During the night, Nicodemus' smart watch vibrates as it receives a call, because of this he woke up, as he awoke he saw a faint light outside gleamed through the tent's fabric. Then softly, it disappears.
He scooches down to exit the tent carefully to not wake the others up, as he exits the tent, Clarice couldn't help but notice. She did hear some rustling around the tent right before Nicodemus exited, while he's gone she couldn't sleep. Despite two people sleeping alongside her, the night felt desolate without his presence
He's still absent even after 15 minutes, she couldn't help but to check up on him. So she exits the tent through its zipper.
Walking through the thick grotto, she hears voices nearby; what leads to the voices is a faint glow of light… It's Nicodemus!
But he's talking to somebody. They're holding an electric lantern, it doesn't seem to have a nun veil but it's certainly a woman. Upon closer inspection, due to the distance she can't seem to understand their conversation, but she listens to them anyway. At first it looked like a casual conversation; simple hand gestures, subtle head nods, but slowly the woman raised her voice, this time it was clear.
"I don't need possibilities! I need guaranteed chances!"
Clarice takes a step back as she accidentally steps on a branch.
They both heard her crackle as they faced Clarice's direction while she audibly heard "We're being watched!".
Clarice gasps but she stops it by covering her mouth, not caring about the noise she'll make, she swiftly sprints back into the thick grotto towards the tent, while she audibly hears the both of them following her.
Finally arriving at the tent, she quickly unzips the entrance, then frantically wraps herself with a sleeping bag. On the following: she heard the rustling of the bushes stop. She relaxes her body then pretends to snore.
Nicodemus arrived as she opened the entrance's zipper. He looks inside only to see they're all sleeping. He lays himself next to Clarice - it woke her up for her to ask "Why did you leave me?"
Nicodemus answers "I just needed to take a leak"
She implies "For 30 minutes?"
Nicodemus also implied "I needed to look out for night predators, and a good spot"
Clarice faces herself away from Nicodemus while she begrudgingly said "Alright, keep you secrets then"
Nicodemus just scoffed it off, thus the both of them went back to sleep
[Day 2]
Dawn arrives while the rays stretch from the horizon, the sky turns orange as it reflects the clouds looking like dragon scales, wildlife scattered around the azure wield.
The trees rustle, then creatures with massive necks with the height of an apartment complex protrude out of the purple canopy, as birds fly away from it.
One of the girls screamed
Everyone jumped out of their sleeping bags, as they skedaddled towards the scream. They gathered around where it came from; it was one of Justine's team members.
"Th- the food! It's gone!"
All of the monstrous cured meat, gone without a trace.
Justine asks her "Didn't we wrap everything in thick weaved bark?"
Her teammate exclaimed "YES! I even doubled the wrap to make sure no nocturnal predators were able to smell it!"
June just woke up - got out of the tent whilst rubbing her eyes "Mhhh~ You guys are being so loud! She- she's right though, no predator would be able to sniff that out- but a person would definitely check that"
Nicodemus asks, "Wha'chu mean?"
Donovan preparing the stove while he said "She means we're not alone, the glass shards we saw yesterday; worst case scenario that was a trap for us, or they got tipsy on the way ahead of us"
All of them stared at each other in silence, visibly confused and frustrated Justine steps forward, holding her spear "Well while you guys think I have some ideas that I hope you are all willing to cooperate: come with me to go hunting or press on with a half-empty stomach"
She looks at Donovan cooking the remaining foraged vegetables "Don! How many mouths can our supply feed for now?"
Donovan stir fries the vegetables while he hisses "I don't know Justine, the supply's looking grim for the 13 of us"
Justine looks at the rest of the crew saying "So what'll be crew? Remember we've only got 2 days left before we can reach the next trail- that is if we survive. So who can fight here?"
Awkwardly looking at each other, June steps forward then gently pushes Clarice forward while she said "Princess here can clear it up for you! She may not look like it, but she can hold on her own" While Clarice is visibly nervous, Nicodemus steps forward as she says
"I'm coming too, the ghillie suits should be dry by now"
Justine with fists on her waist looks at June and asks "June, I'm gonna need you to watch over my girls along the way. Don, just keep foraging along the way. The 3 of us hunters will keep an eye for food. Let's go!"
Donovan darts his head between his cooking and Justine, then he says "W- wait what about brekky?"
On of Justine's teammates tosses a bag of pre-sliced bread towards him as one of them say "Let's just have it along the way"
During the walk towards the thicket, the sun finally settled as the wind within the thicket began to pass through, rustling their ghillie ponchos. The trees that tower over them block out the sun; as they pressed on, the dirt gave way to sand, as the trees weave aside the wind becomes stronger as the light towards them shone brighter as they walked further, it's a bridge.
The wind shredded the sand into stinging red sheets, yet as they pressed on they heard a faint scream.
Nicodemus looks at the distance and uses his hand to shade his eyes "You guys seein' what I'm seeing?"
Donovan does the same "I think I see someone… I think they're crying for help!"
June exclaims "Well, what are we doing here? C'mon guys- Princess let's go!"
The both of them sprinted ahead, as the rest of the group tried to catch up, Justine yelled "Hey! Wait a damn minute!" They kept sprinting towards the person, they soon find out that it's a boy- his body is suspended by his arms, as they get closer the boy yelled
"Please hurry, I can't hold on for much longer!"
The red gale grew stronger as they got closer, all of them sprinting towards the boy who's half of his body dangling on the hole of the bridge.
Arriving on the bridge, June and Clarice held the rope suspending the bridge as it danced along the wind, holding on for dear life; the boy's grip loosened as his elbows slipped down its floorboards. His cries grew louder "Please! Hurry! My back is getting sore!"
Just a few feet away, June and Clarice were about to grab the boy's arms, but it was too late.
The boy slipped, but thankfully Clarice was able to grab both of his hands, as her whole upper body was dangling on the broken floorboard, behind her was June pulling her by the ankles, though due to the weight of the two she lost her balance.
In a nick of time Justine pulls her back by the hair
June screamed "AAAAAHHHHHHH! I can't feel my brain!"
Justine shouted "Sorry! It was the only thing in my reach!"
But she loses traction on the floorboards, so Nicodemus pulls her by the waist and lodges his heel between the floorboards "I gotchu!"
The rest of Justine's team reeled them back, struggling slowly to pull them back up, all of them grunting and groaning all the while their ponchos rubbed against the floorboards. The wind just kept blowing stronger as most of the girls have used the bridge's ropes as leverage.
As they pulled even harder, the two groups used all their strength to pull each other, as Clarice and the boy's bodies finally slumped over the floorboards, they started panting heavily; Clarice and the boy were lying face down, June was staring at the sky while a chunk of her hair was off her scalp, Nicodemus and Justine were lying on top of one another, while the rest of the girls were panting as their sweat flew along the direction of the wind.
Yet the wind began to settle down, the blood red dust began to thin. The boy hugged Clarice while he bawls his eyes out
"Oh my god! Thank you so much! I thought I was gonna die" he proceeds to rub his face onto her chest
Justine found herself lying on top of Nicodemus' body, she blushes as soon as she noticed- pushing herself up to sit "Sorry Nick, I didn't know what got over me"
Nicodemus tussles his hair as he says "No biggie, I accidentally grabbed you by the waist in the heat of the moment"
Clarice looks at the both of them while she's unaware that the boy was hugging her. Looking back at the boy, a long string of snot stretched from her uniform, but then he just tried to wipe it off.
It got worse, the boy frantically said "Oh I'm so sorry! I'll clean it up for you later!"
Justine checks on her teammates as she asks "You girls alright?"
They're all slumped while the other one exclaimed "We good! Just a couple blisters on our hands, but overall still in one piece!"
Justine looking back at the rescued boy asks "What happened? How did you end up here?"
The boy, visibly on edge, looks around as the sand storm relaxes into a calm scorching weather; pointing at both ends of the bridge he exclaims "THEM!"
All of them see two groups of hooded people, machetes drawn and eyes locked onto them.
Clarice yelled at the boy, drawing her knife as she tugs the collar of his shirt "You asshole! You set us up!"
The boy frantically said "N- no! Please! I- I- I can explain"
All of them stood in silence, as the scorching sun slowly cooked them all in their ponchos.
All of them have their sweat drip down from their temples
Justine exclaims "Reece! Don! Do not take your eyes off him! - Which of you guys can fight?"
2 of Justine's teammates raised their hands
"Don gimme 2 shanks with hand guards!" Justine yells as Don quickly pulls out two to toss it towards the girls.
"You two come with Nick to guard the front! Me and June will guard the rear!"
As the opposing sides stare at each other outwards, their sweat poured even more, sand slowly begins to envelop the sun once more. Justine grips her spear even tighter, June takes a step back as she switches her knife to southpaw. Nicodemus lodges his spear on the ground.
Suddenly the desert ninjas sprints towards them, while the sand storm engulfs their sight once more. Leaving everyone's vision visible for about 3 feet away.
The rest of Justine's teammates huddled towards Clarice and Don eyeballing the traitor.
In the sand Justine sports a swing of a machete, weaving around it, she swipes her spear sidewards, no blood was shed the both of them dodged it.
June charges forward attempting to stab one of the ninjas. But her target got lost in the red mist.
Nicodemus throws his spear forward as it only lodges itself on the wooden planks. The 2 girls he's with charged forward, setting a violent frenzy in the sand, they don't seem to hit any of their targets for they keep using the surrounding red mist to dodge.
Suddenly one of the girls was pushed towards the edge, accidentally dropping her knife, as she's forced to grab the rope suspending the bridge, as her legs are dangling from a 50 foot drop of the canyon.
She screams "Help me up! Please!"
Nicodemus bobbing and weaving around the ninja's slashes, immediately ran towards the girl, and as soon as he tried to help her up, he was suddenly kicked to the face, his back hitting the planks.
The ninjas get a hold of his spear as they try to stab him while he's on the ground, again and again and again! But it only ends up lodging on the planks. Each stab became more and more frustrating.
The other girl, helping Nicodemus, charges at one of the ninjas. She tried to stab one of the desert ninjas, but she was quickly disarmed, she immediately went and poked the ninja's eyes, while they were incapacitated she quickly jumped onto their shoulders and unmasked the ninja.
Nicodemus gets a good look at the ninja, he's young! The moment the girl tugged the hood down to the waist it was further revealed that the ninja has the same school uniform from the orphanage
Clarice panics as she sees nothing but Nicodemus being overwhelmed with attacks. She shouts to Donovan "Hang tight I'll be back"
Donovan tugging the boy's shirt tighter asks "Wait where are you going?"
She shouts while running towards Nicodemus "I gotta help them sorry~!"
She immediately pushes the ninja that's pinning Nicodemus down. The moment the ninja loses balance, they tug her shirt along with them, slamming themselves both on the ground.
June and Justine have 4 ninjas surrounding them. One of the ninjas has a knife attached at the end of the chain, the ninja throws the chain towards June, but Justine pushes her aside.
Audibly the knife landed on something solid, the moment June looks up, she finds out that there is actually a plank attached to Justine's back, it was hidden because of her mantle this whole time.
"You okay June?"
June panted "Yeah, all good J!"
Suddenly Justine was pulled back by the chained knife, as she was getting tugged by the rest of the 3 ninjas they were facing rushes towards her, June saw this and immediately sprinted towards them, the slashes down the chain, but it wasn't strong enough to break it.
Gritting her teeth; Justine stops being pulled as she lodges her forefoot between the planks and lodging her spear inside the chain hole to the floorboards. This time she pulls the chains, tugging the ninja towards her. The ninja tries to stab her as they're being tugged, lucky she blocked the stab with the plank on her back, she trips down the ninja and stabs it right on the heart, killing them effectively.
Justine uses the chained knife and throws it to the other ninja, but it was blocked thus it just bounced off. June catches the knife and throws it on the ninja's arm, the ninja tries to block it but it just wraps around their arm. Justine uses the tip of the spear to slash their body upward, cutting it up right in the middle down to the bones. The last ninja stands between them, June, and Justine.
The ninja reveals their mouth and whistles.
An aggressive rumble followed on the ground, as the trees from the forest right beside the desert began shaking, the birds hiding suddenly flying away, in mere seconds a hulking bipedal dinosaur emerges from the forest, but with its teeth protruding on the whole front of its face like a shark who's just lost control of its tooth growth.
The ninja steps away from the dinosaur's path, then it quickly snaps off the other end of the bridge breaking its suspension on June and Justine's side.
In a split second, everyone loses balance, as they notice the bridge slowly collapsing. Everyone on it began running to the still suspended end of the bridge.
As the bridge was now at 45° most of them began slipping down, luckily Justine yelled "C'mon girls, let's show em' what we trained for!" Her whole team formed a human ladder as all of them climbed on each other. Justine reaches out for June as they form along the ladder.
Justine's other teammate that was dangling off the bridge this whole time, manages to climb up to the upper planks, grabbing Clarice's hand as she says "Let's wait for them to get here so we can join the conga"
Suddenly a ninja drops down towards the both of them, ready to strike them down both - going for the kill. But just inches away right before they land on the girls, Nicodemus drops down along with them and stabs them right on the back. Resulting in the ninja falling to their death from 50 feet down.
The bridge effectively landed down 0°, completely vertical. No ninjas were on sight.
Everyone was panting and grunting as they climbed up, their forearm and back muscles clenching with every climb, breaths getting heavier the closer they were to the top, but right before they could reach the top.
"Um I don't mean to interrupt your struggle guys, but can you help me up?" The same boy that had had himself trapped between the bridge planks asked.
All of them look at each other as June says "What makes you think it'd be a good idea to help you? You don't have anything sharp in your sleeves do you?"
THe boy sighed "My team is already gone, I'm effectively disqualified"
All of them said in unison "Ohhhhhh" as they proceeded to join him in the ladder conga. The sand storm quickly thins out, revealing the clear blazing sun once more.
While climbing; Justine, looks back at the cut end of the bridge, seeing the same ninja and dinosaur standing side by side, the rest of them don't notice this but they seem to have simply walked back to the forest from which they came from.
She asks "Um guys, am I tripping or did anyone else see a dinosaur right before the bridge was cut?"
Clarice answered in an irritated tone "We couldn't see anything through the sand storm!"
Panting ahead, one of them was finally able to walk to the surface, each of them pulled each other up, grunting and breathing heavily down to the last person. The boy
As soon as he climbed up to the surface everyone was looking at him with leering contempt as Clarice says "Alright fag, explain yourself"
The boy sharply sighed "I'm Laz Grayson, I'm one of you guys"
All of them raised a brow
"I- I mean I'm a candidate too, but erm… since you guys killed two of my teammates, now I'm expelled. I… can't… go… back…"
The rest of them start looking at each other, visibly regretting what they've done. Clarice suddenly asked "I- um… if there were only 3 of you, then who were the other two? Those two looked more rugged than you 'teammates'?"
Laz answered "Oh those guys… they're students, or used to…"
Everyone is in utter shock, jaws dropped, eyes widened, and some faces puckered
Justine exclaims "Oh that's fucked up!"
The boy walks away from them as he says "Welp, I'm off to Cydonia now, if you need me I'll be drowning in the rain canals"
Justine grabs him by the arm "Wait! If it's okay to ask- why did you join if you knew you… you know?" she says as she shrugs
Laz implied "I didn't, the nuns forced me, my friends forced me. I never wanted any of this in the first place- I didn't even asked to be born, now I'm hungry and no roof to sleep under"
He snatches his arm off of Justine's hand
Laz just shrugs "appreciate the help guys, it's just…" As soon as he looks like he's about to cry, he turns away, walking towards the city walls.
Fast forwarding further into the journey, it's noon. None of them have had breakfast yet. Their stomachs grumble with every step while the environment is not helping either. The scorching sun beaming directly at the top of their heads, not even their own shadow is being cast.
Their feet sink in the sand with every step, no wind to cool them down. Vegetation is visible but there aren't any edible ones. One of Justine's teammates has already drank their last drop of water.
June notices that Clarice was falling behind, so she stops just so she could catch up, once they were at a same pace June noticed that her face was longer than before, sweat dripping all round her skin as her face is paler than usual, thus June asks "If there's something bothering you, I'm all ears"
Clarice just continues to walk in agonizing silence
June nervously said "H- hey, maybe if we can find a river, a lake, or any body of water we should be able to catch at least a little bit of fish, besides we can't eat Don's mushroom chips all day-"
Clarice interrupted her "No it's not that-"
June scrunches her face; visibly confused "What're… what are you getting at here?"
Clarice refrained "What if one of us dies here? Are we just thrown here to be forgotten? Do we really have a chance to get through this? Do we-"
June interrupts her with "We do! We're cut out for this, but…" She looks at Justine for brief moment before saying
"We also need to make sacrifices-
If I- you- I mean we have to win, is through sacrifices, and sometimes you need to sacrifice the ones that are close to you, just to get what we dream of having"
Clarice stutters "But Laz- I didn't mean to call him that, I should've at least helped him or asked if he was oka-"
June stops on her tracks as she digs down her feet on the hot sand, grabbing Clarice by the shoulders "Look! I'm gonna need you to lock in for me. Whatever happened to Laz is behind you now, this is what I mean when you have to make necessary sacrifices! It hurts, I know; that's just a stepping stone for your success, because there's no such thing as a self made person, there will always be a stepping stone along the way, because when there's no pain, there's no gain"
Justine interrupts everyone as she shouts "Guys! Am I tripping balls or is that an actual body of water?!"
It's a lake connected to a river, surrounding it with thick lush purple vegetation.
Nicodemus shouts "Yep you're definitely not tripping, let's go gang!"
Fast forwarding at the arrival to the lake, the water is clear, the red sand housing multiple beds of coral, while schools of fish circle around the lake.
All of them, and I mean all of them, started sprinting towards the lake catching the fish with their bare hands, some of them even biting down the fish raw.
Most of them saw this and stared in utter shock
"What? I'm hungry!"
Fast forward to the afternoon, they were eating while walking, some of them were eating sandwiches while some were eating straight fish fillet. As they ventured further along the lake's edge, thick groves of towering ferns and bioluminescent vines encroached upon the path, their purple hues deepening into an almost ethereal glow under the afternoon sun. The air grew heavier, laced with the sweet, cloying scent of overripe fruit and damp earth.
The sunlight from the dry desert began to shade down from the view of the forest. Small creatures began scurrying away as they pass by, Clarice asks Nicodemus "Um Nick? Do you happen to know what time it is?"
"Hang on lemme check" as soon as he raises his smartwatch, he expects it to show the time; confused he tries to press one of the buttons, but it doesn't work either. He tried holding the dial, to no avail either.
"Shit, my watch's outta batts, anyone else got some ice on their wrist?" he says as he looks back at the team while walking; he asks Clarice back "By the way what made you ask that?"
Clarice answered with a tinge of panic in her voice "I was wondering because I noticed that the sky was getting dark"
A drop of rain plopped on her face as she flinched, followed by a drizzle. Justine looks around the spot they're in and she notices that there is a wide spot of flat soil as she says "I think we should set up camp here, but we need something to keep the fire from being extinguished.
CLarice's team and Nicodemus started setting up the same tent they used last time. While Justine's team gathered giant leaves, sticks, and vines, they worked together to build a huge teepee. Justine came back carrying dry wood for the fire.
Several minutes passed, the fire was crackling under a leaf that did not seem to burn under the heat. Water droplets from the drizzle visibly drip down from their tents from the inside. Their lanterns lit up each of their tents as they lay down and waited for the rain to subside.
But longer than several minutes passed, the rain still hasn't stopped, matter of fact it got stronger along with thunder. It was almost soothing, as most of them started to doze off, Clarice was particularly resisting the urge to sleep, given that they just ate, then suddenly.
"HELP! HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME!" a blood curdling scream is heard, echoing throughout the thicket
Everyone woke back up and peeked through their tents, Nicodemus and Justine saw each other peeking as Justine said "That voice, it sounds familiar…" she says this as she was looking at the direction where the sound is coming from
"PLEASE I DON'T WANNA DIE! HEEEELP!!"
Nicodemus exclaims as the both of them "That is definitely Laz!"
The both of them immediately got out of their tent, meanwhile inside the tent he was sleeping; Donovan and Clarice suddenly woke from their slumber after Nicodemus left, they saw the whole thing, then Donovan insisted "C'mon Princess, we gotta help em'!" as they left the tent as well.
Rain drowns the forest as Justine and Nicodemus sprinting inside the thicket as they swatted away every branch and leaf that was blocking them- they look around to check the sound again
"HEEEEEEELLLP!"
"This way! 3 o'clock!" Both of them looked towards the east and bolted further, Clarice and Donovan followed.
The closer they got, the more the sound became ear piercing. They soon find out that Laz's body was stuck under a massive log, with only his upper body protruding.
As they arrived, Clarice and Donovan came in, in a nick of time. Nicodemus shouts "Princess! Don! What are you guys doing here?"
Donovan exclaimed "We're here to help!"
"HELP ME PLEASE!" Laz yelped
Justine shouts "Well pull him outta there! Me and Nick will push the log aside!"
Rain poured even harder as Clarice and Donovan started pulling Laz from the log, while Justine and Nicodemus pushed the log using their backs - it's working, but something isn't right
As they rolled the log back, they noticed that Laz's legs are not the same legs they saw earlier, his legs looked like they were fused together. The moment Donovan sees this he immediately lets go of Laz's arm, Clarice exclaimed "Don! What's the matter?!"
She looks at his face expressing nothing but pure terror.
The log that Justine and Nicodemus were pushing rolled away with ease, as it caused the both of them to trip down on the mud over their backs.
All of them started to look back, the log was snapped in half, by a giant maw. Frozen in fear, they stared at the creature.
A miniature forest could be seen growing on its back, its jaw's width could easily span the length of an alligator, and its eyes glow a bright tinge of lime. Rows and rows of teeth scutter inside its maw. Its roar pierces through them as it echoes throughout the whole forest, shuddering everyone near it.
"RUUUUUUN!!!"
The four of them sprinted right before the beast's jaw shut to catch them, they bolted as fast as they could. But the beast follows them in a frightening burst of speed, attempting to catch the kids by snapping its jaw forwards with every step.
Nicodemus trips on a protruding root lodged on the mud.
"Justine! Help me!
The beast only inches away, opens its gaping mouth *snap* both of them got away only inches away from death!
Luckily the beast stops chasing them, followed by an ear piercing roar that slowly fades as the distance between them gets farther and farther.
Coming back to camp, they were panting, even though it was raining sweat was pouring down their skin, Nicodemus dropped down - lied on his back with limbs stretched out saying "Holy shit *pant* I almost *pant* fucking died!"
Justine slouched down while she's breathing heavily "What the *pant* hell was that?!"
Donovan with his hands on his hips turns back to face them as he says "That my friends is an Echosaurus, that monster us-"
He was suddenly interrupted by Justine dropping on the ground, out-cold
"JUSTINE!" everyone awake said in unison
Fast forward late at night, the rain has not yet subsided. Matter of fact it toned down into a drizzle. The campfire crackles as it spits out embers under the light rain. Moans can be heard round the camp.
Further revealing Justine to be bed-bound. Donovan checking her temperature, Justine continues to moan sickly while Nicodemus holds her hand.
Beeping occurred from the thermometer, Donovan pulls it out to look saying "Yikes, over a hundred degrees we're gonna have to stay still the sun rises so she could get some rest"
Justine coughs aggressively followed by snorting back her snot she said "I'm sorry guys, I've let you guys down" she sniffled as Nicodemus hold her hand even tighter as he says it with a tone of determination "No, this isn't your fault, nor is it anyone's fault, this is just our body showing its limit."
He caresses her warm forehead that's covered in wet cloth, Nicodemus says "It's gonna be okay" taking off the wet cloth followed by a soft kiss on her forehead.
Clarice's face puckered while Justine lets out a soothing smile.
Standing up Nicodemus heads out as he got out of their tent he says "The rest of us should get some rest too, the day's been long but we still need to conserve out energies - also, Don's packing a lot of granola bars"
June glares at Donovan "What the- You were packing food!? This whole time?!"
Donovan exclaimed "It's for emergencies!"
Going back to team Clarice's tent, She and Nicodemus remained here while June and Donovan took care of Justine alongside her own team.
The both of them sitting down inside the tent, eating the emergency granola bars that Donovan provided, Clarice asks "Nick be honest, are you and Justine actually dating again?"
Nicodemus chewing down the chunky bar said "What? No! I told you we're no longer together!"
She exclaimed "Then what the heel was that kiss for?!"
He explained "Princess the girl is sick! What do you want me to do? Slap her?"
She answered "The caress was enough Nick! What you did was completely unnecessary!"
He exclaimed "Why are you acting like this? Are you in love with me or something?!"
She shouts "Yes!- I mean no! I mean- ARGH! FUCK IT! GOODNIGHT!" she proceeds to wrap herself in her blanket
He notices the bar is still not finished "Hey you didn't even finish your granola bar!" he shakes her by the shoulder to catch her attention, to no avail. He proceeded to pry on the blanket to look at her face, what he saw was her with teary eyes and a red nose.
She immediately closes the blanket back shut, further sharpening the silence between them
Suddenly the tent opens, only to reveal June and Donovan entering the tent, Nicodemus asks "Be honest, what did you hear?"
June answered "We heard everything"
Nicodemus replied "Ugh why does this have to be this hard?" Then he proceeded to lie down as he asked "June could you lay beside her? Tell her a bedtime story or something…"
Rain continued to pour, yet it seemed to shower too hard as lightning strikes can be seen from inside the tent
Thunder crashes past midnight, as Nicodemus' smart watch began to vibrate.
Again, he leaves the tent without notice, except for Clarice. Within the rain she could hear Justine's sickly moans.
Suddenly thunder crashes once more followed by a blood curling scream
"JUSTINE! HELP ME!"
The only people awake enough to notice were Clarice and Justine.
The both of them peeked their heads out from the tent, they saw each other between the campfire. Justine shouts "That sounds like Nick, is she in your tent?!"
Justine shouted "Then we gotta help him!" even in her condition she immediately bolted out of the tent.
But Clarice catches up to her then grabs her by the hand as she shouts "Wait! What if that's the Echosaurus?
Justine shouted back "alright but we gotta be careful, but he's not as strong as he looks"
The two of them sprinted out from the camp to follow the sound, while the rain blurs the surroundings. They soo found out that the sound was coming from a pit.
Sliding down the muddy pit, the both of them looked around, in the middle of the muddy pit was a pool of mud, upon stepping on it, the pool seemed to be deep as Clarice's foot seemed to sink down to the knee without feeling a surface all the way down.
Luckily, Justine was able to pull her out in time.
Within the rain, the both of them see Nicodemus, in the middle of the mud pool struggling to keep himself afloat, his speech occasionally becoming garbled due to the struggle.
"JUSTINE! *brlrblrblrbrbb* HELP ME!"
Justine finds a long dead, dried up root at the edge of the mud pool, she says to Clarice while picking up the root stick.
"Reece I'm gonna need you to hold this for me while I dive, once I grab hold of Nick's hand pull as hard as you can"
Clarice nodded in agreement, then Justine proceeds to sink her legs on the mud pool while her other arm grabs the root stick, her other arm is swimming forward. While doing this she shouted "Reece push it a little bit forward!" as she does so, she inches closer to Nicodemus struggling.
Little by little she attempts to grab him by the fingertips, it did nothing but graze the tips, so she yells "Reece push a little further!"
As she does so, Justine finally grabs his hand while she shouts on top of her lungs "PULL!"
She heaved as hard as she could, as the both of them slowly get pulled back the mud rises, within the mud two lime colored balls of light can be seen, the mud slowly falls off the mound.
A loud monstrous scream followed as Justine let go of the false Nicodemus!
In fear Clarice accidentally lets go of the root stick, as it slowly sinks down in the mud pool
"CLARICE! HEEEEEELP!"
But she was too frozen in fear.
She witnesses in her eyes that the beast chases Justine down in the mud while Justine struggles to swim away from the pool.
*CHOMP* Justine lets out a blood curdling scream as the beast grabs hold of her ankles, bit by bit the beast bites down, bit by bit her body is in its mouth.
Clarice's face pale with terror, softened.
She just stands there while Justine gets eaten alive
"CLARICE PLEASE! I'M BEGGING YOU!" She throws a knife from her waist still encased in a sheath
*CHOMP*
THe beast severs her head in with a bite, the decapitated head plops down in the mud, as the beast dives down along with it
Clarice began hyperventilating as her stiff face turned into a smile.
Suddenly she laughed uncontrollably while scuffling her hair.
She sat down curled up - breathed in and stopped to say "No pain, no gain~" saying that as she smiled ear to ear.
Suddenly Nicodemus slides down the pit as he shouts "Princess! Is everything okay?" Immediately he comes to her, as he grabs her by the shoulders
"What happened?"
Clarice turns around, starts crying as she hugs him tight she says "The monster ate her! I was terrified!" Then she bawled her eyes out, yet Nicodemus was there to comfort her by hugging her back.
Behind Nicodemus was a Clarice hugging him, with her eyes filled to the brim with malice
The flash of lightning reveals the blood on the mud pool.