Chapter 2- Survival
Get up. Get up! My conscience was screaming at me. I was slowly sinking underwater. I shot for the surface, flailing my arms. It's too far away, I thought. Darkness slowly forced my eyes shut as I blacked out for the second time.
When I came to, I woke up staring up at a gleaming sun. Waves gently tapped me on the back. I tried sitting up, but a sharp pain prevented me. I slowly turned my head to the left, to avoid further pain. The sparkling ocean came into view and it stretched as far as I could see. I was on a sandy beach, unlike any other. There were no tourists, and everything was too peaceful. I rotated my head to the right. A forest of pine trees towered over me. There was no way this could be possible. A pine forest next to a beach? What happened? Who am I? Where am I? I blacked out again, too frightened to think.
But now it's the present. The only thing I can remember now is two names, mine and Rose. Although I have no idea whom that name belongs to, it must mean something important if it's the only thing I can remember. I sat up. The pain had vanished from my shoulder. Time to get moving I guess. "The first order of business, I'll build a house. Every scavenger needs a house," I whispered to myself. I gathered sticks from the trees and managed to peel back some bark off of trees for planks. I pulled a strand of bendy reed to tie the sticks and head together. In about half an hour, I had created a makeshift axe.
Suddenly, I am pounced on from behind, knocking me forward, slamming me into a pine tree. I grabbed my axe that I had dropped and spun around to face my opponent. A giant spider about one hundred times larger than any spider I remember seeing faced me and hissed, its pincers on its mouth gave me a wicked gleam in the sun as it pounced a second time. This time I was prepared. I swung the axe over my head and brought the axe down and slammed it into the mutated creature. I pulled my axe out of it, satisfied that it was finished off. I extracted some silk from its nearby giant web, which was wound between two pine trees. I used the silk to tighten my axe and create sort of a pillow. I sighed. Now I had to chop down some wood for my house. I was already exhausted and frightened, but I had to make a shelter from whatever else was out there. After a few hours, as the sun was setting slowly off of the shore, I had successfully cleared fifteen trees.
My axe had severed me well, cutting through the tress like butter. One more tree, I thought. As soon as I drove my axe into the tree, it shattered in my hand. My wooden axe had broken. I stared at my hands, which were blood stained. I washed my hands in a nearby stream thoroughly. As I cleaned, I thought—and tried to remember—my past life and my family. And that name, Rose. It bothered me like a pesky mosquito in the summer heat. To make matters worse, my brain was at the state of an old man, even though I was still twenty-five. I couldn't recall mostly, anything about humans, but I could recall objects and things about Earth. I know I'm not there anymore. I'm somewhere else, but I have no idea where.
I stood up from the stream and walked to the coast line, which was only about twenty meters away. I started on a makeshift hut with the wood I had gathered. After ten minutes, the sun was gone, and the moon rose and greeted the beach with an icy white stare. I had made a small hut, but it was large enough for a whole family. I would work on it more tomorrow, but for now, I was too cold and scared to go outside. I covered up the door by stacking two logs in front of the door. I placed a stick in the sandy floor, and lit it by rubbing it on another to create a crude torch. I placed my pillow and some wool that I had found in the forest on the ground, making a matt for me to sleep on. It had been a long day, and I deserved some sleep. As I faded off into sleep, something bothered me. I couldn't explain it. Something just wasn't right. Oh well, I thought, I'll sleep it off. I shivered as I passed out.
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