We rolled down into uncharted territory. The woods were thick with only little of the sun bleeding through the trees. The wagon was bumpy as chatter came from the soldiers. I was caught by the beauty of the wilderness and started to draw it on a separate piece of paper. We continued down the dirt road until the sun started to shine brighter than before. I took a peak out of the wagon and saw the luscious river, glowing as we went by.
"Get your head back in here before it gets shot."
"Shot?" I said, sitting back down.
"Yes, shot. The natives around here do not like us being here."
"As so I've heard."
"Yah, so don't admire the view too much, even though we have soldiers with us that doesn't mean we can do everything.
I listened to him as I got back into the wagon and started jotting down our adventure.
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Through the forest and the sounds of the wagons rolling and horses clip-clopping, I heard the howls of wolves deep in the forest.
"Well that can't be good." One of the soldiers said, grabbing their rifle and getting ready for anything.
I closed my journal in worry and confusion. That was when I got a nudge from my side as I was given a pistol.
"You should have this." The main navigator said, readying himself as well as the wagons kept on rolling.
It had only been a couple weeks since we last took off and there wasn't any danger till now! I gripped the gun I was handed as I worried for my life, imagining how it must feel like to be bit.
Though, after a while, nothing happened…nothing came.
"Good, they're not here for us." He said, "Rest yourselves! We're good."
They all listened, relaxing their tensed-up bodies as we kept on the trail. I gave a sigh of relief as I took out my journal and jotted this event down as an orange light hit my eyes. Seems like we have to make a stop soon.
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We were back on the trail after that peaceful night as I saw the wildlife thriving all around me. Beautiful flowers and plants covering the ground and climbing up to the trees. It was the summer so of course the forest would be beautiful. The scenery made me recall some memories of my Father but I tried to shake that thought off as I took out my journal and drew the flowers we'd encountered.
The wind suddenly strengthened and blew my hat off and hitting the face of the main navigator sitting next to me and muttered, "The fuck."
"Sorry, the wind is especially strong today, huh?"
He took the hat and inspected it before giving it back to me. "This is an interesting sight to see…that's a pretty old, worn out hat you've got there. Where'd you get it?"
"Um, it was passed down to me by my father."
"Shit, sorry for your lost kid."
"Don't worry, he died on his own terms."
"Don't we all want to die like that…if I could choose how I wanted to die, I would be the happiest man on earth."
I chuckled as my anger for my Father slowly brewed. I looked at the hat for a while before placing it back on my head and looked out of the wagon, seeing the other wagon carrying the soldiers that we brought and in a blink of an eye, I saw a black figure pass between us. I blinked out of confusion and shock, rubbing my eyes and taking a second look before I hurriedly jotted it down in my notes.
I don't think I should have put this down in this book, but while on our journey, I could have sworn to see a figure pass by between our wagons at high speeds, it could've been my imagination.
Please disclude this unless more of this keeps happening.
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It was the 24th night that we were making camp. The soldiers were guarding the campsite and surveying the area as the two main expeditioners and 2 more soldiers including me were by the campfire. I was drawing on a separate book of the surroundings of our site to pass the time as the 2 expeditioners were having conversations about our next move.
This was way out of my league…come to think of it, why would you bring a journalist on the ride if they weren't gonna be useful for anything. I immediately abandoned the thought as I figured it out instantly.
Continuing on my drawing of our group, I got a shiver up my spine. This one was larger than the rest I've been getting from this expedition.
Sensing that someone was looking at me, I turned around and saw two soldiers talking to each other as there was an opening in between them into the forest. I smirked and decided to draw this scenery since it was too perfect to pass up. I was enjoying drawing this piece, looking up and down to get every detail until when I looked back up, I saw glowing blue, feline-like eyes looking straight at me from the gap in the forest. I stopped drawing as my smile faded. I froze in place as my heart skipped a beat as we stared at each other intently.
Then a nudge was made on me, startling me and breaking eye contact from the beast in the forest.
"Woah, You okay?"
I gulped, "Did you not see that in the forest?"
"See what?"
I looked back to see the eyes had disappeared.
"Nothing." I sighed as I placed my hand on my face, rubbing my eyes.
"Okay…suit yourself." He walked away as I rummage through my bag for some rations and found an apple. "Brother, you sneaky rat." I said as I took a bite out of it. I looked back at the forest and reminisced about my father again. How he had those blue eyes as well.
I looked around the site.
I wished that he was alive…if he hadn't gone to that war then he could've seen how much I was doing.
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My pencil scribbled on my book, writing down everything transpiring as we followed the river upstream until a deafening crack boomed as the wagon I was on shifted to the left, making us fall down onto the floor.
"What was that?!" I asked.
"GOD DAMNIT!" The expeditioner said, getting up quickly and jumping out the wagon. "Damnit!!!" He yelled out.
I got out of the wagon as well, hearing the horses cry as someone tried to calm them down. I came around the corner as I saw the wheel was shattered into bits with shards of wood laid out across the path.
"Is…is that bad?" I asked.
"What the hell do you think?"
"It's that bad then." I said.
He told everyone to get off and said that we are going to set camp. I took off my hat and scratched my head, wondering how we're gonna keep on moving.
"Everyone, we'll be having to postpone this for a few days until we can make a new wheel, so let's get to work already!"
They all started to grab the things they needed to get to work as I was writing down what just happened, leaning on a tree as I was looking out towards where the riverbank was.
"It has been some time since I've taken a bath." I mumbled to myself as I walked up toward the river to clean myself
The river was shining because of the sun and it was hurting my eyes that I had to resort to squinting them.
I took off my hat and bag as I knelt down and washed my hair and face, enjoying the refreshment after not getting one since we left. I shook my head to get some of the water out of my hair and grabbed my belongings to head back and try to help them out in any way they could.
When I took my first step into being useful, my foot didn't find anything. I was caught off guard by a sudden fall as my hat fell off my head and fell down into a void. Looking up, I saw the light fading away from my eyes as I tried to grasp for that light.
I heard my fathers voice shouting out my name in worry as I fell into nothingness.