(Ark belongs to Studio Wildcard, not me.
A/N: Here's my first chapter of Survive, if you see and grammar or punctuation mistakes, feel free to let me know, as well as critiques, can always use them.)
Soren woke up with one of the worst headaches he could remember.
"Ah hell, must've drank beer before liquor again.." He groaned as he rubbed his eyes and brushed sand off his arms and out of his long red-brown hair... Wait? Sand?... Sobriety hit him like a freight train as his blue-gray eyes shot open to reveal an open beach, rocks of every size scattered about, some with a green tint, others not. The beach was strewn with ferns and palm trees, casting a moderate amount of shade on the shore before becoming thick jungle, teeming with the sounds of life. He looked around for other signs of life as a cool breeze wafted across him, cooling his exposed copper skin.
"Shite, naked again? At least there's no one around this time..." His out loud thought trailed off as his eyes alighted on a female form lying a few dozen yards away from him, also as indecent as he was. She had dark hair, and a fair complexion, she also wasn't overly tall or short, about five foot five, unlike Soren's six foot two. He shook his head at her exposure. "Well, that's no good." He grabbed one of the large fronds from a knocked down tree and looked it over wanting to ensure there were no insects or snakes on it before lying it across the unconscious women's body. He then scrounged around for some food, finding a small chicken-esque bird picking at a few red berries.
'Can't be too bad if that bird's eating them I guess.' He thought as he picked them. He then noticed the metal diamond in his arm. The feeling of panic washed over him but he fought it down. 'Can't do anything about a damn hunk of steel in my arm, I need to get ahold of myself and get this under control...' He thought as he turned his attention to the bird and berries. He approached them and figured that since the bird showed no fear of him, would make a better meal than the berries. It's obliviousness caused him to chuckle as he grabbed it by the neck. It squawked and thrashed but a quick snap of his arm and it's neck was broken. Holding the bird by it's neck, he turned his attention to it's snack. He picked a few and a quick taste found them to be pleasant, so he ate a few more, finding that the same bushes yielded fibers that could be weaved into clothes. So he made two pairs of pants and a shirt for the woman. He chose not to bother with one for himself as he preferred being shirtless anyway.
"There we are." He folded the extra pairs and laid them beside the woman and set about looking at the water. "It can't be fresh can it?" He wondered aloud, not smelling any salt water in the air. He shrugged. "Only one way to find out..." He waded in and cupped his hands together, drinking deeply of the surprisingly fresh water. "Better than I thought..." He sighed and turned back to the bird.A few sharp stones and a campfire later, he had the bird cooked, and spinning on a spit, a leaf full of berries beside it, noticing that the black and white berries were untouched, he had left them alone.
He had laid aside a few stones and stick to make a crude hatchet and a spear, figuring that the little chicken-bird wasn't the only inhabitant, as well as the toothed seagulls he had seen. He looked over at one, the bird had swooped down when he was cleaning the other, and Soren had offered it pieces of intestine and other innards, which it readily ate. Now it would perch on his shoulder and let him pet it, as well as bring him small bits of fish as he worked on his tools.
He looked up from his tool making to see that the woman was stirring, which was good as he had chased a few of the seagulls and some little bipedal lizards he recognized as compys away from her, earning him more than a few bites. The seagull had enjoyed the few he had killed and Soren had made two pairs of hide moccasins and glove from their skins. She sat up and looked around, confusion and fear in her eyes.
"Easy there, you're safe." Soren said, his back turned to her out of decency. "There are clothes beside you and a fire over here when you get dressed." She looked at him, unsure and hesitant.
"How do I know you're not the one who did this?" She asked, earning him a chuckle.
"I put the leaf over you, made you clothes and cooked food, yeah I did this." A trace of sarcasm in his voice. "Now if you'd rather be naked and starving, me and Catcher here can eat it all." He gestured to the seagull who was eyeing the set aside food with a hungry look. The woman shook her head as her stomach growled.
"That won't be necessary, I'll eat. Thank you..?" She asked as she brushed herself down and put the clothes on. Soren grunted as he picked a wing clean.
"Soren, I woke up a few hours before you. I figured out how to make clothes from the fibrous plants here, killed a very idiotic bird and made friends with Catcher." He spoke, looking at her again now that she was dressed. She nodded.
"I'm Victoria, a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise. So, now that we know each other, here." He passed her, her food and she began eating voraciously. Soren nodded approvingly. "If your thirsty, the water is clean and fresh." He nodded in the direction of the waves, to which she could only murmur as she ate. He looked towards the setting sun.
"Night approaches, we need to hurry if we're going to have a shelter built by nightfall, which I doubt we'd want to get stuck in." To which a distant roar punctuated his sentence. Victoria looked up quickly.
"What was that?" She asked, letting her nerves show while Soren only shrugged, showing he knew about as much as she did. He shook his head and got up, grabbing his hatchet and walking towards the treeline. He scoured the area for large intact leaves and firm, straight sticks around seven feet in length.
"Gonna make a tent tonight, and tommorrow, we'll find out what the hell is going on around here." He said, carrying as much back as he could. She nodded in agreement.
"That works with me." Victoria finished eating and by the time it was dark, they had a tent big enough so they could both sleep in, and enough wood to keep the fire going. They sat around it and talked for a while before he began yawning. "I'll take the first watch if you'd like?" She asked but Soren shook his head.
"I'll do it, and wake you in around three hours. We'll leave after daybreak." Victoria didn't argue and went inside the tent. Lying down on the palm fronds and bundle of leaves that served as a pillow, she drifted back into unconsciousness to the sounds of the waves.
