Chapter 6: 6 – Traveling Upstream

Tess woke to the sounds of skittering bugs and chattering birdcalls. For a moment, she thought she was back on Earth.

The box appearing in her vision quickly crushed that dream.

Goooooooood morning! How’s my favorite, most interesting badass today?

 

“Mmm,” Tess complained.

The woman crawled out of her makeshift tent, making a face as the dirt clung to her. Tess debated washing, but decided against it when she saw the stream again. Truthfully, Tess hesitated in calling it a stream. It was more like a trickle of water that ran downhill. However, the water was clean and safe to drink.

Too bad it isn’t a coffee stream, right?

 

“Do not remind me,” Tess urged.

The lack of caffeine was going to hit hard one of these days.

Tess filled her water bottle and scanned the area. Her improved hearing picked up on a few rustling bugs underneath some wet logs, and a few more birdlike creatures hopping across the tree branches. Her eyes caught a couple of them looking down at her.

They would make for a good meal, but Tess didn’t have anything to take them down. She certainly wasn’t about to throw her knife at one of them.

If she had longer hair, Tess could make a sling. But no, the woman had kept her brown hair short to appear more adult. People had a hard time taking her seriously if she didn’t have a severe hairstyle.

“It’s your face,” Robert had said. “You look like everyone’s third grade teacher.  Inviting round face, wavy hair, and those almost amber eyes make it hard for anyone to see you as something other than comely. Plus, you’re what? Barely over five feet? Hard to be taken seriously like that.”

Tess shook her head. Thoughts of Robert were not important right now.

“Food. Food is important,” Tess reminded herself.

It was easy enough to find something to eat. It just required observation.

Tess got into a comfortable position and sat still, observing the birds as they jumped about. Eventually, one braved the journey below a tree. The woman watched as the bird pecked through some of the softer wood and pulled out a shimmering green beetle the size of Tess’s eye. The insect tried to fly off, but the bird’s beak had a firm hold. A moment later the animal finished its meal, and Tess had found a safe food source.

The beetles had no taste, but they sated Tess’s hunger. The only issue was that the wings got caught in her teeth. Like popcorn kernels. The woman’s tongue picked at the offending food as she walked along the streambed.

Her goal today was to find a larger water source. She’d already found the end to this small trickle of water, so she had to bet on this stream flowing from a larger one, which she could travel down to find civilization.

She decided not to dwell on how the stream could be from a fresh rainfall, or from an underground cavern. Besides, the universe owed her some luck.

As she moved, Tess grabbed some discarded branches and started sharpening one side with her knife. The makeshift spears wouldn’t be strong, but anything with reach was better than a short knife. Tess made sure to touch test the branches first, just in case the sticks left poison. It slowed her down, but Tess was finding enough wildlife to keep her fed. A slower, safer journey would make her better prepared for when she met the people of this world.

Plus, she wanted to be ready for any predators that saw her as an easy target.

Eventually, Tess heard more water. To her fortune, the small stream did connect to a larger one. A small creek that even had a few shrimplike animals.

Tess pumped her fist. Crawdads were a perfect food source! There were always a lot of them and they were easy to prepare. All she’d have to do was start a fire and lunch would be served.

First things first, however. Tess needed to build a fire for cooking.

She grabbed all the dry branches she could see, and a slew of decently sized stones. A few minutes later, Tess had a small firepit. She kept building, stacking the walls high enough for her to place a larger rock over the fire.

When she finished, Tess got the fire started with a few matches and placed the rock on top of the fire to heat up.

The woman then walked over to the creek, wading into the shallows. Tess shivered as the cool water ran over her legs. The water wasn’t freezing though, and Tess quickly acclimated.

If these crawfish were anything like the ones on Earth, Tess wouldn’t have any trouble catching lunch. The animals hid under rocks, and as long as you had some fast hands, it wasn’t hard to grab the animal before it scurried away.

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Sure enough, the little morsels were hiding under the rocks. Tess’s hands darted like snakes, grabbing the creatures by the tail and lifting them up. She quickly had one in hand, which she humanely killed with a stab of her knife. Tess waded back to her camp and place the dead animal on the rock to let it cook.

She did this a few more times, and soon the smell of cooked seafood filled the air.

Tess let the animals cook more than she usually would. There was no telling what illness these animals carried.

Speaking of which, Tess had to test for poison.

The woman grabbed her first catch and broke off a small portion from the tail. She performed a skin test first, letting the meat rest in her hand. When no rashes appeared, Tess popped the small piece into her mouth and swallowed.

It wasn’t the greatest thing she had eaten, but the animal had more flavor than anything else Tess had eaten recently. For that she was grateful.

The woman waited for a while, going through the motions of catching and cooking until she felt sure the animals were safe to eat. After that, the crawfish vanished into Tess’s stomach, the woman eating more than she should just in case this was the last decent meal she got.

Once she finished, Tess caught a few more of the animals and cooked them up for later, drying out the meat as the fire died down. Tess knew there was every chance dried Crawfish meat would taste terrible, but the more she stocked the better.

So… I’ve been watching you do this for a bit now. And don’t get me wrong! I’m not trying to push you along. But this is getting a bit boring.

 

“I’m sorry, but I’m not here for your amusement,” Tess hissed. “If you haven’t noticed I’m in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no safety net!”

All I’m saying is you could at least have some fun with it.

 

Tess groaned. “Do you have a mute button? Or possibly any useful advice? Like, maybe how to find civilization?”

 

But if I did that we’d miss out on the exciting wilderness arc!

 

“Or I’ll die in the woods before anything interesting ever happens,” Tess countered.

…   Don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing.

 

“I would never think to trick a god,” Tess said.

Good. That rarely works out well. However! I do agree that you need some direction. So let’s compromise! I’ll give you hints about where to go! Like… a quest system! Yes! I could give you experience for the quests! That’s much better than grinding for kills. Much more interesting.

 

Tess blinked and opened her mouth, but another box popped up before words came out.

New Quest! Find Civilization!   You’re currently stuck in the Eastwoods on the Genasi continent! To your west is civilization! Reach your fellow man and gain 500xp!