Project GODS

Project GODS: One

New part...tell me what you think! This might seem a little slow, but I promise that It'll make more sense later on. This chapter is hear for a reason, promise. ~Zanintia

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                The sun was coming down by then, and I knew that it was time for me to return to my shelter. Taking a swig of water and walking slowly back to my hut, I was in no rush. My first stop would be the creek so that I could wash some of the grime off.

                It took a good hour and a half of walking to reach the creek,  and by the time I got there I was out of water and ready for a good drink.

                Stripping down quickly, I stepped into the stream and started scrubbing.

                It took twenty minutes to get satisfactorily clean, and I only had no change of clothes but for my underclothes. I put those on and started to wash the shirt and shorts that were becoming increasingly ragged.

                Now that I was dead to them, it was time to set up a permanent shelter.

                It would be logical to set it up there, but I wanted to get farther away from their camp.

                Tomorrow I would follow the stream to see if it lead to a freshwater pool farther away or some other sort of water source. Tomorrow would be another day.

                I walked back to my shelter feeling clean and refreshed my clean(er) clothes slung over my shoulder along with my survival kit.

                Swinging up the tree easily, I slid into my shelter silently. The night was clouded over but for a single star over a crescent moon, and I fell into a fitful sleep ridden with nightmares and the like.

                I rose before dawn, putting the two hunting knives in my belt and slinging the bag over my shoulder.

                Carrying everything I owned, I set off into the woods.

                The shadows cast on the grass at my feet, and sunlight filtered lightly through the trees, giving the illusion of stained glass. I could hear every sound, the vibrations ripping through my fragile mind more fiercely than ever before.

               The rest of the day was spent picking a spot to set up a semi-permanent residence. I had managed to find a beautiful tree close to a creek and only a mile away from an orchard. I decided to go Robinson Crusoe, planning to build myself a beautiful tree house to live in.

              While on the way to stock up on food, I noticed another shadow joining my own.

              This shadow was different from my own. My two legs stepped quietly and gracefully, while this one crawled on four. An angular head looked up at my own, and when I turned around, hazel eyes met my silver ones unflinchingly.

              A wolf sat on all fours, staring at me silently and expectantly. It was a monster, nearly as tall as I was, it's fur a white-gray color. I couldn't smell it, and it made nearly no sound. It was obvious that Apollo was correct about the experimentation on animals. I could easily ride this wolf as a horse.

             Upon seeing this colossal beast, I crouched on the ground, muscles tensing. I stared it down, unmoving.

              We sat, the two of us, in a stalemate position. Neither of us backed down, and neither of us moved forward.

             Then, the wolf stood.

             Muscles rippled under the fur, and I watched steadily as it took one step back, and laid down, ears relaxed. A position of submission.

           I straightend, taking a slight step backwards. When the animal didn't move, I ran, dashing through the woods like a bat out of hell.

          When I made it to the orchard, the monster appeared to be gone

          I picked myself a good weeks worth of food, and set multiple traps on my way back. Meat was going to be hard to come by here, because of all the mutations done to make animals smarter, faster, or stronger than usual.

          When I climbed up the tree, I stared up at the setting sun, marvling at the small dust particles in the air, shining like drops of sunlight that rained from the sky.

          It amazed me at how easy it was revel in things that were once passed over after being alone for so long.

         My heart ached for companionship already. I missed Athena's wit, Apollo's laugh...things that I had once taken for granted were suddenly gone, the rug whisked out from under my feet. I was unprepared for this joke, and, unsurprisingly, I had fallen on my ass.

        I was completly unprepared for the solitude in living on my own. The wolf that had confronted me suddenly seemed friendlier, the bug I had held this morning seemed wiser.

       It would be harder for me to live now, as there was nothing to live for.

       I tried very hard to think about what I wanted to do. What my next step was...but tried as I might, I couldn't figure out what I truly wanted.

      My family was gone.

        I occupied myself for the few hours of daylight left, by constructing a floor for my soon-to-be home. When the night fell, I did too, pulling my sleeping bag over my shoulders and staring at the moon. 

       The moon stared back at me emotionlessly, passively watching her subjects as her cool light washed over the world.

      It was hard not to think of what I was doing, staring unwaveringly into the silver light. My chances of survival were low, lower than I cared to even consider.

      I fell asleep slowly, unable to shake an unyielding feeling of fear.

     It was a bird that woke me up, twittering cheerfully only feet from my ears.

     To be honest, it was terrifying after a sleepless night full of nightmares about dismembered corpses and hearts torn from chests.

     I spent the next week building the treehouse. Due to good luck, skills, and a few other things, I was done by what I thought was Saturday.

     I had tied down the last board, and wiped the sweat from my brow. It was done now, and I had a safe place to sleep for a while.

     Putting down the makeshift mallet I had constructed, I grabbed my knife and bow, ready to check my snares.

    The first three yielded nothing, but with the fourth I got lucky. It was a rabbit, already dead from fear. I strung it on a thread and slung it over my back, walking to the fifth and last trap.

    When I looked up to see what I had caught, I gasped in absolute shock.