A Night of Nervosity and A Day of Discovery

(Kenny POV)

As the seven of us fled from the massacre taking place back there we all conveniently convened at the same section of the forest. Almost everyone was out of breath, huffing and puffing on the ground or using a nearby tree as a support including me. The ground was all I saw as I was trying to catch my breath and regain some energy.

"O-Ok guys... pr-pranks over... y-you're going to take us home now right?..." I didn't even need to lift my head up to know who said they idiotic lines. By sheer luck one of the men and women from that boat somehow survived both of these monster attacks.

I know that we were basically the the same, but they don't have any kind of endurance training to go through such situations. That's so bullshit! We lost so many people just because of these idiots wanted to "prank" us?

"C-Come on... tell us none of this is real right?"

"..."

"Someone? Say something!"

"..."

"We have to move." Sgt. Johnson finally said something breaking our silence

"Are we going back home!?" the two seeing that someone else finally said something reacted immediately.

Johnson only picked up his rifle and started walking out. Everyone around picked themselves up and started trailing behind him cautiously surveying the forest around us. It seems no one can even speak or look at those two anymore. The two ambushes from monsters not even twenty-hours apart seems to of been too much for everyone to handle.

The crunching of leaves and bushes brushing against us were about the only sound we heard ever since departed from the little resting place. We had spread out around five meters from each in a scattered line to protect each other in the forest using military tactics. On my left were four people and my right the remaining two. In the middle the two civilians huddled together not contributing much to the protection line.

If we were to encounter anything we wouldn't engage immediately, but tell the rest and hide. We would only engage if absolutely necessary considering the pitifully minuscule amount of ammunition we had remaining for this kind of unknown environment.

Looking over to my right I saw Pvt. Williams heavily sweating as well as franticly looking around with his eyes to make sure nothing was around. The atmosphere was tense and it seemed no one would relax. It only made sense considering the catastrophes which happened were probably still on everyone's minds. As the saying goes, there was so much tension you could practically cut it with a knife.

our travels were filled with it along with the stress of being killed and eaten by unknown creatures. If such a thing happened to us like the rest of the ship's crew we might never have our bodies retrieved and buried at home, instead we might be digested or lost in this new land.

Our journey has been silent for for who knows how long the watch on my wrist had broken long ago leaving me without any way to tell an accurate amount of time. I wouldn't even be able to read it any way it had become pitch black for a while now, with us barely even able to see a meter or two ahead of us. The darkness only heightened my fear and probably some of the others as well of what could be just behind the shadows and trees around us.

At one point I even thought I saw a pair of glowing red eyes, yet we still walked onward in the direction chose. I knew the others or at least a few were still around me by the sounds of their footsteps crunching and cracking sticks and leaves, but just barely I had to really tune in to make sure they were around. Or at least I hope that those sounds are coming from my current companions, and not some new ones that just so happened to join our party unbeknownst to us being blinded from the night.

At the first light our vision enhanced and slowly became what is was originally was before hand.

"Johnathan? JOHNATHAN?!? JOOHNNAATTHHAANN!!!!! NOOOOO!" An anxious scream was heard on my left as the light that descended finally gave us back our vision.

"Buck! You need to calm down! You're screams might alert something in the area!" Johnson went up from my right side and scolded him

"... *SIGH* You're right... but he was just beside me hours ago! I didn't even notice that he had disappeared, I didn't hear anything at all, not a welp or any kind of noise at all from him."

"It's ok, buck.. it's ok. You couldn't of done anything even if you noticed that was being taken away." Johnson tried consoling him

"That's... not comforting at all."

"I tired my best, let's get moving."

One of our people were taken from our group and out of the six others here no one even knew a time frame of when it happened. The darkness surrounding everyone at the time was truly a terrifying experience and we were none the wiser of the situation.

…

It had officially become day as the sun could barely be seen across the treetops. Once we saw the sun we finally took a rest. The whole night had been walking, for hours on end because of the threat of these unknown vicious creatures. The rest was purely to regain energy other than that it was the same as our night march, quiet and tense. After we were ready we once again set off, continuing in the direction we were originally headed.

But something happened not long after that rest. We had found a path, a dirt one but one none the less. This discovery invigorated us and gave a little life back into our dull eyes.

"Is this.. civilization? We have to find out where it leads! Maybe the locals could help us out!" Buck said enthusiastically

"What about the language barrier? What happens if we don't speak their language?" Williams spoke up

buck responded confused for a moment "Lan.. guage… shit, well here's hoping that they do then! If they don't then we're kinda fucked, huh?"

"That's one way to put it, but yeah we still have to somehow get back home maybe they could help us." Johnson interjected

…

Around fifteen minutes later we saw a group of people ahead on the path. They were armed in medieval weaponry such as swords and bows, but most of them only wore robes and only some wore actual armor then we saw a man walk up to us.

He has the looks of a rough oriental man and carried an axe made for wood cutting up to us.

As I was the only one who might even remotely understand what they were about to say I walked up to him.

"Drop ҉y҉o҉u҉r҉ weapons a҉n҉d҉ ҉give ҉u҉s҉ ҉y҉o҉u҉r҉ ҉money ҉t҉h҉e҉n҉ ҉w҉e҉ ҉m҉i҉g҉h҉t҉ ҉l҉e҉t҉ ҉you go.҉ ҉I҉f҉ ҉y҉o҉u҉ ҉d҉o҉n҉'҉t҉ ҉w҉e҉'҉l҉l҉ ҉k҉i҉l҉l҉ ҉a҉l҉l҉ ҉o҉f҉ ҉y҉o҉u҉ a҉n҉d҉ ҉w҉e҉'҉l҉l҉ ҉j҉u҉s҉t҉ ҉t҉a҉k҉e҉ ҉i҉t҉ ҉b҉y҉ ҉f҉o҉r҉c҉e҉!҉" he said as I tired to deciphering what was trying to say to me.

Heading back over to the group I tell them "I think they're bandits. They said something about dropping weapons, giving money, and us going."

"Do they accept cash?" buck asked

"Probably not, at least not our cash. This might be some different century with it's own currency system." William retorted

"Can we just run away? We don't have any money they want."

Turning around I started counting them in my head and they have thirteen people with five of them holding bows.

"They got archers." I said giving a head motion towards the five in the back.

"Shit, do we have to fight?"

"We might have to. if they're really bandits then they probably won't just let us go with giving them something. Already you two go hide somewhere safe when shot start flying, alright?" Johnson said pointing at a tree for the two civilians to take cover at.

They nodded.

"Kenny we'll need you to distract them for a little while as we slowly move away toward some cover as well. If anyone sees one of the archers in the back start drawing their bows and aiming at one of us just start shooting." Johnson said as a plan

Walking back up to the man I stop quite a sizable distance away this time. Alright a distraction um "Good weather we have yes?"

"T҉h҉e҉ ҉weather?҉ ҉w҉h҉a҉t҉ ҉t҉h҉e҉ ҉h҉e҉l҉l҉ ҉a҉r҉e҉ ҉you talking ҉a҉b҉o҉u҉t҉?҉ ҉W҉e҉ ҉w҉a҉n҉t҉ ҉y҉o҉u҉money you ҉d҉u҉m҉b҉a҉s҉s҉.҉ ҉D҉i҉d҉ ҉y҉o҉u҉ ҉r҉e҉a҉l҉l҉y҉ ҉t҉h҉i҉n҉k҉ ҉we didn't notice ҉y҉o҉u҉ ҉p҉l҉a҉n҉n҉i҉n҉g҉ ҉s҉o҉m҉e҉t҉h҉i҉n҉g҉?҉"

"Not notice weather? It ok, money can change it."

"U҉h҉.҉.҉.҉ ҉I҉ ҉g҉u҉e҉s҉s҉ ҉n҉o҉w҉ ҉a҉r҉e҉ ҉y҉o҉u҉ ҉g҉o҉i҉n҉g҉ ҉t҉o҉ ҉g҉i҉v҉e҉ ҉u҉s҉ ҉t҉h҉e҉ ҉m҉o҉n҉e҉y҉ ҉o҉r҉ ҉n҉o҉t҉?҉" He brought his hand up and opened his palm.

*BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG*

Shots rang out around soon after his hand gesture ended prompting me to immediately pull up my rifle to take aim.

The man hearing the sounds immediately started rushing toward me and before I could properly aim down the sights he had already swung at me. I had to block that hit, but the only thing I had was my rifle. Twisting my rifle to the side I managed to block his strike, but in turn he had completely shattered the scope mounted atop my rifle and pushed me back some.

After managing to shove him off I just aimed the barrel in his general direction before holding down the trigger.

*Tatatatatatata*

I emptied around a quart of my clip into him and a little bit of his blood came back onto me. The bullet holes riddled his chest and abdomen as he tried to take a step backward. He staggered a bit before falling onto his back as blood pooled out and around him.

Looking up towards the remainder of his group it seems they were mostly taken care of besides two people who surrendered.

Looking down at the blood on my hands I gag at the thought of the death. Although this was what the job was meant to do it was still a first for me. It seems a bit of his blood entered my mouth as I could taste something metallic.

After organizing ourselves we grouped up once more while piling the bodies somewhere nearby. Our group now consisted of the six original members and two bandits we've taken for some reason.