Nourish your body with contentment

  The beach was my refuge in the early days, and I seldom left its safety. Those times I did leave were when I needed drinking water. And I made sure to go to a different part of the river in case there were monsters.

  However, I didn’t starve. I kept myself fed with a crustacean species that resembled crabs. Their pure white shells blended seamlessly into the sand. The only way to spot them was to either step on one by accident or drip blood onto the ground. I learned the latter the hard way when I dragged the monkey-like creature’s corpse back from the jungle, only to be relentlessly pursued by a swarm of the tiny white crustaceans for an hour. I barely escaped, finding refuge atop a giant rock. Eating them became as much about revenge as survival.

  And survive, I did. I spent somewhere around nine to thirteen days on that beach.

  My life on that beach wasn’t glorious by any means; nightly diarrhea still haunts me, but I still think fondly of that time. I ate like a king and slept under the stars with no worries other than my continued survival. It was a freedom like no other.

  If not for my desire to see my friends and father, and to reconnect with the rest of humanity, I might’ve stayed. Alas, there was a life for me beyond the island. But before I left the beach to explore the jungle earnestly, I decided to make tools to aid in my survival: A spear, a shield, and two pouches(one for water and one for food and stone arrowheads)

  The water pouch was the creation I was most proud of because it took actual ingenuity, especially without knowing any real monster anatomy. I made use of the monkey monster’s skin, which was waterproof, and some gelatinous-type fluid located in what I assume was the monster’s large intestine. The fluid was sticky like adhesive. It allowed me to bond things together better than superglue, which was how I made the two pouches.

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  My other two creations, the spear and the shield, were simple wood makings with a bit of the adhesive for the arrowheads–I found that the adhesive worked better than vines. More importantly, the spear gave me a second weapon that allowed me to keep my distance. I preferred keeping my distance in battle though most situations never allowed for it.

  Once my body and mind were as ready as they would ever be, I set out. My sword was at my hip, my spear was in my hand, and my shield was on my back. I was ready for anything.

  I followed a pre-planned path through the jungle, stopping at each landmark—tree notches I had carved to navigate the dense terrain. When I reached the river, I faced a choice: head upstream or downstream.

  I’d already ventured a bit downstream in my travels to and from the beach for water. There was a marsh down that way and sounds that put me at unease–roars and howls mostly. It made my choice easy for me.

  I chose upstream.

  The trees upstream grew densely, their thick canopy blocking out nearly all sunlight except for a few scattered beams. The effect on the jungle floor was stark—shadowy and imposing, with far fewer of the broad-leafed plants common closer to the beach. More often than not, I found myself stepping over tangled roots and layers of fallen leaves that didn’t seem like they belonged in a jungle biome. And save for a few signs of hidden burrows and the chirping birds, I could find no beast.

  I followed the river upstream until I reached an impasse. The impasse was a massive wooden dam, clearly not of human design, built at the cusp of a river delta. The delta split into three branching paths, with the river I’d been following revealed to be a mere tributary of a much larger waterway that snaked further inland. If I wanted to continue in this direction, I would have to find a way across.

  I stayed hidden within the treeline as I approached. The dam was wide enough to cross, but seeing signs of life for the first time since the fight, other than crabs and birds, caused trepidation in my steps.

  When I was close enough to make out the dam’s details–thick wooden branches and greystones, I stopped and waited. There was no sense in rushing across when its creator could still be lurking nearby.

  I waited and waited, behind a tree for good measure, but the creature never appeared. Before I knew it night was coming again. I’d planned to find and kill a monster that day, but I was prepared for a stake out if necessary. My mind was made up, I was going to survive no matter what it took.