Chapter 4: Lesser of evils
Distressed expressions were evident on the group's faces. They had long known they could die here, but the fact that two had died so simply and casually sent a chill down their spines.
They didn't have to walk far before they encountered some rodents scurrying across the ground. They resembled guinea pigs, except for their larger paws with big claws.
"There are a lot of them around here…" dozens of them crawled all over that stretch of land. Burrows in the earth were easily noticeable, giving away their locations. Near the burrows were shorter trees with large, purple, succulent-looking fruits.
One of the men approached one of the creatures, which looked at him curiously without retreating. It was caught easily, not resisting at all, even when captured, its lack of fear evident. The leader observed and remarked:
"We can kill them, drink their blood, and eat their meat. The blood could substitute for water if the fruits aren't enough." Stark kept watching the creatures with sharp eyes. They had no fear and gathered in large numbers. They were fat and content.
"Clearly, something's wrong here. Better let the animal go." Everyone looked at him in shock.
"Could you explain your reasoning?" The leader saw no problem here but didn't want to make mistakes again.
"There are hundreds of them around us. They're eating and breeding without restraint, and none of them are afraid of us. That only indicates a lack of predators…" The leader still didn't get the point.
"And?"
"If it were a small population, it would mean there hasn't been enough time for predators to develop. But there are many of them, easily enough for a group of much larger animals to feed on them. The fact that they've gotten this far and are so well-fed can only mean that nothing wants to eat them—possibly because they're poisonous." The others kept looking at him, unsure whether to confirm the theory.
"If you want to test it, go ahead." The man quickly let go of the animal, which stayed in place, still watching. The leader cleared his throat.
"Well, we have fruits anyway." They approached the trees. The fruits seemed good, at least the rodents ate them.
"We need to check if they're safe to consume. For that, we'll need to follow a series of steps, and…" Stark interrupted without hesitation.
"We've gone at least a full day and a half without eating or drinking. I think most of us agree to just shove it down the throat of a volunteer." Several people immediately agreed with his suggestion.
"Alright, who volunteers?" The leader looked around, everyone avoiding his gaze, not wanting to be the next to die.
"No one? Then we'll proceed with the process." Stark raised his voice again.
"In situations like this, we decide democratically, Mr. lackey. I vote for the guy who let two civilians die!" The others came to life upon hearing this, their eyes gleaming. Everyone knew it was easier to blame the leader and make him bear the risk!
"I vote for the boy!"
"I vote for the soldier!"
"I vote for the guide!" The voices died down with a sigh from the guide.
"I imagine you know we won't let you escape responsibility." Stark quickly dismissed any idea of the man running away, as he'd already accepted his fate, surrounded by the group.
Stark gently picked a fruit and pushed it toward the guide's chest.
"Who told you to play the hero?" He grabbed it, bringing it to his mouth, his somber eyes hoping it was just an ordinary fruit. His life flashed before his eyes. He could've stayed quiet, could've let others take the lead, and now he had to bear the burden of leadership.
The bite was quick and harsh, with purple juice spilling down his lips. As he swallowed, a purple trail marked his throat where the fruit passed, his hands clutching his neck, which burned as if branded with a hot iron. His chest turned a sickly purple as he fell to the ground, his eyes weeping blood.
"No doubt about it, he's dead. Everything here is toxic, for sure." Stark had undoubtedly taken over as the leader upon his death—at least in the hearts of the others.
"What do we do now? Everything here is going to kill us!" Stark, dying of thirst, with cracked lips, had already thought of a terrible solution but knew it would have to do for now. He reached out and picked one of the still green, small fruits. He squeezed it, its juice dripping onto his lips, burning like the hottest pepper.
"It's a bad choice, but we can probably consume the unripe fruits." The others looked at him incredulously as he ate a few, clearly tasting awful—sour and bitter.
"They're still poisonous, but we'll die of thirst under this hot sun long before the poison takes effect." They approached, making their decision, each picking a few fruits without any pleasure in the meal.
"Put some in your pockets to take back to camp." He couldn't help but look down where the rodents were eating the ripe fruits without fear, further confirming his theory. Everything here was toxic, and of the available evils, they'd chosen the lesser.
Stark led them back to the camp. They had been walking for at least a few hours before they got there, though their sense of distance seemed altered—they felt like they had walked much further to reach it.
'Did I lose track of direction somewhere? I'm sure I didn't, otherwise, we wouldn't have found…'
The retired man was waiting at the camp, having chosen to stay and help with the shelters. Seeing the group return, he approached, noticing they were a bit smaller.
"Did you find anything?" Something had to justify the absence of three men, especially the soldier. Stark answered:
"Water, fish, insects, rodents, and fruits—all toxic and killed some of ours." The old man's expression darkened for a moment.
"Anything useful?" Stark nodded.
"These fruits can temporarily serve as a source of liquid and food, but they're as poisonous as everything else. They just won't kill you immediately." The old man signaled for them to rest while they awaited the other groups' return.
Stark used the time to better analyze the fruit's effects. His companions had small patches of light purple around their bodies—small and scattered for now, but the end result was obvious.
They waited for a few hours, talking and trying to exchange information they'd gathered about the local flora and fauna. The groups returned slowly with more unripe fruits, all reporting the exact same findings, with the clear difference that most had been too eager and ended up paying the price.
None of them came back unscathed, and after waiting what felt like the rest of the day, they concluded that some wouldn't be returning—at least not today.
By the end of the day, everyone was gloomy and without hope. The women, already disheartened by the discovery of nothing but deadly food sources, were despondent at the news that there was only one option, and it would kill them in time.
"Go back out and search properly! There's no way that in a forest this big, that's all there is!" The girl with the colorful hair was lashing out again, and the old man responded.
"It was just a preliminary search. At least we know that within half a day's travel, there's nothing else we can explore. Tomorrow, we'll have to go farther in every direction. A one or two-day journey should be enough to find something." She looked at him in disbelief.
"But what about until then? Are we just going to sit here, starving and dying of thirst—or worse, poisoned?" The group was dividing. It was clear that the situation was out of control. The best chance for survival seemed to be to split up and head into the forest, each searching for their own luck.
Everyone fell silent for a moment as a middle-aged woman with purple hair and eyes, with a seductive appearance approached the old man. Her hands settled on his shoulders, leaving the crowd confused.
Her eyes subtly glowed a golden hue, the anger shifting to sadness, then to confusion. Suddenly, everyone's faces relaxed, the heavy atmosphere lifting like a feather. She spoke in a loud, clear voice:
"It's good to see that everyone returned from the journey without incident. I want to thank our competent leaders for making this possible. Let's be glad for today's results. Tomorrow, our scouts will explore further in search of new food sources." Stark smiled at her.
"It's great that we found supplies today!" he said, genuinely happy, his joy overflowing.
"May tomorrow be even brighter!" someone else shouted from the crowd.
"Hooray for our leaders!" She smiled, satisfied, as she looked at the old man, who didn't understand the mass reaction, his eyes falling on her. When he opened his mouth, she silenced him.
"We'll talk later, dear…" Her tone betrayed nothing of her curvaceous body, her voice silky and tempting to all.
"Rest now, and feast on the delicious fruits. Unfortunately, there isn't enough meat for everyone, otherwise, we would've shared it with you…" The old man grew more and more confused.
'What meat is she talking about?'
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