The Differents | ✓

T H I R T Y - T W O

Sniper looked around at the forest. It was a stunning sight, seeing it split down the middle by this long road that seemingly lead to nowhere. "How many pages are left in that book?" he asked, turning back to me.

"Quite a lot," I said, taking it out of my pocket again. "Maybe seventy-five?"

"Good. That leaves us with plenty of space to add entries. Should we take a break and write something and eat? My feet hurt."

We sat down at the edge of the road underneath some trees. I set the book down and opened my bag to get some food, and Sniper took out a pencil.

"Out of all the things you brought, a pencil?"

"Well, what did you think we were going to use to write in the book? Anyway, I'm an artist. I don't go anywhere without a pencil and paper."

I simply scoffed and took out a box of food. I shared it with him, so that we could save more food, but the bread was getting stale and the food was becoming dry. We wouldn't have much longer until some of it would start going off and we would have to take our chances with hunting.

Apparently Sniper noticed this too, because after we were done eating, he looked around and said, "I've never shot an animal but I have pretty good experience in moving targets. We could try hunting if we need to."

"I don't know," I said, hesitant. "There's just so many risks. A fire to cook the animal might attract unwanted creatures or even people, and if we killed something there's a chance it could be poisonous. Plus, if you shot and missed, the gunshot could scare away the rest of the animals."

He laughed lightly. "Arthemis, how many times do I have to tell you -- I don't miss."

"Right. But it's still risky. Let's just use what we have and try to make it last as long as we can."

"What about wild plants? Some of those are edible."

I shook my head. "Only if we really have to. So many plants look exactly alike but one of them could be deadly while the other is delicious. You should never eat something wild unless you're sure it's edible."

His shoulder slumped. "I know it's because we've grown up with full bellies and comfortable rooms but I'm really not liking fending for myself out here."

"It's okay," I said, moving to rub his shoulders. "Once we get to Old Victoria I'm sure we'll find someone or something that can help."

"I hope so."

I looked up through the trees. The sun was setting and the light, partly obscured by the trees and the clouds that had started to roll in, was turning a greyed-out orange. It didn't look like it would rain yet, but the air was starting to get cold and I had no idea how predictable or unpredictable the weather outside of the Core was.

"I think we should rest here. We've been walking for a long time and we still have some ways to go. It would be good to get some sleep and maybe continue in a few hours."

Sniper nodded. "Should we take shifts?"

"I don't see the point. The planes are gone and we're hours away from the last place we spent the night and even further from the plane crash. Let's just not stay for too long."

He untied his jacket from around his waist and packed the rest of his stuff away. "Okay. We should find somewhere a little more sheltered, though. We're exposed to too many things here."

We got up and I followed Sniper down into the forest. The never-ending chatter of the creatures enveloped us as soon as we left the road and stayed with us. I was starting to like the sound a bit. After looking around for a few minutes, we came across a few fallen trees that could form a sort of roof if we hollowed out the space underneath them. It wouldn't be as sheltered as our last place, but it would do.

We put our bags down and set to work digging out the space underneath. The feel of the soil in my fingers was a new sensation to me, even though I had been in the forest in simulations before. Somehow it just seemed different. More real. I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.

I heard a yelp from beside me and looked around to Sniper. His face had drained of colour and he was staring at something crawling on his boot. It was a thin, long thing with lots of legs and was crawling at a pretty slow pace around his foot.

"Get it off get it off get it off get it off!" He wailed, kicking at it. It eventually fell off his shoe and he scrambled away. It didn't seem to mind and went to crawl over a leaf nearby.

I looked at Sniper, who was leaning up against one of the fallen trees, catching his breath. I tried not to, but I burst out laughing. He looked at me with a betrayed expression on his face, which made me laugh harder. Pretty soon, I had dropped the soil I was holding and was bent over clutching my stomach and still laughing.

"It's not funny!" he spluttered. "It could've been dangerous!"

I stopped to catch my breath for a moment and looked up at him. He still looked very much shocked. "It was a tiny thing that was just crawling on your shoe, Sniper. It didn't do anything."

"But... but it could've!"

I started laughing again. The thing was long gone and was just minding its own business and it was funny how scared it made Sniper. I was still laughing when I felt a handful of soil hit my face and saw Sniper with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.

I simply laughed harder.

He threw another handful of soil at me but I managed to dodge most of it and throw one at him. Pretty soon we had forgotten what we were doing before and were throwing soil, leaves, and anything else we could find at each other. I hid behind tree after tree as he threw handfuls of dirt in every direction. His aim was quite amazing, actually. Each one would fly very close by me, or even graze my ear or arm.

During a few seconds where the dirt stopped whizzing by me, I ran from my tree to another one, but I was too slow and got hit in the side. I dodged the next one and, picking up a handful of my own, ran toward him with it. He threw another one before turning and running away, but being the fastest of our team at the Core, I caught up to him and knocked him over. He struggled on the ground while laughing, picking up handfuls of the dirt and trying to throw them behind himself at me, but it didn't seem to be working. I scraped up a big handful and dropped it on his head, which made him yell in surprise. And using some incredible combination of force and movement, he managed to flip us over to where I was the one getting my face ground into the dirt.

I laughed and hit my hand on the ground after failing to move out from under him. "Alright alright I give up! You win!"

"Yay," he said, and kissed me happily on the neck before getting up. "Now, what were we doing again?"

I got to my feet and shook the dirt from my hair, my shirt, my jacket. I joined him at the fallen trees to find that the hole we had been digging had been covered up by the dirt we had displaced during our fight. I groaned and dropped to my knees to start digging again. I had only dug up a few handfuls of dirt when I sensed a change in the air around me. It has gone weirdly quiet and Sniper was still standing by me instead of digging next to me. Whatever had changed, it filled me with immense fear.

"Arthemis..." Sniper whispered. "I need you to get up and get the bags as quietly as you can."