At night, the Earth's surface is very cold. I realized this tonight; I thought it would only be cold when it rained. But it's also very cold at night, even when the weather is clear.
I don't know if the government knew about this or not, but they gave us very thick jackets.
"Hoo," "Hoo," "Hoo," I heard a sound from above the trees.
I was still awake and tried to find where the sound was coming from. It went on and off. From what I heard, the sound came from a big tree near where we were resting.
I thought it might be an animal in the tree. I hoped it wasn't a wild animal that would attack us tonight. I then tried to ignore the sound and go to sleep.
With the physical activities I had been doing on the earth's surface, I always fell asleep quickly.
My eyes felt heavy, as if they were weighed down. I closed my eyes and slept soundly.
***
The morning always comes with the sound of birds and insects. It's like an alarm for me to wake up.
When I woke up, I saw Julia and Silvia were already awake. They seemed to be talking about something.
"Good morning, Eric," they greeted.
"Good morning, Silvia and Julia," I replied.
"Eric, our drinking water is almost gone. We were waiting for you to wake up so we could go together to find water to fill our bottles," Julia said.
"Alright, let's tidy up this place first, then we'll go look for water to fill your bottles."
We then tidied up a few things, like dismantling the bivouac I had built and clearing the grass we had used as bedding.
We walked further into the forest. Around the trees, there were shrubs that caught my attention.
The plants were the size of an adult's hand and shaped like pouches with lids. From a distance, these pouch-shaped plants grew very well and in large numbers.
Some had lids covering the pouches, while others had lids that did not cover the pouches, leaving them open.
"Hey, you two, let's check that out."
I walked towards the pouch-shaped plants. Up close, they looked like large cups that could be used for drinking.
I looked closer to see what was inside these plants.
"Water?" I said it in surprise.
Inside these pouch-shaped plants, there was water. I remembered we were looking for water to fill our bottles.
I wondered if the water inside these plants was drinkable. I was curious.
The water was very clear, and somehow I felt it was drinkable. I then had the idea to fill our bottles with the water from these pouch-shaped plants.
"Hey, Julia, Silvia!"
"Look, there's water here that we can use to fill our bottles," I told Julia and Silvia about the water source.
"Eh, can the water inside those plants be drunk?" asked Silvia.
"Yeah, Eric, can we drink it?" Julia added.
They both seemed hesitant about the water. I also didn't know if it was drinkable or not. So, I decided to test it myself.
"Let me drink from it first," I said, telling them I would try it first.
I then took one of the pouch-shaped plants and drank the water inside.
"Ah, the water inside is fresher than yesterday's water!" I said, describing the taste of the water.
"Let's fill our bottles with this water. If something happens to me within the next hour, don't drink it," I instructed Julia and Silvia.
Seeing me drink the water and my reaction to it, Julia and Silvia nodded and immediately filled their bottles. Today, we would walk longer than the previous two days.
On the previous two days, we started walking in the noon, but today we started in the morning.
After walking for an hour and nothing happening to me. Silvia and Julia began drinking the water from their bottles, which they had filled with the water from the plants earlier.
"This is indeed fresher than the previous water," Silvia said after drinking the water.
"You're right; it's very refreshing, even though it's just plain water," Julia added.
"See, I told you, the water is very fresh," I said.
While we were chatting and resting for a while to drink water, we suddenly heard footsteps approaching us. With my good hearing, I looked in the direction of the sound.
From a distance, I saw a four-legged animal coming from the direction of the large trees. Its body was very big, probably about two meters tall, and its length seemed to be around seven meters.
The animal had scaly skin with a striking gray color and black spots in some areas. Its forked tongue flickered from its mouth, and its large, sharp teeth gave it a terrifying and dangerous appearance.
"Do you two see that animal over there?" I asked them, pointing in the direction of the approaching animal.
"It seems like there's an animal over there," Silvia replied spontaneously.
"Yes, I think I see it too," Julia added.
I didn't know if their eyesight was bad or if mine was too good. They didn't realize that the animal might be one of the mutated and dangerous creatures.
"Take a closer look!"
The animal moved very slowly, so it took some time to come within Julia and Silvia's line of sight.
"Ah, you're right; there's a terrifying animal over there," Julia said, shocked
"We'd better leave; it's not too far from us now," Silvia added.
"Let's go before something strange happens."
Just as we were about to continue our journey, the monstrous animal looked in our direction. Its eyes seemed to say, I've found delicious food.
The animal ran towards us. Its speed was quite fast, like teenagers running.
I might be able to outrun it, but not Julia and Silvia; they ran very slowly, and I thought they were just jogging leisurely. Their backpacks also slowed them down.
"Eric, what should we do? We might get caught by that animal," Silvia said in fear.
"Yes, Eric, I think we will become that animal's meal," Julia said, resigning.
Hearing this, I thought about what we could do. The sound of the animal's footsteps grew louder.
"Thump, thump, thump..." The sound of its footsteps running towards us was followed by the animal's roar, as if it were saying that its meal was near.
"Grrr... Grrr..." The roar of the monstrous animal grew closer, maybe only about 75 meters away from us.
If this continued, we would soon be caught by the animal.
I kept thinking of ideas that could get us out safely. Especially for Julia and Silvia, who might not be able to run any further.
I then decided to distract the monster and run in a different direction.
"Take this, you damned monster!" I threw one of my knives at the animal.
"Chase me if you dare!"
I kept provoking the animal to divert its attention to me so that Julia and Silvia could escape.
"Julia, Silvia, move in the direction where we rested last night. I'll lead this monster into the forest," I instructed.
"Urrrr... Urrrr..." The animal seemed angry at my provocation.
"Go now!" I shouted to Julia and Silvia.
I then waited for Julia and Silvia to get away.
The animal was now only ten meters away from me. Seeing that the monster seemed to be targeting me, I immediately ran with all my might into the deeper forest.
"Try to catch me if you can, bastard!" I shouted, looking back at the animal.
I kept running with all my strength. The distance that had been close between me and the animal started to widen. I kept running until the animal was no longer in sight. I ran as fast as I could, alternating between sprinting and jogging to catch my breath. Thank goodness I had trained my body. This was a preparation I was now grateful for having done.