Into the jungle

{if GameMode == true}

The dense jungle starts to become too thick to stride past and you start hacking at the vines and bushes with a stick you found. By now, you've secured the tomahawk loosely around your torso using the loops and hooks in your tactical shorts, leaving you with one hand free.

You can hear the faint shouts of your friends looking for you at the opening of the jungle, but you ignore them.

“They don't believe me, so until I find a way to prove that, I can't go back,” you mumble to yourself.

Hacking and slashing through the vines carelessly is getting you nowhere. The one thing you need is fresh water and coconuts isn't going to work if you're by yourself.

Animals. Herbivores specifically. Any animal that needs water to survive, they'll take you to the source. You start moving slower and much quieter and it's not long before you spot a large brown rodent looking creature feeding on some plants. It could be a capybara or beaver. You stop moving and crouch, trying to look for any animal tracks. If you can find out which track matches that, you could follow it right to fresh water.

“Fuck!” You hiss.

A sharp stinging pain on your left ankle caused you to flick your leg and look down at several ants scurrying around. One must've bit you. You look back up hoping the animal didn't hear you but it's gone. You walk up to the spot it was feeding from and you notice it. Tiny little tracks that look like paw prints, and they're clear.

You decide your best bet is to just follow them and so you start hacking and slashing through the thick vines and bushes, following the trail as close as you can.

After around ten minutes of walking you start to hear a noise. The distinct sound water crashing against water. A stream. You're saved. You start running towards the sound, the water getting louder and louder, until you burst through the trees and into a clearing.

In front of you is a rock pool with a small waterfall. No signs of any other intelligent life is both a relief and a sadness, but either way, you found water.

You run up to the pool and get on your knees, splashing water on your face and drinking so much water. You feel incredibly refreshed from the sensation of the cool water flowing down your throat.

Looking towards the waterfall, you walk up to it and decide to get in. Not taking any clothing off, you get under the cold flow of water and take a moment to relax. This is the best feeling you've felt for a good couple of days. It's also a perfect spot to set up camp for yourself.

After freshening up in the waterfall, you jump out and quickly dry from the hot sun beaming down at you. It feels like the midday sun so you know there's only a limited amount of time left before it gets dark and dangerous, so you decide to explore the clearing more.

You didn't notice it at first, but there it is. A cave that looked completely natural has a wooden spike in the ground next to it. You take out your tomahawk and slowly approach the entrance of the cave, when you notice you can see the back of the cave. It's really shallow and more like a small overhang, but there's one thing in there that looks completely out of place. A black survival backpack, looking only a little worn down with dry dirt on every edge. It has an elastic rope on the outside that looks like you can hook your tool under. That could come in handy. You pick it up and take a look inside. Empty.

“Damn,” you whisper.

Suddenly you hear a cracking sound behind you. Your head snaps around, body in a solid stance, ready to defend yourself with everything you have.

In front of you stands a girl, but she’s not like the others back at camp. Her eye level is a few inches below yours, and her black hair flows just past shoulder length. There’s a sense of familiarity when you look into her eyes, yet her rugged appearance suggests she’s spent a long time on this island.

Without warning, she drops the pile of sticks she was carrying and already has her fists raised for combat. Her brows are furrowed, and she leans forwards a bit, allowing you quite the view of her glistening cleavage through the brown material that covers her breasts.

You think about reaching for your tomahawk, but surely that would too ****. Instead, you raise your hands in response. You are almost worried that landing a solid punch could really hurt this girl.

Suddenly, a quick flurry of three punches comes your way from below, as she darts in towards you. You only manage to block one, and the other two strike your chest. It's nothing you can't tank, but for little jabs they were surprisingly tough. She jumps back before you can counter, and reaches behind her back, brandishing a knife.

Fuck. She’s fast and she’s trained, and she has a knife.

You panic and let her circle around you, and think about waiting until you get an opportunity. However, she look like she’s still fairly full of energy even after carrying those sticks back.

She toys with you for a while, throwing a few well aimed slashes. You respond by just jumping out of the way, ducking and slipping when you need to. You aren't used to this kind of stuff and holding your hands up to block attacks seems useless against a knife.

You take a big breath in and start to re-compose yourself. She notices you are off guard, and takes her chance at pouncing. You see her forward momentum and quickly sidestep to avoid the sharp edge, throwing a punch to her head but she goes low, causing you to hit her arm and the blade slices your leg instead. She stumbles over, dropping the blade in the process. The two of you fall to the floor. You feel a huge deal of pain in your leg as she squeezes your open wound.

She starts reaching for the knife on the ground but you’re quick to notice, and kick it away into the bushes.

She diverts her attention to you and shifts her body to straddle your lower chest. Her left hand punches at your upper chest and you guard your face. You can’t keep this up for long, so you try thrusting your hips upward to throw her off you to no avail.

Almost immediately, she lands a solid blow to your already injured head, knocking you out cold.

{else}

Please turn on game mode to read the full story. Head to the menu at the top right, then select ‘Start Game’ under the ‘Score’ tab.

{endif}