Location: 48°08'35.25"N 125°32'36.07"W

Time since asteroid impact: 3 Years 5 months 4 days


Three months. Three gruesome months of being stuck in the ocean. Three unpredictable months, not knowing where the ocean would take you. For Verena and her friends it was quite literally the second worst experience to happen, only just under the catastrophe that happened three years prior. Worst of all they were at one point close enough to an island to potentially swim over, however the island in question was so desolate and far from where they needed to be going that it would of been futile anyways. And the worst was to happen after the island, as the currents had slowed down enough to make their potential journey back even longer. Those three months overall, they wanted out of it.

While they knew the current would eventually take them to where they needed, it had been a snails pace. Resources in order to survive were met in various ways. Shelter was obviously maintained by the shear volume of the iceberg they were on, even if it was cold. Water, fresh water was at first a big problem, but the slowly melting iceberg provided such needs. Fortunately, the iceberg stayed within the cooler ocean currents, extending its lifespan. Food on the other hand, was the toughest problem to tackle. For Butch, Masahiro and Kichi, various fish and even some larger prey were found to use the same current for migratory purposes, once they even found the fresh remains of a mosasaur along with some live sharks.

For Verena and Ivy however, their herbivorous diet was sparse amongst the vast ocean. From time to time, algae would be found in a quantity enough to replenish their hunger, however this wasn't always the case. In those times, they had practically no choice but to start eating the same food that the others had, and while it was unnerving to begin with, over time they got more and more used to it, though they would still eat the algae if given the opportunity.

"FINALLY!" Verena lifted her head up sharply at the shrieking sound, quickly sliding over to the direction of which the voice came from. She had not been the only one to do so as almost everyone else nearly bumped into each other before reaching Ivy. "LOOK!"

And so they did, Verena looking off to the horizon. For months now the only things amongst the horizon were all weather related, rarely being anything else. This time was different, as if rising from the depths of the sea came forth the peaks of multiple hills; they had stumbled upon an armada of land that showed no signs of stopping. It kept getting bigger, rising from the horizon and showing off in all glory the shear scale of its might until it displayed itself from the very left across to the sheer right, even going beyond that. They were heading towards an indent in the continent, a sign of where they were.

Allowing the land to invade in their space, the land continued to wrap around as the peaks in front kept their enormity. They were mere hours away from finally coming back to terra firma when they noticed one half of the marching force was closer than expected, revealing behind it a great gap between. Instead of dry land, they were heading into a great inlet, by now at which the land covered over two thirds of the horizon. Simply getting off of the iceberg wasn't an option either, as the coasts were littered to the brim with icebergs of similar size.

So the true nature of their new surroundings presented their true colours. An iceberg graveyard, they had allowed themselves into. Surely the water beneath were too cold to swim to shore, instead they needed the right closeness to the land, but that opportunity would be a while yet. The ocean behind was beginning to close, the land almost surrounding them apart from the inlet horizon in front. The land was so visible, tucked behind the veil of ice. From their vantage point the position seemed no different than that of being between two large islands about to reach another ocean, with the only thing telling them otherwise being mere gut instinct.

Finally, a mountain range seemed to close off the horizon at the front, leaving just a small slither of oceanic horizon to pass through. At the same time though, the current shifted enough for them to feel it, a clearing in the ice. It was as if nature itself drove the iceberg into a parking space, looking for its own opportunity to approach land. Gracefully, the land came forward as they soon realised the inlet did not stop at this point, but they were heading to land anyways.

With a heavy crash, the iceberg collided with the small cliffs of the coast, sending everyone forward and off the iceberg and straight onto the tops of the cliff which were mostly flat land, albeit the large mountains to the south east.

As a small valley near the eastern side of the range could be made out, they headed in that direction, hoping to find some feature that gave an exact give away of their location. And while it was more than what they were expecting, they did eventually arrive onto the other side.

A large, white peak clearly stood amongst the smaller mountains, it was no ordinary mountain to be sure. "I have a funny feeling this may have gotten a whole lot worse." Masahiro spoke out. Verena was about to ask upon that when Butch came forward to explain. "Back in the older times, if one were to make a journey over to Oykot they would almost always stumble upon the three peaks of judgement. Make it across all three and you were deemed allowed to pass through. More recently we would've taken a different route as these peaks were identified as volcanoes."

Another question popped into Verena's mind. "Why three?"

"Back then? They thought to be the judges of your past actions, present intentions, and future influence. Today? A reminder of the power nature has on us, there's no stopping them, and it will take longer to go around them, so through them we have to go." Butch explained.

Kichi came forth, "For now though, I believe a rest is what we all need before we embark on this next part of our journey."


Night had settled upon the group, the only light coming from the stars as well as a small fire, fueled by the burning of wood. While there was much to plan out over the next couple of days, Verena payed little attention to it, a surprise even for herself. Out in the corner of her eye she spotted something move, not sure what exactly. "Excuse me for a moment, gonna walk out for a bit." She announced to everyone else, of which none seemed to had noticed what she saw, and so she headed into the surrounding forest.

"I know you're there, please leave if you've got nothing to say." Verena said, looking back to see her friends still near the fire. While she could see them, she couldn't hear what they were saying, and so the reverse had to be true. She knew someone was nearby, though to make a more specific analysis on what it was? Was a more difficult task.

Finally after an unknown amount of time the shrubbery in front shifted around, "You must be Verena." Though the individual she was facing has still not come out of hiding, she gained an unnerving feeling as to who it was. "Henry?"

Immediately the individual came out, revealing himself to be pretty much the father she knew, "Bah! I see Negev was right about you calling me by my actual name, as to avoid anyone mistaking you for Arlo. Ironically, it would've been counter-intuitive to call me papa." Henry said, at which Verena paused. Though she was about to ask how he had managed to find her, his words had caught her off guard, now coming up with multiple questions.

"I suppose I should explain..." Henry continued, "...I'm... not your father. Think of like, a version of him that's experienced similar, but not the same stuff. I'm still not sure how most of this is possible but, I'm confident this device is responsible." Lifting his leg up slightly, Verena could make out the object that was wrapped around, like a bandage but made of something more shiny and darkened. "It doesn't hurt but..." the apatosaur paused for a bit, during which Verena still had many questions.

"I've seen most of your family, Henry's got some friends- Pelias and Negev, they're not too far from Clawtooth. I've also seen this individual called Ethine, who Negev said was taking care of Ida, Buck and Libby along with some others too, something about you having an uncle or along those lines. They're also not too far from your home." Henry paused once more, though this time she could tell that he was waiting for her to ask something.

"Have you seen-"

"Arlo?" Henry interrupted, "Sorry. I have not, but I do wonder if I'll see him the next time around." Quite expectantly, Verena had gotten an idea of what to do. "Could you wait for a bit, I need to get something." Verena said, before running back to where her friends were. While Henry couldn't tell what she was doing, he could see that everyone else were almost staring at him from a distance by the time she came back. What she had delivered to him seemed more mundane than what he was expecting.

A relatively medium sized wooden bucket was all that she offered, "I may not know who exactly you are or why you're here. But if you do see him, please, he'll need the water." she pleaded, hoping that he would understand, and was relieved when he gave a small nod. "Oh and one more thing Verena. Tell Butch that his two kids are still looking for him." Henry spoke, before promptly fading away. Slowly, she turned back to where the others were, all still wondering what happened.

"Who was that?" Ivy had asked, Verena paused and looked at everyone one by one, for a brief moment even thinking of Ancilla and Oscar too. "I think he's trying to get my family together... speaking of which..." Verena sat down, telling everyone all that the Henry told her, before speculating as to what it could all mean. By the end of it, they were all certain that Clawtooth couldn't be any more easier to get to.


Audio Message #39A: Subject Member 2 - aka Verena - has traveled an unbelievable 7,037 miles (11,325 Km's) over the course of three months. Despite the hardship of traveling across the ocean using nothing but an iceberg and the ocean currents, they've been able to not only make it back on land, but also arrive closer to Clawtooth than ever. Alongside this, it looks like the alternate Henry is reaching out to all of the others, giving them both the information and hope needed to get back home. Her survival rating is at a 4.5 out of 5.

End of mess- wait a moment, we aren't done yet...


Location: 49°06'17.01"N 113°02'36.23"W

Time since asteroid impact: 3 Years 5 months 1 week 1 day


'Hell' was not a word within the apatosaur vocabulary, or in anyone's for that matter. If Arlo knew of the word and its meaning, it would probably be the word he would use as of this moment. At least Oykot had the false sense of security, and the danger hidden from view. But no, three months spent walking across the freezing tundra took its toll on the apatosaur, nearly freezing over on multiple occasions. While the worst had already long passed now that he was further south, it also meant that he no longer had the fresh supply of water from the snow and ice. Newly grown berries were his only food source, as for the longest time he refused anything else. Leaves were a close second, anything that could keep him away from hunting actual animals was all he needed, but even that had grown thin.

A storm had recently swept across the visible landscape, blowing a fast stream of dust-filled wind. No rain poured down at the moment, the one thing Arlo needed. In fact there was no water within miles, as he had obliviously walked into a region filled with cold, dry air. While the map he had gave him enough direction as to where to go next, his new desire for even a slither of water had begun to take hold. Above all that, he had begun to grow tired and dizzy from the dehydration.

Fallen over onto his side, he stared towards the horizon. Clawtooth was still not within his grasp, and he figured that he couldn't get out of the dire situation. Too tired to worry about the others, he knew that if he were to rest now, there would almost be no way of coming back. As the wind continued to blow dust across his field of view, he almost couldn't make out the sounds of footsteps. Some other sound came right after the footsteps stopped; the sound of some object resting on the ground, before a scraping sound gotten closer and closer to where Arlo was. Then, from the corner of his view, the object in question came into view. Arlo slowly got up to view the object, surprised when he noticed the water that was inside. Out of instinct he dove his head straight into the bucket and started to gulp down the water.

"I would drink that slowly, if you want to stay hydrated." Arlo immediately stopped drinking, recognising the voice that spoke next to him. He had payed so much attention to the water that he hadn't even looked at who gave him it, though by now there was no surprise as to why they gave him said water. "Papa!" Arlo said in a burst of excitement, rushing over ready to embrace him only to stop when he noticed that there was no smile on the apatosaur.

The moment was long and tense, but slowly the apatosaur spoke. "I'm not... I'm not your papa." Arlo's smile faltered, and he could only look at the individual with confusion. "Don't get me wrong, my name is Henry, but your papa is close to Clawtooth. I meanwhile am glad to finally meet you, after seeing everyone else."

"What do you mean? You've seen the rest of-"

"Your family? Yes. They're safe and heading back to Clawtooth as we speak." Arlo stood there dumbfounded, "Who are you?" and Henry looked down to meet his gaze. "It's complicated, very complicated. And I'll probably be leaving soon but, if there's any promise I can make to you, it's that I'll try to find my way back to you. Hopefully then I'll be there to explain everything."

While Arlo wanted to ask so many questions, he watched as Henry slowly dissolved in front of him, leaving nothing behind. At first, he questioned what he saw and heard, perhaps it was a dream. But even then, there was no way he could of known where his family were. The curiosity alone was easy motivation for him to continue on. If Clawtooth was where everyone was, then by his life he would make sure to get there.


Audio Message #39B: Subject Member 1 - aka Arlo - has traveled 2,640 miles (4,249 Km's) over the course of three months. With a little help, Arlo has found a boost in motivation to get back to his home, whether he'll make it there before or after everyone however is up for debate. His survival rating is at a 3.5 out of 5.

End of message.


A/N:

Next chapter: Amongst The Other Side

Fun Facts: N/A