Chapter 8: Chapter 8

After a rather awkward hour and a half of us just meandering around waiting on our clothes to dry, we decided that they were good enough, and climbed back into them. My dress was still a little damp, but I was thoroughly done with waiting, and so was Syl, so I was just going to ignore it. Now onto the big thing… It was time to look for food. I was hungry!

When we headed out this time, we decided to follow the river. I was just going to meander around and hope I stumbled upon something recognizable, but, once again, Syl came in clutch, pointing out that the river was a source of water, and that plants would be more likely to grow there. We would effectively double the chance of us finding something edible.

Like Yesterday, we traded stories as we walked. It was mostly inconsequential things, funny childhood stories or things we did that we could look back on and laugh about. We were walking for hours, and we needed a way to pass the time.

Occasionally, we would see something, and we would both squeal in excitement, before rushing over to inspect it. I was becoming quite the girly girl. 

When we got over excitement at something new to inspect, we would look at the plant, and see if it was something that either of us could recognize. Unfortunately, almost all the fruit around here seemed totally different to anything on earth. We did have one stroke of luck, around midday, due to a random stroke of luck.

Me and Syl were both tired of walking, and we had stopped in a small clearing to rest for a minute. We were spread out over two boulders, just enjoying the warmth of the sun, when she saw it.

The ‘it’ in question was a bluebird. I didn’t think much of it, we had already seen plenty of forest animals, and I was more than content to watch it from where I lay.

Syl, on the other hand, jumped up when she saw it, and began to cautiously make her way over to it, eager to get a better look at it. I later learned that she had a similar bird when she was eleven. 

The bird was actually surprisingly calm around her, letting her get rather close before it scampered away, leading me to believe that it hadn’t seen humans before. When it did take to the air to make its exit, Syl chased after it, calling over her shoulder “Come on Ashley! Let’s go!”

Grumbling, I made my way after her, stumbling through the thicker vegetation. Along the stream, there were plenty of game trails you could walk along, and worse case scenario, you could walk along the rocks or take off your shoes and wade through the stream.

However, now that we were chasing a bird, we had strayed away from all that, and had to push through all the bushes and other miscellaneous plant matter to follow it. Syl was tall, so she didn’t have as much trouble, but due to my new four foot five status, I was forced to worm my way through branches taller than me, all while Syl just walked through them.

We must have spent fifteen minutes chasing that bird. It led us all around, always doubling back on itself or suddenly changing directions with no warning whatsoever. Just when I was about to suggest we head back to the stream and keep searching for edible plant life, the bird settled down to rest again, and when we made it the rest of the way to where it had landed, we saw it.

A blackberry bush. It was beautiful, still intact with blackberries on it, and the best part was that it was immediately recognizable, identical to something you would find on earth.

I squealed with joy, and as newfound energy rushed into my body, I raced over to the bush, grabbing as many blackberries as I could, and stuffing them in my mouth. Syl followed in suit, and together we picked that bush clean.

Unfortunately, there weren't even close to enough berries on that bush to last more than a meal, and despite us spending the rest of the day searching around that area, we weren’t  able to find anything else. However, this bush had given us something even more valuable. Hope. Before, we had no idea if we could find anything to eat here, and were only hoping that we could. Now, we had proof that there were edible plants, just like the ones on earth, and all we had to do was find more of them if we wanted to stay alive. Now, we had a chance.