Symbiosis: At World's End

Holiday Special

The next morning, Brianna got up and stretched as far as she could. She had slept very well that night. She could see through her still sleep bleared eyes that everyone else was just waking up. She got up and walked over to the pile of wood they had started on yesterday but noticed something strange. It was higher than yesterday and had evenly cut logs as opposed to the branches and dead bark that was sitting on the bottom. She looked over at the rest of the group, who were just standing up, and called out to them.

"Was anyone chopping wood last night?"

Everyone shook their head and walked over to investigate. Indeed, the wood pile was higher than it was yesterday. The group seemed a little unsettled, but they decided to just go about their day. Merrick and Brianna started working on breakfast while Paula and Terry went out scavenging. By the time Paula and Terry returned, they had prepared more re-hydrated meat and roasted some local greens to break the monotonous meal. They all ate and talked about how the wood pile had been built up.

"The logs look like they were all cut clean through with a blade, and they're too thick to have been from any of the nearby trees, unless we count the branches. Even still, they don't have the same bark. Seriously, where did that wood come from?!"

Terry seemed the most perturbed by this. The others had, over the course of the conversation, come to realize that they shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Sure, they were still curious, but they weren't in a frenzy about it like Terry was. It was kind of funny, watching him trying to figure out what happened.

"There weren't any footprints on the ground so they would have had to be floating off the ground to leave the logs here..."

Finally, everyone had enough.

"DROP IT!" They collectively shouted.

Terry looked around a little embarrassedly and went back to his meal. Once he was done, they all went on another scavenging run. The run was about four hours long and turned out very, very well as they happened across a large deer, which Brianna killed with a spike. Terry carried it back to the shelter, where Merrick and Paula took care of cleaning it out. They buried the offal several blocks away and got straight to cooking the fresh meat when Brianna suggested they indulge themselves that night, for a little celebration. The idea went over rather well, and they prepared the meat in a few ways.

Some of it they stewed using a pot from the stockpile, some of it they fried on flat stones that were heated against the fire, and the rest they attempted to slow roast on a spit. It turned out not too bad.

Once they were done, they gathered around and enjoyed the rather large meal. The three runners in particular enjoyed being able to eat as much as they wanted for a change.

Brianna got up and went outside and looked up at the night sky. There were no clouds, giving her an unobstructed view of the sunset. The orange and pink that lit up the sky was something wonderful to behold, especially from her vantage point. She sat there for a while, humming her favorite Christmas songs to herself when she heard snow crunching behind her. She looked to see Paula sit down next to her, followed by Merrick, then Terry. She smiled under her mask and kept looking out at the sunset, enjoying this quiet moment with her friends, semi-old and new.

Eventually, they decided to go back inside and re-stoke the fire and talk about how best to proceed. Merrick grabbed a few logs and tossed them on the fire before laying on his back, arms folded behind his head. Terry mirrored him.

They sat and talked for a while, sharing stories and information, generally avoiding the topic they all knew they should talk about, but didn't want to. What was their next move? As it was, they needed to get moving soon and they needed to figure out where. It had been established already that they were going to stick together, so they needed a consistent supply of food and water. They had enough food to last them for a while, but it wouldn't last forever.