Chapter 7
Day One, Part 3
Down by the beach, the group made up of Amber, Jake, Sharky, April, Casey, Bill and Rose the Lynx, walked along the wooden docks, occasionally looking out across the waters, towards the horizon.
"Do you think this village relied a lot on trading, or maybe shipments from across the sea?" Jake asked.
"A little, maybe." said April. "But with how much farmland there is around here, I think they used to be self-sufficient, or at least mostly so."
"I can't help but wonder if we're on an island. A big island." said Rose the Lynx.
"Who really knows, Rose." said Bill. "And regardless, we got access to a whole lot of water to fish in. All we need is a boat and nets. Or a fishing rod at least."
"Speaking of boats, I can't see any around here." said Casey. "Think the people left in them?"
"I wouldn't have if I were them." said Amber, looking first at the horizon, and then at the signs of the attack on the wood of the dock. "If the ones that attacked the village came from the water, that's not where I would go to escape them."
"Good point. Then there might just be one or two around here somewhere."
"How about we just check that boathouse over there. It is a boathouse, right?" said Sharky, pointing at a building built on the dock, with a large double door just above the water surface.
Opening the door to the suspected boathouse, they saw that it was indeed a boathouse, one large enough to hold a couple of smaller boats, and docked in the water in the middle was just one such boat.
It was large enough to be handled by two or three people, and was probably just a small fishing-ship, however, it had sustained damage at some point, most of them minor things, but the worst was that its mast had been broken off, one half laying on the floor of the boathouse.
"Well, there's out boat." said Bill. "But I wouldn't say that it's in shipshape."
"We can still use it." said Jake. "If we can just get some oars, we don't really need the sail."
"Then we can use it to fish further out, and with that we should get enough food to survive here." said Amber. "Even if we have to work the farms as well."
"Not too different from what we used to do." said Rose. "Just on a bigger scale."
"I can help with the fishing, being able to breathe in water and all." Sharky suggested. "I'll just dive right in and grab a few fishes, rinse and repeat all day, every day."
"Kind of you to offer, Sharky, but you won't have to do that all alone." said April. "I'm pretty sure that between me, Donnie and Leona, we'll be able to fix up the boat and help you."
"I volunteer to not fish." said Casey. "I've always had terrible luck with fishing. Once, when I was a kid, my dad took me fishing, and I managed to hook my own pants when throwing out the line, and pulled myself into the water. Dad couldn't stop laughing after he fished me out of the water."
"Ha-ha!" the duck chuckled. "I've done almost the same, but I hooked a friend of mine instead of myself. Man, he didn't even know what happened."
"At least try not to do anything like that, you two. We'll need that food." said Amber, who had found a large chest and cabinet, which she opened. "And here we got the tools for it. A couple of rods and nets, even oars."
"That's great." said Jake. "We've been quite lucky so far, let's hope it lasts, and that the others have as good luck."
"Wonder how they are doing? Especially Patch's group, I think they were planning on checking out the farms, or something." said Rose. "That would put them the on the outskirts of the village, towards the forest. If anything from the woods has decided to move into the village, that's where we'd be most likely to run into… whatever it might be."
"I'm sure they're fine." said Sharky. "With the whole lot of us moving in yesterday, I don't think anything is still around here."
"Well, now that we know what we got here, let's head back to the village square for a while." said April. "Saw a building there on the way through the village yesterday that I'd like to have a closer look at."
Heading back through the village, to the western half of it, the group soon saw the building that April had spotted the day before. It was a slightly larger, two-story building, positioned next to a part of the river where the water formed a small two foot waterfall, the sound of which gave a sense of calmness.
"This is the place, huh?" asked Sharky. "Can't see what sets it apart from the rest of the houses around here."
"It was just something about it that caught my attention. I don't know what, but I do know that I want to investigate it." April responded.
"Well, let's head in and have a look then." said Jake.
However, unlike so many other buildings that had been explored so far, this one had its door locked. Luckily, they quickly found the key underneath a stone by the corner of the building, slightly rusted on the edges, but still in working order.
The inside of the building was taken up by two large rooms, the first being open with many shelves along the walls, a few smaller tables in the middle and a counter next to a door that lead to the other room, a slightly small where even more shelves stood along the wall, with a staircase leading up to the second floor, which was a living area, similar to an apartment above a business.
On every shelf in both rooms, there were some leftover items that the former inhabitants didn't take with them. Everything from tools and clothes, to simple decorations and accessories.
Seeing all this, April's eyes almost beamed.
"I knew it!" she said with glee. "This used to be a shop. I felt it in my bones."
"You seem to have a sixth sense for shops, honey." Casey said, taking a quick glance around before letting his gaze stop on his wife. "And if I know you right, you want to get your own shop going here again."
"You got that right. We had to leave so quickly that my own shop, Second Time Around, was just left as it was. I really hope that the shop doesn't cause any trouble for any of my relatives when they learn that I'm missing, and that in of itself is another issue."
"I'm really sorry for you, April, but you and Casey could have stayed behind instead, it would have made things a lot easier for all of you." Amber said sympathetically.
"It's alright, Amber, we didn't want to loose all of you, you're our friends after all. And besides, it could have been so much worse if we would have stayed."
"No kidding." said Casey. "The Foot know who we are, and they've already found us once before. If they couldn't find the turtles, they would come looking for us again."
"I still blame myself for when Arden tortured me into telling him where the old lair was." April said, still clearly feeling a great amount of shame for the even years ago.
"Well, I don't blame you, but I understand the feeling." said Amber. "I know first hand just what the Foot are capable of."
"As do I." said Jake.
"Alright, not to sound insensitive, but that's enough doom and gloom, guys." said Bill. "All of that is in the past now, time to move on."
"Bill's right. We're here, the Foot's back on Earth, they can never get to any of us now." said Rose. "Let them look all they want, all they'll get are grey hairs."
"You're right. We don't have to worry about them any more." said April. "We got other things to focus on instead."
"Like getting your shop up and running." said Sharky. "I loved looking around in your old place whenever I visited New York."
"I noticed that, Sharky, and don't worry, I'll give you a small discount on opening day." April said with a smile, to which Sharky grinned. "But I'm not sure if I should keep the name for the shop or give a new one to this, since I'll probably have to sell more than just used things."
"What even is the name of this shop to begin with? Does it even have a name?" Casey wondered.
"I think I saw a plaque of some kind on the wall outside. I'll have a quick look." said Jake, and walked outside.
"It says 'Strumcoast Surplus'."
"Strumcoast, so that's the name of the village too, I suppose." said Rose. "Sounds weird to me, but I guess it is foreign to us."
"Whatever the case, we'll put this village on the map as Mutopia from now on." said Bill. "And then this place will be the Mutopia Surplus."
"Not a bad suggestion," said April, holding her chin in thought. "but I was thinking of something a little different. The Mutopian Supplies. It's close to your suggestion, but still different. But I'll give it all a thought before deciding."
"Sounds good to me. And so would lunch right about now. How about we head back and report in?" said Sharky.
"A good idea. I'm sure my brother and the others will want to know what we found so far." said Amber.
Meanwhile, Patch's group, which consisted of Raphael, Monalisa, Jack, Cam, Tania and Moe, was very much busy investigating the nearby farms, as well as the fruit-bearing trees and bushes and small garden plantations of various vegetables.
"Looks like we got a field of potatoes here." said Patch, having dug a hole in the ground to examine the plant growing there. "These on the edge are still pretty small, but given how big this bush is, the rest should be good and big."
"We just have to clear out all the weeds first." said Cam, looking at the overgrown fields around them. "I'm surprised that they haven't suffocated the crops yet."
"I guess everything was pretty well kept before the people left. And if all the other farm areas are like this one, we should be fine when it comes to food. Especially if there are fruits as well, and I think I saw what looked like an orchard when we came here."
"We sure are lucky to have someone like you, Patch." said Monalisa.
"Aw, chucks. That's very kind of you, but believe it or not, I didn't really know anything about tending crops before I joined Mutopia. Never had an interest in it."
"Really? You could have fooled me, with how much time you spent in the greenhouse." said Raphael.
"I needed something to do, and they needed someone that could take responsibility for the greenhouse, so I thought I might as well try. Turns out though, that I had natural green thumbs, so I kept at it until it became my passion. And thanks to Hacker, I was able to get so much more information from sites, blogs and forums on the internet, and well, here I am now."
"Everyone finds something that they're good at." said Tania, as she, Moe and Jack exited the house that laid next to the potato field, the latter holding either tools or clothes that they had found indoors.
"Yeah, and Jack's really tubular at sniffing out things." said the mole.
"Might as well put this schnoz to use." Jack responded with a shrug, pointing at his nose. "And just as the other houses we've checked so far, there's stuff left behind."
"Especially clothes." Tania said, picking up a short, red tunic that Moe was carrying, feeling the fabric between her fingers.
"I can't wait to start working with these, once I've gotten a good look at the style of the clothes here. Don't want us to stick out too much, and you guys have the right idea." she said pointing at Raphael and Monalisa.
"It doesn't feel like it." Raphael mumbled. "This damned outfit is still uncomfortable and it itches. I can't stand the thought of having to wear it for who knows how long."
"That's enough, hun." Monalisa said calmly. "It's not going to get any better by complaining about it, and like in Skyrim, we don't want to cause a scene due to being underdressed."
"And don't worry," Tania cut in. "just give me some time, and I'll make an outfit for you that I'm almost positive that you'll like."
"No offence, but I'll believe that when I see it."
"Anyway..." Cam said, trying to steer the conversation elsewhere. "From what I've seen so far, pretty much every single house we've see so far has a small shed with firewood, so we'll be fine on that point for a while, but we will have to get more sooner or later."
"You know what has me worried?" Jack said. "Winter. Sure it's warm now, but who knows if it will stay that way all year round. What if we do get winter here, and it's harsher than back on Earth."
"Oh man, that's totally not rad." said Moe. "Back there, we could just hang out down under, where the cold couldn't touch us, but here… We're in a major pickle, mans."
"Not to mention food." said Monalisa, thinking about what to do. "It may seem like we got more than enough to survive here, but if winter is a thing here, we won't be able to grow any food part of the year. We will have to put away food for that, stockpile it."
"Best to take this up with the others." said Tania. "Someone is bound to have an idea on how to do it."
"Great suggestion, Tania." said Patch. "And if we're done here, it might be time to head back."
Meanwhile, one lone member of Mutopia was off on his own, since no one had really noticed that he had wandered off, and that someone was Rattletrap.
While the others were exploring the village, he had turned his sights to the north, to the mountain, and as he reached the foot of it, he saw a cave entrance.
"I knew I'd get lucky scoping out this area." the rat said to himself. "Let's see just what kind of loot I can score in there."
Fashioning a makeshift torch from a thick branch, some dry grass and twigs, Rattletrap pulled out a lighter from his pocket.
"Good thing I kept a few of these on me. Not everyone of us is a Bear Grylls, or a fire breathing dragon."
With his burning torch in hand, Rattletrap walked into the cave, letting the light from the flames illuminate the path, witch was completely straight and almost clean of stalagmites, stalactites and rocks that jutted out from the walls, while it had a high ceiling, almost three meters.
"This is one strange cave. Must've been dug out by someone… or something. But most likely someone, not something, can't be."
After a few minutes, Rattletrap reached a larger room, unevenly shaped as far as he could tell, with a few new pathways continuing deeper into the mountain. But by now, his torch was starting to flicker, as it was almost burnt out, and it illuminated far less than it had done on his way in.
"Damn cheap-ass torch! I haven't even seen all of this room yet! How am I gonna find anything of value if I can't see what's in front of my nose?!"
As the rat cursed over his failing equipment, he failed to notice that he wasn't alone in the cave. It wasn't until he heard heavy footsteps behind him that he stopped and realised it. Feeling a warm breath of something behind him, all the hairs on the back of his stood on end, and even more so when he heard a loud growl.
Slowly and shaking, he turned around and held up the remainder of his torch to see what had found him, and what he saw made he let out a tiny, tiny squeak.
"...zoinks…"
And that should be the last 'Day One' part, unless... no, no 'unless', next chapter will have a different title, it must.
Anyway, eagle-eyed readers should have noticed that the resident disaster that is Rattletrap wasn't in any group, and the answer to that, as you saw, is that he went off on his own, and nobody noticed. But now he's gotten himself in some resious trouble, and just what kind of creature has he come across?
Make your guess in the reviews, and let's hope he survives until next time.