The Survival Saga - Chapter 3
Friday, March 7th, 2014 01:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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mindcrackloveOh look. It hasn't even been a whole month yet. What is this?! I better slow down the writing or you might start expecting fics every single month and what ever would I do then? :P But anyways, I really enjoyed writing this chapter. It was such fun and people are such cuties.
And of course, I musn't forgetto thank BlueTwilight, my lovely beta. <3
Not enough for a nsfw tag I think, but warning: explicit language.
Chapter 3 - From The Journal I
Day 28, Entry 1.
I've been here for too long now, almost a... 'month' is the word that comes to mind when I count out the nights etched into the bark of the tree above the rough cobble shack I've come to call home. After all this time, I finally put together some reeds and leather into a book and, without much else to keep me entertained here, I thought why not make a journal. Even if no one reads it, I guess it is kind of calming to write this all down somewhere and sort through my thoughts.
Well, where to start? I guess the beginning is the best place. I woke up here in short but wild grass and the sun blaring down at me. I swear it was the scariest thing that's ever happened to me, but here's the thing: I don't know what else has happened to me, at least not before I woke up here. I knew how to speak, cook, and a whole bunch of things, but no matter how hard I try I can't remember anything about before that day I woke up here. Guude is the name that comes to mind when I think about who I am, but beyond that, I'm very much lost and very much afraid.
After stumbling around a forest for most of the first day, some weird-ass gut instinct told me I had to find someplace safe, and I tell ya, I’m damn glad I did. At night, there are these... things that come out - these monsters of rotting flesh and rattling bone. There are giant spiders, and even these leafy green horrors that freaking explode! And they're all out to get me. Sometimes I lie awake at night jumping at every mournful moan or sharp creak outside this cobble shack I put together on my second night here, and while most of them seem to burn in the sunlight those darn exploding things don't. The darn guys keep creeping up on me and I swear I've almost died twice.
When I think about it, I know that I really shouldn't be alive and I don't know if it's normal, but my wounds heal rather quickly. I don't even know if this counts as quickly, but I guess it just kind of feels like the right word to use. And even though this idea of death that I toss around so much seems like such a permanent thing, that same gut feeling that had me running for the hills that first night tells me that maybe death isn't so permanent here, but I'm still not very eager to see if that's true.
Beyond that, I haven't done much else in this place. I've found some iron, made some armour, and kept myself alive in this crappy little shack. A huge part of me wants to know what's going on here and wants to see if I can find a way out, but I don't know where to start. It was just me all by myself with no idea where to start and no idea what to do. The boredom was almost killing me. But then I learnt I'm not alone.
He doesn't like to talk much, but his name is The Jims (he punched me in the shoulder and oh so kindly corrected me when I simply called him Jims). I found him wandering the forest two days ago, just as lost and confused as I was when I got here. He was just about ready to head off in the complete opposite direction and if I hadn't been chasing that darn chicken through the forest after it messed up my wheat farm, I might never have even met him. And now, I sometimes wonder if before The Jims, that I really wasn't the only one here, but that those before me were already long gone in directions I never even thought to follow.
~ ~ ~
Day 41, Entry 5.
It's been quite a few days since my last entry. I almost forgot about this damn thing. But anyhow, nearly four days ago Madcow, Alcemedes, and Stennet nearly got their heads chopped off when they ran into this small little camp The Jims and I have set up here. We were damn near convinced they were another group of those horrible creatures and we really weren't ready to take any chances. Luckily, they had the sense to stop the shouting and convince us that they weren't some sort of undead creature.
Madcow had been the first of them to wake up in this place, apparently not too long after I ran into The Jims. Alcemedes and Stennet followed shortly after, joining up with Madcow and wandering around what they had started calling 'spawn' before finally stumbling across us in the middle of the night. An attempt at an interrogation revealed that they were just as clueless as us about things, having woken up just like I had. However, in their short time here they'd managed to catch glimpses of these strange tall creatures as dark as the night with razor-sharp teeth and glowing, violet eyes. Having not seen them myself, I'm still rather wary about the existence of these nightmen and so far me and The Jims have been sleeping in shifts, just in case one of these strangers decides to stab us in the back.
Other than that, not much else has changed in this place. We did find a couple of diamonds in a cave far below the cobble house that The Jims and I have come to call home, but I've still got no idea what we're going to do with them. When Stennet found out, he suggested we try crafting them into a sword, claiming he might know how. I still don't trust him and have since made sure the diamonds are kept on me at all times. The Jims calls me over-cautious but in this place, you can never be too sure.
~ ~ ~
Day 43, Entry 7
Madcow, the damn guy, accidentally dropped some of our supplies into a fire last night, damn near burning himself too when he tried to dive into the thing to save them. Stennet pulled him out before he could do anything else stupid but we lost a lot of good gear in there and it's gonna be a real pain in the ass without it. To help get us back on our feet after that Alcemedes and The Jims have headed out into the forest to try and gather up some replacements for the lost gear leaving just me, Stennet, and Madcow to wander around the place.
Stennet seems to like to keep to himself, I guess. I rarely see him around the place, and when I do he's usually around Alcemedes. I've really got no idea but I think there may be a bit of a thing going on between them, but whatever the hell is going on, I don't really care. Madcow seems like an alright guy. If you ask me, he's a bit of a jerk for dropping all that stuff in the fire, though. Several times already I've nearly gone to stab him for how annoying he can be, but I've gotta admit that he's got a pretty decent sense of humour.
It is starting to get a bit late now and while I'm still not entirely sure the new guys are to be trusted, I guess I'm warming up to them a bit. The company is kinda nice, actually. And regardless of if we're trapped in this place or not, things aren't seeming anywhere near as bad as they were for the first couple of nights. I'm still nervous as fuck about some things but I'm at least getting a decent amount of sleep at night.
I guess I better go yell at Madcow now. He's been pelting rocks at the wall for ages now and it's really starting to get on my nerves.
~ ~ ~
"Can you quit that, guy?" Guude said, sending an icy scowl in the direction of Madcow who, for the past several minutes, had been tossing small stones at the cobble wall that acted as a temporary barrier between them and most of the creatures lurking out in the night. Madcow smirked, picking up another stone and lobbing it at the wall. It hit home with a sharp crack that grated against Guude's nerves in all the wrong ways before crumbling and landing on the grass amongst the debris of the other stones unlucky enough to be within Madcow's reach.
"Quit what?" Madcow teased, aiming his next stone at a spot where he was sure some of the rubble would end up pelting Guude.
"You know what," Guude grumbled. "It's been what, five days? And I already wish I'd smacked my sword into your ugly head back when I had the chance to. I don't know how you could get any more annoying." Guude continued to scowl, weighing a rock in his hand before making a half-arsed attempt at lobbing it at Madcow. much to his dismay, it missed Madcow by a good block and a half.
"You know you love me already," Madcow teased. He laughed before picking up another rock and throwing it at Guude where it hit him square in the shoulder.
"Seriously, guy?" Guude said, rubbing his shoulder. Madcow hit him with another rock, a playful glint in his eyes. "That's it. You've really done it now..." Guude picked himself up off his perch on a larger rock, letting his journal fall onto the dirt. Madcow froze for a moment, watching as Guude walked towards him. Eventually, his instinct kicked in and he found himself scrambling to rise, taking off as quick as he could with Guude hot on his tail.
"Catch me if you can!" Madcow called, turning back for a moment to flash a cocky grin.
"You wanna make a bet?" Guude replied, finding himself smiling as well while he chased Madcow across the small compound.
For a good ten minutes, Guude and Madcow chased each other around the makeshift cobble huts and the beginnings of a small wooden house in the brisk evening air, trading insults and gleeful grins. It made for a good break from the stress and worry of life inside wherever it was that they had found themselves in. Despite his earlier annoyances, Guude couldn't help but admit that in this moment, he really was enjoying himself. For a short while, he could almost forget the circumstances around them and pretend that this was how life always had been.
"You're it," Guude said, wrestling Madcow to the floor. Madcow laughed openly, shoving Guude off of him before trading friendly punches to the shoulder. "You know, you really aren't all that bad," said Guude.
Madcow laughed again, this time a soft little giggle warming the chill in the air. "Maybe not," he said. He stared off into the distance, watching the gentle sway of the trees before noticing a warm yellow light weaving its way between the trees. "Look! I think that's Alcememdes and The Jims heading in now!"
"Well, c'mon then. They'll probably want a hand lugging some of that stuff in." Guude pulled Madcow up and jogged towards the steadily growing source of light. Four figures emerged from the trees - The Jims, Alcemedes, and two strangers. No, five figures. Slung over one of the strangers shoulders was the unmistakable shape of another man, his features made almost completely unrecognisable by the smears of blood dripping from numerous wounds. Guude took one of The Jims' bags and slung it over his shoulder and Madcow went to help support the man carrying the fifth stranger until they reached the safety of the compound where all possessions were dumped in favour of tending to the injured man.
"We found some friends," Alcemedes called out to Guude before his words were drowned out by the sharp cry of one of the strangers.
The man knelt in front of the injured guy, gently slapping his face. "Espie. Espie! C'mon, stay with me." He breathed hard, his words thick with distress. Tears threatened to spill onto his cheeks as he continued to try and wake his friend. "C'mon dude, don't do this to me. Stay with us Espie, just say something... Please."
The first stranger knelt down too, placing a hand of the man's shoulder while resting two fingers against Espie's throat. "I'm sorry, Crysix. He's gone. There's nothing else we can do now. Leave him."
A silent no escaped the second strangers lips before a sorrowful sob echoed through the hut, the wind now whistling a mournful tune as if nature itself was there watching the scene play out before them.
"What happened?" Guuide asked, looking across at the new faces.
"Nightman," The Jims gasped, gulping down air from the run through the forest. "It came just before we found Paul, Crysix, and Epsie here. We're lucky the thing disappeared when it did otherwise Epsie might not have been the only casualty tonight.
"But I thought those things were harmless." Guude watched as Paul tried to calm Crysix down, letting the weight of the events sink in.
"Me too," said The Jims. "Me too."
~ ~ ~
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And of course, I musn't forgetto thank BlueTwilight, my lovely beta. <3
Not enough for a nsfw tag I think, but warning: explicit language.
Chapter 3 - From The Journal I
Day 28, Entry 1.
I've been here for too long now, almost a... 'month' is the word that comes to mind when I count out the nights etched into the bark of the tree above the rough cobble shack I've come to call home. After all this time, I finally put together some reeds and leather into a book and, without much else to keep me entertained here, I thought why not make a journal. Even if no one reads it, I guess it is kind of calming to write this all down somewhere and sort through my thoughts.
Well, where to start? I guess the beginning is the best place. I woke up here in short but wild grass and the sun blaring down at me. I swear it was the scariest thing that's ever happened to me, but here's the thing: I don't know what else has happened to me, at least not before I woke up here. I knew how to speak, cook, and a whole bunch of things, but no matter how hard I try I can't remember anything about before that day I woke up here. Guude is the name that comes to mind when I think about who I am, but beyond that, I'm very much lost and very much afraid.
After stumbling around a forest for most of the first day, some weird-ass gut instinct told me I had to find someplace safe, and I tell ya, I’m damn glad I did. At night, there are these... things that come out - these monsters of rotting flesh and rattling bone. There are giant spiders, and even these leafy green horrors that freaking explode! And they're all out to get me. Sometimes I lie awake at night jumping at every mournful moan or sharp creak outside this cobble shack I put together on my second night here, and while most of them seem to burn in the sunlight those darn exploding things don't. The darn guys keep creeping up on me and I swear I've almost died twice.
When I think about it, I know that I really shouldn't be alive and I don't know if it's normal, but my wounds heal rather quickly. I don't even know if this counts as quickly, but I guess it just kind of feels like the right word to use. And even though this idea of death that I toss around so much seems like such a permanent thing, that same gut feeling that had me running for the hills that first night tells me that maybe death isn't so permanent here, but I'm still not very eager to see if that's true.
Beyond that, I haven't done much else in this place. I've found some iron, made some armour, and kept myself alive in this crappy little shack. A huge part of me wants to know what's going on here and wants to see if I can find a way out, but I don't know where to start. It was just me all by myself with no idea where to start and no idea what to do. The boredom was almost killing me. But then I learnt I'm not alone.
He doesn't like to talk much, but his name is The Jims (he punched me in the shoulder and oh so kindly corrected me when I simply called him Jims). I found him wandering the forest two days ago, just as lost and confused as I was when I got here. He was just about ready to head off in the complete opposite direction and if I hadn't been chasing that darn chicken through the forest after it messed up my wheat farm, I might never have even met him. And now, I sometimes wonder if before The Jims, that I really wasn't the only one here, but that those before me were already long gone in directions I never even thought to follow.
~ ~ ~
Day 41, Entry 5.
It's been quite a few days since my last entry. I almost forgot about this damn thing. But anyhow, nearly four days ago Madcow, Alcemedes, and Stennet nearly got their heads chopped off when they ran into this small little camp The Jims and I have set up here. We were damn near convinced they were another group of those horrible creatures and we really weren't ready to take any chances. Luckily, they had the sense to stop the shouting and convince us that they weren't some sort of undead creature.
Madcow had been the first of them to wake up in this place, apparently not too long after I ran into The Jims. Alcemedes and Stennet followed shortly after, joining up with Madcow and wandering around what they had started calling 'spawn' before finally stumbling across us in the middle of the night. An attempt at an interrogation revealed that they were just as clueless as us about things, having woken up just like I had. However, in their short time here they'd managed to catch glimpses of these strange tall creatures as dark as the night with razor-sharp teeth and glowing, violet eyes. Having not seen them myself, I'm still rather wary about the existence of these nightmen and so far me and The Jims have been sleeping in shifts, just in case one of these strangers decides to stab us in the back.
Other than that, not much else has changed in this place. We did find a couple of diamonds in a cave far below the cobble house that The Jims and I have come to call home, but I've still got no idea what we're going to do with them. When Stennet found out, he suggested we try crafting them into a sword, claiming he might know how. I still don't trust him and have since made sure the diamonds are kept on me at all times. The Jims calls me over-cautious but in this place, you can never be too sure.
~ ~ ~
Day 43, Entry 7
Madcow, the damn guy, accidentally dropped some of our supplies into a fire last night, damn near burning himself too when he tried to dive into the thing to save them. Stennet pulled him out before he could do anything else stupid but we lost a lot of good gear in there and it's gonna be a real pain in the ass without it. To help get us back on our feet after that Alcemedes and The Jims have headed out into the forest to try and gather up some replacements for the lost gear leaving just me, Stennet, and Madcow to wander around the place.
Stennet seems to like to keep to himself, I guess. I rarely see him around the place, and when I do he's usually around Alcemedes. I've really got no idea but I think there may be a bit of a thing going on between them, but whatever the hell is going on, I don't really care. Madcow seems like an alright guy. If you ask me, he's a bit of a jerk for dropping all that stuff in the fire, though. Several times already I've nearly gone to stab him for how annoying he can be, but I've gotta admit that he's got a pretty decent sense of humour.
It is starting to get a bit late now and while I'm still not entirely sure the new guys are to be trusted, I guess I'm warming up to them a bit. The company is kinda nice, actually. And regardless of if we're trapped in this place or not, things aren't seeming anywhere near as bad as they were for the first couple of nights. I'm still nervous as fuck about some things but I'm at least getting a decent amount of sleep at night.
I guess I better go yell at Madcow now. He's been pelting rocks at the wall for ages now and it's really starting to get on my nerves.
~ ~ ~
"Can you quit that, guy?" Guude said, sending an icy scowl in the direction of Madcow who, for the past several minutes, had been tossing small stones at the cobble wall that acted as a temporary barrier between them and most of the creatures lurking out in the night. Madcow smirked, picking up another stone and lobbing it at the wall. It hit home with a sharp crack that grated against Guude's nerves in all the wrong ways before crumbling and landing on the grass amongst the debris of the other stones unlucky enough to be within Madcow's reach.
"Quit what?" Madcow teased, aiming his next stone at a spot where he was sure some of the rubble would end up pelting Guude.
"You know what," Guude grumbled. "It's been what, five days? And I already wish I'd smacked my sword into your ugly head back when I had the chance to. I don't know how you could get any more annoying." Guude continued to scowl, weighing a rock in his hand before making a half-arsed attempt at lobbing it at Madcow. much to his dismay, it missed Madcow by a good block and a half.
"You know you love me already," Madcow teased. He laughed before picking up another rock and throwing it at Guude where it hit him square in the shoulder.
"Seriously, guy?" Guude said, rubbing his shoulder. Madcow hit him with another rock, a playful glint in his eyes. "That's it. You've really done it now..." Guude picked himself up off his perch on a larger rock, letting his journal fall onto the dirt. Madcow froze for a moment, watching as Guude walked towards him. Eventually, his instinct kicked in and he found himself scrambling to rise, taking off as quick as he could with Guude hot on his tail.
"Catch me if you can!" Madcow called, turning back for a moment to flash a cocky grin.
"You wanna make a bet?" Guude replied, finding himself smiling as well while he chased Madcow across the small compound.
For a good ten minutes, Guude and Madcow chased each other around the makeshift cobble huts and the beginnings of a small wooden house in the brisk evening air, trading insults and gleeful grins. It made for a good break from the stress and worry of life inside wherever it was that they had found themselves in. Despite his earlier annoyances, Guude couldn't help but admit that in this moment, he really was enjoying himself. For a short while, he could almost forget the circumstances around them and pretend that this was how life always had been.
"You're it," Guude said, wrestling Madcow to the floor. Madcow laughed openly, shoving Guude off of him before trading friendly punches to the shoulder. "You know, you really aren't all that bad," said Guude.
Madcow laughed again, this time a soft little giggle warming the chill in the air. "Maybe not," he said. He stared off into the distance, watching the gentle sway of the trees before noticing a warm yellow light weaving its way between the trees. "Look! I think that's Alcememdes and The Jims heading in now!"
"Well, c'mon then. They'll probably want a hand lugging some of that stuff in." Guude pulled Madcow up and jogged towards the steadily growing source of light. Four figures emerged from the trees - The Jims, Alcemedes, and two strangers. No, five figures. Slung over one of the strangers shoulders was the unmistakable shape of another man, his features made almost completely unrecognisable by the smears of blood dripping from numerous wounds. Guude took one of The Jims' bags and slung it over his shoulder and Madcow went to help support the man carrying the fifth stranger until they reached the safety of the compound where all possessions were dumped in favour of tending to the injured man.
"We found some friends," Alcemedes called out to Guude before his words were drowned out by the sharp cry of one of the strangers.
The man knelt in front of the injured guy, gently slapping his face. "Espie. Espie! C'mon, stay with me." He breathed hard, his words thick with distress. Tears threatened to spill onto his cheeks as he continued to try and wake his friend. "C'mon dude, don't do this to me. Stay with us Espie, just say something... Please."
The first stranger knelt down too, placing a hand of the man's shoulder while resting two fingers against Espie's throat. "I'm sorry, Crysix. He's gone. There's nothing else we can do now. Leave him."
A silent no escaped the second strangers lips before a sorrowful sob echoed through the hut, the wind now whistling a mournful tune as if nature itself was there watching the scene play out before them.
"What happened?" Guuide asked, looking across at the new faces.
"Nightman," The Jims gasped, gulping down air from the run through the forest. "It came just before we found Paul, Crysix, and Epsie here. We're lucky the thing disappeared when it did otherwise Epsie might not have been the only casualty tonight.
"But I thought those things were harmless." Guude watched as Paul tried to calm Crysix down, letting the weight of the events sink in.
"Me too," said The Jims. "Me too."
~ ~ ~
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Date: Friday, August 1st, 2014 10:51 pm (UTC)-Eclipse
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Date: Thursday, January 21st, 2016 06:45 am (UTC)It leaves the reader worried for the health and savety of others we will know show up from this point in time on.