Mo Dao Zu Shi: Astray

Some Village Called Xuhou, Part One

10 years ago...

Thunder rumbled loudly in the sky. That woke her up.

She groaned, blinking and opening her eyes blearily.

Raindrops pelted her face. Surprised, her eyes shot open.

What?! It was daytime when I fell asleep on that picnic blanket! The weather forecast didn't even mention a heavy storm that day or anytime soon! 

Now fully awake, she quickly sat upright.

"Agh!" Why did her entire body ache and feel sore? A walk up the mountains shouldn't have made her this tired!

She quickly covered her head with her hood.

She surveyed her surroundings. She was in a dense forest, surrounded on all sides by trees.

Ok. She was definitely not in the same clearing where she was having a picnic with her friends. Where were her friends anyway?

She called out her friends' names. No one answered.

Her friends weren't around. Maybe other people then?

"Hey! Anyone out there?!"

No response. Just thunder and the howling wind.

No one was nearby. She pressed down her rising panic.

Ok. I'll have to make a phone call for help then. - She hoped there was cell service out here, in this weather. It was a slim chance there was, but she had to try.

She reached for her smartphone in her pocket.

She hissed. It was burning hot to the touch.

She pulled her sleeves over her hands and carefully took her smartphone out.

Fuck. It was completely fried.

She put the blackened husk of a phone back into her pocket.

She studied the ground around her. Grass and dirt (duh). The picnic blanket was gone. And-

Where was her backpack?!

Shit! It must've gotten blown away in the storm! 

Just great. She was alone in a heavy storm without any navigational tools. No supplies. No shelter. No smartphone. And very likely to die of a lightning bolt to the head, starvation, or hypothermia.

Her heart pounded rapidly. Damn it. This wasn't good.

Lightning crackled in the sky. She flinched. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to steady her breathing and keep warm. She wasn't going to do herself any good staying here.

Ok. First course of action: Get out of the storm and find shelter. - She had to find a cave, a village, something!

She shakily stood up and looked out into the forest. Which direction to go?

All around her were trees of the same shapes and sizes. Nothing to differentiate any path from the other.

Shit. Good chance of being more stranded than she already was.

She groaned and shook her head. It wasn't safe staying out here. She had to start going somewhere.

She managed a few steps into the forest, only to slip face-first into mud. Gross. She spat the mud out of her mouth. She groaned and wiped the mud off her face with her sleeve. Well, most of the mud. The heavy rain caused the remaining splotches of mud to stick to her face, annoyingly so. But she wiped off enough mud from her eyes to be able to see, at least.