Chapter 1

Austin groaned as he woke. Half of his face was covered in dirt, and carefully rubbed his eyes so as not to get more in them. He pushed himself upright and spit dirt out of his mouth.

"Ah, the last awakens," a familiar voice spoke. "We've been waiting for hours."

"Stewart?" Austin called out to his brother. The more he moved, the more his head pulsed in pain. He looked over a campfire to see Stewart, wincing at the sudden light. "I feel like I've been dropped out of a tree."

"I wouldn't doubt it. It'll take a few minutes for you to see straight." A new voice spoke. This voice belonged to Dean, a friend of Austin.

"Forget it. I just want to know where the hell we are." Jon, Austin thought.

"How many of us are here?" Austin struggled to speak as his head throbbed. He rubbed his temples in an attempt to dull the pain. "And where exactly is here? You're supposed to be in Texas."

"And you're supposed to be in Seattle. I don't know what's going on either, and I've been awake for a few hours." Stewart answered. "Seven, I think. Jirard and Soah are out scouting the area now. As long as the fire's going—."

"We don't know that the fire is keeping us safe! How could you possibly know that, without a doubt, this fire keeps stuff away from us?" Jon had obviously been in a panic for a while. "We need shelter. And what about these damn clothes?"

"Jon, just sit down. We're gonna be fine." Barry spoke. He was usually a voice of reason for Jon, and it was a relief for everyone that didn't know how to handle him.

Jon took a few deep breaths, then sat down beside Barry.

"We'll be safe for tonight," as Stewart spoke, Austin realized he was working on something. "Won't be too long before dawn now. And we'll worry about our clothes later."

Austin's sight was fine at this point, and he finally noticed his clothing, which turned out to be Link's clothing from The Legend of Zelda series. Austin looked at Stewart and tried to figure out what he was doing. He still couldn't piece it together, though his head was feeling better.

"A spear," Dean answered, before Austin could ask.

"Huh?"

"He's making spears. Minimal protection, but it's all we can do for now." Dean explained. "I had to ask too."

"Besides protection, we can use these for fishing and hunting until I can make better tools." Stewart spoke as he continued his work. "We don't know how long we'll be out here, and I'd rather be safe than sorry."

"Hey!" Jirard and Soah returned to camp.

"Hey," Stewart greeted them when the two were closer to the group. "How was the watch?"

"Nothing too serious tonight." Soah answered. "Wasn't able to find food for now, but it looks like the sun is about to come up. I'd like a few more volunteers if we're going hunting tomorrow too. Don't want to get attacked with just two people."

"Sounds good. I think I'll stay at camp. Jon and Barry want to stay and build shelter the most, so I'll be working with them. I'll try to make some temporary weapons until we find better materials too." Stewart began to sound more like a leader the more he talked.

"I'll hunt with you in the morning," Dean spoke up. "I'd feel better about gathering food than building. I don't know that I would be too good at that."

"Where do I need to go, Stewart?" Austin asked. The sun began to peek over the trees. The team assumed daybreak meant safety.

Stewart had stood, readying himself to get more fuel for the fire. "We've got enough working on shelter for now." He stretched, and motioned for Austin to follow him to the edge of the trees. He continued as they grew farther from the team, "Honestly, I'm more worried about the hunting team. They've been up a lot longer than you, and that doesn't help when they already argue a lot."

Stewart gathered sticks, making sure not to look like they were keeping secrets. "I know they can get the job done, but if they fight too much it might separate us. I don't want the group to be divided on any terms, because we might be out here for a while."

"Does anyone really know where we are?" Austin asked, lowering his voice.

"I don't think anyone's come close to guessing, but who could? We just woke up and we were here. We're dressed in these outfits from games and shows we like," Austin took notice of Stewart's clothing this time, being Master Yi from League of Legends, "and we don't even know if there's any towns or cities nearby to help. No cell phones, nothing. I don't know what we're going to do. But I'm going to try to keep everyone as calm as I can, as long as I can."

"Don't worry about it, Stewart." Austin decided he would help him keep the peace with the other members of the group for as long as he could, and that meant splitting the two of them up. "I'll keep them from killing each other."

The hunting team gathered their spears and went out to hunt for food within the hour.

Day 1

Bad haul. Found river. No weapons.

Day 2

First enemies. Worse haul. No weapons.

Day 3

Better haul. More experienced. Ji & D falling behind.

Day 5

No log day 4. First attack on camp. No food.

Day 6

No tools. Ji & D digging. Me and So hunting. Good haul.

Day 7

Enchanted stone? St testing. Shelter looks good, almost done.

Day 9

Attack on camp yesterday again. Monsters more active at night. Great haul! No hunting tomorrow.

Day 10

Monster took food. Ji asleep during shift. Found apple tree. Hunting tomorrow.

Day 14

Shelter finished. Doing well on food. Busier as things get set up.

Day 16

Ji & D hit stone. Tools and weapons being made soon. River has octopus?

Day 17

Exploding monster came to camp last night. Lucky nothing damaged.

Day 23

Makeshift swords and pickaxes almost done. Hunting and mining more possible soon.

"Still scratching your journal into the wall?" Stewart entered Austin's room unannounced, making him jump.

"Uh, yeah," Austin responded nervously out of his slight scare. "I want to keep track of all this. If we're going to be here as long as you say, I mean. And really, there's nothing else to write on," he continued, sighing in disappointment.

Stewart chuckled. "I have something for you."

"What?"

"A present. Made you something. It'll be easier to keep track of everything in this," Stewart tossed his brother a square of some sort. Austin dropped his ashy stick in surprise to catch it. A leather bound journal. It was poorly put together, but it had paper and a binding, and that was all it needed.

"W-where…did you get this?" Austin asked. "How did you have time?"

"Sugar cane from the river. You also brought back a cow the other day and I took some of its hide before we lost it. Took me forever." Stewart patted his pants, as if forgetting something. "Oh!"

Stewart reached into his bag and pulled out a glass vial, the top covered with more leather. "I got you some ink too. Chicken feathers wouldn't work too well for a quill, so a stick will have to do in the meantime. Hope that's okay," He leaned over and put the vial and a short, slightly sharpened stick on the ground.

"Thank…you." Austin was shocked. He couldn't find anything else to say. Stewart knew that journaling was important to him, but with making weapons and improving the shelter, when did he have time to do all this?

"Happy birthday Austin." Stewart left before he could answer. He didn't even remember his birthday.

Austin's eyes began to water, and soon he was sobbing, his journal next to him. How many more birthdays would they have to go through before they would be home?