The Forest

Though it may be a difficult trek, the forest offers the best of both options. The chance of shelter and the chance to find someone for help is appealing enough to overlook its downside. With a few hours left until sundown, you begin your trek seemingly north into the vegetation. It's slow going as the forest proves to be quite dense and the ground is uneven, but it isn't too long before over the canopy you can see a billow of smoke climbing into the sky. It's quite the distance, but it's enough to give you hope. It's somewhere to aim at and it makes you feel good to have a specific goal in mind rather than the ambiguous 'forward' you were using until that point. The more you traverse, the better idea you get about the type of island you find yourself on. The palm trees, and warm winds were enough to tell you that it is somewhere tropical. Thankfully, the stereotypical tropical rainstorms have held off this long. You're still damp from washing up on the beach, so getting caught in a downpour would be just awful. It's at this point, you consider stripping off the wet garments to avoid getting sick or freezing, but the warm air is helping dry you and the thought of hiking nude is enough to send a streak of blush through your cheeks. A few grueling hours of trudging along through the forest and your stomach starts to growl at you, begging to be fed. Thinking back to the last meal, you remember that it was breakfast before your flight.

"Was that today?" you wonder, unsure how long you were for. If it was in fact the same day, it would have been about ten hours since your last meal. Just thinking about it sends your stomach into another round of groans and rumbles. Finding something to eat would be real nice, but it's starting to get late. Stopping to catch or hunt something could end disastrously if you don't succeed. Finding the source of that smoke has to be the number one priority, but if you find something you can eat while moving could be just what the doctor ordered. As if one cue, you spot a bundle of fruit bearing plants sitting right in front of you. Examining them, you can see that they have a bountiful harvest of wild berries spouting from them. The tiny fruits are pink in color, and are no bigger than a fingernail. From your limited knowledge on berries, they seem to be edible, but who knows what they might just do. You could quickly pick a handful of them and chow down while you're moving forward, but it might just be safer to pass them up in favor or something you're certain isn't harmful.