Chapter 3: Abyss of Despair II:
After Amane fell unconscious again, a few minutes passed and nobody said a thing. The first one to get a hold of herself was Yuria who somehow managed to gather her resolve to take care of her students again.
She put pressure on the wound with the bandage to stop the bleeding. After some time, the bleeding stopped, She cleaned the wound with antiseptic and covered it by rolling the dressing around the leg. Although it worked, she knows that Amane needs proper treatment because the wound is deep and it can still be infected. She had done what she could.
She stood up and came out of the tent to assess their situation.
'The cliff we fell off is too high so there is no way we can get to the road. It's not like we will get help there considering we are too far away from any civilization.'
The forest surrounding them was dark and eerily silent giving the illusion that there is something hiding in that darkness, waiting for the prey to approach it so that it can pounce on it and devour it in its jaws of despair. Yuria shivered in fright and tried her best to ignore the feeling of certain death coming from the towering trees. She always felt that nature was beautiful but now there was nothing in the world that could scare her more than the same nature.
She called both Sachi and Michiru out.
"I am sorry to say this but it looks like we are stuck here for the time being. We probably will have to wait here until help arrives after someone notices us missing or we find some sort of road or town."
She said this to only make them somewhat relieved because she knew both of these cases are only possible if they are extremely lucky.
They had been stuck in traffic right after finishing Amane's award ceremony so they decided to take a detour out of the city with the help of the GPS. A few hours later, They lost mobile service and probably took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up on that deserted road. The rest is history.
Even if school and their family/acquaintances take note of their disappearance they won't be able to find them easily and it will take too much time to track them down. As for finding a town or road it is even harder because they have an injured person and she feels a shiver run down her spine every time she thinks about exploring the forest.
"We shouldn't give up. We will do what we can and everything will be alright. Ok?"
Both girls nodded weakly.
"Good, Now let's gather up our supplies first. Sachi, can you set up the other tent first. Two people will share a tent. And please gather these twigs and branches so we can start a fire. But stay away from the forest. We will see what we can get from our luggage in the car."
......
After some time they gathered their supplies.
'4 instant noodles, a can of baked beans, some snacks, 4 water bottles, blankets, first aid box, A metal military water can from the car, A cigarette lighter I got from the pocket of Sakaki sensei'
She almost puked again thinking about her colleague's corpse.
'I can't afford to think about it right now'
She shook her head to get rid of these images.
'All this food and water will probably last for 2 days, 4 if we try our hardest. But we also have an injured person. She will need all the nutrients she can get.'
'We can use the water from the metal can for hygiene.'
'There are also other daily use items like soap, hair shampoo, tooth brushes, some clothes, etc from their personal bags'
"Sigh. I guess we are not in a completely hopeless situation."
She muttered to herself and lifted her head up to look at the sky.
'It's getting dark'
Yuria looked towards the west, where the sun had set, leaving only a red hue across the horizon. This scene would have been beautiful if not for their dire situation. But now it only looks like blood is spreading in the sky, like an ominous evil spirit, ready to take lives and add to its shine.
As soon as the last ray of sun left its lush canopy, the forest came to life. Like a predator rising from its slumber, getting ready to start its hunt in the darkness of night. Countless voices belonging to insects and birds echoed in the surroundings, as though crying from pain and fear, prophesying the oncoming slaughter, like calling all beings to come and embrace the forest of death, like the alarm for the start of the night hunt. The tainted moon cast its glow on the girls present, like marking them for tonight's hunt.
And then it came. A high pitched howl, echoing in the world, in response to the call of night, like announcing to the world that It's ready, ready to take on the duty entrusted to it by nature, duty to dominate the forest. And to enlighten the world of its identity as the harbinger of death.
Color drained from the faces of all girls present, as their eyes widened in horror. Sachi covered her mouth as though she was afraid to make a sound, tears oozing out of her eyes.
"...wolf"
Yuria whispered the identity of the beast, which sounded like a death sentence even to her own ears.
'it's over. If even only one wolf comes here we will all die not to talk about a whole pack.'
'Was our situation not dire enough, that a predator had to be added to our list of miseries.'
'Does nature really want us to die so much'
But as she saw the faces of her students and thought about the still unconscious Amane, she clenched her fist so hard that her nails dug into her palm.
'No, I can't despair. I won't give up. We have to fight. Wallowing in despair won't change anything.'
After thinking as such she addressed her students in a calm voice.
"Fire. We have to start a fire. Wild animals do not come near fire easily."
Listening to her, both girls calmed down somewhat, or probably just tried to not think about it and got to work.
It didn't take much time for them to get the fire started with the help of some paper and the cigarette lighter. They put the can of beans on fire to let it cook a little. They managed to open the can with the help of scissors from the first aid box. They had spoons and forks which they got with instant noodles.
A cry of pain came from the nearby tent. All the girls rushed to the tent where Amane had just gained consciousness. Her face was crumpled as she was still in pain.
"Where am I?"
She muttered groggily. She tried to move but pain coming from her leg stopped her.
"Don't move. You are injured. But everything will be fine. We already have bandaged it."
"Yuria sensei... what happened?"
When Yuria heard it, her expression changed a little remembering their situation. But she fixed it immediately and started recounting their situation to her.
After hearing about it, Amane went silent for a period of time but soon a hiss escaped from her mouth because her leg had started to hurt again as her mind completely woke up.
"Wait just a minute. You should eat first then you can take a painkiller tablet."
She hurriedly went outside, and came in again with the can of beans in her hand, held by the cloth.
She sat beside her, while Sachi moved to her back to support her a little on her lap.
After eating and taking the medicine, Amane went to sleep again, probably because she was weak due to blood loss.
The other girls moved out of the tent, and sat around the fire to eat. After taking turns eating from the can and leaving the remaining beans for the morning as planned, they went silent again.
The howls would echo from time to time but all they could do was nothing but shiver in fright every time it did.
"Will we be able to survive?"
The question came out of nowhere from Sachi but it was also something that was on the minds of everyone present.
"I am sure we will. We have food, water and even a place to sleep comfortably. we will make it. I am sure of it."
After listening to the answer from her teacher Sachi smiled a little.
"I had a fight with my parents before coming on the trip. I complained to them that we didn't spend much time together anymore. But now that I am here, I realize how precious those moments were when we would have dinner together everyday.
I want to hug them again and tell them that I love them very much. I want to apologize to them for saying I hate them. I am missing them so much..."
"So we just have to keep our hopes up and never give up. We will make it."
Yuria said, putting her hand on her shoulder. She turned to Michiru who had been uncharacteristically quiet the whole time. She didn't pay attention before but now that she saw her blankly staring at the fire with an emotionless face she was convinced that something was wrong.
"Michiru, are you alright? You have been quiet the whole time"
The blond girl looked towards Yuria for a few seconds before shaking her head.
"I am fine"
"Please tell us if there is something bothering you, alright?"
Michiru nodded.
"Alright, it's getting late we should get some rest. I am sure you all are tired too. I will sleep with Amane. You can use the other tent."
Although they all knew that it wouldn't be easy to sleep due to fear of the unknown in this situation, they hoped that their tired bodies would give them some respite.
........
My gaze felt heavy. as though I just woke up from a short nap. Where was I? My mind felt empty as though I had forgotten everything.
"What happened Michiru?"
A soft childish voice tickled my ear. I turned to my right where a little girl with small braids was walking beside me. She was my friend. I am going to school with her. Yes my friend but what is her name?
"You are quiet today"
"Sorry, I just zoned out....."
"....."
".....what was your name? I forgot? strange"
As my friend heard my question she tilted her head.
"How can you forget that silly?"
She continued to tilt her head to the side as though she wanted to break her neck with a frighteningly eerie smile plastered on her face. I felt like her mouth split from ear to ear as her smile widened as she whispered.
"I am ¶∆&ßÆ"
'wait what was that. what's happening. Is this a dream?'
As I thought in my frightened foggy mind. The girl in front of me changed. Now there was a girl with blond hairs standing in front of me smiling sweetly.
"That's me?" As i remembered everything I had been through and where I was currently sleeping, the girl with the same appearance as me said in my voice.
"I got caught. hihi"
"I will see you next time"
As soon as she said that my eyes opened and I found myself in tent. The terrifying howls were still echoing in the forest as I came to remember the dream I just experienced.
I put my arm on my eyes while still lying down. I wanted to cry but no tears came out like I had forgotten how it was done. I wanted to shout out loud but no voice came out of my throat. My mind was so calm like nothing happened.
"Strange..... then why do I want to cry so much?....
truly strange...."
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A.N:
Finally it's done. Thank you for reading till here. I feel like we are going really slow. I haven't even introduced the protagonist yet. haha my bad but I had to show what these girls went through before meeting MC. MC will show up in the next or next next chapter (what is next next chapter called?).
I tried to write an eerie/horror scene for the first time. please give your feedback.
AS FOR TODAY'S QUESTION:
WARNING.....
******A little spoiler about story ahead but if you have watched anime then don't worry. *****
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What do you say about Mc's sister? should I introduce her? If I do then she will be in the harem. Although I won't make her the blood related sister. Mc will be adopted or cousin. I am sorry, I may be a member of the Lowres community but I think I am not bold enough to write about true incest yet.
Anyway, choose an option by commenting on that paragraph:
A) Adopted/Cousin. kazuki will be in harem
B) She will be yeeted out of existence. Kazuki not in harem
C) Go kill yourself. For people who want me to die
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