Rise of The Fallen (unedited Version) (COMPLETED)

Chapter 5

Even now I'm still very hungry, there was hardly anything left for me to consume from the fruit earlier and now here I am sitting with three more in my possession… But I can't even open them. How cruel is that? Seriously xanadis, fuck you.

A distinct cracking sound caught my attention and I looked back at the fire to see the fruit I had placed at the edge of the flames was cracking. 

My eyes widened as it cracked even more and started oozing. "yes!" I quickly pulled it out of the fire with a stick and tried to let it cool off a bit before prying the shell in half, exposing the juicy jelly Goodness inside. 

"never mind xanadis I take it back, thank you!" I stuffed my mouth with the jello until I couldn't eat anymore and laid back on my furs with a full belly. 

I know the fruit probably isn't a fix all solution to my hunger issues but at least for now I won't be starving… The fruit will hold me over for now but I really need some proper food. I need to hunt… 

Only issue is though I have no proper weapons I can hunt with nor any experience hunting animals…much less alien animals! 

Groaning, I continued to relax for a bit before getting up and going outside. I've managed to obtain a small amount of food and a temporary source of water so my next course of action will be to explore the area in search of more resources. A more sustainable food and water source would be ideal… 

As I walked down the same path I traveled yesterday I could hear some growls coming from behind a bush. Curious I moved closer and found two of those small tree lizards fighting over a shoe? 

Grabbing a large rock I threw it at them and they quickly dropped it before scattering. "hmph not so tough without your buddies to back you up, huh? Walking over to investigate I had to cover my mouth in disgust seeing that the foot that the shoe belonged to was still inside of it, disconnected from whoever's body it belonged to.

Looking around the area, I could see signs of a struggle in the mud along with shoe and foot prints. Looking past some trees I could also see what looked like the remains of a body. 

This must be the guy I saw running for his life yesterday… Moving closer I could see various cuts and stab wounds across his body and there was even a broken arrow lodged in his side. Some small insects were already buzzing around the body and the more exposed injuries seemed to have been torn open by scavengers. 

Those…natives really were hunting him down, but by the looks of it they didn't consider him food so I guess that's one upside. 

The corpse was face down in the mud, drained of its blood no doubt from the large cut across its neck. Slitting someone's neck is often considered a very personal way to kill someone… I wonder why they were so intent on hunting him down?

Shaking the thought from my head I started searching the body for anything useful. The clothes were nearly shredded so it would be pointless to go through the trouble of stripping the body. The shoes… I glanced back to the detached foot. 

Yeah no he can keep those… In one pocket I found a survival kit notebook that had been used quite a bit. I'll have to read it later. Maybe there's something useful written inside. In another pocket I found a ration bar –that had been half eaten– but food is food. I stuffed both items into my bag and searched the rest of him, coming up empty-handed. This guy didn't really have much to offer…

Standing up I stepped away from the body, looking it over one last time until something off to the side caught my eye. 

The gun.

Stepping over the corpse I picked up the discarded pistol and looked it over. Removing the mag I found only one bullet left inside…

I stared at the weapon in my hand intently for a moment before stuffing in on my waistband for later. Once I was sure there was nothing else I could scavenge I left the area. The last thing I need is for a native to show up and attack me or a wild animal looking to scavenge the body…

Heading back to my cave I spent the rest of the day gathering as much firewood as I could, as well as two more of those fruits.

With everything I managed to gather I assumed I'd have enough sticks to last me three nights and food for two days if I rationed it.  

Once I decided to retire for the night I pulled out the dead man's notebook and started reading through it. Half the pages were filled with day to day journal entries talking about his experiences on the alien world, there were also well written descriptions of certain plants and animals he had encountered as well as information on the natives…

Their weapons were dipped in poison and they had many tribes scattered around the forests. A small map was drawn across two pages showing the territory borders as well as other noticeable landmarks and rivers.

I wasn't quite sure where I was on the map but if I managed to find one of these landmarks then I'd be able to find water and possibly other food sources… As I continued looking through the pages I found something curious… Translations of a different language… 

Was this guy attempting to communicate with the aliens? If he was on good enough terms to speak and learn from them then why did they hunt him down?... I studied the notebook a bit longer until I started getting weary. 

Laying back on my furs I inspected the book and even tried sounding out some of the alien words I found on the page. 

I doubt I'm saying half of these words right but if learning another language may possibly save me from suffering the same fate as the man who wrote this book then so be it… I will take a whole college seminar if I have to…

Closing the book I sighed and stared at the campfire beside me. 

There's so many questions running through my head but little to no answers… If I don't learn more about this forest, and soon at that, I'll be screwed…the plants are deadly, the natives are hostile, and I don't even wanna know what other kinds of creatures are out there…

Tomorrow I'll go out and try to figure out where I am on this map. If I can manage that then I'll be able to find water and avoid dangerous areas. I don't even wanna think about what might happen if I walk up on a tribe's lands half-hazardly. 

If there's one thing I've learned today it's that I need to avoid the natives. 

Cause as I am right now? I don't stand a chance…