Survive the the Monsters and Breed Chapter 3

Oh, fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Where did she go?

There’s no way she survived a fall like that. My heart raced, and my palms grew sweaty as I stared at the broken branch beneath me.

“Sarah!” I shouted, only to realize I shouldn’t be yelling.

But then what was I supposed to do?

I needed to get down. I had to make sure she was alright.

My hands were trembling, but I carefully held onto the branch I was on and lowered myself down to the one below me.

“Jake,” Devonna’s voice called up through the tree.

“Devonna,” I called, and my voice shook with nerves. “Sarah fell. Is she okay? Is she down there?”

“I’m fine,” Sarah’s voice said, and my entire body froze.

Did she just say she was fine? There’s no way she fell over twenty feet through a fucking tree and was “fine.”

“A-are you sure?” I stuttered. “You’re not hurt?”

“No, I’m okay,” she assured me quickly.

“Natasha?” I asked.

I didn’t know these women very well, but something about Natasha’s personality told me she wouldn’t lie, even to try and make something easier or cause me less worry.

“Is true, she seems okay,” the Russian woman said.

“I swear, I’m fine,” Sarah repeated. “Keep going.”

“Yeah, you’re already up there,” Devonna added. “No reason to turn back now.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “I’ll be down soon.”

“Take your time,” Devonna said, and I thought I heard her mutter, “not like we’re goin’ anywhere.”

My heart was still pounding, so I took a deep breath to steady myself before I continued up the tree. Seeing Sarah fall had been sobering, and I knew one wrong move could send me tumbling as well, so I made sure I was extra precise in my movements.

At one point, my hand nearly slipped, which sent a fresh wave of anxiety running through me, but I caught myself and took another deep breath.

Sweat continued to run down my face as I climbed, but I just wiped it away and kept going. There were three women on the ground who were counting on me. And I was counting on myself.

Finally, the branches around me got more sparse, and more light shone through the leaves above. I grabbed the next branch above me and then pulled myself up as high as I could get until I was standing on my tiptoes and my head burst through the leaves.

I tore in deep breaths of fresh air. The coolness felt good on my sweaty skin, but as I looked around in search of some kind of landmark, I found none.

There were no roads nearby, no power lines. Absolutely nothing.

All I could see was endless jungle in every direction.

My heart pounded heavy in my chest, and blood rushed to my ears as my eyes searched the sky for some semblance of hope but found none.

“Fuck,” I breathed. “There’s got to be something here. There has to be.”

After a moment more of looking, I realized there really was nothing but jungle, but what was stranger was the sky above me. It was the light-blue I remembered, but that was all. Where the hell was the sun?

There were no clouds for it to hide behind, and yet it was missing while the day stayed light regardless.

This was getting freakier by the second.

I spun around to see if maybe I was missing something. Was the sun behind me? Was I panicking for no reason?

Once again, I searched the sky and found nothing.

This didn’t make sense.

I racked my brain to try and think of something I could do to help me. The sun equals light. But how could I find the sun? It was always there.

My eyes widened with realization. Shadows.

If I could figure out which direction the shadows were falling, then I could figure out where the sun was.

I quickly looked around at the tops of the trees around me but saw nothing useful. There didn’t seem to be any shadows whatsoever. Could it be noon?

But if it was noon, then the sun should have been in the middle of the sky, shouldn’t it?

I reached over and tore off a small stick from a nearby branch, and then I held it straight up. I vaguely remembered my father showing me how to do this when I was little. It was a sundial. Ancient people used them to tell what time of day it was.

All I had to do was wait for the shadow to fall, and that would tell me if it was morning or afternoon.

I waited and waited but nothing happened. No shadow appeared, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up as I looked around me and once again came to the realization that I was in the middle of nowhere.

There were absolutely no signs of civilization I could see.

I hoped getting a bird’s eye view would at least help me figure out which direction we needed to go, but that wasn’t the case. I could see the area I’d come from, the waterfall, and the stream that led to it, but otherwise it was just a jungle for miles and miles on all sides. We were surrounded.

My mouth went dry as I stood at the top of the tree feeling hopeless. I was surrounded by a beautiful sea of green leaves that would have been stunning had it not been so incredibly terrifying.

I licked my lips and then slowly climbed down the tree. My hands and feet moved of their own accord while my mind stayed completely blank, and before long, I heard the girls gather below me.

“Well?” Devonna asked as I leaped off the last branch down to the ground.

“There’s nothing up there,” I said, and I looked at each of the women  as their faces fell.

“What do you mean ‘nothing up there?’” Devonna whispered.

“There’s no sign of people,” I explained. “No roads, no cars, no fucking buildings anywhere in sight.”

“Fuck,” Sarah breathed.

“It’s just jungle in every direction,” I continued, and I gulped down my frustration before I spoke a bit slower. “But I think this is worse than we thought.”

“You think?” Devonna scoffed sarcastically.

“No.” I shook my head. “You don’t understand.”

“Jake,” Sarah said, and her dark brown eyes narrowed on me. “What else did you see up there?”

“It’s not what I saw,” I said. “It’s what I didn’t see. There’s no sun.”

The girls all stared at me for a second, and then Devonna burst out laughing.

“You’re kiddin’ me, right?” she asked.

“No,” I sighed.

“Wait.” Her laughing came to a halt. “You’re not pullin’ our leg?”

“Why would I do that?” I asked.

“Well, I don’t know,” she said, and her face pulled into a look of horror. “But… How is that possible? The sun is the sun. We need it to survive. I mean… how is there light without the fucking sun, for God’s sake?”

“I have no idea,” I breathed.

“Jake, you are sure about this?” Natasha asked coolly as her dark gray eyes narrowed on me.

“Yes.” I nodded. “I used a branch as a sundial, and there were absolutely no shadows.”

“Hm.” The beautiful Russian woman pursed her lips. “This is most unusual.”

“Most unusual?” Devonna asked, and her eyes widened in disbelief. “Girl, you are way too calm about all this. It’s startin’ to freak me out.”

“I’m sorry my demeanor upsets you,” Natasha apologized. “I believe remaining calm is best way to think logically.”

“Well, Miss Logical,” Devonna said. “What do you make of the fact that there’s no damn sun?”

“Could be many things,” the Russian woman said, and she lifted one shoulder. “I cannot say for sure.”

“What do you mean it could be many things?” Devonna groaned. “You’re gonna sit there with a straight face and tell me there’s many reasons why there ain’t a damn sun in the sky?”

“Could be solar eclipse,” she suggested.

“Wouldn’t Jake have seen that?” Sarah asked.

“True,” I agreed.

“Perhaps we are on different planet,” Natasha suggested in her thick accent.

“I’m sorry, did you just say we’re on a different planet?” Sarah scoffed. “You’ve gone bonkers, lady.”

“While I appreciate your use of the term ‘bonkers,’” Natasha said with a smirk, “I do not think it accurately describes my hypothesis.”

“Fucking, god damn, aliens,” Devonna groaned.

“You can’t seriously think that’s an option?” Sarah rolled her eyes at the other two women.

“We were taken by someone, and we have no proof of who it was,” I reasoned. “For all we know, Natasha could be right.”

“You think we’re on Mars or something?” Sarah put her hands on her hips.

“Maybe not Mars,” I corrected. “But we could be somewhere off planet. Potentially… aliens could’ve brought us all here.”

“You believe it, too?” Sarah frowned while she mulled this over, and then she looked between the three of us. “Aliens? Real ones?”

“Why not?” I asked.

“The government has been covering up knowledge of extraterrestrial life for years,” Natasha said with a nonchalant tilt of her head.

“We know we were abducted,” I added. “And we aren’t anywhere near signs of life. That’s got to mean something.”

“Aliens is best theory for now,” Natasha concluded.

“It seems so.” Sarah nodded a little nervously.

“Those green little bug-eyed bastards,” Devonna cursed.

“If aliens did take us, then why did they bring us here?” Sarah whispered.

“Why are you whispering?” Devonna whispered back.

“They could be listening!” the redhead hissed, and the southern woman narrowed her eyes at the tree beside her.

“Maybe we are in some kind of test,” Natasha suggested. “If I were alien, I would want to study us like little mice in lab. Make them fight beasts. Make them mate a lot.”

“You Russians are pretty matter of fact, aren’t you?” Sarah told the petite blonde woman, but Natasha simply smiled in return.

“But why us?” Devonna asked. “I’m no scientist. Why would they want me here?”

“Perhaps whoever put this together did not want scientists,” Natasha said. “Maybe they wanted normal people without prior knowledge of how to survive in a situation like this.”

“You think this is really a test?” The southern woman’s dark blue eyes darted from me to Natasha.

“It could be,” I said.

“Maybe it’s less of a test and more of an experiment,” Natasha said.

“Oh, hell no.” Devonna shook her head, walked over to the nearest tree, and looked up.  “Hello! Whoever you are! Yoohoo! You better let us outta here! We didn’t sign up for your sick experiment, mister!”

“Devonna,” I hissed as I walked over to her. “We talked about this. We shouldn’t be yelling.”

“And what are you looking at, anyway?” Sarah asked.

“The cameras, obviously,” the southern woman replied with a point at the tree. “If we are in some kind of experiment, then they’re watchin’ us. Like sleazy creepers.”

A chill ran down my spine at Devonna’s words. She was absolutely right. Whoever put us here probably was watching us.

“And you think, what, the tree is a camera?” Natasha asked.

“No.” Devonna rolled her eyes. “I’m not an idiot. They’re called hidden cameras. Haven’t you ever seen Big Brother?”

“Can’t say I have.” Natasha smirked.

“I know what you’re talking about,” Sarah said, and a vague look of recognition came over her face. “It’s fuzzy, but I can kind of remember watching that with my friends. It was a show on television. They put hidden cameras in a house and spied on everyone.”

“Oh, my god. Maybe this is some kinda alien reality TV show?” Devonna whispered, and a wide smile spread across her face. “How do I look?”

“I… you look good.” I shook my head. “But I don’t think that’s what’s happening.”

“Yeah, this seems a bit too far, even for them,” Devonna sighed.

“But we are probably being watched,” I said.

“Do you think the experiment involves them drugging us with some super-steroids?” Sarah asked. “Because there’s no way I should be okay after falling from that tree.”

“We were over twenty feet up.” I frowned. “I thought for sure something would be broken.”

“It should have been,” Sarah said. “But I feel fine. Nothing even hurts.”

“What about you?” Devonna asked me.

“What about me?” I countered.

“You didn’t even seem winded coming down from that tree,” she said. “How high did you go?”

“It was at least fifty feet up,” I answered.

“Devonna’s right, you weren’t even breathing hard when you came down,” Sarah said. “A climb that strenuous should have definitely taken more energy from you.”

“They could have injected us with steroids while we were unconscious,” Natasha said. “But that does not explain the muscle definition.”

“I caught a glimpse of my reflection earlier,” I said. “I don’t even look like me. At least, I don’t think I do. I don’t remember ever being this… uhhh muscular.”

“Yep,” Devonna snickered as she glanced up and down my body. “Tall glass.”

“What does that even mean?” Sarah asked. “You keep calling him that.”

“Tall glass of water,” the black-haired southern belle laughed. “I thought everyone knew that. You have to admit that he’s fucking hot.”

“Uhhh…” I cleared my throat as I felt my cheeks heat.

“Don’t get any ideas,” Devonna blurted at me. “I’m not going to ‘breed’ with you just because you are handsome, and have nice muscles, and killed that snake.”

“No.” I waved my hands. “Look, I said before this note is creepy. I’m not expecting any of you to—”

“You said something about your reflection?” Sarah interrupted.

“There was a pond by the waterfall I mentioned earlier,” I said.

“This place has a pond?” Devonna scoffed. “I thought we were on another planet?”

“All life requires water,” I replied.

“Yes.” Natasha nodded. “In order to conduct experiment, whoever is in charge must keep us alive.”

“You think the aliens made this place just for us?” Sarah asked.

“Could be,” Natasha said. “They may have curated environment to match one on Earth.”

“Wait, if our environment is fake, then could these monsters be fake?” Devonna asked.

“Environment is not fake,” Natasha corrected. “Is just perfectly created to maintain human life.”

“And what do you mean ‘fake?’” Sarah asked with a point to the snake on the ground. “That thing seemed pretty real.”

“Well, I meant like a robot or something,” Devonna explained. “Like, could there be wires or somethin’ inside instead of guts and all that? Alien snake robot?”

“That doesn’t seem likely.” I frowned. “I smashed its skull in and didn’t see anything resembling wires.”

“Well, did ya look close?” Devonna asked.

“Um, I guess I didn’t, no.”

“I would be curious to see this snake’s insides,” Natasha said with a small shrug.

“Um, yeah, okay.” I nodded and pulled out the semi-sharp rock I’d found earlier to mark my path.

Then I walked over to the snake and flipped it onto its back so its belly was exposed. The underside of it was barely smoother than the back of it, and the rock I had wasn’t nearly sharp enough to do the job on its own. I could probably force it to tear through the snakeskin, but I could damage the insides if I did that, and Natasha said she wanted to see what was going on.

I had to admit, I was curious, too.

I’d killed and eaten snakes before with my father, so I knew what their insides were supposed to look like. Something told me this one wasn’t going to look right, though. The entire snake seemed to be some sort of abomination. It was like a child was told to draw the scariest snake they could think of, and this was what they came up with.

Hell, the damn thing had to weigh close to three hundred pounds.

Once I realized the makeshift knife I had wasn’t going to do the trick, I walked over to the base of a nearby tree and started poking around.

“What are you doing?” Sarah asked as she, Devonna, and Natasha followed me over to the tree.

“I need another rock,” I muttered.

“What about that one?” Devonna said and pointed to a small boulder the size of my head.

“Something I could hold in my hand would be better,” I explained.

The girls helped me look around, and after a minute, they gathered in front of me with a small collection of stones in their hands.

“Will any of these work?” Sarah asked as they set them on the ground.

“Oh, thank you,” I said as I looked them over and found one that would fit my needs. “This one will work.”

“What are you doin’ with it?” Devonna asked as she watched me closely.

“I need to sharpen the makeshift knife I found earlier,” I said.

“You’re gonna sharpen a rock with another rock?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“In layman’s terms, yes,” I chuckled as I started to swipe the already knife-shaped stone across the more rounded one.

“Hm.” She looked me up and down. “What’d you say you do again?”

“I’m a geologist,” I said. “Well, a geology student, at least.”

“Geology?” Devonna asked.

“He studies rocks,” Natasha said with a sly smile.

“Rocks?” the beautiful southern woman snorted. “What’s there to study about rocks? They’re rocks.”

“Actually, there is much to study about all aspects of our environment,” Natasha said with a nod of respect.

A goofy grin spread across my face, but I continued to look down at the rocks in my hands.

“Oh, yeah, you’re a scientist, too.” Devonna nodded. “Y’all must be real smart to be in that line of work.”

“Being a scientist is more curiosity than knowledge,” Natasha said.

“Is that why we’re cutting open this snake?” Sarah asked.

“Yes,” Natasha said matter-of-factly. “I’d like to examine it and see if its insides are as problematic as its outsides.”

“How will you be able to tell?” Devonna asked. “Aren’t you, like, a mind doctor or somethin’ like that?”

“I am neuroscientist,” Natasha said dryly. “And I attended medical school in Moscow. I think I am qualified to judge the insides of a reptile.”

“Well, alright then,” Devonna laughed. “No need to get your panties in a bunch.”

“That should do,” I said as I held up the newly sharpened knife.

I walked back over to the snake and used the very tip of the makeshift blade to pierce its rough skin. Blood oozed out of the puncture wound, and I carefully held the snake’s body in place as I slid the knife down its belly until nearly three feet of it was exposed.

The creature’s body was filled with various sacks of different lengths and colors. There were a couple that were pale yellow, one longer one that was a sort of gray tone, and a long, windy sausage-looking piece I distinctly recognized as intestines. The insides looked similar to what I’d seen in snakes before, but not exactly. The sacks were different colors and located in different places, and I couldn’t figure out whether the thing was male or female since I couldn’t find its reproductive organs.

“Gross.” Devonna grimaced and held her nose. “Why does it smell so bad?”

“He must have punctured the stomach,” Natasha said, and she pointed over my shoulder. “There.”

I followed the line of Natasha’s finger to a large, pinkish-colored sack that I’d just barely nicked when I cut the snake open.

“Well,” Devonna said, but her voice was muffled from her hand being over her nose and mouth. “Does it look like the insides of a snake to you?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Natasha said. “But I do know it doesn’t seem to have any wires.”

“Ooooh, you’re bad,” Devonna laughed and playfully shoved Natasha on the arm, which seemed to completely catch the Russian woman off guard. “You do got a sense a humor in there after all, don’t ya?”

“I like to believe so.” Natasha smirked and then turned back to me. “No sense in leaving it undissected.”

“Wait, you wanna cut that thing open more?” Devonna asked.

“If we see what’s in its stomach, could you tell where we’re at?” Sarah asked.

“What do you mean?” Natasha asked.

“Well, they had to have brought these animals from somewhere, right?” Sarah asked.

“I think you are misjudging the environment that has been built here,” Natasha said. “If they have perfected it, as it seems they have, then they could place any animal who lives in the rainforest here and it would thrive.”

“If we find an animal specific to a certain rainforest, that could tell us what rainforest this place has been modeled after,” I offered. “But the odds of that are probably slim.”

“I’d still like to see,” Natasha said.

“Alright.” I shrugged and cut the stomach open even further.

“Oooh, gross, I’m gonna hurl,” Devonna gasped and ran away.

The stomach sliced easily, and the casing fell to the side to reveal what the snake had last eaten. There were bits of meat, but what concerned me the most were the larger pieces of bones.

“Jake,” Natasha said calmly as we stared at the contents of the snake’s stomach. “Do those resemble rodent bones to you?”

“Uh, no.” I shook my head and gulped. “It appears they are… larger bones.”

“Bones?” Devonna asked. “Oh, my god.”

“Bones from what?” Sarah asked hesitantly. “Can you tell?”

“Not exactly.” I shook my head.

“We could make an educated guess,” Natasha said.

“And what would your educated guess be?” Sarah asked.

“Well, the bones do not appear to be hollow,” she said.

“Which means what?” Sarah asked.

“They’re probably not bird bones,” I explained.

“Oh.” The redhead frowned.

“But they’re much too large for rodent bones,” Natasha added.

“If they’re not from birds or rodents, what are they from?” Sarah asked, and her dark brown eyes darted back and forth between me and Natasha. “Isn’t that what snakes eat? Mice and birds?”

“Snakes are not picky,” Natasha said.

“No, they’re not,” I agreed. “They’ll eat just about anything they can kill. Or try to eat, anyway.”

“What do you mean ‘try?’” Devonna asked as she joined us again. She had the sleeve of her coveralls pulled over her hand, and she was holding it up to her nose to shield herself from the smell.

“Sometimes snakes, especially venomous ones, will kill a prey much too large for them to eat,” Natasha explained. “This is usually done out of fear rather than intentionally.”

“Wait, y’all think this thing was poisonous?” Devonna’s eyes went wide as saucers.

“Venomous,” I corrected.

“I thought constrictors weren’t venomous,” Sarah said. “Pythons don’t have poison, right?”

“Venom,” Natasha said. “And no, they don’t. Is not a common trait, but it is possible.”

“Well son of a bitch,” Devonna said, and she glared at the snake. “Now, can we eat it?”

“What?” Sarah scoffed.

“What?” Devonna shrugged. “It was gonna eat me. Only makes sense that we eat it. Serves the bastard right. Y’all ain’t never eaten snake before?”

“I have,” I assured her. “But I don’t think we want to eat this one.”

“Why not?” she asked. “Serves him right for pickin’ a fight with me.”

“Jake’s the one who killed him,” Sarah chuckled.

“And I appreciate that, tall glass,” Devonna told me sweetly.

“You’re welcome,” I said, and I had to stifle a laugh.

“But that bein’ said,” the southern woman added. “I’m gettin’ hungry, and that there is good meat. We shouldn’t just waste it.”

“Normally, I’d agree,” I said. “But we don’t know if it’s good meat. It could be tainted by the venom. Or who knows what else.”

“Yeah, maybe someone drugged the snake to make it stronger, too,” Sarah suggested.

“Could be.” Natasha nodded. “There are many scientists who think of themselves as gods.”

“So, we’re all in agreement?” I asked. “No eating the crazy-looking snake?”

“Alright.” Devonna rolled her eyes.

“Da.” Natasha nodded.

“Even if we can’t eat it,” Sarah said. “We can’t just leave it here. Wouldn’t that attract other animals?”

“Yes,” I said. “You’re right. We’ve got to dispose of it somehow.”

“What, you mean like bury it?” Devonna asked.

“Predators will be able to smell it if we bury it.” I pursed my lips. “We need to actually get rid of it.”

“How do we do that?” Sarah asked.

“I’ll make a fire,” I offered. “We can burn the body and get some charcoal in the process.”

“What do we need charcoal for?” Devonna asked.

“If we’re going to get out of here, we’ll need to find the exit,” I said. “We can use charcoal to mark our tracks and see where we’ve been.”

“You’re smart.” Devonna smiled and looked me up and down in a way that made me feel like a piece of meat. “No wonder you were chosen for this experiment.”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” I laughed.

“I don’t know,” she chuckled. “But I do know that I’m stickin’ with you.”

“I think it’s best if we all stick together,” I said as I gathered some kindling for the fire.

“Won’t we cover more ground if we split up?” Sarah asked.

“Technically, yes,” I answered.

“If we have charcoal to mark the trees, then we can find our way back to each other,” the redhead added.

“I’m sure we could.” I frowned as I took the armful of twigs and branches to the center of the clearing. “But it’s more dangerous if we split up.”

“Y’all seem to have forgotten the notes we got,” Devonna said. “Hello? Survive the monsters.”

“The note also said we have to breed with him,” Sarah said as she nodded at me.

“Well, that part is bullshit, but the monster stuff is probably not.” Devonna crossed her arms.

“Monsters aren’t real,” Sarah sighed.

“Tell that to the fucked up snake that tried to eat me an hour ago,” the black-haired woman said, and she cocked her head to the side and pointed to the huge snake on the ground.

“I mean…” Sarah’s face went red. “That doesn’t mean it’s a monster.”

“Maybe we are taking the term ‘monster’ too literally,” Natasha suggested. “Predator may be a more fitting term.”

“That could be,” I agreed, but a little voice in the back of my head was telling me there still was something wrong with that snake I’d just cut open.

I didn’t want to scare the girls any more than they already were, but the bones in that snake’s stomach didn’t come from any small-sized animal. Not even a medium-sized one.  Whatever that thing had eaten, it was at least twice its size, and I knew Natasha knew it, too.

It looked like human sized bones.

“Well, whatever the hell it is, if we aren’t gonna eat it, I need to find something else, and pronto,” Devonna said. “I’m starved after being out here all day.”

“We don’t even know how long we’ve been out here,” Sarah pointed out.

“It’s been a couple hours, at least,” Devonna said confidently, but then she cocked her head to the side. “Hasn’t it?”

“I think so.” I nodded. “And don’t worry, once I get a fire going, I’ll forage up some food for us. I have some vague memories of my dad teaching me how to survive in the wilderness, I’m sure I can find something for us to eat.”

“At this point, we seem to have more vague memories than clear ones,” Devonna said. “I’ll eat whatever you bring, Jakey.”

I cringed slightly at her use of the word ‘Jakey,’ but the playful smile on her face almost made it worth it, and I liked that she was using my name instead of ‘tall glass.’

Once I gathered enough kindling and the driest bundle of leaves and moss I could find, I took a larger, flat piece of wood and laid it on the ground. Then I set the moss and leaves on the wood, untied my shoe, pulled the string out, and tied it to both ends of another stick. I wound one more stick through the string so it could move back and forth as I sawed, and then I pressed the bottom of the stick to the larger piece of wood and sawed back and forth so the stick twisted as fast as possible.

If I wanted a fire, friction was best, and though it was fuzzy, I remembered building fires like this with my father. It almost felt like muscle memory since I’d done it so many times before.

That life felt so long ago, though, and as I worked on the fire, I had to remind myself that wherever I was, this situation was only temporary. I was going to make it out of here and back to my home.

Even though I couldn’t exactly picture what my home looked like at the moment.

Finally, a little coal formed, and I carefully piled more leaves and moss on top until I had a small flame going. Then I set the flame on the ground and stacked my smaller pieces of wood around it.

“Well, I’ll be.” Devonna smirked and put her hand on her hip.

“Did you not have faith in me?” I laughed.

“I don’t even know you, honey,” Devonna said. “I’m surprised, is all. That’s somethin’ I wouldn’t have known how to do.”

“Da, me neither,” Natasha agreed.

“Same.” Sarah nodded.

The girls grew quiet as I worked, and after a few minutes, I had a roaring fire going that I was confident would hold with continued care. I walked over to the snake and used my newly sharpened rock knife to cut it into smaller pieces so I could throw them on the fire one by one, and after the first one was on there, I waited to make sure it wasn’t going to put my flames out.

“Alright,” I said once I was sure the flames were safe. “I’ll be right back.”

“Hold on, now,” Devonna said, and her dark blue eyes held mine. “You said no splittin’ up.”

“I’m not going far,” I assured her.

“Shouldn’t someone go with you, at least?” Sarah asked.

“The fire needs to be maintained,” I pointed out.

“There’s four of us,” Devonna argued. “Two of us can stay while two go. You’re our designated fire man now, there’s no chance in hell we’re lettin’ you wander off and get eaten.”

I couldn’t help smirking at her declaration, but being the women’s “fire man” was a lot better than getting glared at because some stupid piece of paper told them they had to breed with me.

Still, I didn’t like the idea of bringing one of the girls into the woods with me, even though I didn’t plan on going far. I didn’t want to put them in any unnecessary danger, but they were right, it was safer for us to stay in groups.

“Alright,” I reluctantly agreed.

“I’ll go with you,” Sarah said.

“We’ll be here.” Devonna smiled.

“We won’t go far,” I promised.

“Lead the way.” Sarah gestured her arm out wide.

I nodded and stepped through the thick trees into the jungle beyond. Immediately, I could feel the temperature lower as it grew even darker with the thickness of the forest canopy. The sounds of birds and bugs were more vibrant here, too, and I instinctively knew that where there were prey creatures, there were predators.

I was careful to step quietly as I walked, and I was very aware of the soft noises Sarah made behind me. The beautiful redhead surprisingly followed my lead, and I was grateful she did. She was a headstrong woman, that much was clear already, but I had more knowledge of the outdoors than a fitness trainer would.

The sound of birds grew louder until we found ourselves near a large tree with birds crowded below. I could still hear the fire crackling, so I knew we hadn’t gone far.

“What’s going on?” Sarah whispered when I stopped.

“Wait,” I said in a hushed voice, and I gestured to the birds in front of us.

There were several toucans, some smaller green birds I didn’t immediately recognize, and a few colorful parrots. I crouched down a bit so I could see exactly what they were eating, and then I took a look at the tree above. There was still fruit on it, and I realized it was papaya.

With a quick motion, I rushed forward and flung my arms out.

The leaves above us shook as the birds scattered in all different directions and left their meal behind.

“What did you do that for?” Sarah asked.

“Papaya,” I said with a point up at the tree.

“Oh.” She nodded. “They’re pretty far up there. Do you think we can get them down?”

I pursed my lips and looked around, and then I spotted a tall branch on the forest floor, so I walked over and grabbed it.

“I think we can manage.” I grinned as I held the stick up. “You ready?”

“Ready for what?” Sarah asked.

“Catching,” I said.

“I don’t kn--” she started to say, but I lifted the stick up and swatted one of the large yellow fruits down.

Sarah’s eyes widened, but she rushed forward and caught the papaya with both hands before she turned to smile at me.

“Nice,” I said. “Again.”

“I’m ready,” she said after she set the first fruit down.

Then we kept knocking more papaya from the lower boughs, and the redhead was grinning as she snatched them out of the air like we were running football warm ups. She seemed to genuinely be enjoying herself, and the way she chuckled in her exertion was infectious. I found myself laughing, too, but I didn’t let the game carry on for too long, since this might be the only papaya tree we found for a while.

Once we had enough papaya for everyone, we brought the ripe fruit back to the fire. I used my knife to cut them for the women, and then we all ate quietly as we sat by the flames.

I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until the first bite of papaya hit my mouth and made my mouth water. The sweet, tangy fruit was delicious, and I savored each bite as I ate slowly.

The silence was comfortable, but as I looked at the women around me, I wondered what the hell was going on.

They were all so incredibly beautiful. They looked hotter than supermodels I’d see in a magazine, and even though we’d only been together for a few hours, I really liked each woman’s unique and strong personality.

I couldn’t remember a whole lot about the women in my memories, but from what I did recall, none of them looked like this. If I focused hard, I could see images from the night before I was taken. There were plenty of women at the concert, but even the most beautiful woman at the show didn’t hold a candle to any of these three women sitting around me.

I was a lot more muscular than I remembered, too. Had we possibly been experimented on already? Did whoever took us give us plastic surgery or something? Or were these women this beautiful before they were ever taken?

And if they were, then why was I taken with them?

There had to be something there, but I wasn’ sure what. Natasha had said something about biology earlier, though, and that made me think. Whoever put us here had told us to breed with each other. Maybe that was the experiment. Maybe they were trying to see how different people’s DNA melded together? But there were so many diverse couples in the world that it seemed unlikely they’d need to conduct any sort of experiment in order to do that research. They could just look around them.

Whatever the case, I wasn’t going to do anything about that part of the note. Surviving the monsters was a little more iffy, but when it came to the breeding part, I was going to completely leave that alone.

We had much bigger problems to deal with than anything concerning that. And besides, these women probably had husbands or boyfriends to get back home to. Maybe they couldn’t remember them now, but they were absolutely stunning. There was no way all three of them were single. At least one of them was probably married, that was for sure. Regardless, I wasn’t going to do anything to make them feel uncomfortable.

But whoever wrote that note certainly didn’t seem to care about that. What kind of instructions said “go out and breed with as many women as you can” or “find the strongest guy and mate with him?” That was just sick, and definitely borderline rapey. Whoever wrote that was probably a fucking pervert who could be watching us right now. They didn’t take into consideration anything about the people in here, or what they might want. We were human beings, not fucking lab rats.

At least, we weren’t going to be for long.

We were going to get out of here, and I was going to make sure of it.

I threw the next piece of the snake on the fire, and once everyone had finished eating, I carefully used a stick to pull some charred pieces of wood from the bottom of the fire for us to use on our expedition. Then I cleared out any debris around the fire, and added a few more pieces of wood to make sure the flames would keep going for a while. If we didn’t return, the fire would die out on its own without anything near it to jump to, so it was safe for us to leave it if necessary. The last thing we needed was to burn this forest down.

“Are you all ready?” I asked.

“Ready,” Sarah said quickly.

“I’m nice and full now,  so I guess I’m up for it.” Devonna smiled and stood up.

“Da.” Natasha nodded.

“What about the fire, though?” Devonna asked. “Will it be alright here without us for a while?”

“It will be fine,” I assured her. “There’s nothing around for it to catch on fire, and I haven’t felt a single breeze since I woke up here. We should get going. It’s probably already close to noon here.”

“Do you think this place even has a noon?” Sarah asked.

“What do you mean?” Devonna asked. “Noon is just the middle of the day, right? Doesn’t everywhere have a noon?”

“If we are on a different planet, there is no guarantee there is sun at all,” Natasha said.

“It’s got to have a sun, doesn’t it?” Devonna asked.

“How else could the plants grow?” Sarah pushed.

“I don’t know.” Natasha shrugged. “Maybe aliens designed the air or soil to provide all necessary nutrients for plants to thrive.”

“But there is some kind of light,” I pointed out.

“Could be from a more distant star we are unable to see at this moment,” the neuroscientist suggested.

“That’s true.” I pursed my lips. “We’ve only gotten one glimpse at the sky.”

“But perhaps we know nothing,” Natasha said. “Perhaps we cannot begin to fathom how all of this is done. Perhaps, for some inexplicable reason, we will have same light all the time. Forever.”

“You mean it won’t get dark?” Devonna asked.

“Who knows?” The Russian woman shrugged. “I don’t. Not yet.”

“Well, that just ain’t gonna work,” Devonna said. “I hate sleepin’ with the light on.”

“I don’t think we’ll have a choice what conditions we are in any more,” Natasha said with an amused smile. “It is out of our hands to control this environment. We simply must… get by in it.”

“Whoever put us here is really startin’ to get on my nerves.” Devonna shook her head.

“At least we’re still alive,” Sarah said in a low voice.

Sarah’s words must have struck a cord for Devonna, because the black-haired southern beauty grew quiet as we walked.

I led the trio of beautiful women through the foliage with my handy charcoal piece at the ready. Every ten feet or so, I slid my hand out to the nearest tree and gave it a quick little mark. I didn’t know how long we were going to walk today, or how far we’d even get with how dense the foliage was, but I knew I had to keep track of where we’d been if we were going to get back to the fire. I didn’t want to have to climb another tree to try and see where we were.

The jungle was thick with all kinds of large-leafed plants, but I managed to keep us on nearly flat ground as we walked, and after a while, we fell into a comfortable silence that told me we were all starting to trust each other.

With the view I’d seen from the top of the tree earlier, there was no telling just how long we could walk here. I’d made sure the fire would go out if we left it too long, but even still, I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of us camping some random place tonight.

Then again, no matter where we camped, it was going to be a random place. This entire area was a random place to us.

But we already had a fire, and for the moment, I was considering that small clearing our home for the night. As much as I wanted to get out of here, I didn’t think that was going to happen within the next few hours. We’d explore what we could today, but we were probably going to have to stay the night here. If they even had a night here.

Natasha and Sarah made a good point earlier. We had no idea whether or not this place even had night and day. We had yet to see a sun, if there was one at all, so it was all too possible that there was no way for us to differentiate between the hours.

Just the thought of not knowing the time at all made me feel crazy. I couldn’t imagine not being able to at least look up at the sky and know that some time had passed. The hours and days would bleed together, and before long, we’d all go crazy.

I took a deep breath to calm myself as we walked. We’d been going for at least an hour already, and the forest around didn’t seem to be getting any thinner. For all we knew, this planet, or wherever we were, could be a giant, Earth-sized rainforest.

Suddenly, something strange ahead caught my eye.

The foliage through the trees didn’t look right. I couldn’t put my finger on it at first, but the closer we got, the more I realized what it was. It looked flat. The leaves were a matte color instead of the shiny, vibrant shades of varying green that we’d been surrounded by this whole time. It seemed like the area through the trees ahead was darker than the rest of the area around us.

“Jake?” Sarah asked behind me. “What is it?”

“Yeah, you’re barely moving,” Devonna said. “What’s the hold up?”

“I think I see something,” I whispered.

“What?” Sarah asked, and within a second she was right next to me peering through the trees.

“There,” I said with a point. “Something doesn’t look right.”

“I don’t see it,” she said, and she moved her head side to side as she looked around.

“Ah, I see,” Natasha said as she appeared on my  other side. “The leaves are darker just through the trees there.”

“That’s good, right?” Sarah asked. “You think it’s a shadow? Could there be a window nearby?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “But there’s only one way to find out.”

We all grew quiet as I carefully walked through the large trees in front of us toward the darker green leaves on the other side.

As soon as I got close enough, I reached my hand out, but instead of it touching a soft leaf as I’d been expecting, it came into contact with something metal and cold.

I ran my hand up the surface, then to the right, and then the left. It continued on as far as I could see.

“What is it?” Sarah asked, and her voice was high-pitched with panic.

“I think...” I said as I turned to look at the terrified women behind me. “It’s a wall.”