[Bonus chapter]Into the Forest

It was the dead of night, Joey was all packed up. Mila had already sent Rayla to bed.

Jacob had a large traveller's backpack with all the things he would need. He had two carrier bags with him at his side. It looked like he was going on a vacation.

"Mila, Why is this packed so tightly?" Joey asked, his bags doubled his size. "You're going down to the cave, this is all the food that you will need, supplies to make a fire. Change of clothes, tons of water. There is also a sleeping bag you might need to use" Mila sounded like a very concerned mother. Joey was used to her trying her best, but this seemed excessive like he couldn't refuse.

"How is this, are you good now?" Mila asked, to which he sheepishly answered, "yes".

Together, she walked him to the edge of the forest where he stared blankly into the dark forest. "Don't get scared now, this is the last milestone of your training." Mila patted him on his back, signalling for him to go.

Jacob shook off his fear and walked into the pitch back forestry. He looked back at Mila to see her smiling cheekily whole waving bye. It gave Jacob an unsettling feeling knowing that she would come to hunt him after a week.

He wondered about other things. Mila told him this was training, but it seemed weird. Still, he couldn't question her. He held his flashlight in his hand as he walked away, he occasionally looked back to Mila to see if she would change her mind but she only waved while smiling.

After an hour Jacob had walked 3 miles in the dead of night, he walked through the thick jungle stepping over irregular grown vines that hindered his progress. He frequently got caught in them as he was walking.

It became easier once he started cutting them down with his spear until he was able to make good easier. The cicadas rattled constantly throughout the jungles. The noise they made surrounded him.

After he covered another quarter-mile until he was totally fatigued with the weight-bearing down his shoulders and swinging his spear wasn't easy.

"This, won't work", Joey finally gave up trying to find somewhere to see up camp, he was sweating bullets, so he decided to begin mowing down trees below him. He made a clearing himself.

He dropped his luggage after clearing 30 yards around him in all directions.

"I made sure to go in a completely random direction. It will take some time for Mila to find me" Joey thought. He rummaged through his bags picking out the different supplies Mila had made for him.

He quickly built a fire that lit up his surroundings. Joey smiled, he was finally able to see again. "I can lead Mila a stray with this, maybe even hit her with some reverse psychology". Jacob snickered deviously.

He unloaded the food he had in front of him. The sight made his eyes dazzle. There were even desserts he could choose from, there was easily enough food to last him the week. They were in little capsules convenient for his trip and for a quick bite.

Joey was famished and quickly smacked away the plastic covers and swept them off his plates, the food tasted delicious and it was satisfying. After he had his fill he was stuffed and could only lay his head on his travel bag.

"Ugh, Mila's food is awesome and there is so much of it", he rested his head on his backpack relaxing from his meal when he tuned in with the surroundings.

He could hear all the noise of his surrounding nature. The croaking of the frogs and the stridulation of the crickets around him. The noise was relaxing for him and he instantly fell drowsy.

"No this can't happen, I only have 3 hours to get om sleep and get moving. I should try and get some sleep.

At this moment, he went inside another of his bags and pulled his sleeping bag. He slid himself inside and leaned against a stump were finally closed his eyes.

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Jacob could barely close his eyes for a few minutes before opening them up quickly. The noise around made him too alert to the noises see he would open his eyes every second. HE threw away the idea of not making a tent to save time and took it out from his bag.

He unpacked it and took his time setting it up, this also took up a lot of time trying to figuring out how to erect his tent. His was big enough for 4 people to live comfortably and warm.

Furthermore, it came with a light and drowned the noises out. He was even more tired and even began to fall asleep, He only got to sleep for around 30mins before he heard some faint steps around the tent.

His mind never registered it as a threat quickly enough but soon the steps started galloping. Jacob heard the quickened step and leapt onto his feet.

Roar!

He quickly opened his eyes to see a panther tearing through the fabric of the tent. It was a black-coated jaguar that saw Jacob as a meal. Its growl was loud, almost like an engine.

His claws were long and his teeth had a disgusting bloody stain on them. Saliva flew from its mouth as it roared into the cave.

"What the-" Jacob was frightened by the surprise attack and didn't even have time to react. the jaguar used his weight to pin Jacob in his sleeping bag. Jacob was frantically trying to squirm from the clutches of the jaguar but his body hadn't woken up yet.

Roar!

It let out another ferocious growl at Jacob, he took its razor-sharp claws and slashed Jacob chest leaving clean define tear marks. The strike was powerful and knocked hit the wind out of his lungs.

Jacob's body instantly came alive.