Chapter 5: I Am One Heck of a Scientist.

Now, normally, when one sees several giant mutated bird-like monstrosities, their first instinct would be to turn tail and book it in the other direction.

However, that wasn't the only thing I noticed, when I looked towards them. Past the four nests (which, I observed, each had a blue, speckled egg the size of my head sitting in them), there was a large field of rocks. And indeed, I noticed that some of these boulders appeared to have glimmers of bright yellow in them, which could easily mean gold.

I did consider the fact that this really wasn't how gold naturally occurred in the world, in large, arbitrary boulders on a flat plain aboveground. But this new dimension I was in clearly didn't adhere to the principles of the world I'd come from, so I didn't worry about it too much. It was also possible that it might have been fool's gold, but there was only one way to find out.

Why was I interested in this rock field, you might ask? After all, I was the only human being in this dimension, it seemed. Gold had no monetary value to me. But actually, that isn't what I was thinking about at all.

Remember: I am a scientist, and a damned good one at that, if I do say so myself. Even simple materials such as stone could be used to craft into bigger things. Better tools, perhaps. And gold? I could use gold for so many things. So many things, I can't even begin to list all of the possibilities that popped into my head.

As I began to move slowly, nervously, towards the birds, I made two assumptions. First: I thought, perhaps, they might be as nearsighted as the spiders. It wasn't like the other creatures I'd seen, which had white eyes and no pupil; these tall birds did, in fact, have a large pupil in their singular eye, surrounded by a yellow iris. It actually had an uncanny similarity to a human eye. But even still, maybe all of the mutants behaved similarly? It wasn't exactly a stretch, in this strange world.

Second: I thought that they may have not even been hostile at all. As long as I kept my distance from their nests, perhaps they would simply ignore me, allowing me to pass harmlessly by.

As it turns out, I was wrong on both accounts. They had a much wider field of view than the spiders. And they were quite hostile.

"AAAAAAAUUUGGGHHHH!"

Whilst running from the four chasing mutants, it took me awhile to realize that the horrid scream I was hearing was coming from my own mouth. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I am not an adventurer.

I had no idea how I managed to outrun them, considering they had infinitely taller legs than my own. When I finally collapsed behind a boulder, panting and shaking, and peeked out to watch them from afar, I noticed that they actually moved a bit clumsily. Not so much so that they were in danger of randomly falling over, but still. It was much like watching a person on stilts, who was still trying to learn how to walk with them.

After the four of them had returned to their nests, I allowed myself a moment's rest. On the bright side, at least the exercise had warmed me up for the time being. Not to mention I was sweating buckets from fear alone.

However, soon the fear and trauma gave way to unbearable amounts of excitement. I had made it to the rock field; I had endless amounts of stone and gold to work with. What should I create first, to aid me in surviving this harsh landscape?

Well, first I would need to actually get to the materials. I got to my feet, and closely examined the boulder I'd been sitting beside. My heart jumped. That was definitely not iron pyrite. It was gold. So it was definitely worth mining down these rocks, as well.

The only problem being I was without a pickaxe.

But I had flint, and I had a few sturdy sticks. As I sat down cross-legged on the ground, and began pulling out my materials, I figured that it would be a good idea to make an axe sometime soon as well. The seven logs that that been in that strange chest were down to two or three now. But for now, I took two large pieces of flint in my hand, gritted my teeth, and began to strike the pieces together roughly. Once. Twice. Thrice. Again... and again... and again.

oXoXoXoXoXo

By the time I'd finished making my pickaxe, it was sundown and I was chilled to the bone. Most of the time had been spent hitting the flint against oneanother to get them sharp enough. Still, I was positively giddy. I was getting somewhere. I was building tools, and soon I'd be able to build things from stone and gold.

I tugged on the more flexible pieces of twig that I'd tied around the flint, making sure it was secure. Then, I grabbed the makeshift handle (a thin log), swung it back over my shoulder, and smashed the pointed end of the flint against the nearest boulder. Hard.

Lucky for me, the rock wasn't too tough, and it began to give way after a few hits, crumbling into smaller pieces. It was hard work, not to mention time-consuming, and when the boulder was finally nothing but small chunks on the ground, my arms were shaking something awful, and the last of the sun's rays were beginning to disappear below the horizon. Panting and shivering in the cold, I used the last of my logs to build a quick fire.

I stared around at the pieces of rock and gold nuggets scattered around my feet, smiling like a kid in a candy store. I decided I wanted a bit more of these resources before I got to work crafting anything, but that could wait until the morning. I needed a break, anyway.

I warmed myself by the fire for awhile, then lied down on my side, pulling my arms inside of my vest and shirt. My body ached too much to sleep - even being a scientist, I wasn't quite used to so much physical exertion - but I wasn't much interested in sleep, anyway. Those bird creatures were still rather close, not to mention the fact that I could hear the telltale sounds of spider hissing.

As I lied there, no longer involved with any hard labor or getting chased by mutants, I started to notice something. At first, I didn't hear it, with the sound of the crackling fire so close, but as time passed, I realized the noise was not in my imagination.

It was the strange contraption I had picked up in the beginning. I'd kept it with me, and the soft chiming noise it emitted every so often had become simple background noise, something I no longer paid attention to. But now - it was definitely louder than it had been before. Very slightly higher in pitch, as well. It would take someone with good ears to notice it, but luckily, I had good ears.

Frowning, I removed it from my pants and held it in front of me, tilting it one way and then the other. A soft chime... silence for ten seconds or so... another soft chime. My curiosity sparked, and I got painfully to my feet, slowly beginning to pace back and forth as I observed it. What had caused it to suddenly grow louder?

After a minute or so, I froze mid-step. Had it gotten softer again? I furrowed my brows, standing there for a moment. And then it hit me.

I turned, and took several large steps in the opposite direction. And waited.

The chime came again. Louder.

It was a homing device.

I felt a huge grin break out over my face. It seemed now, I had something else to do in the morning as well.

(A/N: Chapter 5 at last! I am so so so sorry this is coming several days later than I said it would. Long story short, things came up. I was quite busy. But I finally got it written for you guys! I hope you like it okay. Again, please leave any comments you have! I love you all!)