Project: Socialize (Chapters 198-Continued) [Hiatus]

218. Survive

As the fire slowly died, I added in another twig, giving it the elixir needed to sustain life. I looked over at the pile of firewood that had been gathered, taking in the stockpile. I wonder if this will be enough for the night, considering how fierce the storm was going outside.

I looked over at the mouth of the cave and shivered somewhat as a gust of cold wind blew in and was heated by the crackling fire. Around me, I saw that the others were sleeping as peacefully as possible, with their knees tucked close to their chest in order to preserve warmth. Since they are well asleep and there has been no activity outside, I decided that now was the time for me to conclude everything that I know so far.

The suspension bridge didn't collapse on its own. Someone cut the rope, meaning that there's someone else on this mountain with us, someone who doesn't want us to leave. Then...what about the weather? There's no way that the weather could be made to change, so either it was luck or whoever cut the rope waited until now. Both the former and the latter are equally likely. The weather changes without any notice, and I know nothing about the intellect of the culprit. So, I guess I must prepare for both possibilities. The former is the more ideal, because if the culprit planned this, then it'll be a rather difficult situation.

"But why?" I sighed and asked myself while adding in another log to the fire. "Why us?"

Is it just a whoever-comes-by type of scenario? Then the second hypothesis of the culprit planning this does not stand. If it's planned, the victim must be someone in our group. The culprit must be familiar with this mountain, but who in our group would wrong anyone in a mountain? That eliminates that possibility, so maybe the weather is just luck?

And then there's the being I saw outside. It was rather tall, maybe somewhat taller than me. But then, that wouldn't make sense. I saw something that resembled a tail on the large, stocky creature. That slender almost tail-like object...it was located near the head of the creature if compared to the overall body of the being. I've never seen anything that has a tail that close to its head. What could it be?

I looked over at Noah, who was still asleep.

Does he know anything about this? He was rather enthusiastic about having us come and see the flowers. But then Zaksus was also like that. And when we saw the collapsed bridge, Noah's as also caught by surprise, so it's not him?

"Ah," I let out a silent, frustrated cry.

I don't have anything else to go on for now. This is all that I had gathered, and if I want to know anything else, I would need to investigate further tomorrow. But if we're able to get off this mountain tomorrow, then this can be forgotten. But...I have a feeling we won't be able to leave this place that easily.

When the hour was up, I walked over to Loyd and shook him awake. He slowly opened his eyes, blindly somewhat so as to decipher where he was. However, after a while, he was able to come to his senses.

"Will the firewood last?" He frowned.

"I don't know," I sighed as I laid down in the spot he was resting earlier. "We'll have to hope for the best."

"I really want some actually security but..." Loyd sighed. "I guess you can't have everything you want in life."

"You alright?" I frowned.

"Yeah,"  Loyd chuckled.

I stared at him for a moment, and then before I closed my eyes, I relayed to him one final message.

"If you see anything outside," I said, "and tell this to the others as well. Wake me up."

"Yeah," Loyd nodded as he sat down by the fire, staring into the crackling flame. He didn't question the reasoning for my request and simply listened.