Gah!¡± However, his peace has been rudely interrupted by someone lightly poking him in the side, scaring him and causing him to jump away a little from where he was originally standing. Quickly turning around to see who had approached him, he sees a woman. The woman has a fair complexion whose head is adorned with nearly jet black hair that goes down to her back and is very unkempt. ¡®With her brown eyes and the freckles on her face, I think it would be a good guess to think that she has a European heritage.¡¯ As for the rest of her body, which Devin took a quick glance at, she is only a little shorter than him, maybe about a 2 inch (5 cm) difference between the two of them. And while she is also on the slimmer side when it comes to her stature, she is not underweight or malnourished. However, her clothes leave questions with Devin that he is definitely not willing to ask. She is wearing simple clothes, a plain hoodie, t-shirt, pants and shoes that are a bit too big for her. However it is the state of her clothes that causes the questions. They are worn, with tears being very common and soles of the shoes looking like they are about to fall off at any moment. While Devin wanted to ask A LOT of questions about how she ended up in this state, there were more pressing matters, like why the woman approached him.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°Um, hello¡­¡± The woman just stares at him, not saying anything. ¡°Can¡­ can you understand me?¡± Nodding her head, she affirms that she can, in fact, understand what Devin is saying. ¡°Cool, cool¡­ well I¡¯m guessing you have no idea where we are either?¡± She nods again, quickly looking around at the people surrounding them before returning her attention back to Devin. ¡°Well that was to be expected, umm¡­ well I¡¯m Devin¡­ I guess we should get to know each other since we may be stuck together for a while.¡± Raising her head and tilting her head, she looks quizzically at Devin before making motions with her hands. ¡®Why is she making hand gestures? Is she¡­¡¯ ¡°Are you mute?¡± She nods. ¡®Oh great, while everyone else seems like they are having panicked conversations with each other, I¡¯m stuck with the one person who is unable to speak. Worse, I don¡¯t even know sign language!¡¯ ¡°Ok then, well I guess I¡¯ll be straight with you, I don¡¯t understand what you are trying to say with your hands, I can¡¯t speak ASL.¡± (American Sign Language) Another confused look comes on her face as she starts to sign again, before quickly realizing the futility of it and sighing in defeat. ¡°Are you¡­ not speaking ASL?¡± She shakes her head. ¡®¡°So what are you signing then¡­ ah forget that, I wouldn¡¯t understand anyways.¡± The woman looks at Devin with annoyance, clearly frustrated with the way this conversation is going. ¡°At least you can understand English then¡­¡± Giving a belated sigh, Devin gives another look at the others. The people around him and the mute woman he is with seem to be getting more organized, with small groups of people merging with other groups. However, when he turns back to the woman, he sees that she is clearly confused, looking intently at him. ¡°What?¡± Using VERY simple hand gestures that everyone would be able to understand, she attempts to tell Devin what is wrong. She first points at Devin before making a talking gesture with her hand. Then she proceeds to point at herself and shake her head. ¡°Um, when I¡¯m speaking¡­ you can¡¯t do something?¡± The woman repeats the same gestures, however she points more distinctly at her ear when pointing at herself. ¡°You can¡¯t understand me? But you just said you understand what I am saying.¡± Frustrated at the point, the woman repeats the gestures but with more intensity. ¡°You don¡¯t¡­ understand English?¡± Relieved, she nods her head frantically. ¡°Wait¡­ then how can you understand what I am saying? I¡¯m speaking English¡­¡± The woman¡¯s eyes wide, she looks around at the others seemingly coming to a realization that Devin hasn¡¯t come to yet. Looking at Devin again, the woman motions for him to look around and listen to what the others are saying. ¡®Ok then, but all I hear is¡­ wait¡­ all I hear is people speaking English. But she said that she can¡¯t understand English but can seemingly understand what everyone is saying too. How is everybody understanding each other?¡¯ Before he can voice his suspicion to the woman though, he sees a gray mist coming from the horizon. The mist quickly spreads before anyone can react to it though, completely covering the sky. ¡®What the hell?¡¯ Everyone has noticed too, looking up to see what is covering the sky. They continue to look at the sky for a few lingering seconds before a voice starts to talk in Devin¡¯s mind. ¡°Greetings shells, you do not know who I am, and that is to be expected.¡± Frantically looking around, Devin looks to see who is talking, but only sees everyone else doing the same thing. ¡°To cut to the chase, since I shouldn¡¯t bother spending any more time than needed with you, I own you all, and you have been lacking in true faith, which is a big no no.¡± ¡®Faith? What does that have to do with anything with us being kidnapped? Is this a trick for us to believe in their God or something?¡¯ Devin does not understand what the voice is talking about, misinterpreting what the voice is referring to. ¡°And since you don¡¯t produce enough true faith, you have been given another purpose. As entertainment!¡± Murmuring starts to take hold among the people in the group as they are confused as to what the voice means by that. However, the woman next to Devin has a very different reaction and starts to frantically look around before tugging on Devin¡¯s shirt. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Looking at the woman, Devin sees that she is clearly nervous and most likely scared. She then proceeds to start tugging harder on Devin¡¯s shirt, trying to tell him that they need to move. ¡°Since you have this new purpose, I have decided to grace you with telling you your goal, which is simply, SURVIVE. Nothing more to it, all you need to do is survive in this new, unblemished world that we- I have found for you¡­¡± At this point the woman has stopped tugging on Devin¡¯s shirt and is now pulling on his arm like her life depended on it. She wanted them anywhere but here and she was doing her damn best to achieve that. ¡°Ok, ok, I¡¯m following you lady, so stop treating my arm like it¡¯s an object!¡± The two of them move through the group, with the woman seemingly intent on getting away from the rest. For the woman, the voice speaking is a race against time, for the rest of the people though, the voice is merely giving introductions to what is going on. ¡°I don¡¯t care what you all do to try and survive, sacrifice each other for all I care, all it would do is make it more interesting for me. What I do care about though, is that there is no one that tries to¡­ give up. Because if you do that, I¡¯ll be sure to give those who do attempt to give up a fate worse than death.¡± By now, the two are at the edge of the group, but while Devin wants to stop and wait, the woman continues to pull on his arm, urging him to get more distance from the group. Confused by the woman¡¯s desperate persistence, he continues to let her lead him. ¡°Now that that is done with, let us start with an opening ceremony of sorts because I don¡¯t want a boring beginning to the fun I shall have!¡± Suddenly, around two dozen lights appear in and around the group. Confused about the lights appearing in his peripheral vision, Devin stops and looks to see what is going around in the group. This does not go well with the woman leading him though, as she is also stopped by him. The woman quickly looks at the group before focusing on tugging Devin¡¯s arm, urging him to keep following her. ¡°Hey we already have some distance from the group, we should be fine.¡± The woman ignores his reasoning and continues to tug. The mist and lights then start to fade away, with the mist clearing from the sky and one last word coming from the mysterious voice. ¡°Make sure to give me lots of entertainment!¡± With that, the mist is gone and the lights have almost disappeared, revealing something that was in them. Wolves. Time Anew: Verse 1-5: The Second Storm ???, 1 PT, Day 1, 8:33 AM? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wolves. The bane of primitive human society, when we were nothing more than hunter-gatherers. We tamed them, of course, but that took generations of wolves to occur at the cost of many lives. These wolves, though, do not even know what a human looks like, they do not fear us or are even wary of us like wolves are on Earth. No, these wolves are born and bred hunters, who see the humans around them only as their prey. Of course, these just weren¡¯t regular wolves, these were a pack of dire wolves. Stronger, faster and much more intelligent than their brethren, they could easily spot an enemy¡¯s weak points and strike with deadly precision before their enemy could even realize what was going on. The humans were either stunned or confused. To the people who can see the wolves, the creatures were suddenly teleported right next to them by the light. ¡®Impossible,¡¯ was the one word that came to this group of people. To the other group, the ones who could not see the danger that was around them, they were still wondering about what the ¡®opening ceremony¡¯ was. As for the dire wolves, they were a bit dazed, they did not know where they were and did not see any of their pack. The only things they really saw were numerous odd, bipedal creatures that were looking at them like a deer looks at an incoming truck in the night. But the wolves knew one thing for sure, and that was that they were STARVING. They thought that they were alone at first, until one of them decided to howl. From that first howl, came another howl, and then another, until all the wolves were howling. The wolves now knew that they had brethren around them, and that the creatures around them still hadn¡¯t moved. If the dire wolves could think, they would all simultaneously think two simple words. ¡®Free food.¡¯ That was when all hell started to break loose. Every dire wolf turned to one of the humans surrounding them, bared their fangs, and pounced. The last thing that twenty-four humans saw was a wolf turning to them, baring their fangs at them, and then having their necks chomped on. When the wolves pounced on their victims, the fight, flight, or freeze instincts in the ones who saw the wolves kicked in. While some people started to try and help the victims by prying the wolves off of them, others could do nothing but stare and watch as their fellow human¡¯s eyes dimmed until there was no light left in them. The lucky (or smart if that¡¯s how you think they are) ones immediately started running for the hills, not caring if someone else died so that they could live. It was at this point when the screaming started, which alerted the people who did not know what was going on that, indeed, there was something going on. They saw some people running, others standing still, and even more trying to help the wolves¡¯ first targets by either prying the wolves off them or kicking the wolves. There was no controlling the situation from there as the panic became worse than when a violent riot was being quelled. No one knew where to run, so people started to run in every direction. They were running into each other, shoving and pushing, trying to get somewhere that was even remotely safe. The wolves didn¡¯t make the situation any better. They were smart, they knew that even with their first kills that there would be more food around for them to catch and save for later consumption. They didn¡¯t want just an entree, they wanted a full five-course meal. So after making sure that their catches weren¡¯t going anywhere any time soon, they looked around for their next meal. For most, it was one of people standing still in fear. Easy prey, all things considered. For a few though, they were being ganged up on by the humans so much that they had to back away. However, those few wolves backing away was not a good thing as when they backed away, they decided to group up with another dire wolf and gang up on the humans. This led to the grouped dire wolves creating a sort of pattern which was deadly for the humans who were trying to help others. When one of the wolves attacked a human, the other waited a little until some people tried to help, and then pounced on one of the people trying to help. By now about a minute had passed since the wolves started attacking the humans. The first 24 people attacked were dead and the next 24 were either bleeding out, currently having their throats ripped out, or in a futile struggle to get the wolves off of them.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Some of the fighters, seeing that their attempts to help their fellow man were futile, decided to take their chances and run as well. \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ While all of this was happening, Devin was watching in horror as the wolves proved their worthiness of being an ¡®opening ceremony.¡¯ From an outside view, like which Devin had, he could see that the wolves were enough to quickly cause chaos, but not enough to wipe everyone out. Quick enough to catch the humans off-guard, but not quick enough that the humans couldn¡¯t see what was coming at them. Strong, but not strong enough to kill the average human with ease. They were smart, but not smart enough to corral the humans. Crude, but effective¡­ that is what the wolves were. ¡®There is no way I¡¯m going in there, I¡¯ll die the moment I try to help one of them.¡¯ Devin could only watch in horror at the carnage in front of him. And as Devin stood there dazed, the mute woman, who is probably the only reason Devin is alive at this point, continued to tug on his arm with more and more desperation as time went on. \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ The area that the group was initially in is now basically abandoned. The people that stood still in fear of the dire wolves have either started to run away or have watched their fates be sealed by the sharp teeth of the wolves. The people that attempted to save the others have also either ran or been caught off-guard by the wolves who ambushed them. As for the first runners, they have a head-start on everyone else, and as long as they either sabotage those catching up, are fast enough, or are just not slow. All that is left where the group originally was is the corpses of the wolves¡¯ victims and the dire wolves themselves. They have enough meat to fill them for a while. Their needs are filled. But it isn¡¯t what they NEED now, it is what they WANT. And what they WANT is to send a message to the weak creatures trying to run away from them. They did not like being rudely interrupted by the braver creatures who tried to disrupt their meal. They did not like it one bit. So to send a message, they decided to chase the runners and catch some of them. That message is, ¡°You are prey, and we are the predators.¡± With their initial kills left bleeding on the grass, the dire wolves out a piercing group howl, sending fear into the people running away. The runners dare not look back for fear of what may be behind them. After the howl finishes, the hunt starts, with the wolves looking for their first targets. \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ As the wolves finish their second kills, Devin finally snaps out of his stupor and realizes that he isn¡¯t safe where he is and that he needs to start running. Finally realizing that the mute woman by him is pulling on his arm, he acknowledges what she is doing and they start to run away. However, as he starts to run away, Devin can¡¯t help himself but take one look back. He sees people running in all directions away from where the dire wolves are, with no real coordination in sight. Closer to him, he sees other people running towards him, not caring who is in front or beside them. A few of them are shoving or tripping others so that they won¡¯t get eaten by the wolves. Seeing enough, he turns back towards the woman in front of him and follows her lead. It isn¡¯t long before he hears the piercing howl of the wolves and starts to dread what that howl means. It isn¡¯t long before he hears distant screams that are quickly followed by silence, a grim tale telling him that wolves aren¡¯t done yet. \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ The weak, bipedal creatures aren¡¯t even a challenge to the dire wolves. It¡¯s basically free meat! Quickly catching the first group of runaway creatures, they make sure that the creatures below them are dead before going off for a second group of runners, easily catching those ones as well. Once the second group runners were dead, they knew that their message was sent and that they had food to last them for a while. As long as it didn¡¯t spoil, of course. With one last howl, this time signifying victory, dominance, and of a good meal to come, the wolves start dragging the running they killed back to the spot where the group of creatures originally was. \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ All Devin could do was run, and run, and run. After that first howl, he didn¡¯t dare look back. Not at the people behind him and definitely not at the wolves that may be behind him. While running, he swore that he heard another howl, but he was too focused on trying to escape to really listen to anything. He didn¡¯t know how long he was running for, but his instincts were telling him that he hadn¡¯t run far enough. So he listened to them and continued running, following the mute woman who was uncannily nimble. After a short while, Devin saw a treeline, which the mute woman ahead of him immediately started heading towards. Once they passed it, they kept running until neither of them could see where they had entered the forest. When they did finally stop, Devin and the mute woman immediately collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Neither of them knew they had the stamina to run that hard for that hard. In fact, they didn¡¯t, and as the adrenaline wore off, their bodies refused to work with them, only allowing them to move their bodies so that they were facing the sky. Time Anew: Verse 1-6: The Silence After Around 3 Kilometers Past The Treeline, 1 PT, Day 1, 8:55 AM? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Devin and the mute lay on the ground for a while, their muscles screaming at them from the overextension they just gave themselves. If there was anything certain, it was the muscle pain that will linger for the next couple of days. The adrenaline had worn off by now and the true extent of their pains had just begun, with every movement becoming a laborious, herculean effort. They did not want to get up, but they knew that they must in order to survive. With much effort, Devin turned his body so that his head was facing the ground and, with some effort, he was able to get on his hands and knees. Even this movement brings him to a state less than that of a toddler, as even a toddler could get up on their feets and wobble-walk around. Compared to the average toddler, he could barely keep himself on his hands and knees. His leg muscles hurt like hell, as to him, it seemed like he had just run a marathon trying to escape the dire wolves. Any time he tried to move his calves, he would feel immense stinging pain, making every attempt to move excruciating. The soles of his feet weren¡¯t doing any better as they stung in pain every time he tried to put pressure on them. Devin¡¯s lungs weren¡¯t doing any better, in fact they were probably doing worse. Like a man being scalded by boiling oil, his lungs burned with an intensity that he had never thought possible before. Every breath was painful with his lungs working in overdrive to try and give him as much fresh oxygen as possible. As a result, his throat felt unnervingly cold with every breath maintaining the coldness in his throat. Sweat is coming out of basically every pore in his body as he had never run this hard in his life before. Though it makes sense, since he has never had to run for his life before, living in one of the safer places on Earth. But that boon on Earth is now a curse in the place that he is now. Gathering up his energy to try and find a better place to rest, Devin looked to a nearby tree that looked very alluring. ¡®That tree looks like a good spot to rest.¡¯ Even with every fiber of his lower body fighting against him, he manages to move himself so that he is sitting on the grass. Then, by carefully using his arms to drag his body over to the tree, he manages to avoid any unnecessary pain getting to the tree. Once he does get to the tree, he positions himself so that his backing is leaning against the tree.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡®I¡¯m gonna¡­ rest here for a bit longer¡­¡¯ Not long after getting to the tree himself, the mute followed his lead and positioned herself so that she was leaning on the same tree but with little distance between them. She did not acknowledge that Devin was even resting on the tree as well. Rather, she was focused on trying to recover. With the mute ignoring him, Devin unconsciously decided to ignore her as well and focus on trying to recover from the escape, looking at the ground with his arms planted on the ground, making sure his body doesn¡¯t slide off the tree. After resting for around 3 minutes, Devin hears the mute shuffling around. Curious as to what she is doing, he looks at her. She is seemingly doing better than him, as she is now standing up, but leaning against the tree to keep her balance. Unaware of Devin staring at her, Devin sees that she is looking around warily. Following the mute¡¯s lead, he looks around as well, only to see that there are other people around them also still trying to catch their breath. ¡®Did¡­ did these people follow us?¡¯ ¡®Why did they follow us this far? We were running for so long¡­ wait¡­ did they follow us because we were already running away when those wolves started to attack everyone?¡¯ Confused and wary of the people that had followed them, he decided to closely observe the person that was closest to him and the mute. The person who was closest to them was still on the ground, coughing and wheezing like his life depended on it. He had a dark complexion and looked like he was in good shape as his arms and legs were toned with muscle and Devin could not see any fat on the man¡¯s body, making the man look like a bodybuilder if it weren¡¯t for his construction attire. ¡®He probably did a lot of lifting for work and not a lot of running if he looks that good in shape but is that tired.¡¯ The man was seemingly wearing a construction uniform, as he was dressed in work boots, blue jeans, and a blue shirt with long sleeves with a bright yellow construction jacket over the shirt. There was a lot of dirt on his clothes, possibly from the work he was doing before being transported here, but the parts of his body that were showing told a different story as he was clean as a whistle. Of course, there were other people as well and, to Devin, it seemed like the group had people that came from all over Earth. The most notable group of people looked like they came from Eastern Asia, being from either China, Japan, or the Korean Peninsula, with a little under half the group looking like they came from that area of the world. The rest of the group, however, looked like they came from all over. There were some that looked like they came from India, others that looked like they came from the Middle East, even more that seemed like they had European heritage and others that had African heritage. To finish up the group, there were a couple that seemed like they were from Latin America. Aside from taking a close look at the construction worker however, Devin could not care enough to take a closer look at the other people other than the cursory glance he had just done as he was still ungodly tired from all the running. Who knew how much more time there was before another creature came to attack them. Time Anew: Verse 2-1: Autolysis Around 3 Kilometers Past The Treeline, 1 PT, Day 1, 9:15 AM? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Each person stayed focused on themselves for a while longer, catching their breaths and then looking around and observing the people around them. For a while, no one really wanted to say the first word as the sense of imminent danger was still very prominent. It took a few more minutes of very awkward silence before someone decided to speak up. ¡°Allah truly has forsaken us¡­ is this our punishment for wronging him so badly?¡± The man who first spoke up had an Arabic look to him. He was wearing a keffiyeh on his head which hid most of his hair with the exception of his somewhat messy beard and wore a thawb that covered nearly his entire body. While the man wasn¡¯t old per se, he had a look on his face that told others that, if asked, he could give wisdom beyond his years. While the Arabic man who was speaking wasn¡¯t really talking to the group in particular, it caught the attention of everyone in the group. ¡°Well it seemed like your God didn¡¯t really care about us to begin with, from the way that¡­ mist¡­ was talking.¡± The next person to speak up was a man who looked like they were of East Asian descent who, even though he was drenched in sweat and sounded exhausted, exuded an authoritative demeanor that demanded respect through the way that he talked. With well-trimmed hair and eyebrows, near jet-black eyes and a face that was well manicured, it was easy to tell that the man was in a top position wherever he used to work on Earth. He was dressed in black business attire that had a slight coat of grass on it, with the undershirt being drenched in sweat and his tie being fully on the outside of his suit. His suit pants weren¡¯t doing any better as the knees had a faint green on them. ¡°If there was a God that was looking out for us, I¡¯m quite sure that they would have done something before we were taken to this damned place.¡± ¡°Allah forgive me for my sins, I have wronged you yet I know not how¡­¡± The Arabic man ignored the well-dressed man¡¯s statements and continued to try and pray for forgiveness. ¡°Clearly the man has lost it¡­ Anyways, does anyone know where the hell we are?¡± For a moment there was a tense silence. No one wanted to say that they didn¡¯t know, as they were all hoping that there was someone else that would be able to recognize where they are, or at least, be familiar with the flora around them. The group didn¡¯t just want that hope, they needed it. And so there was silence, and no voice came in aid. ¡°We can figure that out later, we should keep moving.¡± Another voice came out from the group, this one a woman¡¯s. At first glance, she was also of East Asian descent. However, compared to the businessman, her face was more of a mess. Before getting transported to wherever they were, she definitely had a light coat of mascara on her face, which has now led to her face to look like she had just gotten through a breakdown that occurs after breaking up with someone. Compared to the Arabic man or the businessman, she was dressed more casually as she was just wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. ¡°And why should we do that? Can¡¯t you see that we are all tired?¡± The businessman snapped at his casually dressed female counterpart. ¡®The businessman has a point.¡¯ Devin thought. ¡®We¡¯re all so exhausted that some of us can still barely stand!¡¯ There were still some people that were sitting on the ground, listening to what the two were saying and others that were leaning on trees, legs visibly shaking. ¡°Well old man, what if those wolves are still on our ass? I sure as hell don¡¯t want to get eaten today!¡±A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. As the woman makes her point, Devin looks at the mute to try and understand what she is thinking and sees that she is nodding her head, agreeing with what the woman is saying. Looking to the others as well, he sees the realization in their eyes as well as a tinge of fear in some of them and outright fear in others. Thus, as quickly as the woman¡¯s point was made, the others started to get up in order to keep on moving into the forest. ¡®Hah¡­ well, nothing is a better motivator than the fear of death.¡¯ As everyone got up to start moving again, the businessman looked around and realized that his case was lost. ¡°Fine, you make a good point, let¡¯s keep moving then.¡± Thus the group started to move again, for fear of sharp teeth, claws and a painful death. Around 9 Kilometers Past The First Treeline, 1 PT, Day 1, 11:54 AM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡®How long have we been walking for? We¡¯ve been walking forever and the sun still isn¡¯t at its highest¡­¡¯ Nothing about their surroundings had really changed since they had started walking. They were still in a forest that seemingly had no end, except from where they had entered. The trees looked all the same, looking very similar to their Earthen counterpart, the oak tree. Devin wasn¡¯t sure though, since the only reference he had to an oak tree were a few pictures that he saw on the internet and the trip he went on many years ago. The only difference between the Earth tree and the trees they were walking under now was that the current trees, instead of having green leaves, had white leaves. This did not help the group as the leaves made it feel like the trees deserved to be in graveyards and alone rather than bunched up together and making a forest. As for the group, they continued to walk together, huddled close. Each person was almost constantly close enough to bump into another person at all times. No one wanted to be left behind, they feared being abandoned by the others if they were too weak to keep on going and no one had the belief that anyone in the group would help them if they fell. To Devin, it was easy to hear the constant, labored breaths of the people around him. He could easily understand why they were breathing heavily, he was breathing heavily himself. Meanwhile, Devin¡¯s legs were killing him, screaming at him to stop moving and to take a break. The calf muscles told him to stop, they needed rest. His soles and heels screamed in agony, they were screaming in pain like banshees. His lungs were only doing a little better, he would wind himself if he even pushed himself a little bit. ¡®I want to stop, but I can¡¯t. I have to keep going. I have to keep up with the group.¡¯ It was a battle of mind over matter. Willpower over instant self-gratification. ¡®If I stop, then the whole group will stop and everyone will start to tell me off¡­¡¯ If there was something that Devin wasn¡¯t, it was that he was in no way stand-offish. He did not want to stand out in the slightest and was more than content to just be another face in the pack. Even if it meant that he suffered in the process, to him, the results more than exceeded the costs. ¡®Just don¡¯t focus on the pain, don¡¯t focus on the pain, don¡¯t focus on the pain¡­¡¯ As he kept repeating the mantra in his head, the group continued on their journey through the forest with no real destination in mind with the mute staying close to him as had been the case since the two had first met a few hours ago. With the only noises heard being the swaying of leaves and the footsteps of the group, Devin was able to have some time to himself to think about the past few hours. ¡®What were those red pillars that appeared before I got transported¡­ no, kidnapped? What the hell is the right word for it? Teleported? Ahhhh god damnit. Whatever, I¡¯ll just go with transported.¡¯ ¡®Back to the pillars, they were so tall that I couldn''t even see the end of them! How tall could they possibly be for them to take up that much space? They had to be tens of thousands of kilometers long! Not to mention to appear so suddenly¡­¡¯ ¡®I just can¡¯t wrack my head around it, just how? How is that even possible? I¡¯m not crazy, the people that were around me before I got transported saw it as well, I¡¯m not crazy¡­ But how? How is that even possible? Cloaking technology? Some very advanced alien civilization? No¡­ that wouldn¡¯t make any sense, what would they want with us? It wouldn¡¯t just be for entertainment like what that gray mist was talking about¡­¡¯ Devin started to go in loops about what the red towers were, what their purpose was, and how they appeared so suddenly. There was no reason that he could logically come up with that would explain all the things that had occurred. He wasn¡¯t able to get far with his looping thoughts however. ¡°EEEEE!¡± A shriek came from the front of the group, causing Devin to jump out of his thoughts. ¡°What is¡­ *GASP*!¡± ¡°Shut it what are¡­ you¡­¡± Multiple voices came from the front of the group, but Devin couldn¡¯t tell who was talking. ¡®What are they so shocked about? It must be¡­¡¯ As he is thinking, some of the people in the front rush to nearby trees and start to puke while others in the front either get to their knees and look down or walk away, allowing the people, which included Devin, to see what they saw. ¡®Oh¡­ fuck¡­¡¯ Time Anew: Verse 2-2: Bloat 10 Kilometers From Where the Dire Wolves Attacked, 1 PT, Day 1, 12:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°What the fuck¡­¡± Nothing could have prepared him for that sight. ¡®Shit, I¡¯m gonna be sick¡­¡¯ Devin¡¯s stomach immediately started to churn when he saw it. The meager food that he had eaten from before he was transferred to this place started to come up and nothing could stop it. His mind was too focused on the sight in front of him and the contents of his stomach, some fast food and generic breakfast cereal, were coming up too quickly for him to react. Realizing that there was no stopping it, he quickly went to a nearby tree that wasn¡¯t already occupied and started to vomit on the tree. He didn¡¯t wantsing, it was hard to tell if the body was male or female. Both lungs were punctured and coll to look at it again, he didn¡¯t want to look at the corpse. The body, to put it lightly, was brutalized to an extent that it was hard to say if an animal did this or not. From what Devin quickly saw, he saw that there was a lot of blood that was outside of their body. If he could give his best guess, he would think that there was at least a gallon of blood outside of the body, with the most amount of blood outside of the body seemingly stemming from the head. The first thing that a person would notice about the body was that there was no head. It wasn¡¯t lying around anywhere near, it was just¡­ missing. Parts of flesh dangled precariously from the neck, insinuating that whatever did this had no care for precision when removing the head. The next thing that someone would see would be that the chest of the body was destroyed beyond comprehension, with there being multiple, erratic, exit wounds that allowed an outside observer to easily look at the body¡¯s chest and stomach cavities. The wounds on the chest were so bad that, with the head misapsed and the heart was nowhere to be seen inside the body, the only real possible answer to where it went was a puddle of blood that had formed in a shrub that was a little ways away from the body. The person¡¯s intestines were, somehow, in an even worse state as it seemed as if they were played around with, with most of the small intestine lying around the corpse. ¡®Oh fuck¡­ oh fuck¡­ oh fuck¡­¡¯ Devin puked and puked, releasing everything that he had onto the tree, until all he could do was dry heave onto the tree. He dare not look down at the contents of his stomach and he definitely dare not look at the body again. It was just too gruesome for him. The difference between seeing a dead body on the television and seeing one in real life was a drastic difference that he did not, and could not, expect. They never described how strong the smell of iron was from the blood. They never showed how the organs somewhat deflated after death, making the small intestine a macabre hanger line for the truly deranged. So many things that they didn¡¯t tell, so many things Devin could not prepare for. Once he stopped dry heaving onto the tree, he collapsed to his knees, panting and trying to regain his breath. The others who had also rushed to relieve themselves of the remaining contents of their stomachs were also in the same state. None dared to look at the mutilated body. Even those few who had resisted the instinctual urge to puke looked away, some consoling those who were mentally breaking down and others doing nothing but look away. ¡®Fuck¡­ what the fuck¡­ what the fuck happened to them?¡¯ While he wasn¡¯t breaking down as badly as some of the others, his own mind was still trying to reject the reality in front of him. ¡®This¡­ this isn¡¯t real right? There¡¯s no way that this can be real¡­ this can¡¯t be¡­¡¯ As his mind started looping in order to protect itself, he unconsciously curled up into a fetal position and sunk his head into his legs, wanting to reject reality. ¡®Oh shit¡­ oh shit¡­ please let me wake up. Please please please. Let this be a bad dream.¡¯ He hoped and hoped for something to happen, a miracle, anything. But nothing came, no help, no salvation, no waking up. Nothing. ¡®Fuck¡­ why is this happening?¡¯ As much as he wanted to reject everything that was around him, he couldn¡¯t. His mind was still somewhat grounded to reality, like an anchor that refuses to leave the ocean floor for a reason unknown to the sailor. Yet, it was also this anchoring that forced him to go in circles, instead of sailing away into insanity. 3 Kilometers From the Body, 1 PT, Day 1, 8:30 PM ---- -- --- == -- =- =-- -== -= --- --- =-=- -= -=- -=- - =-- --=- === -=- - ---= - -=- The group had moved on from the body around 30 minutes after encountering it, but not before an argument broke out about what to do with the body. It was almost a repeat of the last argument, as the East Asian businessman took one side¡­ ¡°Just leave the body, as dreadful as what happened to it, there is nothing that we can do. We must keep going forward!¡± And the Middle Eastern man took the other side after muttering a prayer and saying, ¡°Forgive me but I do not know the direction of Mecca.¡±Stolen story; please report. ¡°That would be disrespectful to the person who had passed! We must at least cover them with a cloth!¡± ¡°What cloth can we cover it with then? We have no extra clothing to cover it with!¡± Without a word, the Arab man then took off his thawb, revealing a t-shirt and pants that were also white. Draping the white thawb over the body, the cloth quickly started turning red, but it did not matter to the Arab man, the businessman, or the rest of the group, as they started to move away from the site. This action also shut the businessman up as they left, as the businessman was not expecting this act of self-sacrifice. With the innate paranoia that whatever destroyed that person¡¯s body was still somewhere nearby, the group quickly took off. Those that were most impacted were practically dragged away by the others in order to bring the group to a place with some semblance of safety. This severely affected the group¡¯s speed. Devin wasn¡¯t one of the people who had to be dragged away, but he was still heavily impacted by the sight. However, as the group was leaving he could still see parts of the lower intestine peeking out from under the now bloodied thawb, causing him to reflexively gag and turn his head away. ¡®I¡¯m not going to get used to that sight anytime soon.¡¯ = -- == - --=- === -=- ==- - = ---, = ---- - == -- =- =-- -=- - == - == =--- - -=- --- The sun had almost set As time went on, he noticed that there were still some people that were broken by the sight. One was still shaking in fear and another had cried their eyes dry, making their eyes very bloodshot. They didn¡¯t get very far before stopping though, as everyone in the group was now thirsty, not having drank anything since getting transported to this place. Where there was a steady march, there was now a slow crawl. Of course, with the poor conditions that the group was in, discontent started to grow. ¡°How much longer do we need to walk? We¡¯ve walked so far already!¡± Devin didn¡¯t see who spoke out as he was focused on himself, but it was a new voice, and they sounded tired. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ve gone far enough, we should rest for the night.¡± As more and more people sounded their agreement to rest for the night, the construction worker, who was near the front of the group, stopped and turned around, causing the whole group to come to a halt. ¡°Now all of you listen up!¡± It was the first time that he had talked, and while his voice didn¡¯t demand authority like the businessman, his voice was deep enough and spoke with enough sway to shut everyone¡¯s whining up to listen to what he had to say. ¡°I understand that you all want to just sit down and rest right now, hell I want to too!¡± ¡°But I also know that I could use some water right now. Now, I don¡¯t know about you but I would rather get a good drink in before resting for the night.¡± The group started to look around at each other. They were definitely tired, but they were also thirsty, hungry, and scared. For Devin, it became a matter of which pain to alleviate first. ¡®If we stop now, we can rest for tomorrow and maybe my sore muscles will finally go away¡­¡¯ ¡®But if we stop now, who knows when we¡¯ll find water, if we¡¯ll find water at all for that matter!¡¯ He couldn¡¯t consciously choose what to do as both options sounded more than appealing. The rest of the group seemed more resolute on what to do though. No one sat on the ground and just kept staring at the construction worker, silently giving their answer. ¡°Well alright then¡­¡± the construction worker looked around, acknowledged the silent answer of the group, and turned around to keep the group moving. = ---- - -=- --= -=-- - === --=- = ---- -=- - - Luckily for the group, with how big the forest was, it wasn¡¯t long before they came across a small pond. ¡®Water!¡¯ Once they laid eyes upon the pond, most of the group rushed to the edge and got on their knees, greedily swallowing as much water as they could. While some of the people cupped water into their hands to drink in that manner, others plunged their heads right into the water. Devin was one of those other people. *Splash* ¡®Oh it¡¯s so cold¡­ and so good!¡¯ The water, untainted and unpolluted by man, was as refreshing as it could ever be. ¡®So good¡­ I need more though.¡¯ Dunking his head into the water again, he drank as much as his lungs could hold oxygen. *GASP* Pulling his head out of the water again, somewhat satiated by the amount of water that he drank, he took a quick look at the others. Unsurprisingly, the rest of the group was doing the same thing as Devin, gorging themselves on water. The mute, hair and face wet, was now cupping more water with her hands and swallowing it as fast as she could. There was also the college student who,somewhat satisfied with the amount of water she drank, now washed the messed up mascara off her face. ¡®Hey, she isn¡¯t a total fashion disaster anymore!¡¯ There was also the businessman, who, despite being as parched as the rest of the group, didn¡¯t plunge his head in the water and was still cupping water with his hands, the rest of his body dry. The rest of the group was doing similar things too, all of them focused on satiating themselves as much as possible. Once the group finished drinking though, a tidal wave of tiredness swept the group. ¡®Oh, wow, I need to lie down.¡¯ Devin¡¯s eyes started to sag, and a yawn passed through him. ¡®That tree looks like it has some nice shade. Maybe I¡¯ll lie down over there.¡¯ Moving over to the tree, he sits down and leans his back up against the bark. ¡®Fuck, I¡¯ve never moved this much in my entire life.¡¯ It felt like everything ached and the only reprieve was rest. ¡®I think I¡¯m going to close my eyes for a bit, I need it.¡¯ Moving himself so that he is fully laying on the grass, he closes his eyes, and not long after, falls asleep. Unaware to Devin, the rest of the group had the same idea. They moved themselves to areas close to where Devin was, but didn¡¯t get close enough to touch him. They had all just met earlier that day and none of them trusted one of the other people enough to sleep next to them. Thus, within a few minutes of each other, the whole fell asleep under the new night sky and the white-leaved trees. However, in their rush to drink water from the pond and then fall asleep afterwards, they all failed to notice the slight tinge of red on some of the trees¡¯ leaves. Time Anew: Verse 2-3: Active The Pond, 1 PT, Day 2, 2:21 AM -== ---- -= = -- --- --=- -= -- = ---- The night was not as calm as the group would have liked¡­ ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡± Devin was rudely woken up by a shriek that sounded almost like a banshee. ¡®The hell?¡¯ Quickly getting up from the damp grass and onto his feet, he looked around to see what was going on. It was the middle of the night and visibility was terrible, to say the least, with the only light source coming from the moons. ¡°What¡¯s going on?!¡± Several members of the group were looking around to try and find out what was going on while the rest of the group was still getting to their feet, all the while the screaming continued. Several thoughts were racing through Devin¡¯s mind. ¡®Should I run? Or should I try and find out what¡¯s actually going on? But I don¡¯t even know any of these people¡­ so why the hell should I help if helping puts my life on the line? Fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck¡­¡¯ Through the dim light, he can¡¯t see anything that is attacking them. But the screaming is all that Devin needs to assume that there is a threat around and that he is (definitely) not prepared to deal with it. ¡®Where are we getting attacked from?¡¯ Panicked, he continues to look around to see what is happening, only to see nothing. Not knowing what is going on and where the trouble is coming from, mankind''s greatest fear, the fear of the unknown, starts to overcome Devin. His heart rate spikes up to 120 BPM as he can feel it thumping in his chest ever so violently. Pupils dilating, missing small details to see the bigger threat, Devin did not want to die to whatever was out there. So absorbed was Devin in thinking that there was something in the dark, just waiting for the right moment to pounce on him and kill him, that he did not notice the man who was huddled in a ball, crying his eyes dry in a not so quiet manner. While Devin was still panicking, the man in the thawb approached the crying man, realizing that the crying man was the source of the original scream. While everyone else was trying to see what was attacking them, they had all forgotten to think about if the source of everyone¡¯s panic came from inside the group, rather than outside of it. Not that they can be blamed for their shoddy intuition after the day that they had been trying to sleep away. ¡°Everyone, calm,¡± The man in the thawb started to calm everyone down, ¡°There is no need to panic, this man¡¯s soul here is scarred from the encounter we had yesterday.¡± Proceeding to kneel on both legs next to the crying man, he tries to console the man. ¡°Are you alright?¡± The man, not expecting the consolation and, at the moment, frightened of everything and anything that is not him, panics when he feels the Arab man¡¯s touch. Violently slapping the hand away, the man backs away from the Arab man, getting as far away as he can move his arms and legs. Unperturbed by the man¡¯s actions, the Arab man continued to try and console the man. The rest of the group, however, was not as lenient. In fact they were quite angry and frustrated for multiple reasons. The first reason was that they genuinely thought that they were in danger, thinking that they were going to die at any moment. Everyone¡¯s minds were in overdrive and, to learn that there was no real threat at all, was very unnerving to everyone. ¡®At least nothing attacked us,¡¯ was on almost everyone¡¯s minds. No one realized at the moment, but the entire time the group was asleep, they were defenseless to anything that could come across them. The second reason why everyone was pissed was due to the fact that their precious sleep was ruined. Still tired as hell from the initial running for their lives and ensuing death march away from a certain clearing that was certain death, no one was full of energy. Even worse, since it was still pretty deep into the night with the sun most likely not rising for a while, they probably would go to sleep again. But even if they tried to go to sleep again there was a high chance, with it being almost a certainty for Devin, that they would just end up tossing and turning on the damp grass. And to finish it off, the morale of the group was now, in some demented twist of a miracle, somehow lower than it once was. Getting sent to another world unwillingly? Sure, a lot of people would lament the idea initially, but they warm up to the idea after a while and there are even people that glorify the idea in a vain attempt to escape their 9 to 5s! Other people dying in front of you due to a wolf popping out of *fucking nowhere* and ripping them to shreds due to the meddling of a possibly fourth dimensional being that was bored? That¡¯s fine too! It was them dying, not me¡­ and besides, they didn''t even know the people who died anyways! However, someone near you having a panic attack and screwing up your well deserved sleep? Now that is a line that should not be crossed in the minds of the group. All in all, at the moment, everyone currently had the crying man on their now very short shit lists (and possibly ¡®To Fuck Over¡¯ lists), owing to the fact that they didn¡¯t know if the people that were once on their shit lists were even still alive. So they all stood, looking at the crying man in silence with contempt on their faces as the Arab man vainly tried to calm him down.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. After around half a minute of looking at the crying man the silence was broken. ¡°So, what do we do now?¡± Ms. Mascara Massacre spoke, opening the dialogue to anyone in the group. ¡°It is alright,¡± the Arab man spoke, not looking at the group as he continued his attempts at placating the man. ¡°Everyone can rest again, I shall care for this one.¡± Happy with that answer Devin and the group slowly started to drag their attentions away from the man who everyone hated and dragged themselves to their previous sleeping spots in order to try and get some more sleep. But then came the issue of trying to get to sleep. After everyone¡¯s adrenaline had spiked due to what had just happened, they couldn¡¯t immediately pass out. No, everyone now had to agonizingly wait as the adrenaline fully passed through their bodies before they could properly go to sleep. However, for those like Devin who had broken circadian rhythms or lived in certain time zones, had trouble going to sleep again. Though as Devin tried to go to sleep, he looked up at the night sky to see that there were three moons in the sky. ¡®Well, I guess that confirms that this is another world.¡¯ He had mixed feelings about this. On the bad side, not even a day on this world and he had almost died brutally to wolves, been starved due to a lack of recognizable food, passed out from exhaustion and is now sleeping on damp grass right next to a lake. Even worse there was no sign of sentient life anywhere. No castles, no medieval villages, not even a small thatch hut in the middle of the forest! This whole day was nothing like what the holy manuscripts proclaimed what being transported to another world would be like. On the good side however, he didn¡¯t have to work customer service anymore! ¡®...ok there really isn¡¯t any much good to this is there?¡¯ ¡®What now then? Do we just continue trying to find somewhere that is inhabited? Do we try to see if other people have survived the first day in this new world? Or do we just try and find a nice place to settle down and just try to make do? Damnit¡­ nothing I can do now except fall asleep.¡¯ With the crying now drawn to a low whimper, Devin realized that now was as good a time as any to try and get some more shut eye. Getting into the ¡°comfortable¡± position of lying on his back, he closed his eyes. Though much as Devin tossed and turned, he could not fall asleep. All he could do was turn his head and body on the damp grass in a pitiful attempt to try and go to sleep. As he slowly dozed off though, a thought went into his mind, ¡®What if the next one is real?¡¯ And after tossing and turning a bit more, he realized that that thought was basically a Trojan horse which would keep him up for a while longer. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After finally passing out, Devin woke up a few hours later due to the sun shining through the trees and leaves. ¡®Fuck the sun, I swear¡­¡¯ He didn¡¯t want to get up that early, but the combination of the sun in his eyes, having no curtains to block out the sun and lying down uncomfortably on grass, made it unlikely that he was going back to sleep. Devin was an American night owl through and through, he worked the closing shift at Walmart and abhorred mornings as that was the time he usually slept. So his disdain for waking up this early could not be understated. Grumpily, and with an ache in his back, he slowly got up. The sun was bright, glaringly so, to his eyes. ¡®Is the sun brighter here or what? Seriously, when were sunrises back home this bright?¡¯ To the rest of the group, the sun was, in fact, not brighter than it was on Earth. It is merely the fact that Devin hasn¡¯t seen a sunrise in years and his eyes have adapted to lower light environments over those years, leading to his retinas¡¯ inability to quickly adapt to the current light level. Most of the other people were getting up in the same manner as Devin did, very poorly. However, a few were already up and about. ¡®Did they even sleep? Seriously, it looks like some of them will pass out if they just rest their backs on the trees.¡¯ These people looked the worst out of the entire group, with the crying man being among those who most likely did not go back to sleep. And a few minutes later, when everyone was fully awake and had drunk some of the pond water, the group was left with a decision. With awkward silence being the unofficial standard for the group, the construction worker was the first person to break it. ¡°Well then, shall we keep moving?¡± The question surprised Devin. They had almost walked themselves to death the previous day and still haven¡¯t eaten anything since coming to this world, meaning that everyone had gone at least a day without eating anything. Yet, despite all of that, this man still wanted to keep going? ¡°Are ya fuckin¡¯ with us right now?¡± A new voice, female, answered the construction worker¡¯s question with another question that was probably on everyone¡¯s mind at the moment. The voice was quite distinct to Devin, as he could only guess that the person was from somewhere in Britain. Looking at the person who spoke, Devin saw a slim grisled woman who, despite her stature of 5¡¯ 4¡±, clearly had gotten into many fights over the years. The woman had a very freckled face, slightly curly, shoulder length, black hair that was a bit of a mess and practically emerald green eyes. She was dressed much better than most of the group given their current situation, as she was wearing a tan polo, blue jeans and comfortable running sneakers. However, the most noticeable thing about her was the scar that she had on her chin, which gave here a ¡°Fuck with me and I¡¯ll break your jewels¡± aura. ¡°I don¡¯t know if ya had a bad dose or somethin¡¯,¡± Visibly pissed, the woman starts to go off on the construction worker, ¡°but ah can tell ya that the whole group was more than knackered after yesterday. And before ya even start, ahm sure that we are more than far enough away from the damn death wolves since we walked the whole feckin day!¡± Finishing what she wanted to say, the British? woman glared at the construction worker to see what he would say. The worker did not need many words, ¡°Food. We need to eat.¡± Quickly, the woman¡¯s expression and the expressions of those in the group changed from anger/contempt to an embarrassed understanding. The whole group had not eaten a single thing since they had arrived in this new world almost 24 hours prior and they were all starving. ¡®We don¡¯t eat soon,¡¯ Devin thought, ¡®we could end up collapsing where we stand.¡¯ The woman who had confronted the construction worker on the other hand, was visibly embarrassed, ¡°Ah¡­ fair.¡¯ She had not thought about the food situation that they were in and, to Devin, was more than likely just venting her frustrations about the group¡¯s current situation. The construction worker continued, ¡°If we want to survive, we need to find something to eat. And that means we will have to move and look around.¡± Time Anew: Verse 2-4: Putrefaction The Pond, 1 PT, Day 2, 8:35 AM ---- --= =- ==- - -=- =-= -- -=-- -=-- --- -= -=-- -=-- Hunger is a strong motivator in any case when it is applied, no matter if it is natural and unnatural. It drives animals to search farther out than they are usually comfortable with and leads them to make risks that they would never do if they weren¡¯t hungry. This motivator is no different for humans, as they act in the same way an animal would in this situation. At the recommendation of a few people, it was decided that the group split into a couple of smaller groups and search around the pond for any food that they could find as the people who recommended the idea surmised that it would be easier to find food near the pond since it was a large body of water. Of course, the idea that it would be easier to find food near the pond coupled with the fact that the group did not have to move around a lot to find the food, enticed everyone to go along with the plan. Once the plan was decided, the group split into groups, albeit slowly and clumsily. Since no one knew each other, it was difficult to split into groups. In the end though, the group split up into smaller groups. Though, to everyone in the group, it was clear that almost everyone was only out for themselves. This selfishness showed itself through who was in each group. The groups were obviously split between races, as early on in splitting the groups up, the businessman decided to try and gather up all the fellow East Asian people of the group and look for food with them much to the distaste of the rest of the group since practically half the group had East Asian features. Trying to stay on the good side of the rest of the group, the businessman then quietly asked each person he was interested in gathering a question that Devin couldn¡¯t hear and picked his group after asking all of them, resulting in about a third of the group coming together in a single group. As for the rest, they split up into smaller groups with much less fanfare but an equal amount of preference. For Devin, the end result of this process resulted with him being in one of the smaller groups and staying stuck with the mute in a group along with getting paired with the woman with scar and a guy who looked like he was from Eastern Europe. Before everyone set off, everyone agreed to try and arrive back at the lake by the time the sun was highest in the sky, as the sun was the only way the group could tell the time. Sure, some of the people in the group were wearing watches from when they got transported, but no one knew if the world they were now on followed the same 24-hour rotation period as Earth did. Which leads us to now, as Devin and his group are now walking through the forest to find anything edible to eat, aimlessly wandering as they do not know what to look for. ¡°So,¡± Devin, for once, was the first person to speak in the group, ¡°does any of us know what we are looking for?¡± While the group knows what they are looking for food, they don¡¯t actually know what the food looks like. Do the fruits look the same as they would back on Earth, or are they different in a manner? What about vegetables and herbs, how would they be able to spot and differentiate them from just regular grass? For Devin, he is looking for something that either sticks out in the trees or some bush that has something hanging from it as he felt it would be too difficult to find vegetables and herbs that probably have the same color as everyday grass. There were other questions that the group had as well, like, ¡°Could the food they possibly find end up being poisonous to eat?¡± However, those questions ended up being shoved into the back of their minds as the primal need to eat overrid their self-preservational instincts. ¡°Nope.¡± The girl with the scar gave a succinct answer while the mute just shook her head, ¡°Just look for something that looks different¡­¡± It was quite depressing, none of them had any outdoorsmen experience and now they were thrust into this situation, walking in a forest that is filled with white-leaved trees that they have never seen before, and have to find and eat something that they had never seen before. They didn¡¯t care if it was a fruit, a vegetable, or even a type of grass, they just wanted to eat. Sadly, it was entirely possible that they passed lots of edible plants and didn¡¯t know it. Continuing their fruitless search, the group of four kept looking. ¡°So,¡± the Eastern European looking man broke the group¡¯s silence, ¡°I¡¯m fucking starving¡­¡± ¡°Yea,¡± The British woman cut him off, not amused about how the man brought up their current predicament, ¡°we all are ya eejit.¡± The man, not amused with the woman¡¯s response, shot her a look of distaste before continuing. ¡°So how about we talk a bit so we do not have to focus on our hunger?¡± The man stared directly at the woman while saying this, as if asking her to say something wise-ass again. Devin internally wanted to step into the conversation right now, but his mind was fighting against itself. ¡®I should intervene, right? We are in this situation together, so why do we need to get so hostile to each other over this? But¡­ what if they direct their anger towards me? I don¡¯t want that. But, if I don¡¯t do anything, it¡¯ll just get worse¡­¡¯ He was stuck between his want to step in and his desire to not stand out. While Devin fought himself internally, the woman accepted the man¡¯s challenge, staring eyes of spite at the man for a few seconds, before relenting and giving an audible ¡°Tsk¡± as to get the last shot in. ¡°*Sigh*, well I guess we can start with names?¡± The man turned his attention away from the woman, not wanting to deal with her any more than he needed to. ¡°I guess I will start it off,¡± he points to himself, ¡°my name is Arunas, I guess it is nice to meet you three.¡± ¡°Heh¡­¡± the woman gave a little deprecating laugh, not to mock Arunas and his self introduction, but at the situation that they were in. ¡°Shitty way to meet eh? Name¡¯s Caitlin.¡± She then slightly smirks at Arunas and gives him a nod before looking at Devin. ¡°Ah¡­ um¡­ Devin, name¡¯s Devin.¡± ¡®Fuck¡­ I messed up.¡¯ Even though Devin knew he was next, he still screwed up his self-introduction due to his nervousness. After Devin introduced himself, the group went silent as Arunas and Caitlin waited for the fourth person of their group to introduce herself, not knowing that she was mute. The group kept walking as Arunas and Caitlin waited for the mute to say her name, something that possibly would never be known again. ¡°So¡­ what¡¯s your name?¡± Everyone looked at the mute, with Arunas and Caitlin waiting for the mute¡¯s answer. The mute looked at the other two and started to try and sign, before quickly stopping and putting her hands down, realizing that they most likely wouldn¡¯t understand what she was trying to say anyways. ¡®Should I step in here?¡¯ Devin was unsure of what to do. He didn¡¯t want to speak for the girl, but may as well would be forced to since the other two did not know that the girl could not speak.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Are ya gonna tell us your name,¡± Caitlin raised her eyebrow, one half confused, one half annoyed that the mute wasn¡¯t saying anything, ¡°or are ya just that shy?¡± The mute raised her arms, putting two fingers to her mouth and shook her head, trying to signify that she could not speak. ¡°Why are ya tryin¡¯ do right now, pantomime?¡± Caitlin didn¡¯t catch on to what the mute was trying to do, getting more annoyed. ¡°Ah¡­¡± not wanting the situation to get any worse, Devin decided to finally speak up, ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that she can¡¯t talk.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t talk or won¡¯t talk?¡± Caitlin turns her attention towards Devin, which causes him to get goosebumps on his arms. Devin had a feeling that Caitlin would have an aggressive and hostile attitude, but having her attention focused on him confirmed what he had thought before. ¡°Can¡¯t, I¡¯m pretty sure that she is mute.¡± The mute nods her head to affirm what Devin said. Caitlin turns her attention towards the mute, ¡°I guess there is no way for us to know your name then?¡± The mute hesitates for a moment, pondering the question before stopping, causing the rest of the group to stop as well. ¡°What are ya doing?¡± Caitlin asks this as mute proceeds to look around, walking towards a tree and grabbing a small rock that was near it. The mute then walks back to the other three, kneels down, and starts to try and write something in the dirt using the rock. ¡°Are ya trying to write your name?¡± The mute looks up at Caitlin and quickly nods before looking down to finish what she is writing. On the ground, roughly written, there are six letters, ¡°Verena.¡± ¡°Verena¡­ is that your name?¡± Verena looks at Devin, smiles, and nods her head. To Devin though, Verena¡¯s smile entranced him, as it was one the most relieved and genuine smiles that he had ever seen before, as if a great burden was lifted from her shoulders. ¡®Why did she get so happy from me just saying her name?¡¯ ¡°Verena eh? Nice to meetcha then.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you Verena.¡± Caitlin and Arunas both gave Verena a cordial greeting as she stood back up. Introductions finished, the group started to move again, except for Arunas, who was still looking in the same direction he was looking when Verena knelt down to write her name. He was craning his neck, looking at something. ¡°Hey, wait a moment.¡± Arunas said this and started to move towards a green, medium sized bush, a type of bush that the group had passed by many times since they started looking for food. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Caitlin, Devin and Verena stop, curious as to what Arunas is doing. ¡°Is it just me, or¡­ is there something in that bush?¡± Arunas doesn¡¯t stop moving towards the bush, now in front of it. He crouches to get a better look inside of it. He looks inside of it for a few more moments, before his eyes widen in both surprise and jubilation. Giving a quick laugh, he quickly shoves one of his arms inside of the bush to grab something. The action catches the rest of the group by surprise. They all think along the lines of, ¡®Has he found food?¡¯ Minds quickly filling with jealousy and hunger, they also make their way towards the bush to see what Arunas pulls out. ¡°Hahaha¡­ ah! Fuck!¡± As Arunas pulls his arm out of the bush, some of the bush¡¯s branches catch themselves on his arm and slightly cut it, revealing that the branches have small, inward facing thorns. But that isn¡¯t what catches the eyes of the rest of the group. It is the two, round, dark red fruits that are a little bigger than strawberries in Arunas¡¯ hand that has the group¡¯s attention. For a moment, there is utter silence. Devin and Caitlin are so focused on looking at Arunas¡¯ semi-successful heist of the bush in awe, greed and hunger that they forget to breathe for a few seconds. Arunas is in such a shock that there is something that he can eat right in the palm of his hands that his mind barely even acknowledges the many bleeding scratches that are laden along his arm. They just want to gorge on the possibly edible piece of fruit that is in front of them. Before any of the other¡¯s can try and snatch the fruit, Arunas shoves the fruit into his mouth, rapidly chewing it and not caring that some of the fruit¡¯s juices are pouring from the corners of his mouth. He practically moaned in pleasure too, his hunger finally being sated. The others look in envy and hatred, as they also want food for themselves, but realize that it will be impossible to grab from Arunas now that the fruit is now in his mouth. They then quickly look to the bush with a collective thought. ¡®If there were two, there is going to be more in there.¡¯ With no moment¡¯s hesitation, and a bit of jostling, the other three surround the bush and crouch up to it. Not even caring about the inward leaning thorns that were on the branches, they shoved their arms in, fishing for any fruit that they could get their hands on. If someone were looking at them now and compared it to their old world, they would compare it to four homeless people dumpster diving behind a restaurant that just threw out their food for the night or how a regular Frenchman fought for cake right before their aristocracy fell. Devin was lucky enough to almost instantly get his hands on a small grouping of the fruit. Moving his other hand towards the grouping as to ensure neither of the other two could get their hands on his rightful bounty, he violently grabbed as many of the fruit as he could before quickly pulling his arms out of the bush. His arms screamed in pain as he did this, as the thorns cut into his arms, deeper than the cuts that were carved into Arunas¡¯ arm. But he didn¡¯t care about that, nor the fact that they were starting to bleed, what he cared about was stuffing his mouth and stomach. Not wasting a moment, he stuffed the fruit in his mouth and, like Arunas before him, moaned in pleasure as a near euphoric explosion of flavor erupted in his mouth. How could he describe this fruit, these gems paid in blood? The fruit itself was chewy, easy to bite into and through, and inside the fruit¡¯s outer coating was a fleshy interior that was just waiting to release its juices. As the juices started to flow, Devin couldn¡¯t help but silently cry in happiness. The flavor of it was just delectable, being somewhat of a mix between a strawberry and a kiwi. He didn¡¯t know why he thought those two fruits were the closest comparison, but that was the best his mind could do at the moment. As he swallowed, he felt the juices flow through his throat as if he were parched and had just drank a glass of cold water and practically felt the fruit arriving in his stomach. Sure, his mind might be *slightly* overstating how good these fruits are, but his body just gave his mind two tall, grandstanding birds, savoring every morsel. Finishing his appetizer, Devin was not even close to being sated. So, how could he resist waiting for the main course? He reached into the bush again, with only one arm and a little more care this time, now that there was something in his stomach, to look for more fruit. It took a little longer to find something in the bush, since Caitlin and Verena had grabbed their appetizers while Arunas was already into his main course. Eventually though, his hand found a fruit and grabbed onto it. With a bit more care, since his arms were already burning in pain, he pulled his arm out. It wasn¡¯t careful enough though as his arm returned to his view again though this time with shallower cuts, barely breaking through the epidermis. There weren''t as many berries in his hand as there were during his first grab, but that didn¡¯t matter to Devin, fresh food is fresh food at this point. ------------------------------------------- Before the group even knew it, they had cleaned out the bush. Not a single berry remained for them to grab, not that any of them minded. They had eaten as much as they could, not caring if their stomachs would be bloated later on. They grabbed as much as possible, as quickly as possible and ate it as fast as possible. When the berry supply of the bush started to run low, the hands of several people who each person could not recognize started to slap each other, though they didn¡¯t think to vocally argue towards each other as that would mean pulling attention away from their goal of obtaining fruit. In the end, they were lying on the ground near the bush happily, with bellies full of berries. But they also had arms littered with cuts, with many of the cuts still bleeding or having just finished bleeding. Still, despite the pain they were in, now that their minds had time to process the pain that they were in, they were happy. Time Anew: Verse 2-5: Skeletal The Pond, 1 PT, Day 2, 10:02 AM --=- -= -- = ---- -- --- --=- -- =-=- =-= -=-- - ¡°Fucking¡­ leaves¡­¡± Caitlin cursed aloud as she jerked her arm towards her chest as a leaf grazed against her arm. After the group finished lying on the ground, they finally realized the pain that they were in after brutally cutting up their arms. While the cuts had stopped bleeding, nothing stopped anything and everything from becoming an irritation if they came even close to the group¡¯s arms. Even the wind seemed to be acting against them as small breezes would cause the group to flinch in pain. If someone were looking at them, they would think that the group had attempted a satanic ritual where the cult leader kept on demanding more and more blood from them until their arms were littered with cuts. But, the ritual didn¡¯t work and now all they are left with is cuts all over their arms and no demon of any sort. The happiness of finding food had long since passed and all that was left was a self-loathing over how stupid they were in rushing to grab the berries without being careful of the thorns in the bush. Sure, they were hungry as hell, but were all the cuts worth it? ¡­probably. Their bellies were full, close to bursting in their minds, and the cuts were a worthy cost to pay. ¡°We found food and now aren¡¯t starving to death anymore¡­¡± Devin thought, ¡°So what now?¡± Devin did not know what to do. They had completed the task that they were aiming to do and still had some time, given that the sun was only about halfway to being directly above them. ¡°So, does anyone else know what to do now?¡± Arunas spoke up, answering the question of, ¡®Is there anyone else thinking the same thing as I am?¡¯ coming up in Devin¡¯s mind. Arunas then proceeded to swat at a bush that he walked a little too close to that caused his cuts to act up. ¡°Other than cursing nature itself that is.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Caitlin spoke up, empathizing with Arunas, ¡°maybe we head back to the pond then? We really don¡¯t have a way to gather any fruit that we find.¡± Devin understood what Caitlin was saying. Sure, they could probably gather some more berries and carry them using their shirts as pseudo-baskets, but what good would that do? They would be getting a somewhat sizable amount of berries, depending on the person, but was the price of getting even more cuts even worth it? On the other hand, carrying them back would be a pain as it would be very easy for the berries to get squished or fall out of their ¡®basket¡¯ if anything happened. Arunas thought for a moment, debating on what Caitlin said, before nodding, ¡°That is probably a good idea, there is not much more that we can do here anyways.¡± ¡°Just one more thing though¡­ do any of you actually know the way back to the pond?¡± -= =--- - -=-- -- - --=- -- =- --- === == - = ---- -- =- ==- ---- -- ==- ---- - -=- Devin had to admit, the group got lost while heading back to the pond. They didn¡¯t leave any markers to tell them which way they came from, causing them to walk around for a while, not knowing where they were going. It didn¡¯t help that, to the group, everything in the whole damn forest looked the same with no visible taint from humans or animals alike, just bushes, trees, and grasses that looked all the same to him. That was another thing that irked Devin about this place, not just that everything looked the same and that no one had survivalist skills that could help them survive past two weeks, it was the fact that they hadn¡¯t seen, or heard for that matter, a single animal. Other than the wolves that had nearly killed him and the group he was now with when they arrived, there had been no other sign, visible or audible, of other life. Devin would¡¯ve felt more comfortable if he had heard the tweeting of a bird or the chittering of a ground animal, but there had been nothing since they arrived. It was as if the world had been devoid of life before they had arrived. ¡®Is that it?¡¯ Devin thought. ¡®Did those¡­ beings create this damned planet just to fuck with us? No way it''s that simple¡­¡¯ In the end though, after who knows how long of aimlessly wandering through the forest, the only reason they got back to the pond was that they heard human voices near them and followed the voices until they reached the lake. There, Devin¡¯s group found that the rest of the group had returned, sitting by the lake and seemingly waiting for them to return. For a moment, Devin thought that his group was late, since they were the last to arrive, but one look at the sky told him otherwise, as the sun was around its highest point with no clear indication whether it was still rising or just starting to set. At first glance, it seemed like the group didn¡¯t fare much better than Devin¡¯s group. Everyone in the group had scratches that were similar to Devin¡¯s group as they also had many scratches on their arms. This led Devin to believe that all of the other groups had found the same type of berry bush and rushed to eat as well, not caring whether they got cuts on their arms or not. However, those that were wearing long-sleeved shirts or suits were faring better as their clothing protected them from the hidden claws of the bushes that they had found. That didn¡¯t mean they were exempt from getting cut however, as their clothing had some rips along their arms. The group that seemed to fare the best in their scavenging trip seemed to be the group that consisted of people that, in Devin¡¯s eyes, seemed to be from India. While they did have some cuts on their arms, they had significantly less cuts than those who were wearing equivalent layers of clothing. In fact, there were two people in the group of four that had almost no cuts on their arms, to the envy of the other two in their group and everyone else in the group. The businessman was the first one to notice that Devin¡¯s group had returned as he was facing them as the group broke through the tree line. ¡°Ah, the ghost men have returned.¡± The people who hadn¡¯t noticed Devin¡¯s group return now had their heads turned towards them as they walked toward the rest of them. ¡°Ghost men? The hell is that supposed to mean?¡± Caitlin shot back at the man, irritation in her voice and a scowl on her face, seeing the comment as a slight towards them. Ignoring Caitlin¡¯s snap back at his remark, the businessman turned to the rest of the group, ¡°Well, now that everyone is here, what will we do now?¡± Devin quickly looked at Caitlin to see what she would do. She was *very* pissed as she had a scowl on her face and looked like she was going to storm over to the man at any moment, grab him by the collarbone and demand some answers out of him. However, by some miracle, she was holding herself back. ¡°I think our best bet is to stay here for a while, since we know that there is a stable source of water and food around.¡± The rest of the group was ignoring Caitlin¡¯s internal struggle however, and was more focused on what the group would do next with the construction worker proposing his idea to the group. ¡°That is a terrible idea! Do you not remember the¡­ body¡­ that we found yesterday?! It was¡­ fucking¡­ desecrated! I don¡¯t want to be anywhere near something that might kill us!¡± Ms. Mascara Massacre spoke against the construction worker, clearly nervous.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡®I really need to find out that woman¡¯s name,¡¯ Devin thought, ¡®mascara is probably non-existent now. And should I really be demeaning her when I know nothing about her?¡¯ ¡®On the other hand, they both make sense.¡¯ Devin could see reason in both of their arguments. ¡®There is food and water here, which speaks much more to surviving easily here rather than leaving and hoping we find another body of water. But, I also don¡¯t want to randomly get stabbed in the back or in my sleep and have my body get destroyed after I die.¡¯ The construction worker continued, ¡°I understand that there may still be danger around, but will our chances of getting attacked lower even if we move to someplace else? There will be danger no matter where we go.¡± ¡°Of course, there is going to be danger no matter where we go, I am not that stupid. What I am saying is that there has to be a place with a lower chance of getting attacked. Besides, this forest will probably kill us through all the scratches that we got from trying to grab those damned berries!¡± The woman gave some ground, as to make more ground for her to try and stand on. ¡°And where would that safer place be?¡± The construction worker simply stated the obvious, not needing to say any more to prove his point. ¡°Well, somewhere! There has to be somewhere that is safer than¡­ this, we are way too exposed here and besides, what will we do if it rains? Do we just sit here and get wet?¡± The man sighed. ¡°I understand that we don¡¯t have a place where we can sleep without getting wet here, but there is no better place around here. Did you see a shelter nearby like a cave or an overhang? I did not see one.¡± While the conversation continued to go back and forth between the two as they argued about what to do when it came to what to do, Devin¡¯s attention was slowly pulled to something else. ¡®What the hell is that smell?¡¯ The smell was faint and it was something that he couldn¡¯t put a name to, yet it irked him. His higher intellect was confused and curious as to what the smell was, but his instincts were telling him to just walk away. Walk away, maybe even run, from it and do not look back as that smell would do more damage than good. It didn¡¯t seem like anyone else had noticed the smell, they were too focused on the argument that was still occuring. ¡®It doesn¡¯t really matter what the decision is going to be, we¡¯re going to be living like shit either way.¡¯ Devin¡¯s cynicism started to show in his thoughts as he continued to worry about what the smell was. ¡®Should I try and find out by myself, or should I bring someone with me?¡¯ He wasn¡¯t sure what to do, his mind split between curiosity, fear, and shyness. He stayed still for a moment, debating on what to do, indecision taking control yet again. ¡°...not to mention that this place would be an actual pain to defend! There could be anything that could attack us from practically every direction!¡± The woman argued back at something that Devin did not hear about, not that he really cared about that at the moment. ¡®Fuck it¡­ I¡¯ll ask Verena.¡¯ Devin finally decided what to do and moved a little closer to Verena. ¡°Hey, Verena.¡± Devin caught Verena¡¯s attention as she looked at him. ¡°Is it just me or do you smell something¡­ off, I guess?¡± Verena raised her eyebrow, confused as to what Devin was trying to allude to, before looking around the area they were in with her head and sniffing. It took a few moments before she caught on to it as her face turned from one of confusion to one of concern. ¡°So, do you want to check out what it is or what?¡± He sure as hell did not want to go on his own, ¡®Going alone would probably be a death sentence.¡¯ Verena¡¯s eyes wavered for a moment, unsure of what to do. She looked around the group, seeing that they were still arguing about what the group should do. Her eyes stayed on the two arguing for a bit longer, before turning to look at Devin and nodded her head apprehensively. ¡®She seems as nervous as I am.¡¯ Devin thought. Their decision made, they turned away from the group and the pond to try and find the smell. Their departure did not go unnoticed however as some of the people in the group looked at them, wondering what they were doing. Most just gave them a curious, cursory glance before turning their attention back to the argument. Caitlin, however, wanted nothing to do with the debate as she headed over to Devin and Verena. ¡°So, the hell are you two doing?¡± Caitlin caught up to the two as they approached the treeline, positioning herself so Verena was in the middle of the trio. ¡°Well, um, do you smell something¡­ off?¡± Devin didn¡¯t really know how to talk to Caitlin yet. He found it much easier to get along with Verena, probably because she couldn¡¯t talk at all. Caitlin tilted her head up a little before sniffing the air. Her eyes furrowing, she looked at Devin. ¡°Is that what you''re trying ta look for? That smell? Cause it¡¯s¡­ wrong¡­ that smells just wrong.¡± The three were in agreement that there was something off nearby and that they needed to find out what it was so that they wouldn¡¯t be caught off-guard by something horrendous. =- === ==-= --= - --- = -- === =- --=- === -=- =-- === --= =--- = Finding the source of the smell was as hard as Devin expected, as they didn¡¯t have a general direction on where to go. He only knew that they were close because the smell was stronger now, and it smelled much worse than when he first started looking. To say it was rancid was probably an understatement, as Devin could not give enough bad words to describe it. Rancid, putrid, stale, tainted, all the words Devin could come up with. And yet, he continued on with Verena and Caitlin to find the source, lagging a bit behind. ¡°God almighty, that smell. What the hell is causing that?¡± Caitlin shared similar thoughts to Devin as she started to pinch her nose in order to try and block out the smell, following Verena¡¯s lead as she already had her nose pinched. ¡°I¡¯m starting to think we should turn back and tell the others.¡± Devin was having second thoughts. If something smelled this bad, there was nothing good at the source. ¡°We are already this close, no point in turning back now, moran.¡± Caitlin, as usual, did not take to pussyfootying around very kindly. Despite hating the smell, she pushed forward to see what the source was. Reluctantly, and not wanting to be left alone, Devin continued to follow her. What none of them mentioned though, was the new coloration of the trees¡¯ leaves. Where they had been white when the first started to search for the smell, they were now a dark shade of crimson red. The red was hardly noticeable at first, with the leaves having their rims tinted with a very light red. But as they got closer to the smell, the tint of the leaves got darker and darker, with the leaves becoming a diluted red, and getting darker and darker from there. No one really wanted to talk about it however, as they were more concerned with the smell. It was easy enough to blow off the color of the leaves as just a change in the trees in this part of the forest. ¡°Hey, I think I see a small clearing up ahead.¡± Caitlin pointed in front of them, showing Devin that the treeline broke away about 200 feet (61 meters) in front of them. ¡®That clearing has to be the source of the smell. There is no way that clearing and how strong the smell is is just a coincidence,¡¯ Devin thought. With renewed vigor, they continued on, although with much more caution than before. They weren¡¯t sure if there was anything around that could hurt them. Carefully, they approached the treeline. Before they broke through the treeline however, Caitlin, who was still in the lead, froze still, causing Verena and Devin to stop and look at her. ¡°You okay Caitlin?¡± Devin looked to Caitlin only to see pure shock and fear in her eyes. Taking a step back, she stumbled and fell on her butt, still staring in front of her. Curious as to what had Caitlin so scared, Devin turned his head to the clearing to see swathes of destroyed bodies, all of them decaying and starting to decay. Even at first glance it was obvious that whatever had found the body in the forest, had probably found this group of people first. The bodies had been toyed with and there were human innards everywhere. The bodies were laid in all manner of positions, as some seemed to face the forest as if they were trying to run away from something while others were spread out in the middle of the clearing, seemingly unaware of what killed them. The grass and the ground were stained red and the trees practically mocked the scene, with its ironic crimson red colored leaves. Violence emanated from the scene, it seemed like the forest wanted to remember the scene in its own twisted kind of way. No picture would have brought this scene justice and no amount of words could describe the horror that Devin was currently witnessing. He was frozen in place just like Caitlin when she first saw it. It wasn¡¯t long after before he emptied his stomach of the berries he had gorged on not even a few hours earlier.