Sorry, I intended to post this chapter yesterday, but I had some stuff going on.


Chapter 6

The Woods Again

Dareth has sent Matt out into the woods to study Amphibian Biology, a way to get used to the new world. Thankfully, he wasn't alone this time. Catherine accompanied Matt on his little trip.

After crossing the canyon, the two went out into the woods. Catherine placed a marker on one of the trees.

"Just so you know," she told Matt. "This is…"

"A way to make sure we're going the right direction," Matt interrupted. "I've done a lot of hiking in my world. Markers like these tend to be used to let us know that we're going in the right direction."

"That is… actually correct," Catherine replied. "You're a smart kid."

"If anyone here is smart, it's you," Matt replied. "I never even thought to do something like this the last time I was here. Now we don't have to spend multiple nights here. Believe me, you do not want to know how uncomfortable it was sleeping in a cave."

Flashback

It was cold, dark, and empty in the cave. The sounds of crickets and cicadas were soothing, but that noise was always outweighed by the sound of bigger creatures roaming around. It took Matt hours to fall asleep.

End of Flashback

"We're still gonna spend at least one night here," said Catherine. "No one said this educational trip would be easy."

Of course it isn't, Matt thought to himself. This better be worth it.

The two make their way deeper into the woods, Matt looking around in case any creature tries to attack. He held out his rusty spear just in case something like that were to happen.

After walking into the woods for a bit, Catherine stopped, so Matt stopped as well.

"We rest here," Catherine ordered. "Resting is always a good idea. I should know. I have a lot of experience in this sort of thing."

"I was about to suggest resting," Matt replied. "Even by just walking a certain amount of time, my legs get very tired, and I sweat like crazy.

The two sit silently for a few minutes until Matt asks, "What kind of outdoors thing do you have experience in, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I used to work in the army," Cathernie replied. "There was a lot of outdoor stuff I had to do."

"That's cool," said Matt.


A bit later, the two continued walking. Every few miles, Catherine would place a marker on one of the trees.

Matt spent that time looking around, this time, not to watch out for giant creatures, but just to admire everything. He didn't know what it was, but something about this felt different than the last time he was in the woods.

"If you don't mind me asking," said Catherine. "What exactly did you do the last time you were in the woods?"

"I mainly avoided creatures that tried to eat me," Matt replied. "There was this giant bird that tried to feed me to her children, and I used one of them to glide down from the nest. There was also a Praying Mantis that stalked me a lot until I managed to kill it. I still have some of its meat with me."

Matt turned to Catherine, who had a frown on her face.

"Did that bird happen to have yellow eyes?" she asked.

"Now that you mention it," Matt replied. "I think it did."

"That's bad, very bad," Catherine scolded. "That bird is called a stork. It gets very mad when you endanger their child. After they make sure their child is okay, they will not rest until they kill whatever endangered the child."

Matt was now super worried knowing that he might be in severe danger, and he felt more guilty for hurting the stork's child.

That fear would come true, as the next thing he knew, the very stork that grabbed him before was flying down towards him. The stork grabbed Matt and pulled him into the air. The next thing he knew, he was very high up, being brought back to the nest.

Once inside the nest, Matt comes face to face with the three babies. The one in the middle looked super angry. Matt recognized this bird as the one he used to get down from the nest.

The three birds charged towards Matt and started pecking at him. Each peck was more painful than the last, and eventually, Matt started bleeding. He tried covering up his wounds but the birds kept pecking.

Eventually, Matt held onto the bird that he hurt and rubbed the spot where he punched it. The bird slowly calmed down and nuzzled Matt.

Matt felt like he was safe for a bit, but then he got grabbed by the mother again. He thought he was still dead, as he stared into those soulless yellow eyes. He closed his eyes, ready for death, but then he felt his body touch the ground. When he opened his eyes, the stork was flying away.


Matt looked around, trying to figure out where he was at. He realized that he's now back to square one. He's lost in the woods, again. He looked around, making use of his surroundings. He was eventually distracted just looking around, as he got that same feeling he had before the stork attacked. He eventually backed down, knowing he needed to find his way back out of the woods.

This time, it wouldn't be that difficult.

Matt saw one of Catherine's markers on a tree, so he had a feeling she wasn't that far. He kept going, finding more markers as he advanced. He eventually found Catherine while she was looking around, and the two hugged.

"How'd you make it out?" asked Catherine.

"I think I made amends with the baby I hurt," Matt replied. "Now the mom is cool with me. I gotta say, that was good to learn, and being out here gives me this vibe, one I've never felt before, a good vibe. I wanna say it was worth coming here, but I think we've gotta go back. The babies pecked me a lot and I'm bleeding all over my stomach."

"I was about to say we gotta get that checked out," said Catherine.