Stellar

Chapter 9: The Unknown

Morning arrived. Livy, Jake, and Robert all woke up and looked at each other, half asleep. As if it was a sleep over and they had all just woken up after exactly 0 hours of sleep.

Livy yawned and rubbed her eyes. "You guys ready to head out this morning?"

The boys nodded. "I sure am." Jake responded. They all stood up and packed up their things.

Robert picked up the bag that was left in the lab and packed the map, the flashlights, and the food rations. "Everything is packed and ready to go guys."

Livy responded with, "Awesome, then let's start heading west towards those trees." She smiled.

The world looked to be going uphill for them, but they soon realized the trees were a tad bit farther than they thought originally. "Ugh my legs hurt so bad." Robert complained.

"Suck it up, you baby." Jake responded.

"Hey, he has a hurt leg give him a break, Jake. You try walking four miles and getting nowhere." Livy looked at Jake with an annoyed look.

"If you hadn't noticed, I HAVE BEEN WALKING FOR FOUR MILES TO NOWHERE!!!" He looked at Livy angrily, replying with an annoyed tone.

"Okay, okay guys! We need to calm down. We're only about a mile away from the edge of the woods and then we should be okay to take a break and have some of the rations I have in my bag," They all quieted up after Robert's little speech.

One mile later, they came upon the forest. In unison, they dropped their jaws in awe of how huge the forest was. The trees on the right and left of them create a sort of mystical arch way into the woods. It was followed by piles of leaves and mud and grass mixed together with water to create a sort of glow on the ground. The trees swayed in the wind, creaking with every gust.

"This forest is huge!" said Jake in a surprised tone.

"It looked so much smaller from 5 miles away." Robert said with a surprised look on his face.

"Let's rest for a while and have some of the rations stored." Livy suggested. And so they all sat down and watched as Robert opened the bag and pulled out the rations, which just happened to be freeze dried crackers because that's all they had left in the bag.

"Bon appétit." Robert said. They all laughed at his little joke and ate their crackers in peace, listening to the wind howl by the trees and the crackle and crumble of the leaves and the water on the ground creating a small flowing sound. They all finished their crackers one by one until there was no more crackers left.

"Ah that was nice." Jake sighed with relief.

" I know right. I was starving to death!" Livy exclaimed. " Okay, so now that we are all fed, we should continue through the forest. Who knows? Maybe we'll find another hut with another Jake inside!"

They all laughed and continued their journey. As they walked deeper and deeper into the forest, they noticed that it seemed to be getting darker and darker relatively fast as they went on.

"Is it just me or did it go from day to night in a couple of minutes?" Robert asked the group.

"I don't think it's just you considering we all have eyes, Robert." Livy said in a sarcastic tone. They all giggled slightly but continued on their journey through the woods, hoping to maybe eventually find a end to this enormous forest. "Guys this forest goes on forev-" Livy was cut off by the sound of the ground beneath her cracking. She fell into a pit while the ground beneath her had crumbled like a sand castle.

"LIVY!" Robert and Jake screamed.

"Are you okay down there?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay! A little scraped and bruised, but other than that I'm A-O-K!"

In that moment, Robert and Jake looked at each other as if they'd lost a friend to death himself. "What should we do to get you out?!" Robert yelled down the hole.

"Is there anything to grab onto?!" Yelled Jake.

"No, but the ground is really squishy, almost like the ground wants to cave in." Within that moment, Livy started thinking to herself the worst of the worst. 'What If they leave me? What if I get stuck down here and die? What if I'm left to be alone for eternity as my friends get eaten above ground? It truly is the end of the line for me!"

Robert and Jake looked at each other as if they were waiting for the other to answer the question of how to get Livy out of the hole. "LIVY! We're going to set up camp up here next to the hole and figure out a way to get you out in the morning, is that okay with you?" Yelled Robert.

"Yeah, that sounds awesome! Maybe try using a stick from one of the huge trees tomorrow!"

Robert looks at the tree's thick branches. Every tree in the forest had branches that would take three men 4 hours to cut through.

"What are we gonna do Robert? I know I've been on this planet longdf than you, but I genuinely don't know what to do! I've never experienced any type of hole like this or trap! We still don't know what this hole is after all!" Jake said to Robert.

Robert replied, "I genuinely couldn't tell you, but let's not think too much of it. Let's just lay down and try to dream or think of a way we can get our dear friend Livy out of that god forsaken hole she just so happened to step in!"

An hour passed. Their fire burnt out. They were sleeping comfortably on piles of blue leaves from the trees next to the hole when suddenly...

CRACK!... BANG!... CRUMBLE!!

The ground beneath them crumbled and they both tumbled down on top of Livy.

"OW!" Livy yelled as she got kicked and shoved by the two boys falling onto her. "Oh no! Now we're all gonna die!" She cried.

"Well at least we know we tried our best." Robert said as he slowly looked to the ground as a tear fell from his face.

"WAIT!! Guys look! There's a little hole! Only about my finger can fit." Robert and Livy peaked over Jake's shoulder. As he stuck his finger in the hole within a hole in the floor that was like wet sand at a beach, it all crumbled and they fell 30 feet deeper, sliding down the wall and landing face first in some sort of goo.