Chapter 99 – Camping Out

Third person POV

"I win!" Robert exclaimed as he puts a card onto a stack of cards.

"What? You're that good in this game?" Emma responded with a bit of annoyance.

"Me and big sis played this in our free time," Robert explained in happiness.

"Wow, I didn't know you're that good at this game," William commented.

"Thanks. Okay, who's next?"

It was almost 11 in the morning, and it's been 2 hours since they had passed through the border patrol at a village called Kaleville. Now, they are going to the capital of Saheda, Zanid, through a narrow strip of corridor that separates Saverfort and Vanworth. That corridor is known as the Lahad Corridor. But the thing is, it takes for a horse carriage/wagon 2 days to cross through it due to its length, and the capital is located in the center of the nation east of the corridor. But fortunately, there are a few centers of civilizations where travelers can stop by and rest up. The nearest village is over 7 hours away from their current location.

Later at noon, they stopped by to eat lunch and rest up until 1 in the afternoon, where they packed up and continued their journey through the corridor, which was walled by two mountain ranges in the north and south, thus making it a narrow valley. But it was prone to landslides and rockslides during seasonal rainy times, making traveling risky and dangerous. Luckily for them, it's quite sunny and less likely to rain during the day. And along the way, they did the same games and hobbies to pass the time. Later on, those who are in the back, except for Sol, took a nap because they are tired from playing and reading.

By 6 in the afternoon, as the sun sets, Zarah and the driver decided to stop by and make a camp for the night. Tanaka and Tadashi also stopped by behind them.

"Let's stop here," Zarah said to the driver, "and rest up."

"Okay, ma'am." the driver let go of the rope used to whip the horses.

With that, Zarah get off, walked to the back, and opened the curtains, saying, "Guys, wake up! Let's camp here tonight."

Robert and the others then woke up by her noise. Sol, who was awake for the whole time, then responded, "Okay, Zarah, we'll gather some wood." Then to Robert and the others, "Come on, everyone, let's gather wood for the night."

Rolling his eyes a few times while getting up, Robert asked, "Where are we? Are we still at the corridor valley?"

"Yes, but the nearest village is still hours away," Sol answered back as he stands up and get off the wagon to scour their surroundings for any creature that might attack them.

Tanaka and Tadashi then get off and looked at their surroundings.

"What? Do we really have to camp out in the middle of nowhere?" Emma complained as she gets up and stretched her arms for a few seconds.

"Hey, it's gonna be night time, so it's too dangerous for us to continue on," Sol responded back a bit seriously.

"Alright, alright," Emma retorted while being a bit drowsy, before standing up and get off the wagon.

The rest then get up and get off the wagon to scour for wood for the campfire. Luckily they brought food with them so they have something to cook with.

Shortly thereafter, while searching for dead tree branches, Robert suddenly heard some hissing noises coming from his left. He then glanced at that direction, only to see nothing at all. He then shrugged it off, pick up some dead tree branches, and went back to the campsite.

Arriving back at the campsite, Robert told this to Sol and the others.

"What, really?" Tanaka commented. "You heard a hissing noise?"

Robert then nodded to say yes.

"I see," Peter responded. "That must be a snake, or, a giant snake."

Robert was shocked to hear that. "What? It exists?!"

"Yes, it does," answered Peter back. "So we must watch out and be careful."

"O-Okay."

Robert then went to the pile of sticks and dead tree branches to toss the dead branches.

Later, at 7 in the evening, as the campfire burns through the night, Robert and his group are eating porridge and melted cheese for dinner. The surrounding darkness is eerily quiet, and there are no lights of civilization for kilometers. The coldness of the night is being beaten by the light and heat of the campfire.

"Wow, I didn't know porridge and cheese are such a good combination," Robert commented in liking the simple, hot meal.

"Yeah, I had been eating sushi and rice for most of my life," Tanaka responded. "This is the first time I ate such a good meal."

"Really? Sushi?" Zarah looked at him.

"I do eat other fish and seafood dishes," Tanaka answered back.

"Ah, okay," Zarah replied, before resumed eating her meal.