Hello this is my first attempt at writing a story. If you have advice or criticism please tell me because I would like to be better at writing. English is not my first language so I use translators to write
Waking up early in the morning is not a pleasant experience, especially when you wake up freezing, soaked, in the middle of a dark, dense forest, with a complete blank in your head about how you got here, who you are, why the only thing covering your body is a large leather backpack and why your arms and legs have been replaced with prosthetics.
All you know is that your date of birth is January fifth, your name is Christopher and you are nine years old, you know how to write and read, some basic facts about survival, how to skin animals, how to distinguish inedible from edible plants, some ways to make fire, how to make basic vessels by firing clay and where to find it, and most importantly your immunity to poisons.
You can drink water straight from the river, eat raw meat and a poison that would kill another on the spot will leave you weakened for days with no strength to do anything.
Chris has no idea how he knows all this and like many other facts such as where he came from, where he lived and whether he had a family or not he can't remember when he learned this and who in their right mind teaches a nine year old this kind of stuff.
Possibly his father was a hunter or fascinated by the art of survival? Chris will probably never know what the truth is, so he decided not to worry about it because now he has more important things on his mind such as shelter food and water, but before he can do anything, he needs to find some high point from which he can look around and assess which way he should go and whether there are any signs of civilization in the area.
It took some time to find a sufficiently tall tree but here it is, all that remains is to climb as high as he can and maybe then he will know where to go next.
The metal fingers of his prosthetics effortlessly dug into the bark of the tree allowing Chris to climb higher and higher and the spreading branches provided excellent support for his weight.
It took him a while to get to the top of the highest tree, but here he is, high above the tops of the other trees, looking around only to see the forest as far as the eye could see, not a single sign that there was anyone around to help him. Chris is alone in the big forest, on his own.
Leaning against a sturdy branch, he began to figure out what to do next. Food and a safe place to spend the night are important, the tree he is currently on could easily serve as such, but without access to a pernament source of drinking water Chris will not last too long.
Once at the highest point in the area, Chris started looking around in search of the surface of a lake or river while the June sun slowly climbs up, pleasantly warming his bare back.
The search for any source of water was not going well and the spreading crowns of the forest thicket did not help in spotting the surface of the water.
Chris was slowly losing patience and the sun at its zenith, scorching his back, urged him to go lower into the branches when suddenly in the distance between the trees Chris noticed the surface of the river glistening in the southern sun.
The river itself, judging by the position of the sun which was slowly setting towards the west, was more or less in that direction and reaching it would probably take him the rest of the day but at least he could set a goal for his further journey.
If only he knew how far away his goal was, Chris could plan his march better. Staring at the shimmering surface of the water and trying to estimate the distance by eye, Chris realized that he could determine the exact distance to a point he focused on, for example the distance to the river was 10.5 km.
He tested his newfound ability on several nearby treetops, more intrigued by what else he could do than by how he could do it. Being careful not to fall, Chris carefully descended to the ground, looking up at the sky, he set off towards the river.
On the way to his destination he collected every edible plant he came across into his backpack, looking up from time to time whenever the treetops were sparse enough to see the sky and marking the bark of trees so as not to deviate from the route, passing here and there tracks of animals inhabiting these forests.
After a while of walking and picking berries, Chris decided to take a short break when he suddenly heard something in the distance. At first, he wanted to ignore it because it was probably a herd of wild boars digging in the ground, but after a while, curiosity won.
Chris quickly threw his backpack on the ground and climbed a nearby tree to take a closer look at the creatures making these sounds.
Being high enough, Chris located the source of the noise and realized that he was wrong and right at the same time.
The creature looked like a wild boar but were much bigger than it. Two large tusks, more like an elephant's than a boar's, grew out of the lower part of the creature's snout and its head was covered with white plates resembling bones in color.
The creature's back was covered with smaller plates and its hind legs had jagged bone spikes at the height of their knees. The beast, unlike its smaller cousin, had two pairs of red eyes and its fur was the color of tar.
Chris not wanting to attract unnecessary attention, carefully lowered himself from the tree, put on his backpack and quietly headed towards the river, regretting that he was not alone here.
The rest of the journey went quite smoothly and luckily he didn't come across more of those tarry creatures.
The closer to the destination the sound of the flowing river became louder and the forest thinned out more and more. Finally Chris left the forest and reached the river, wasting no time he ran to the bank overgrown with cattails to quench his thirst, and when he did, Chris started looking around the immediate area.
The river at least two meters deep and five meters wide with partially submerged stones on its banks flowed calmly from north to southwest, with a huge beaver dam downstream creating a small waterfall.
Behind the river there was a clearing with a small hill more or less in the middle on the top of which grew a tall tree with spreading branches. From the river bank he could see a large hole dug in the hillside which could serve as a shelter for him if properly prepared.
The clearing itself was covered with tall, dried in the summer sun grass which could serve as makeshift clothing if properly intertwined, filling for the previously mentioned burrow so that he would not freeze at night and as kindling for the fire.
Chris more or less knows what to do next with the information he has obtained from observing the surroundings alone, now all that is left is to cross the river.
Without wasting any more time, Chris quickly headed towards the beaver dam that he wanted to use as a footbridge to cross the river.
The dam itself looked abandoned but was still fairly stable so he could walk from one bank to the other. After crossing the river, Chris headed towards the hill to assess the size of the hole and the amount of grass needed to fill it.
Upon reaching the site, Chris was pleasantly surprised to find that the hole was smaller than he had expected and the roots of the tree growing above it that covered the entrance added stability to its walls, preventing landslides if he wanted to widen or deepen the hole in the future.
The tree growing on the hill, apart from being a reference point that would help Chris avoid getting lost while searching the area for resources he needed to survive, also provided an excellent vantage point and a place to climb to escape in case one of those tarry red-eyed beasts followed in his footsteps.
Chris guessed that these overgrown boars were not very good climbers, but their tusks they would probably easily destroy the walls of his underground shelter. But enough of these thoughts, Chris had a shelter to prepare, so without wasting any more time he got to work tearing handfuls of dry grass and tying it into bundles for easier transport, carrying a few at a time, untying them and throwing the grass inside.
When Chris finished stuffing the grass into the hole leaving just enough room to squeeze inside the sun was slowly setting and the sky was turning red.
Wanting to take advantage of the last rays of daylight Chris started tying a few sheaves together to make a makeshift door. When the door was ready Chris devoured a few handfuls of berries then squeezed into the hole which would serve as his shelter for the foreseeable future, Chris reached outside and covered the entrance with tightly bound sheaves of dry grass, he then lay down as comfortably as he could and fell into a dreamless sleep.