Chapter 1: Washed Up

Day 1

The Western Coast

I woke up. Have you ever woken up from being unconscious? It sucks. It isn't like the gradual rise you get from actual sleep. In a few short moments, your body realizes it can function, realizes something's wrong, then blasts you with adrenaline, leading to a really fast and painful start. Your brain gets blasted with millions of signals all at once. I was hot, hurt all over, and covered in sand. The air was thick with the smell of salt, and my mouth was dry with the taste of it. My ears were ringing and I could hear a dull yet rhythmic roar in the distance. I opened my eyes and was blinded by how bright the sun was; not a single cloud to obstruct it's rays. If I wasn't in a dazed panic, I might have really enjoyed the location. I made an effort to sit up only to be hit with a wave of dizziness and lie back down. I just laid there for a while, trying to remember anything from before I woke up. I started drifting off again when a short growl shook me from my thoughts.

I propped myself up on my elbow to look up at whatever made the sound. Approaching me was some kind of large lizard. It had a short snout and walked on two legs like a theropod. It had a pair of colorful ridges on its head that became rows of short spines along its back to it's flat tail. Most notable, however, were two large flaps of skin on either side of its neck. The whole thing was about a meter tall and twice as long. We looked at each other curiously before its expression changed. It stood up a little taller, expanded the flaps to a full sail, and began to hiss.

This thing obviously looked like it was more bark than bite. I gave it an amused look. "Hey tough guy, you're not fooling any-"

I barely had time to finish my thought when it suddenly spat a stream of green slime in my face. An indescribable burning feeling assaulted my senses. My eyes stung and teared up, the stench was beyond foul and made me gag, and there are no words to describe the taste. I hadn't even fully registered what happened when pain erupted from my leg as it bit down.

"Motherfu-!" I kicked out and connected with the creature's head. Hard. It lost its grip and fell backwards. I scrambled to get up, pain shooting through my leg as I struggled. I could barely see, but I patted around for anything I could use to defend myself. My hand gripped a decent sized rock. I whipped around hard and... slapped it in the face with an open palm.

"Wha...?"

The lizard seemed just as stunned as I was because it spun around and stumbled a few steps. I took the advantage to get to my feet and wipe the sludge from my face. The creature shook off its dizziness and lunged for me again.

"Oh no you don't!" I wound up with my good leg and delivered a solid kick to it's abdomen. The force sent it airborne for a moment until it crashed against a rock with a resounding smack before finally lying still. I watched it cautiously for a minute. When I was sure it wasn't getting up I fell to my knees in the sand, clutching my leg to stop the bleeding. Only then did I notice a hearty, baritone laugh coming from behind me. I turned to see a dark-skinned old man bent over laughing. He was dressed in some sort of cloth shirt and pants and wore seemingly leather boots and gloves. He had a bow slung over one shoulder and a satchel over the other. I merely stared at the man while he got over whatever was funny.

"Hoo boy," he said, finally collecting himself. "That was the damn funniest reaction to a Dilo I've ever seen. First you go and eye each other, then he gets you while your tongue's flapping! Bet that tasted worse than a spoiled eel! And then-" his laughing picks up again, "ya go a smack the thing into next week!"

Meanwhile I am far from amused. "I'm glad you enjoyed. You normally like watching people fight for their lives?" I deadpanned.

He erupts into another fit of laughing and began to unsling his bow. "Hey, it's just like getting dinner and a show!" In one swift, precise movement, he cocks an arrow, aims, and let's it fly at me.

I throw my arms up to protect myself only for the shot to miss me completely. Instead the arrow lodges itself in the jaw of the now-conscious dilo that was going for another bite. It lets out a shrill yelp before collapsing in a bleeding heap on the sand.

"What the hell!? You could have hit me!" I yelled, despite the obvious favor he just did for me.

"Boy, you'll find that sometimes there's really not enough time to think through all your actions." He began to walk towards the corpse. "If you hesitate for a moment too long on this island," He snapped his fingers close to my face for emphasis and his voice became suddenly serious, "You'll die."

I shivered a little. If that fight had gone differently, or if it had walked up on me while I was still asleep, I really COULD have died.

"Oh don't look so grim, pal. That's just the way of the island." He pulled out a rope and began tying up the lizard. "The strong survive, and the weak... Well... Let's just say we don't manage the food chain around here, it manages us." He punctuated his words by tightening the knot. "But hey!" He said, his tone becoming jovial again, "It ain't so bad. Sometimes you come across something that puts a smile on your face. Like that little act just now."

I sat speechless. Was this island really that dangerous? This man has obviously been here a while if his age is any indicator. I thought about the new reality that was just dropped on me.

He slung the dilo over his shoulder and offered me a hand. "Ya know, you're looking a little worse for wear. I'll tell you what. For that little show you put on, I'll patch ya up and put some food in that belly o' yours."

I reached for his hand when I noticed something stuck to the bottom of my wrist. Or rather, on closer inspection, stuck INSIDE my wrist. I began to panic a little. "Oh my god. That's in my arm. Why is there a thing in my arm?!" It was a small, brown, diamond-shaped stone with a smaller yellow diamond set into it. I tried scratching at it when the man grabbed my arm.

"You don't want to mess with that, friend." He said, surprisingly calm. "Besides," he slid off his glove to reveal an identical stone imbedded in his wrist. "If these were harmful, I would know."

I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off as a shrill cry echoed from the nearby jungle. "I'm sure you're confused, everyone always is, but we aren't safe here." He pulled me up and helped me walk. "I'll take you somewhere safe. There, I can do a little bit more to quell that sea of questions."

As we began to walk, my vision began to darken and I was hit by another wave of dizziness. I wanted to open my mouth to say something but my mind wouldn't form the words. My victory was a bit more narrow than I thought. I'm pretty sure this stranger was practically carrying me now. A long nap sounded pretty good right now. Fatigue was coming on faster than I could stop it. For the second time today, I was out cold.

A/N:

So since you're reading an Ark fanfic right now, CONGRATULATIONS! You're in the 1% of ark fans! I know Ark isn't a very popular fanfic target because... Well... It has no plot. Like, at all. So thank you for taking time to visit my little corner of the Internet. Let's have some fun, shall we?

-TheSurvivingComedian