By the time August finally returned from hunting, I had almost entirely lost my dignity... along with everything else I owned. Not that I owned much, to begin with.
It was then, that I swore to never play poker against Kyle again. It was more for my mental health than anything else. The way he grinned at me every time he won made my thoughts turn darker than I would care to admit.
August stumbled back into the clearing. His shirt was torn to shreds and his short black hair was missing a few clumps. When I looked closer, I thought I could see lacerations on his arm through the gaping holes in his shirt.
"What happened to you?" I asked him in shock.
For a long moment, August didn't reply. he just stood there, taking deep breaths and calming himself. When he finally did speak, I had to hold back my laughter, "Don't go near the ocean," He said grimly.
Part of me empathised with his plight. I had fallen victim to the ocean myself. Another part of me, the bigger part of me, burst out laughing.
"Hahaha, you idiot!" Kyle shouted while laughing uncontrollably.
August's face darkened and I could almost hear his teeth grinding together. His jaw was clenched tightly and his hands had balled up into fists. He opened his mouth to say something and then stopped, thought better of it and said nothing.
Kyle continued to laugh like a hyena as I cleaned August's many wounds. For the most part, they were just shallow cuts that would heal up quickly so he didn't need any stitches.
"What level are you?" August asked me as he winced from the alcohol touching his cuts.
I froze, If I was lower than him, I didn't want to admit it. It was a simple matter of pride.
"What about you?" I asked him slyly.
"I asked first," August said grimly, making no sign that he would let on first.
"I have a suggestion," Kyle spoke up.
August looked over at him disdainfully, "Shut the fuck up. Come speak to me when you have a class." He snapped.
Kyle didn't look offended, he just grinned and continued speaking, "Why don't you both just show your status at the same time?" He said while smirking at me.
I froze. It was embarrassing enough to have a garish pink and red system. If August saw it I would never hear it down.
August rubbed his chin as he thought about it. To my horror, he was seriously considering it.
"Hahaha, good one Kyle. But I don't think we have time for that. How about we just say our levels on the count of 3," I said while laughing nervously.
"What are you talking about? It only takes a second to show me your status. This way we will know for sure the other isn't lying." August said in confusion.
"But..." I tried to say but Kyle cut me off.
"3... 2... 1... go," He said.
Somehow, I ended up getting caught up in the countdown and brought up my status when it ended.
August looked at the glowing pink screen, he almost had to catch his jaw to stop it from hitting the ground in disbelief. Behind me, Kyle laughed maniacally.
"Now... Now listen here. I lost a bet," I started to say but August didn't respond to my words, he just continued staring blankly at the screen.
August looked back and forth between me and the screen in disbelief. Finally, he spoke up, "How the hell did you get that high a level?" He asked with a hint of fear in his voice.
"What do you mean?" I asked him in confusion.
"Look!" August shouted angrily as he pointed to the glowing screen he was holding up.
When I saw what he was pointing at I was stunned. "Your only level 14?" I asked.
August looked down at his feet. "I thought there would be more monsters for me to kill in the ocean," He mumbled.
"There is... way more," I said knowingly.
"Yeah... too many." He said sadly.
I didn't press him for the details and patted him on the shoulder. Every time I thought about the giant serpent that jumped out at me, I shuddered involuntarily. That was enough for me to know exactly how dangerous the ocean was.
As a fellow sufferer at the hands of sea monsters, just this once, I decided I wouldn't make fun of August.
Kyle's laughter had only grown louder when August stated his level and I could see that August was close to snapping.
"C'mon, are we really going to ignore that he only levelled up 4 times?" Kyle asked in disbelief.
"I don't know, are we really going to ignore that I could beat the shit out of you?" August replied testily while raising his clenched fists, getting ready to hit something.
"How about we make some food here before we head to the entrance of the tunnel," I suggested, doing my best to shift the conversation away from the violent turn it had taken.
"What do you want to eat?" Another raspy voice asked, silencing the bickering pair.
I turned around slowly and saw Kashyap poking through the rucksack we kept our food in.
"What are you doing?" I shouted.
"I'm making food for everyone," Kashyap said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"No No No. Lie back down, you can't move about when you are this badly injured." I said nervously. If he tore one of his stitches it would be a mess.
"Psh, I feel fine. I can't spend all day lying around doing fuck all. Just let me make food for everyone. It's the least I can do." He said firmly. His words were playful but his tone made it clear that there was no refusing him.
"Uh... Ok, I guess. Just don't push yourself. If you feel anything start to hurt, tell me straight away." I conceded.
Kashyap nodded and began to bring a few pots and pans out of the bag, setting them down on a smooth rock Kyle brought over.
I went off to get water and August left to find firewood. He said something about never wanting to go near water again.
By the time we were set up around the crackling fire, the sun had dipped down below the horizon and the stars were beginning to push through the thick twilight sky.
I watched August closely as he prepared the meal. He was doing a good job of hiding it but I could still see what was wrong clear as day.
Each slow and deliberate movement he made was painfully cautious. Whether it be stirring the soup in the pot or poking at the falling flames, each little movement looked like a desperate challenge.
At first, I had just thought that his injuries were bothering him, and was about to step in to stop him. Until I saw him reach out to pick up a water bottle and grasp thin air. His hand had stopped about an inch away from the bottle before grasping nothing.
August looked over at Kashyap and frowned, "What's wrong with you?" He asked.
'He is more perceptive than he looks,' I thought.
Kashyap frowned and lifted his empty hand to look at it in confusion, "I... I'm not sure. I thought I was going to grab the bottle but it wasn't there." He said slowly.
"What are you talking about? You grabbed the air a few inches from the bottle. It is still there." August said confused.
"Yeah, I know it's still there. I can see it, but..."
Kashyap looked back at his hand and then over to the bottle, his brow was furrowed in confusion, "It's your depth perception," I explained.
"Is it because of..." Kashyap trailed off as he brought his bandaged hand up to his left eye... or where his left eye used to be.
"Yeah, humans only need one eye to see, but they need both to tell depth. In other words, how far away things are," I said solemnly.
For a moment, everything was quiet as we all processed the ramifications of this. When August finally broke the silence, I was almost grateful... almost.
"Well, I don't know about any of you, but it looks like I will be the one driving from now on," He said with his usual lack of tact.
I would have liked to argue with him... if he wasn't right. Truth was, we couldn't have a person drive us about when they couldn't tell how far away things were.
"It's not like we have a car anyway," Kyle said.
"True, it looks like we will be walking the rest of the way to the channel tunnel. Besides, the roads seem to be quite dangerous around here. I would rather not drive over any more landmines." I said.
Throughout all of this, Kashyap had remained quiet. Finally, he spoke up with a strained smile, "I never liked 3d movies anyway. Those glasses you have to wear when watching them just make me look stupid. It's not a big deal."
We all laughed awkwardly at his uncomfortable joke and ate the rest of our meal in uncomfortable silence.
When I had finished eating, I lay back on the ground and looked up at the stars that were now plastered across the sky.
The other three followed suit and we all lay back on the soft grass around the dying embers of our fire. The grass smelled sweet and earthy and was accompanied by the faint smoky smell from our fire.
In the darkness, birds chirped and cows mooed. If it was any other time, it might have been peaceful. But We all knew that behind each chirp and animal noise was a monster that could flatten us.
The sky was so clear that I could see the distant galaxies and swirling nebula with crisp clarity. Once again, my gaze was drawn to the long black scar that ran across the sky.
"It's getting bigger," I said thoughtlessly.
The others already knew what I was talking about. It was hard to miss.
The long black stripe that ran from one horizon to the other had grown wider than last night, like a great rip in the sky that was being pulled apart. Within the rip, not a single light flickered. Only deep, utter darkness existed within the ripped sky.
"What do you think will happen when it covers the whole sky?" Kyle asked.
No one replied... we didn't know. Or perhaps... we didn't want to know.