no way out {eddsworld survival au}

two

—tord's pov—

as soon as tord heard the babbling of the creek, he knew he was in luck. he encouraged himself to continue walking in the direction of the sound even though the pain from his wound was getting impossible to bear.

the creek eventually came into view, choked up by weeds and small yellow flowers along its banks. tord fell to his knees in front of it, cupping water in his hands and drinking it. he sighed in relief after splashing some on his face. a small smile came to his face as the water droplets dripped off the end of his nose. remembering his wound, tord lifted his hoodie up and poured some of the water on it, flinching. "faen," he cursed. blood continued to trickle out and it seemed to not want to stop.

tord cursed again and looked around for any ideas, leaning over to scrape off moss from the base of a tree. he gritted his teeth and pressed it against the wound, shutting his eyes tightly. "faen!" he repeated, louder this time. once the pain ebbed away he exhaled deeply. "shit."

"did you hear that?"

tord perked up at the sound of the voice, narrowing his eyes.

"shh!"

"i'm scared-"

"shhh!!"

the frantic whispering of two voices put him on edge, gaze scanning the area on the other side of the creek. "who's there?" tord called out.

the whispering stopped.

"who's there!?" he yelled, digging his nails into the ground.

"edd-!"

"hush!"

"no, but it's tord!"

tord's eyes widened as he realized the voices sounded familiar. "edd? matt?" he asked, tone of voice now gentler.

matt jumped out from behind a tree on the other side of the creek, blue eyes bright. "tord! we found you! you're alive!"

edd emerged from behind him. at the sight of his friend, he smiled. "thank god you're alive."

tord gave them a smile too. "i'm happy to see you two." he looked down at himself; he'd been sitting on the ground with only one arm holding himself to sit up, the other pressing damp moss against his injury. "uh.. can i get some help?"

"of course." edd nodded, noticing a few flat stones sticking up from the water. before he could say anything, matt was already hopping his way over on the stones. rolling his eyes, the brunette followed his taller friend.

matt stood over tord as edd kneeled next to him. "is it bad?" edd asked worriedly.

"not really. it only hurts." tord responded reassuringly, moving the moss away and realizing the blood had stopped flowing. it had also began to close up a bit. matt cringed and silently looked away.

"okay. are you well enough to walk?"

"with some help, sure."

"that's good." edd linked arms with tord and pulled him to stand up. "we have to find tom, if he's okay."

tord nodded in agreement. "yeah."

"should we find shelter first?" matt asked while he gazed at the two.

"good idea," edd gave him a smile. "i think it'd be smart to set up our camp near the ocean but on the outskirts of the forest, don't you think? that way we can fish and hunt."

"and the trees will give us shade." tord added.

"then it's a plan." edd gave the two a determined look. "after that, we find tom."

—tom's pov—

tom had managed to make a temporary shelter near the edges of the forest. he was now curled beneath it, arms wrapped tightly around himself as he tried to sleep. hunger had begun to gnaw at his belly; it'd been a bad idea to refuse eating at the airport because of germs. he sighed and realized he wouldn't be able to take a nap. instead, tom crawled out from under the shelter and brushed himself off.

"what to do on a deserted island, alone, with no way of knowing if your friends are alive?" tom wondered aloud, his hunger becoming more noticeable. "i should find food." he mumbled, glancing at the ocean as the waves crashed down. "weapon." tom looked around, spotting both a long stick and a largish stone. he smiled, picking both items up and sitting down against a tree.

tom spent the next half hour fashioning a spear with the two objects, humming to himself as he worked. finished, he stood up triumphantly and thrusted the spear into the air with a small, proud smile. "time to fish." tom's gaze rested upon the ocean. he hesitantly kicked his shoes and socks off and walked towards the water.

as the cold ocean water splashed against his legs he flinched uncomfortably. damnit. why me? tom sighed, wading a bit further and stopping when the water was halfway up to his knees. he stood as still as he possibly could, flashes of silver appearing occasionally near his legs. tom inhaled deeply before plunging the spear down and into the water, feeling it hit sand. "damnit!" he yelled, bringing it up again. "this is bullshit!" tom tried a few more times and missed, frustration building up. realizing anger would get him nowhere, he forced himself to relax and take deep breaths. tom stared down at the water.

swiftly, he brought down the spear, feeling it pierce something. the water around him turned a light red color. tom grinned and brought the spear up, walking to the shore once again while watching the fish twitch sporadically on it. he reached his small shelter and dug the spear into the ground to keep the fish away from the sand. tom looked around, finding a few sticks to make a fire. "time for dinner."