Hands of Fate - Survivors of Flight AA214

Chapter 16

Orion - Day of Landing 3

Population of Unnamed Settlement - 6

"Make sure he doesn’t wander off, Alex, and stay put, Cass, for the love of God," I said to Alex, who looked glumly at his dull work order of gathering vines and making rope.

"Why can’t I come with you?" Cass begged, watching me holster my obsidian knife in my belt, knowing I’d probably do some "cool" stuff with it.

"Everyone’s gotta help out, Cass, even you," I said. "You’ll slow me down, and I want to get as much work done as possible."

"B-but," Cass started.

"Look, I’ll make a deal with you. If you work on the rope and we have more than we need in the stockpile, I’ll make a cool weapon for you, okay?" I promised. Hearing that, Cass was eager for me to show him how to braid the rope.

Before I left, I went to the pile of obsidian rocks that Cass had gathered during our time here and picked out a few decent-looking ones. I began sharpening the ends. With my Crafting card active, I could replicate previously crafted items like my obsidian knife in a much shorter time. Every time I sharpened or smashed the rock to get a better edge, it broke or chipped easily the way I wanted it. I made these knives more compact and narrow, ending up with four more. I holstered the knives on my belt, tightening the leather strap of my belt to keep them in place. Eventually, I planned to make an entire bandolier for these knives when I could cure leather.

Heading towards the area where I hunted pheasants yesterday, I followed the sound of the river instead of the pheasant feeding grounds. I wanted to wash up at the river and possibly scout for things to hunt. My Forager skill had recently leveled up to 3, probably after I cooked that meal with foraged items. As I moved along the trail, I activated my Forager card, highlighting notable plants to harvest with a blue light outlining them.

Wild Wheat

Wheat can boost energy

Wild Emmer

Emmer can boost resistance to disease

Ratweed Garlic

Garlic gives slight resistance to the Undead and Unholy

Forest Potatoe

Potatoes can boost stamina

Flax

Flax oil grants limited night vision

More and more information just came to me. I would keep track of the patches of wild wheat and flax in my mind later. Wheat can be so useful for making flour and alcohol and flax would be useful in making clothes and the seeds are a good source of oil. My vision was clear and sharp, I could make out everything in the forest and remembered the meal I had at breakfast. The bone broth I ate still lingered in my stomach as well as in my Soul Food card.

Flight of the Scarlet Fowl:

5% increase in top sprinting speed for 1 hour

The river’s water was cool and refreshing as I rinsed and scrubbed the grit and sand from my body. This was probably the cleanest the river would be until more and more passengers started coming, polluting it and eventually dumping their waste along it. In fifty years, who knows? Maybe it’ll be filled with a dam of plastic bottles atop a pile of rusted bicycles. We can only hope. Observing the local fauna along the riverbank, I considered that the turtles here could make good soup and their shells would be useful. I spotted muskrats and a type of river trout swimming past me. In the distance, a group of elk with midnight fur and yellow eyes lowered their heads to drink from the river's edge. I didn’t think I could take on those elk just yet, so I settled on hunting muskrats instead. Their fur looked soft, suitable for clothing, and there was one swimming nearby, suggesting their pelts offered good protection against rain.

There were bank dens upriver that were covered with wooden nests where several muskrats were gathering sticks. I made a mental note of the location while I waited to dry off. Once dressed, I found a clearing near the river to practice knife throwing. Using my newly sharpened knives, I aimed at a row of trees, attempting to hit the center one. My initial throws were wide and short, employing a dart-like throwing method. After trying different stances and styles, I settled on one that brought me closer to the tree.

Feeling a tingling sensation, I became more attuned to the cards in my palmventory. Due to my practice of throwing knives, a new skill card was unlocked:

Throwing Weapons - 1

With the skill honed, I marked an X on the tree and stepped back further. I tested my throwing style repeatedly, hitting closer to the cross-section of the cuts I made in the tree. When I could reasonably hit the bullseye, I moved even farther back and tried again. I was improving rapidly, my throwing instincts seeming almost supernatural.

Upon reaching level two of Throwing Weapons, my knife embedded deeper into the wood, eventually creating a hole as deep as the blade itself. Feeling confident, I headed back to the muskrat nests.

I settled some distance behind a tree, observing my quarry. I carefully distinguished between male and female muskrats, aiming to leave breeding females undisturbed while targeting the males. The larger ones with louder mating calls were likely males. Approaching stealthily, I drew my knife and took aim. When my first throw missed wide, I swiftly drew another and struck the muskrat in the rump before it could retreat into its den. Seeing its pain, I ended its suffering with a well-aimed throw to the head.

Cleaning and collecting my knives, I used my main knife to dress the muskrat carcass and confirmed it was indeed a male before hauling it away. I managed to add two more muskrat carcasses to my collection but lost a knife in the process when I threw it wide.

Feeling satisfied with my hunt, I ventured back to base camp. Along the river, I spotted two familiar girls sitting in the water and decided not to bother them, as it appeared they were unclothed. While curious, like any red-blooded male, I didn’t want to come off as a creep. I also noticed Cass nearby, seemingly oblivious to the girls while focused on setting up a similar stone fall trap to the one I had built yesterday for the scarlet fowls. Seeing him here eased my concern, though I was annoyed he had left camp after I specifically told him not to. Given Cass was with the girls, he likely guided them to the river, so I decided to let it slide this time.

Not needing tracking markers, I took a different path back home to scout for more game and forage. Before reaching our main shelter, I found Ethan tending the burning kiln. After exchanging greetings, I checked on our new pots, pleased with their progress. Using an old pot, I boiled salt water, intending to extract salt by leaving the calcium deposits behind and reboiling.

Planning to make a stew with the muskrat meat, I returned to the forest to gather yams, garlic, and wild onions. Emptying the leaf bucket of its old, wilting harvest, I realized we needed more baskets and possibly backpacks in the future. A storehouse and warehouse were also necessary, but for now, I focused on preparing the stew.

Returning to camp, I heard a commotion and saw two new arrivals talking with Alex. I ignored them, leaving Alex to handle introductions and tours. Checking on the new pots, I noticed Bianca conversing near the stockpile with her golem, while Anika tended the kiln. Anika showed me samples from the now-cooled kiln, including a clay pot resembling a Dutch oven that caught my eye. After helping Anika carry our new pots to camp, I began skinning the muskrat carcasses and placed pieces of fat into the hot clay pot, using it to lubricate the interior. I roughly chopped wild onion, garlic, and yams, adding salt and water before letting it simmer away from the fire. I placed hot stones around the pot to insulate it, creating a slow-cooking effect.

While monitoring the stew, Bianca approached with a concerned look, accompanied by two frustrated-looking strangers. Despite her staring directly at me, I did my best to shrink and hide away from her gaze, as if to say leave me out of this I'm tired.

"We need your help," she said, her tone serious.

I sighed.

“There’s no way that we know if there are any missing children,” I explained to Bianca and the angry parents who wanted answers.

“Three per day, Rye. It’s been like that for the past two days, there’s at least one of them out there.” Bianca said.

“It’s a few hours until night, what can I do?”

“You have the best tracking skills here beside me. I’ll search in one side of the beach, you search in another direction.”

“If these two didn’t find them on the beach then most likely they went inside the forest. There’s zero chance we can find them before night and then we’ll add two more missing people to the fold.” I said.

“Listen, I don’t need this punk kid to find my kid, I’ll go find them myself,” The angry father said.

“Marek please,” The concerned mother said and the two Polish couple started yelling and arguing in their language. “Please, you know this place better than we do, you would be able to find them…”

This wasn’t my problem, I wouldn’t know the first place to look. These people are literal strangers and they want me to go out there getting lost searching for something that might not be there. For all we know their children could be transported here a month later. I wouldn’t say this to them out loud of course.

“Rye, please. If this was Cass…” Bianca pleaded.

I sighed and nodded. Well, that was one button you could push with me. “Fine, but we both head back before it gets dark.”

“What are your kid’s names?” I asked knowing I’d probably forget them by the time I reach any one of them.

“Peter, Julian, and Natalia,” The mother looked grateful, tears in her eyes, “Please they must be so scared right now.”

I pulled out my Firewielder card, made two torches, and handed one to Bianca.

“Hand me one too,” Marek said. “I will search as well.”

More arguing commenced in Polish as the camp stood awkwardly watching the couple's exchange. Marek’s eyes were bloodshot and I could see a vein pulsing in his balding head, spit flying as he argued with his wife.

“I’ll find them if they are out there,” I lied to calm the situation down, unsure if I could find them. If they were smart they would stick to the beach or stay still. So far everyone has spawned in some section of the beach. But I didn’t need another person running off and getting lost. “You have to know that there will be only one them just based on how many people keep spawning here. You’ll see all your children eventually, I promise.”

Again, I wasn’t sure but the situation needed to calm down. Marek paced and said, “I just feel so worthless.”

“The more time I talk with you the less I’ll have to find them so just stay here and do something useful. You want your kids to be in a good place when they get here don’t you?” I said.

The couple nodded and Anika and Ethan calmed them down and ushered them to the camp. Biana and I headed towards the beach. From the shelter we built, one end of the beach stretched to the top left, a path heading towards lowlands and rocky flats while the other end stretched into rocky hills. I told Bianca to go forward to the rocky flats where I had harvested clams before and she agreed telling me she had a good idea of the area. It was also an area where she would run into an impasse at an unscalable cliff and would have to turn around.

On my march down the opposite side of the beach, I realized I should have a store of food on hand for myself if I was going to do this. If there were foods that could boost my stamina or endurance and my walking speed, it would make my constant missions around the camp a lot smoother. After maybe a mile of walking, shouting the names of missing children at the top of my lungs, the yellow sand started giving way to more rocks and gravel. I saw a set of tracks in the yellow sand lead towards the grass hills. Before me, lay mountainous cliffs and steep rocky hills. There were grassy ferns that covered the path leading up to a cliff that faced the water. A person sat there with a fishing pole and a line of wood-colored string or straw attached to it. He was short but didn’t look like a child, his black rain jacket hood covering his face. His back was facing me as I approached him and he didn’t respond to my greeting of “Hello?" as I neared.

“Uhh… are you lost?”

“Shh…” The mysterious man said putting his withered black fingers on his lips. “I think I… oh shoot!”

The man pulled up the fishing line and at the end of the line hung something that looked like a snapped branch using rose thorns as the hook with the bait sadly gone. He shook his head in disappointment mumbling to himself.

“My name is Orion, I’m with the other passengers who survived… you should probably come with me before nightfall.” I said.

The old wannabe fisherman looked to be in his 70s with a whispy gray beard and a wise face filled with deep sunworned wrinkles. He was the last “passenger” that would appear on these shores today I presumed and unfortunately for the worried parents back at base camp, he didn’t look like he was one of their children.

“Name’s Herman. Herman Davis,” The old man said getting up and holding his hand out for a handshake. Despite his age, his grip nearly crushed my hands as we shook and he smiled mischievously.

We talked on our way back and I filled him on the situation. Herman was a retired war veteran who worked at West Point as an instructor before he retired. He explained he was on a flight to New York to visit his daughter who was a professor there and when he appeared here he figured he’d died and gone to heaven and in his words, “If I’m in heaven, I might as well relax by fishing”. The old man didn’t seem to be phased by the situation and when I showed him my cards. I figured I could get a reaction from him but he reversed the situation by showing me his card.

Class Card:

Fisherman - Level 1

Skill Card:

Crafting - Level 1

I’d figure since he was in the army, he’d get a military class like General or Commander but the void and dealer works in mysterious ways.

Later, when we came back, pure disappointment was on the faces of the worried parents when we got back when they saw an old black man instead of one of their young children. Herman apologized profusely. “I’m sorry. I’m not ya kids, damn shame. I'm so sorry.”

“They still might be out there!” The mother cried, “You don’t know if it’s only three.”

I didn’t know how to deal with these parents so I let Anika and Ethan calm them down, trying to escape the situation. When Bianca came back shaking her head to let them know she found no one, she comforted the parents. The father had gone into a rant in Polish as he paced every which way, letting us know how worried he was while his wife was sitting alone in a corner sobbing. Marek would constantly bug me and Alex asking if we had a smoke on us, a crazed look in his eyes.

The stew pot I had left full of muskrat meat, wild potatoes, and wild alliums was still cooking and I tested the meat with my knife which cut through it like butter. I tasted it for seasoning and added more salt and chopped fresh herbs to the mix. With my class card Cook out, I checked the thing I just made.

Muskrat Stew - C

Hide of the Muskrat:

Grants brief shield against rain and water - 3 hours.

I placed the bowl of stew in the center of the shelter and we poured them into our newly fired red clay bowls. There weren’t enough bowls or stew for that matter, and a few of us shared meals. I should have made more accounting for the new people. With Herman here as a Fisherman class, I could finally get some help feeding everyone.

The group all ate except the mother who said she wasn’t hungry. I got compliments but in my fair opinion, the stew was just okay. The meat was grisly and gamey. I could have used some wine and more spices. Our first, well second if you count last night, village meeting of 6, no wait 9 now was about to start and we would discuss the agenda of what we were going to do tomorrow and how we were going to find Marek and Roza's children, if they even were going to show up tomorrow that is.