Chapter 12 – Tension

“Water!”

Chloe shouted as she saw Jake break out from a path in the dense brush. She rushed forwards, smiling. “You guys did it. Good job.”

The others quickly came out of the cave to see what was happening. When they saw Jake, Sloane, and Lyle had returned, their eyes lit up. Susan had even hobbled out of the cave’s mouth.

Edwin took the water from Jake’s hand. “Have you tested it?”

Jake nodded. “All three of us. If it’s poisoned, then it’s slow acting. I… think someone should avoid drinking it for today.”

Edwin seemed to follow along. “You think whatever monster is in this place has laced it with something?”

“Something that puts us to sleep, maybe?”

Edwin nodded along, but he was clicking his tongue, feeling how dry it was. “I’ll go without,” he said, uncapping the bottle. “We don’t have the luxury of filtering and boiling it. Everyone, come get your ration.”

Everyone shared the bottle. Four big mouthfuls were what they were limited to for now, but it wouldn’t be long before they needed to go on another water run.

Maybe the goblins would choose that moment to attack? When they lowered their guard at the water source?

Jake took the bottle and entered the cave, handing it to Susan. Her chest was still badly wounded, blood seeping through the makeshift bandage. He handed the water over, and with her good arm, took sips of it.

“Anything out there?”

Jake noticed a mean look flash through her eye. He shook his head.

“This seems all… fake, doesn’t it?” She asked. “Like none of this is real. I mean, how can it be?”

Glenn and Sloane arrived, sitting down.

Susan took another sip, then continued. “We opened up a door to another world. How ridiculous is that? We can get stronger through killing monsters. We level up, just like a video game, and whatever stats we put into, makes us stronger. Really stronger.”

“And this place,” She handed over the water container to Glenn. “It seems so… peaceful. Jerry… Jerry would have loved it here. The grass, the trees, the way the wind blows so gently.”

“You need to rest,” Jake said bluntly. “Though I’ve healed the surface wounds, it still lingers deeper down. You can’t move for at least a day or two while I experiment with my healing skill.”

Her lips curled into a faint, weak smile. “Is that your way of saying you care about me?”

Jake said nothing and stood, walking deeper into the cave. The others may have started thinking of this place as a safe haven away from the dangers of the apartment, but he didn’t.

He propped a log up in one of the corners of the cave, then walked back, stopping around fifteen feet away from the target. Although he didn’t have a bow to practice his marksmanship with, he had his chain. Both were considered ‘aiming’, right?

He practiced for around three hours, healing through the muscle degradation of trying to hit a far away target with a scythe blade that was rather heavy. Minor Heal had ticked up to 17% mastery. Concentration wasn’t far off, and was in fact catching up at 16%.

That sensation—like he was on the cusp of something—reared its head up again, and just as he was about to get it, his stomach rumbled fiercely and loud.

Jake sighed. Not knowing what the feeling was, all he could do was rub his stomach and not let himself get frustrated.

He pulled Sloane and Glenn, who were both just sitting around milling about, and after a quick explanation to Edwin, and listening to around five minutes of ‘don’t go’, and ‘we should all go together tomorrow’ that they were going hunting, they left into the forest.

It wasn’t that Jake didn’t understand Edwin’s need for slow and steady wins the race, but Jake just wanted to get shit done. If he was thirsty, he wanted water. If he was hungry, he wanted food.

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They found a boar around an hour later. It looked mean and it was at least twice the size of any boar Jake had ever seen.

Jake had marked out a spot to lure it to, a spot surrounded by dense trees that would make it difficult for the beast to charge at them and use its ferocity.

With a signal, Glenn shot his bow, the arrow digging deep into its shoulder. It turned with violence, red seeping over the whites of its eyes like blood to water. It charged.

The ground trembled, sending clumps of dirt and grass up with every step.

“Run!”

Glenn yelled, and they darted into the dense home of trees. They scattered, and just when the boar stopped in confusion, another arrow pelted its side. It huffed out in pain and bolted for Glenn like a freight train with no stop.

Before it arrived, Glenn stepped to the side in panic. The boar slammed into the tree with a thunderous crack. Tree bark split off, and when the boar backed up, shaking its head to regain its composure, the devastation in the tree was remarkable.

If that landed…

Jake didn’t bother thinking of the what ifs. They had a plan, and they stuck to it.

It took ten minutes of back and forth whittling down the beast before it died, Jake landed the killing blow.