Chaos Faction

• T W E N T Y •

Sam, Sapnap, and the cow made it back to the new base covered in mud and pine needles, but otherwise safe and sound.

"Looks like you had fun?" Rae grinned at them, as they entered the newly erected structure the rest of the group had been working on.

"More fun than us, by the looks of it," said Dream, entering behind them. "Although I'm not sure... which one's the cow?"

"Shut up," one of the mud covered apparitions grumbled.

"This one's human," said Rae, poking Sapnap in the arm, causing him to squirm away in protest.

"Well once you've worked out which one's the cow, would you mind working out how to turn it into steak?" Said George, entering their new barn like structure, and glancing around at its occupants. "Thanks you two, by the way. Jokes aside, we all appreciate you for going all that way in the dark."

"Welcome," Sam smiled at him. He was sitting on the ground now, looking a little sleepy. "I think I've earned the right to sleep for a bit, wake me up when we've got food."

"You don't want to jump in the lake beforehand?" Wondered Imane. "I know you're Sam because of your voice, but that's about where the similarities end, and if you give me twenty minutes I've almost made everyone a comfortable place to sleep."

"Yeah, come on Sam let's clean up a bit," said Sapnap, taking his friend's hand, and hauling him up from the ground. "We can sleep afterwards."

The two disappeared outside again, leaving the rest of them to it. Their building project was going well so far. They'd had Brooke hold her shield out from the inside, whilst Jord, Rae and Punz had used their telekinesis to haul several large boulders down from the mountains to form a base for their wall. Then they'd used tree trunks from the skinny pines surrounding them to form a wall, which interconnected with more trunks at the roof. The whole thing was resting on the mountain behind, which had been shaved away by the three telekinetics to make it more flat. When Brooke released her shield and stepped away, some of the trunks collapsed in, but for the most part they held firm. Imane jumped up on top of their structure, trying to balance carefully on the trunks that were sturdy, and helped to fix the fallen logs in place so that they would not fall again.

Meanwhile, Dream and George had taken time to explore their miniature island in the middle of the lake. George was keen to use it for a lookout post, as it was a great vantage point, with views of the only entrance into the valley. It would require some work before it turned out how George was envisioning it, but he was so excited as he discussed it with Dream that Dream felt he could see it there already.

"How about starting a fire?" Suggested Dream, after he and George returned to the mainland to see how the others were getting on. "We could put one in here to keep ourselves warm."

"Need I remind you that our roof and walls are highly flammable?" Asked Jord, raising an eyebrow at her boyfriend.

"So?" He grinned. "Can't you put it out if we have a problem?"

"Maybe," Jord shrugged. "By the time I do we might have a few tree trunks falling on our heads, but we can always try..."

"Okay, the fire needs to be outside," said George, with a laugh.

"Alright, well you collect some dry wood for it then," said Jord. "And put a stone barrier around it so it doesn't spread. Let me know when you're ready to light it."

By the time Sam and Sapnap returned from the lake, there was a fire burning away in the small fireplace that had been made for the purpose. It wasn't particularly big - sending up a big smoke signal was as good as saying 'here we are, come and kill us,' and they didn't want anyone knowing where they were at this point. George and Brooke had been busy trying to drain blood from the cow, and cut it up into pieces that could be cooked on the fire, whilst Jord poked at the fire with a long stick, and Dream occasionally added a piece of wood to keep it going.