Wonderer's Wish World 2: Evolutionary Rebirth

Stalked

Day: 24

Time: 8:56AM

Location: The Basement, Death-Tastin Desert

"We found food!"

Karre, Gregory, Misfortune and Greg didn't even bother waiting for a response to that, as soon as they had given them message, they were rushing away, back through the door and to were, presumably, the food was. Darius, Ben and Molly stared after them in stunned silence, frozen in place for a scant few precious seconds, before, as one, they rushed out, following their other friends out the door and across the walkway. The new revelations weighed heavily on them, sure, but not as heavily as the weight of their empty stomachs did. They couldn't get there fast enough.

And, technically, they didn't get there fast enough.

When the three finally caught up to their friends, they were gasping and panting, nearly doubled over from the three floors they had to climb, but as soon as they arrived, they immediately knew something was wrong.

There was a tent in the corner, tucked inside and half hidden in shadow, as if that would have saved it, half hanging out of the door of the tent was a sleeping bag, wrapped tightly around something like a sausage, with out parts bulging out in different parts. It looked suspiciously like... Darius stopped looking at it.

His friends were all standing, crowded around something in a tight circle and not moving. None of them moved. None of them talked. Darius swallowed nervously.

"W-What is it?" Molly asked, her voice shaking from breathlessness, as well as something else. "What's wrong?"

Nobody answered her. Darius was starting to get worried.

Clearly disgruntled, Ben stood up, walking closer and forcing his way in between the small gathered circle to see what was inside. Through the gaps of the shouldered people, Darius saw something like a blue cooler, standing upright with it's lid leaning against it's side. It was a rather big cooler, but...

"There's... nothing here," Ben realized, his voice breathless. "What, wait? I thought you said-?"

"There WAS food," Karre interrupted, quickly, his voice tight and pinched. "I-it had been right here!"

"It was, I saw it, too!" Gregory defended quickly. "It had been right here when we left, filled to the brim!"

"It had sandwiches, water bottles, candy," Misfortune sighed wistfully.

"We left Hilda to watch it!" Gregory accused, turning to her with his arms crossed. "This is her fault!"

"Guys..." Karre tried, but his heart clearly wasn't in it. His eyes were intent on the cooler, and its empty space within.

"Crackers, juice, fruit," Greg added. He sniffed, burying his face into Frog's disgusting loose skin.

"It's not MY fault!" Hilda shouted back to Gregory, her eyes full of tears. "I was here, the entire time, and I watched it! I only turned away ONCE, and then it was gone! It's not my fault!"

"Of course not..." Karre muttered.

"Cookies, soup, cupcakes," Misfortune continued, shaking her head sadly.

"What- then something just slipped by you in a millisecond and took all the food?" Gregory shot back. "C'mon!"

"It's true!"

"Yeah, right-!"

"That's enough!" Ben snapped, turning towards them, his mouth set into a scowl and his eyes thunderous. "We didn't know what we were up against, and so our plan was flawed. It's fine."