Amity and Enmity

Chapter 17

Day: 995 (Food Drop-Off)

Days Left: 4485

Lives Saved: 5

Even though he was far from the drop-off, Henry could hear the carnage. Whilst glad that his estimation of its location was correct, he still had to fight to get near the food packets, let alone get his hands on any. Henry clutched his gurgling stomach, feeling a wave of dizziness hit him and wash over his entire body. At the last food drop-off he had attended, Henry had managed to snatch several packets but not enough to keep him fully satisfied.

If he was to keep travelling like this to find his second cousin Corinna, he needed the energy: he needed the food, which was particularly difficult in the Eternal Abyss, especially in the sector he was currently in.

Taking a slow and deep breath in, Henry reached for his mask in his bag and held it to his face. A light shone for a split second along the edges, and then the deep crimson of the mask spread across his body, his skin hardening into rock and scales. Then, his entire being was enveloped in flame, a blanket of fire; he was a bream of light in the suffocating darkness. With a gulp of self-confidence, the fire salamander darted towards the sounds of chaos, to where monsters fought over food. The flat lands of black sand jutted up into towering spires of dark rock, creating winding canyons and chasms below. Both monsters and humans were attempting to climb up the rock walls or were too occupied fighting each other.

Henry waded through the combatants, almost grabbed by a towering ogre, but the salamander's cloak of flames burned the monster's hands, and Henry was once again free and running. He was about to climb up the mountain face when a blinding spotlight blinked on, snuffing out the dark rock canyon into bright light. The portal had opened, the announcer and the countdown completely drowned out by the fighting.

About to climb, Henry paused, noticing a chasm nearby where the light shone down into the deep crevice.

The food packets, Henry wondered, would they fall there too?

It was a risk. Nothing could fall there, and he would be left without food for another month. But the alternative was to fight on the summit for the packets against the other prisoners, potentially risking getting hurt or losing his memories. More and more monsters and unmasked prisoners had finally noticed that the portal was open and rushed to climb to the summit, pushing and shoving, throwing others off the side to their long fall, lying unconscious on the ground from the hard descent.

Another prisoner climbed past Henry, kicking him until Henry lost his grip and fell from the cliff.

It seems that the decision was made for me, Henry thought, only minorly bruised but mostly fine from the fall. He darted towards the split in the canyon.

The sky above grew brighter, and then something blotted that light out, darkening the world briefly as a cascade of silver packets hailed down. Henry could hear the cries of pain and anger from above as prisoners on the summit risked getting hit by the falling packets to get food. He only hoped that his own gamble would pay off.

In a patch of light that reached the bottom of the narrow canyon was a clump of packets that had fallen.

With a grin on his face or as much as a salamander could, Henry bounded towards it, leaping on all fours past the other monsters. His risk paid off; he estimated a whole month's worth had fallen, and a few more packets kept spilling over too. Henry's stomach growled in anticipation of a full meal, having only lived off of rationed scraps for weeks.

The only problem was that in his salamander form, he would risk burning or melting the packets as he was constantly ablaze, leaving a trail of burnt paw prints in his wake.