《The Restart》 The Restart: Prologue (edited) Hi, I¡¯m Marek Colburne, I was just minding my own business, playing a new computer game on my laptop, when all of the sudden a blue screen popped up in front of my face. At first, I thought it was on my computer screen so I tried, unsuccessfully, to click out of what I thought was an annoying pop-up ad ruining my gaming experience. ¡°What the f***, I was just about to hit max level then this stupid ad appeared and I died.¡± Yelling literally to no one, I slammed my laptop shut, stood up from desk, and was about to go downstairs to get some snacks, when I noticed that stupid screen was still there. (Wait, what¡­ is this thing floating in front of my eyes right now?) thinking that as I stared stupidly at the little blue box. Next I tried poking it. (my hand went right threw it, am I seeing things?) My mind was going at the speed of light wondering what the hell this thing in front of me was. I tried moving my head around¡­ (it¡¯s still there!) For the first time since it popped up I noticed there was words on the screen.
Hello earthlings, I am what you consider a God. Due to some issues the godly council has voted to move you to a new planet, hopefully you will not screw it up like this one. Anyways, all 7 billion of you will be moved to the planet we gods call Taris. This planet is 10 times bigger than earth so all of you will fit. And, as a bonus there are no civilized species on the planet, only mana beasts and wild animals. Oh and this is not optional it will happen. Though, as an apology/departing gift from all of us up here, we are giving each and every one of you three things. 1) Any ability on the list we provide, you can only choose one. 2) Any material or item that you want to bring along to help you with survival, of course from this list we provide. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.3) And finally any food or liquid you want, from the list we provide. Before I forget, when the time comes for the departure you can choose to go with any one person you are familiar with, or have a group made completely by random chance. People will be put into group of 10-20, so its luck of of the draw, so fun don¡¯t you think? I hope you have a good last couple moments here on earth, we will miss you all dearly, from your god Hermes. Time until departure(TUD): 10 days, 12 hours, and 5 minutes
¡°WHAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTT?!?!¡± after reading that I literally scream my head off. (This cannot be true, wait what will I do if its true, how will I survive, oh shit, I feel like I am sooo screwed right now!) as my thoughts continually get worse, I start to hyperventilate. Fifteen minutes later, after I cooling down, both mentally and physically, I ponder on what I should do. (If this message is true, there is absolutely nothing I can do to stop this event from happening¡­ I need to prepare.) luckily when I was freaking out earlier the blue screen disappeared, if it was still there during my, ummm, episode I probably would of hit something. Due to blindness, and really hurt myself. After settling down I ran over to my desk, quickly pulled out my computer, exited my video game, and started looking up everything I possibly could about survival and living outdoors without any modern appliances. When I was done reading everything I thought I should I felt ready to prepare for the biggest change my life will ever have. The Restart: Chapter 1: picking an ability (this entire part is basically Marek just self narrating his thoughts actions and emotions in his mind, so I never put quotations for anything he says because all of it is in his mind. When he talks out loud I will show it) -----------------------------------------------------10 days later---------------------------------------- It¡¯s the day of the departure, I was sitting in my room watching the news. Ever since the blue screen first popped up news stations around the world have been talking about it, what it meant, and if we should take it seriously. Of course I completely believed that when the timer runs out we are all being transported to a different world. Why I believe that you may ask, is because, every single person saw the exact same screen saying the exact same thing. If that doesn¡¯t foreshadow doom, then I don¡¯t know what does. After 10 days of being able to prepare, I have calmed down immensely. I was a minority though. Most people were either freaking out or treating it as some giant scam that the government made up. Due to all the panic, crime was at a record high, psychotic people were running around the streets shouting about how their religion predicted this would happen and that everyone needs to follow their religion to be saved, what a bunch bull! What religion said that a blue screen would pop up and tell us we are moving to a new planet? If a religion like that exists, I will devote 100% of my faith to it. In these past 10 days I ran around like a madman buying everything I thought I needed, ranging from knives, flint stone, a flashlight, lighters, rope, even a water filter. I was ready. To be honest, I was sort of excited to start my new life, I always felt that the world we currently live in is really dull and boring, so being able to have a new life made up of adventure made me giddy in anticipation. I already even packed up everything I will hopefully be bringing with me to the new world. I do not actually know yet if I can even take this backpack I packed with me, but hopefully! -------------------------------------------1 hour until departure----------------------------------------- I am literally jumping around in anticipation. In my opinion I thought I looked pretty badass, that¡¯s just my opinion though. I changed into everything I wanted to wear, which was newly bought brown hiking boots, grey joggers from some yoga store, with some basketball shorts underneath, a black under armor long-sleeved t-shirt, a plain black hoodie, a brown, green and grey beanie, and my Oakley sunglasses, I was prepared. If it was warm I could just take the sweater, beanie and joggers off, and if it¡¯s cold I am already dressed for it. I even called my parents and siblings to say goodbye, I told them to be prepared for this, just in case it happens, I of course believe it is going to happen, but I don¡¯t want to sound like a crazy fanatic to my family so I played it down, hopefully there all ready. As I was about to turn on the TV in my apartment the blue screen appeared in front of me again! ¡°Oh my God! It is actually going to happen!¡± with my excitement reaching a new level my breathing sounded like a bull ready to charge forward, oops, I almost hyperventilated again. ¡°Lets see what it says this time.¡± I can¡¯t help but start speaking to myself out loud.
Hello All earthlings, remember me? If not, well sucks for you, I am Hermes. I am here to let you now pick your three things that will help you survive in your new world. I wish you all good luck in your choices. Also, you only have an hour until your transported so don¡¯t take to long to choose or you might not have enough time to choose everything you want. Part 1: Abilities Part 2: Materials for survival Part 3: Food You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Time until departure: 1 Hour
As I already know what I want I am going to go straight to it, unless they don¡¯t have it, then I¡¯m screwed. Oh well I should be fine .
Part 1 - (Continued) Mana Manipulation: The ability to control the mana in the area around you and inside of you. When you first acquire the ability it will start of weak, but the more you use it the better it will get Area of manipulation (outside of the body): 5ft by 5ft square with you at the center, this will allow you to control the mana in this area, anything outside of this range will be useless to you. Also the more you practice this skill the easier it is to control mana. Inside of the body: you will start with a mana core the size of a pea allowing you to control it however you desire. (Both parts can grow and become stronger)
¡°YEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!! They had it!!! I can¡¯t believe it, there¡¯s going to be mana in the new world, this just keeps getting better and better!¡± When I read the first screen and saw mana beasts I was hopeful but I didn¡¯t think it was actually true! I am SOOOOOOO excited right Now!¡± with my happiness overflowing I can¡¯t help but yell. Though I do not really know what manipulating mana will get me, It has to be good, I can already see myself as a Gandalf running around being all badass. Now let us go onto part two materials for survival, again, I had an idea of what I wanted but I have no idea if it will be on the list or not.
Part 2 ¨C (Continued) Camping Kit: A kit that comes with a tent, fire starter, sleeping bag, emergency medical bag, and cooking supplies (includes a pan and tongs). The tent is big enough for two people, while the fire starter, if used correctly should be able to start around 15 fires before running out. This is a one time use kit and will not replenish if it is destroyed or runs out. (Nice choice for survival, though there were more impressive options to choose from, purely for survival this is definitely the best choice- Hermes)
¡°HAHAHAHAHAH, my luck is SOO good, I was just hoping for a tent, who would have thought I would get an entire camping kit!¡± I am now literally running around my room due to my choices! ¡°Even that god that started this entire thing said I made a good choice, how much luckier can I get!¡± Now I sound ten times scarier than bull, I couldn¡¯t help it though, with everything I got, there is no way I won¡¯t be able to survive. Now part three, If I can get what I want from this also I will be the luckiest man, I finished picking the other two so fast I still have 55 more minutes until we are supposed to leave earth behind. But with my luck what could go wrong? The Restart: Chapter 2: I arrived ---------------------------------25 minutes until departure------------------------------------------- ¡°They don¡¯t have it!¡± I just had to go and jinx myself, great job Marek. It¡¯s not like I wanted anything outrageous, I just wanted a cow that was still alive, that way it can produce milk and if we need meat we can kill it¡­ It¡¯s not a hard request! After being let down I tried every type of animal with the condition it was alive and there was nothing. After every new animal I tried to choose the stupid screen only gave me a warning that said
Warning: Choose only food items in this section
After seeing this about 200 times I just gave up, it seemed gods didn¡¯t have the same definition of food as me. To me a living animal is food, how else am I going to get a sustainable source of food, my perfect plan was ruined. Then I went and browsed the list to see if I could find any fruit plants already mature and I got the same exact message as before!
Warning: Choose only food items in this section
¡°F*** F*** F*** F*** F***!¡± I soon started freaking out I needed to find a way to get food that wouldn¡¯t run out and won¡¯t take multiple months to mature, but I ran out of ideas seeds take to long, plants and animals don¡¯t work I don¡¯t know what to do. ¡°I am just going to browse the list and hope I will find anything that will fit my standards¡­ or else I will have to choose something stupid like canned goods. ¡° ¡°Well let¡¯s hope for the best¡± my hands were clenching each other so tightly they were whiter than fresh snow, I don¡¯t even feel them anymore, hopefully that¡¯s not bad thing.
Canned Goods
Baked BeansBlack Bean Soup
Chicken Noodle soupRefried Beans
Beef StewTomato Soup
RavioliRice
Mixed Vegetables...
---------------------------------------5 minutes until departure---------------------------------------- After nearly 20 minutes of scrolling through a seemingly endless chart of food options that ranged from chocolate covered bugs to cow tongue, I finally had a bright idea. ¡°If this works I am a genius!!! I quickly searched for what I was hoping would be on this list.
Chicken eggs: eggs from a chicken can be used in a variety of ways¡­ be creative! You may choose to get up to 24 eggs as your choice of food. P.S: from your god Hermes, the eggs you receive may or may not have a 10% chance of being fertilized, per dozen, it¡¯s all up to luck! Hopefully you get what you want.
¡°¡­YEEESSSSS!¡± I was crying tears of joy I got what I wanted, even though there was only around a 10% chance of getting a chicken from one of these eggs it was better than Nothing! ¡°I will guard these eggs with my life, they will be my children.¡± Well at least until one hatches then I will eat all the other ones. I don¡¯t know how long I will have to wait to see an egg hatch, the sooner the better I don¡¯t want to starve to death! Though How I will guard the eggs without them hatching remains unknown to me but I am sure I can figure something out. --------------------------------------2 minutes until departure--------------------------------- After dancing and singing all around my room I realized that I still needed to actually press the choose button on the eggs. ¡°With that I am done choosing everything I need to survive; I guess I will just wait until I leave.¡± Hmm how will all 7 billion humans be taken will we be beamed up into a spaceship and flown over, maybe they will teleport us to the planet in the blink of an eye¡­ ¡°Well whatever no use worrying about it.¡± As I was pondering the many mysteries of this event the blue screen showed up in front of my eyes again. ¡°What now? I thought after choosing I was done.¡± I quickly focused in on what it was telling me . Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Choose your Group 1) Be together with one person you know, the person you know will be random, do not worry though, it will be someone that you have no enmity with. 2) Luck of the draw: you will join any random group that hasn¡¯t filled up to the 20-person requirement, it will be completely random which group you join.
¡°Oh ya I completely forgot about this. Hmm I don¡¯t really care if I am with a bunch of randoms, I don¡¯t really have people I am close with besides my family, and even then I always feel left out when I am with them.¡± After doing a mini battle inside my head of what I should choose I decided that since my luck has been stellar I will take the option that will emphasize luck. ¡°Choice number two it is then! If my luck continues and I even join a group full of survivalists and soldiers that would really be putting the cherry on top of an already amazing amount of luck I¡¯ve had.¡± As soon as I selected what I wanted my entire body felt weightless and my eyes were blinded by a radiant light that made everything around me disappear into pure whiteness. (Is it starting?!) after a few seconds of struggling to get used to the feeling of suspension I tried turning my head around hoping to find something I could see. But, all around me was the exact same pure white. I could be in a room the size college dorm or a flat plane that goes on forever and I would have absolutely no idea which one it was. ¡°Hello, anyone there?¡± I waited for a few seconds, no answer. ¡°Am I being transported to Taris yet?¡± still no answer, what the hell, am I going to be here forever?! I Guess Ile try calling to the god of the blue screen, it was Hermes I believe. ¡°Mr. Hermes you there, can you hear me? What is going on right now? CAN SOMEONE ANSWER!¡± I¡¯m starting to loose it if I¡¯m stuck here forever I will absolutely become a psychological mess, luckily no one will be around to be freaked out by my weirdness. Just as I was about to start looking for a way to escape this white prison I heard the voice of what sounded like a middle aged man. ¡°Hello Marek, I am Hermes, I am here to prepare you for your departure to Taris.¡± Even though I couldn¡¯t see him I felt relieved, I was not trapped in this stupid forever! I will be leaving. While immersed in my thoughts Hermes continued to ramble on about some of the differences of the planet called Taris. I wasn¡¯t listening though, it can¡¯t be that different from earth, besides the size and the thing called mana it is probably the exact same as earth. After what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes Hermes finally started talking about something that peaked my interest; he was talking about the items and abilities we chose. ¡°When you descend onto Taris you will already have the most basic knowledge of your ability, your materials and food item you selected will put into a bag that will slung over your shoulder.¡± I was curious how would an entire camping and two dozen eggs fit into a little shoulder bag, I should find out. ¡°Wait Hermes, before you continue how does so much stuff fit into such a small bag?¡± I imagine he was a little disgruntled that I interrupted him but who cares this is important information to me. ¡°Well it is a magic bag that stores up to 50 kilograms of items into it without changing in size, you will still feel the weight of the items though.¡± Sweet that¡¯s awesome I will be able to store so many more things that I find on the new planet without having to make multiple trips. My chicken eggs will be safe in there too! After finding that out I was ready to go and start my new life. ¡°Hey Mr. Hermes, when will I be put on Taris, I am excited to start my new life?¡± even though I still couldn¡¯t see him ¡°Right now actually, you were just put into a group and should be teleported over there any second.¡± Right as I was about to say thanks I felt a suction on my body that pulled me away from wherever I was. ¡°Yay! I¡¯m about to be on the new planet.¡± The suctioning gradually lessened, slowly going to stop, signaling my arrival. The Restart: Chapter 3: The group Please be critical of this chapter, I am not the best at describing scenery or people so let me know what I can do better. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I felt solid ground under my feet again. (Finally no more floating, my new life has started¡­ I wonder what sort of adventures Ile go on?) After the light faded I was astonished by everything I saw. Mountains so tall I couldn¡¯t see the top, so wide I couldn¡¯t even see where they started, it looked like a giant wall of rock and snow. At the base of the mountains there were trees as tall as skyscrapers with branches longer than a football field. (What the is the entire planet just a Supersize Me version of earth?) I couldn¡¯t help but think that if everything was bigger here than humanity is screwed, (how are we supposed to survive if humans were now the equivalent of rats on Taris?) After glancing around some more I noticed that not everything was supersized, there were also normal size trees mixed in with the giant ones but they were so small it was hard to notice. The field I was standing in looked like the plains from the Midwest, vast, flat, with some minor hills, and almost no trees, at least until you hit the base of that mountain. I could here a river in the direction opposite of the mountain. (Sweet at least I won¡¯t have to worry about water for the time being.) After a minute of glancing about the new area I noticed what would become my team. I was instantly disappointed for many reasons. First there are only 15 people in our group not 20, with more people I feel like we would have a better chance at survival, five people is not a lot but those five could all of been trained marines, that would have made me happy. Next was the fact that there are two different couples that both have a baby. Thee parents look like they are going to be useless; both sets of parents look like there from the east and definitely cannot speak English, also there small and have no muscle on them¡­ definitely had a sit at desk type job. All four parents are hovering over there kid but what is that going to do, it¡¯s not like your strong enough to protect the kid any ways. I mean look at the size of everything! If animals also are so much bigger than we won¡¯t even be able to protect ourselves let alone a useless lump of a baby. (All six of them are useless.) Then we also have what looks like 80-year-old grandparents that are definitely way to old to be doing this kind of thing. (Another useless pair.) That¡¯s not even the last of it there is even two lone mothers looking after after their children, and there both gorgeous women. The mother with the daughter looks to be in her mid thirties with long and straight black hair that went to her mid back, smooth white skin that looks good with the dark hair, long skinny legs that accentuated her curves, a mature charm that makes it hard for any man to resist¡­ oh and she has at least a double d-cup after staring for a few seconds I determined she was around 5¡±9. A perfect I think, I am glad I grew up to be around 6¡°3, I would be sad if she was taller than me. She was wearing business attire just further adding to her mature charm. Her daughter looked to be about 14 years old and was definitely a younger version of her mother, of course, that had yet to develop. The mother with the son was the complete opposite. She was smaller, probably around 5¡±4, shorter light blonde hair, to just below her shoulders, tanned skin that made her look like a regular beach goer, normal sized breast probably c-cup, a petite build tat made her look really fragile, and she seemed really young too, probably early to mid twenties. She was wearing regular blue jeans that made her ass pop, and a white tank top. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.Next to her was what appeared to be her son, he looked young, around five or six years old with bleach blonde hair and tanned skin like his mother. (Come on Hermes! Are you trying to f*** me over right now, how am I supposed to survive with this bunch!) After cursing at Hermes due to the horrible teammate selection I received I turned my eyes to the last two people in our group. (At least the last two people don¡¯t look completely incompetent, hmm their loners also, it would make sense for stronger individuals to become a loner.) One loner really stands out; he is as tall as me, around 6¡±3, very muscular, you could say he goes to the gym regularly, short brown hair and piercing blue eyes that looked like the sky, he was probably in his mid twenties, so about six to seven years older than me, a defined jaw line¡­ (Dang he kind of looks like Channing Tatum, there goes any opportunity I had of being able to get a girl in this new world.) I am not going to deny that I am not attractive, but I definitely am not Channing Tatum status, (This guy and Channing Tatum look like brothers; uggg I have no chance with either of those single mothers.) (With my blonde hair, green eyes, and more delicate facial features I can say for sure that I am good looking but I feel like I am the moon and he is the sun) after bitterly comparing the two of us I looked around to everyone else, and they were all staring at that one dude like he is the messiah coming to save us all, well except for one person and that was the other loner. (*Sigh*, I guess he is the leader of our group, I did not even have an opportunity to try and become the leader.) (Well whatever as long I survive for now I don¡¯t really give a crap who becomes leader.) After finding a way to stop my depressing thoughts from escalating I glanced over to the final loner and they were staring straight into my eyes, sending shivers down my spine. All I could see were two brilliant amber colored iris¡¯ that felt like that felt like they were peering into the very depths of my soul, everything else was covered by a hood and giant cloak. I quickly shifted my eyes to anywhere other than that person, I did not like the feeling of being stared so intensely at. (What the hell is wrong with this person? Do I know them? I hope we weren¡¯t enemies back on earth.) Even though I had no real friends back on earth no one really disliked me either so I am completely confused about this person¡¯s strange reaction. I shot a quick glance back to there direction, this time not looking at there face, behind the cloak I noticed two small mounds in the chest area, just big enough to make the cloak go from straight down to slightly curved. (So it¡¯s a girl, when did I piss of a girl? I hardly ever even talk to girls there is no way she hates me, let alone even knows me, what are the odds I get someone in my group that I would know, I chose the luck of the draw option, there is no way she knows me.) Every time I glance back over in her direction she is still staring straight at me. (But still what is up with her, it¡¯s freaking me out. I guess I will just have to try and avoid her.) Anyways, everyone is just looking around not sure what to do. (I guess I¡¯ll get the ball rolling, hope this goes well) ¡°He¡­¡± Just as I was about to talking the blue screen popped up again. The Restart: Chapter 4: Dont be a giant predator!
Hello everyone, welcome to Taris! I trust that have by now met your group members. If by chance you are thinking of abandoning your group in favor of trying to survive on your own, I highly recommend that you reconsider. I have already explained why when we met in the white room, so there is no need to go into to details, but I will still say it¡­ do not go off on your own, as individuals none of you are prepared to survive on this planet yet, stay with your group for at least a month, preferably longer. All of us gods recommend that that each group finds a place to make a home. Since this planet is so ginormous, no groups are visible to other groups for now. The council decided that we should help humanity have a better chance at survival so we are implementing a rewards system. Every time a group accomplish a goal that very group receives a reward. The goals shall not be made known to you humans nor will we help you achieve them. Individual groups will need to accomplish them on there own. Be in mind though, the goals are meant for entire groups not individual humans. So you will achieve the goal in a group and receive the reward in a group or not at all. Lastly, to encourage teamwork, we are putting out a leader board where every single one of the 525,000,000 groups will be ranked. The more goals you accomplish the higher rated on the list your group will be. Every group starts off equally, once a group finishes a goal they will be able to see the ranking board by looking at a tablet each group will receive, there will be only one tablet per group so don¡¯t loose it! I wish you all the best of luck! -Hermes
After I finished reading the message from Hermes I glanced around and noticed everyone still reading. (I guess Ile wait until everyone finishes reading before saying something.) A minute later, after it looked like everyone was done reading, they were all looking around not sure what to do. The two Asian families scooted closer together, whether subconsciously or intentionally I have no idea, nor do I really care either. The two old people were also gradually getting closer to the families. (Makes sense, they all have similarities and probably speak the same language.) While that was happening the two mothers along with their kids were drifting in the direction of each other. (I guess similarities attract.) And all of them were moving closer to the celebrity look alike. (It¡¯s like moths to a light, all of those people definitely view him as some sort of savior.) (Wait what?! Why is that freaky cloaked girl coming straight over to me?) With her amber eyes locked onto me, it felt like I was being stalked by a tiger. (Damn, she isn¡¯t even being discreet about it.) The odd girl was walking in a straight line right over to me, she didn¡¯t even glance at anyone else, not even the Channing Tatum clone. As if sensing something amiss, the one person everyone was crowding around was following the cloaked girl around with his eyes, not even paying attention to anyone else. (Really?! You already have those hot older women right in front of you! Stop trying to hoard all the women here, even if they are weird, at least leave one for me.) The cloaked girl was now only around three feet in front of me. Subconsciously, I stepped back and couldn¡¯t help but gulp in fear. She stopped A foot in front of me. Still staring; right as I was about to ask her what the hell she was doing; a sweet melodic voice came from somewhere under that hood: ¡°Hello my name is Kristen, I hope we can get along and help each other out in the future.¡± (Huh? Just a normal introduction, from her weirdness so far I thought she wanted to kill me, and what¡¯s up with that voice someone so creepy should not have such a beautiful voice.) There were a few awkward seconds of silence where she was just standing in front of me. (Snap out of it Marek, maybe I am just overreacting.) I finally decided to respond, though in a somewhat hesitant shy manner. ¡°Ummm h-hello Kristen¡­ nice to meet you, my name is Marek.¡± While introducing myself I couldn¡¯t help but try and peer under her hood. (Did she just smile?) I thought for a second I could maybe see some of her facial features, but I couldn¡¯t be sure. (How is it so dark under her hood? I should be able to see under it pretty easily, but it¡¯s like a black hole, well besides the eyes.) As we introduced ourselves the Channing Tatum look alike made his way over. (He really didn¡¯t even say anything to all those people right next to him?!) When he was about three feet from me and Kristen he stopped, staring right at Kristen: (Hello Kristen¡­ and Marek my name is Jack, nice to meet you.¡± I narrowed my eyes at that¡­ he obviously just wanted to talk to Kristen, he did not even spare a second to glance over at me. (Not that I look all that impressive right now. My beanie and sunglasses are covering my facial features, and I am wearing a baggy sweater and jogger that cover up my body, no wonder nobody paid me any attention, I look like a weirdo.) As I was going into my usual depressive mode I remembered to check and see if the bag I packed came with me to Taris. I stretched my hand back to check and see if was still there. (Dang I don¡¯t feel, the only thing on my back right now is that magic bag that we all have on right now. I really could have used all those materials I prepared.) Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.Completely zoning out, I was oblivious to the conversation going on around me: ¡°Marek!¡± I snapped out of it once I heard Jack¡¯s voice. (M )¡°Wha-what, why did you yell my name?¡± His eyebrow twitched, (J) ¡°¡­I was asking both you and Kristen if we should go introduce ourselves to everyone else, then head out to look for a place to sleep for the night. I was thinking the forest by that mountain over there, the trees will give us good protection and cover from possible animal threats and rain.¡± (M) ¡°Ohh okay, well that sounds good, but if we are going to find a place to sleep tonight I would prefer if we go in the direction of the river. It will be a good source of water and hopefully food for us.¡± (J) ¡°That may be, but I do not want to be sitting ducks out here in the open waiting for whatever that wants a free meal to come and eat us.¡± (ugg that¡¯s a good point, but I still think its better to be by the river¡­) (M) ¡°I feel like all the predators and dangerous beasts will be in the forest though! If we stay out in the open, while they might see us It would give us plenty of opportunity to escape.¡± The more we debated the louder we got. (J) ¡°What!? Escape where? Into the water? Then, some giant crocodile type thing will come and kill us, by the river is definitely not a good choice.¡± Before I could retort Kristen stepped in to ease the tension. (K) ¡°Guys no where will be safe! What should be priority is cooperation and teamwork, you both read the message it kept repeating stay in our group, work together, and then we may be able to survive. Besides your scaring everyone else, just look at look at them.¡± Both Jack and I glanced over towards the other group members, you could see unease and fear in the eyes of the parents and children. All of the parents were hugging their children while the two older people were surprisingly calm and trying to settle everyone down. I looked over to Jack to see what he was going to do. (they all already follow him around anyways, he should be the one that calms them down, even if they don¡¯t understand what he is saying.) (J) ¡°I¡¯m sorry everyone we were just debating about the best place to make camp; we didn¡¯t mean to upset you all.¡± Jack finished off his apology with a small bow to increase the sincerity of his apology. (Pfft. looked like an act to me.) I wasn¡¯t really sorry, so I didn¡¯t anything grand. ¡°Sorry everybody, wasn¡¯t intentional.¡± I kept it nice and short, no need to to be long winded. After Jack¡¯s and I¡¯s apology, the old man started saying something in what was either Mandarin or Japanese, couldn¡¯t really tell. It looked like he was speaking to the two families about something, so I didn¡¯t really pay it any mind. While I was staring at the old man, the business lady/mom started talking. ¡°It¡¯s okay, I understand, you said your name was Jack right? My daughter and I were just worried that are group would break if the argument continued and we didn¡¯t really know what to do. My name is Katherine by the way, and this is my daughter Charlotte.¡± (Not a shock, she paid no attention to me, maybe I should take off what I am wearing, wonder if that would get her to notice me?) I didn¡¯t take it off though, I felt quite comfortable with what I was wearing, and I had no desire to be cold. ¡°A-and I am M-Mary and this is my son Connor¡­ I will do my best to help everyone survive.¡± The petite blonde mom balled her fists in front of her chest adding a degree of cuteness, that sucked my gaze straight to her. (So hard to resist staring at her, she is not as pretty as Katherine but that look of determination and her adorable attitude really makes her hard to resist.) As Mary said that she was looking at Jack the entire time, and paid no attention to me. (Even though I know it is going to happen, I still can¡¯t help but feel a tiny bit depressed. Maybe he will leave one for me to have!) I shifting my eyes away from that scene I noticed the old man had stopped conversing with the two families and was approaching Jack. (What is he doing? Can he speak English?) My questions were answered shortly after they were asked.) ¡°Hello young man, Since I am the only one out the of the people from the east that can speak English, I am going to translate what they say to you and what you say to them. I have already been doing it, so there are informed about your names, and what is going on right now.¡± (J) ¡°Sounds good, you never told me your name though.¡± ¡°My name is Dong Chun; it is a pleasure to meet you, but you can call me Mr. Dong¡± The old man gave a slight gave a slight bow to show his respects. (J) ¡°Okay, Mr. Dong, Marek, that guy with the beanie over there, and I are debating about whether or not we should sleep out in the open by the river, or in the forest covered by the trees, what is your opinion?¡± (Wow, what a loaded question he completely made my suggestion sound stupid while his sounds like the best plan possible. He really wants to be the leader of this group¡­ and I am in no position to even try and fight for it. No one else seems to care too.) I couldn¡¯t help but glance over at Kristen hoping that she would support my suggestion. I was disappointed though; she was staring off into the distance looking at who knows what. All of the sudden though she turned to look right at me¡­ again. (K) ¡°Marek, we need to run, something is coming.¡± (M) ¡°What? I don¡¯t see anything, where do we even run to!?¡± (K) ¡°The forests let¡¯s go¡­ Now!¡± (M) ¡°Umm ok but I need to tell everyone else first.¡± I shouted to Jack and the old man. ¡°Kristen spotted something!! She says we need to go hide in the forests¡­ Now!¡± Jack looked skeptical but still told the old man to listen and tell that to the people that couldn¡¯t understand. (Please don¡¯t be a giant predator!!!)