Resuming your journey

You once more begin your journey down the valley, walking a bit stiffly at first after your not completely restful night. You've survived one night on this unexplored plant none the worse for wear. But you are still no closer to your goals of finding your crewmates, discovering the secret of the aliens that attacked your ship, or even finding some supplies to help your continued survival. But your optimism still abounds...if you made it through one night, you can certainly survive another. You even begin to whistle to yourself as you continue your walk.

The day passes relatively uneventfully until late in the afternoon when a large band of ominous black clouds begins to roll over the cliffs surrounding the valley. Great...a thunderstorm, you mutter to yourself. The clouds are coming in fast, so you don't really have much option. You look around for shelter, but the only thing you can see are stands of the large, evergreen like trees that dot the valley. Before you can even think of taking cover in them, a bolt of lightning strikes one of them with a deafening boom that almost knocks you over. Going there is definitely out of the question. You move toward the cliffs in hope of finding a cave of some sort, but the rain bands from the storm catch you in the open. Your pistol and scanner are relatively waterproof, but your jumpsuit is quickly soaked through to your skin. Eventually, you find a small cave to shelter in. By the time the storm rolls by though, it's almost dark again.

In the dying light, you do what you can to gather up some tinder for the nights fire. It's a chore, but eventually you gather up enough wood to get a small fire going in the mouth of the cave. Sitting down with a sigh, you shrug your way out of your wet uniform and underwear and lay them over a rock near the fire to dry. Leaning back against the cave wall, you are on the verge of sleep when a rustling out in the dark brings you back to full wakefulness. Taking your laser, you point it out at the darkness as the sound comes closer...very much aware of what a pathetic figure you cut in your nude form.