Chapter 2:

Surviving the wild

Conflicted Evil


It’s been three days. Three days since I first arrived at, wherever this place is. I am hungry, tired, and completely lost. Worst of all, that mysterious voice has vanished, almost as if he never existed. During the night, I have to make sure that I stay awake. Many carnivores are lurking in the shadows and if I’m not careful, I would end up as one of their meals. I also happen to be weakened by the side effect of using the borrowed power, making me weak and unable to catch any animals for meals. This causes me to only eat leaves, grass, and the bark of trees. If this continues, not only am I unable to execute my revenge, I am likely going to die in this terrain.

“No, I can’t die!" I yelled.

First of all, I need to find a way to catch little animals. If I continue to not receive enough nutrition, my whole adventure could come to an end. The only thing that has gone well for me is that I have a clean water source from the stream I found when I first ended up here. By following downstream, I guarantee that I won’t end up in the same spot as before.

“Let’s see, I could use a vine to make a snare knot like those television shows,” I muttered. “Pray that a stupid rabbit would just happen to walk over, trip, and get itself hanged by the rope. No, even saying that out loud sounds stupid. The probability of that happening is close to zero. That only happens in books where the author is desperate and gives the protagonist an easy pass to survival. Plan B would be for the prey to trip on a string, causing a chain reaction that ends up with a cage falling from a tree and trapping the animal. The problem with that plan would be the materials and time needed to make the cage. I would starve to death before finishing my trap. My last plan would be to dig a large hole and cover giant leaves above it. It would have been a wonderful plan if there I had an efficient way to dig a hole.”

I pondered there, thinking. If only there was a way for me to have enough resources to build the trap and not waste too much energy building it. Then it hit me.

“Why didn’t I think of this!” I exclaimed.

I could direct water from the stream to a nearby soil patch. With enough water, I would be able to create a mud trap. When the prey falls into the trap, it would be my chance to catch it. Even if the animal is not completely restrained, it will inevitably be slower than before.

“Time to get to work.”

With all the preparations finished, I placed some bait made out of leaves and grass in the center of the mud trap. I have no idea if this would work out as I planned but at this point, I have no choice but to try it out. I took a long piece of stick off the ground and a piece of rock off the ground with that completed. I grounded the rock so that it was sharp on both ends and forced it into the one end of a stick. I would only have one strike since after stabbing an animal with it, the rock will be unattached from the spear.

“Now where do I hide?” I looked around.

Even before my weakened condition, I was not strong enough to climb up trees. I would be one of the most inactive students whenever it was time for physical education. In the end, I decided it would be best for me to hide in some nearby bush and observe.

As time went on, the day darkened. It was getting more and more difficult for me to see as each second passed. Just as I was about to give up, I saw a rabbit struggling in my trap.

Yes!”

I have finally caught my prey, all I have to do now is kill it. Kill it. Then it stuck with me. I have to physically stab it with my spear and kill this animal. I looked at the rabbit. It was harmless and hadn't done anything wrong. It was just unlucky and fell into my trap. Was it really fine for me to take this life? I finally feel the difference between buying meat from the store and obtaining meat myself. And it’s not like I haven’t thought of myself killing for food, it’s just when the time arrived, I found myself unable to execute the action.

Suddenly, a roar disrupted my train of thoughts. I swiftly turned around and saw a wolf leaping at me. I froze. Is this my end? No, I can’t die like this. I quickly ducked out of the way and-

Splash!

The wolf fell into the trap. The more it struggled, the deeper it sank.

“Now would be the best time for me to kill it,” I said, mustering all my courage.

I plunged the spear into the wolf. I screamed in agony, trying to escape until it lost all its strength and died. I fell onto my knees, unable to gather my strength. I've killed before, why can I not process all of this? Was it because I didn’t directly kill those soldiers? After all, the power that killed those soldiers was not my own and I wasn’t the one controlling it either.

After analyzing all of that, I looked at the rabbit. It was frightened as it looked right at me. What was I going to do with the rabbit? The smartest thing to do would be to kill the rabbit for food but a part of me wanted to let the rabbit free. After looking at the rabbit in the eyes, I just couldn’t do it. I ended up freeing the rabbit and unsure of the choice I made. I could end up dying because of the decision I made today. But in the end, I did something illogical, something that I was not known to do.

I dragged the wolf away from the trap and went in search of a safe location to stay before more carnivores are attracted to the blood of an animal. This will be my longest night yet.

Arrhythmia
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