“What the fuck?” I grunt, scrolling through again just to doublecheck I didn’t miss it. “Where’s all the food?”
“Food procured within a safehouse is not transferrable,” Cipher comments. “You will not be able to carry it within your inventory or in your hands.”
“You could have told me that before I filled my inventory up,” I growl. “I left behind so much stuff to make sure it fit.”
“You did not ask,” Cipher replies. “I figured it was a lesson best learned in your own time.”
The Snaptrap makes a noise of displeasure and I glance at it again.
“Sorry, buddy. I apparently don’t have anything to give you. Locke?”
“Nothing,” he replies, shaking his head. For emphasis, he holds out his empty hands.
The Snaptrap hops closer in annoyance. It opens its mouth to let out a little insulted chirp. This time, both Locke and I stumble back.
Because the cute little creature? Its mouth didn’t just open like mine does. Its mouth opens in four parts, spreading open like a flower to reveal red insides and sharp little white teeth. It does it again, chirping, demanding the promised food.
I take a step back. “I don’t have anything. I’m sorry.”
It launches off the branch and darts toward me. Throwing my hands up in surprise, I duck, trying to keep it from attacking my face as it screeches in anger. After a few circles above me, it flies away, off to terrorize the other creatures of the Red Bloom Court.
Locke glances at me. “I’m not about to be killed because you wanted to pet an animal. No talking to the wildlife.”
I scowl. “Don’t be an asshole. I’ll talk to whatever I want to.”
But I don’t, in fact, talk to anymore of the creatures here. Until we level up, we’re vulnerable, and he’s a little right. Even if it pisses me off that he is.
I guess I did inherit something from my mother after all.
Her love for animals.
Nothing we encounter looks like anything we’ve seen before. Dross isn’t rife with wildlife. We have rats, a few types of insects, maybe two small birds, and a variety of other pests. We don’t have any larger mammals. The dogs and cats died out long before I was born, mostly due to being a ready food source when there wasn’t any other. As far as I know, there haven’t been any flying creatures larger than the small brown finches in Dross in a very long time. But here, in the Harrow, the zones are teaming with wildlife. I’d been amazed by the trees at first, but now, it’s the animals I’m enthralled with. If I were an artist, I’d sketch them all, but that’s one thing I did not get from my mother. My hands are too rough for that of an artist.
“Oh shit,” Locke says, his eyes glazed over as he checks the map. “We’ve been going in the wrong direction for the safehouse.”
I sigh. “How far are we off course?”
He glances up. “Far enough we won’t make it before the sun sets I bet. We’re gonna have to camp in the forest.”
“You’re fucking with me,” I grunt. “Look around here, Locke. This place is a literal nightmare during the day. You think it’s going to magically get better at night?”
“It’s not like we have much choice,” he growls back. “Look, if you think you can do better?—”
“Stop,” I grunt. “We don’t need to fight right now. We need to figure out a safe place to sleep.” I tap my implant and watch as the map appears. We’re not just a little off path. There’s no hope of making it to the safehouse today at all. But there is a strange white line running through this section. “Alright. We head in this direction. It looks like there could be somewhere safe to stop for the night.”
Locke shrugs. “If the plants don’t fucking eat us you mean.”
“Yeah,” I reply, closing my map. “We’ll take turns sleeping when it’s time.”
We continue to push through the forest, avoiding snapping flowers and more of the Snaptrap creatures. We walk for an hour, the sun starting to sink in the sky as we move. Locke and I don’t speak, focusing on moving as efficiently through the forest as possible, searching for somewhere to take cover for the night. There’s no way to know what will happen once the darkness closes in. We’ll have to be prepared for anything.
When the sun hits the horizon, we finally step through the trees into a small clearing. The pale light paints the sky above us in shades of pink and orange, and I look up at it in awe as we get an upfront view of it now that the tree canopies aren’t above us.
The clearing isn’t large. If Locke and I laid down end to end, we would touch each side. But there are none of the larger plants anywhere near the clearing, and those at the edges are of the tiny variety.
“This will work,” I announce, walking around the small clearing to check for any creatures. “Flat ground. No plants except for the grass. Seems as safe as we’re going to get.”
Locke nods. “Then we camp here for the night.”
