Utopia: Land of Power

Chapter 2

Kurumi, Takehiro, and Mr. Kenta walked around the forest, looking for any signs of a bear.

"I thought that was a bear!" Kurumi said. "It really looked like one!"

"Yep!" Takehiro nodded. "Guess we'll find one soon!"

Mr. Kenta kept pointing his flashlight around, looking for any signs. "Seems this area is clear! Let's move forward!"

They walked ahead, pointing the flashlight between numerous trees. Eventually, they saw Kumiko, who was covering her face because of the light.

"Kumiko?" they all questioned. "You're here?"

She nodded. "I lost Mykhail on the right side! We should go look for him!"

"Okay!" Mr. Kenta said. "Everyone ready?"

They all agreed at once, and they began their way to the other side of the woods. In the distance, they could hear a strange sound, but they all ignored it.

"How much farther were you, Kumiko?" Mr. Kenta asked.

"Not much!" Kumiko replied. "I think he's close!"

They reached a more open arena of the woods, and when they did, they saw a horrific sight.

Dozens of bears lay dead, their heads or limbs missing, bodies cut open, and eyes stabbed out. Mr. Kenta pointed a flashlight at one of the corpses.

"Oh my!" Kumiko gasped. "Did they do this to themselves?"

Takehiro and Kurumi also took in the horrible sight, confused about how to react.

"Did they get sick and die?" Kurumi asked. "It must have been some disease!"

Mr. Kenta narrowed his eyes, noticing a hole in the floor nearby. "Hmm..."

But he turned the flashlight away from it, shrugging. "Whatever happened here, I guess it's between them! Let's keep looking for Mykhail!"

They headed away from the corpses, not noticing someone hiding behind a tree, covered in blood.

As they looked around further and further, it began to get even darker. Mr. Kenta stopped walking.

"Do you all have his phone number? Someone could call him!"

"Great idea!" Kumiko remarked. "I'll call him and let him know where we are!"

She dialed his number, and after a few minutes, he picked up.

"Hello?"

"Mykhail! We're all looking for you! Where did you go?"

"Uhh, yeah! Just head back to the lodge! I'll meet you there!"

"Alright! Bye!"

She hung up and turned back to the group. "He said go to the lodge!"

"Okay!" they all said, in sync.

They made their way back to the lodge, where they found Mykhail, his shirt missing.

"Guys! Uh, sorry for ditching. Issues came up."

"It's okay!" Kumiko said. "I think the bear problem has been solved!"

Mr. Kenta nodded. "Saw a bunch of dead bears in the forest. That should keep them away from my lodge!"

Mykhail visibly tensed up after they mentioned it, but he quickly played it off. "Oh, great? Does this mean we can go home now?"

"It's dark, so you should all spend the night!" Mr. Kenta suggested. "Wouldn't want to run into any more bears on the way home, would we?"