Quest: 1.15 (Week 2- Late Phase (Pt.3))

--- Jon ---

--- Afternoon ---

“Um, pardon!” He grimaced as he called out to the couple.

He knew this was going to be awkward and embarrassing, but he couldn’t let the kids see… that, and making them turn around after walking so far would’ve just upset the kids.

The female of the couple screamed before scrambling away from her partner, even as said partner cursed at him.

“What the hell man?”

“Sorry, it’s just um, I’m with Camp Bet, err, the summer camp a bit south of here…” He tried to explain through his stumbling words. “And uh, well, we were taking the kids on a hike to um, here I guess, and well the counselor in charge sent me to uh…”

“Make sure no one was fooling around?” The girl offered with an embarrassed smile.

“I, I’m going to be honest I did not realize that was why he wanted me to check this place out…” He sighed, “Though that explains what he was laughing about at least.”

“You’re not from Blackwell are you?” The girl asked with a blush, as her boyfriend continued to glare at him.

“No, no I’m not.” He admitted, not sure what that had to do with anything.

The girl grimaced before blushing. “Yeah, this is sort of the local ‘make-out point’…”

“Oh…” (I feel like punching Andy.) “Um, I… I’m going to go wait at the bottom of the tunnel for, um, the kids…”

“Yeah, we’ll uh, we’ll clean up here and get going.” The girl assured him.

“Babe!” Though her boyfriend seemed to have an issue.

“It’s a bunch of kids, we’re not ruining their day.” The girl glared back at her partner.

“I’m uh, I’m just going to go.” He decided, having had enough embarrassment for one day, and not willing to take anymore as the couple continued to argue.

He didn’t have to wait long for Andy and the kids to eventually show up, though Andy had them stop before running up the tunnel.

“So, it alright for the kids to head up there?” Andy asked once the group was close enough.

“Yeah, it should be by now.” He nodded, before glaring at the older man. “Also, Jill’s my favorite counselor.”

Andy just laughed. “I’m sure she is.”

Spoiler: Spoiler

Scene Consequences:

-Jon loses 1 Mental Health due to embarrassment.

-Gained 2XP to [Awareness: Environment] (Current Level: 8 (2/18))

-Gained 1XP to [Running] (Current Level: 5 (2/12))

-The kids seemed to have fun.

--- Late Afternoon ---

(Well, I’ve come this far I guess…)

Shaking his head, and fully aware of how dangerous this was, he made his way towards the cave entrance before stepping inside.

He was only able to see a few meters into the cave, and that was only because the light of the cave entrance stretched that far. From what little he could make out the interior of the cave was as much of a mess as the space around the entrance, with blood, bone, and ash laying all over, and deep gashes cutting into the stone wall.

(This looks like a fricking horror movie…)

He jumped as a bone snapped underfoot, before freezing as he saw a mass of shadows begin to shift in the back of the cave. The mass shook its head before shambling forward and into the light of the cave entrance.

Like he’d thought earlier the cave belonged to a wolf of some kind, only something about it was (wrong). He wasn’t sure if it was because it was bigger than he’d been expecting, or because it was covered in bleeding cuts from a recent fight, or maybe just the look in its eye was unsettling him.

“Hey, hey, I don’t mean any harm.” He told the (injured animal) in a calm tone, knowing full well he couldn’t let the (unnerving) beast detect even a trace of fear in him.

The wolf snapped at the air, its mouth foaming.

(Damn it… it’s rabid…) He realized with a grimace, as he remembered the time he and his mom came across a rabid dog back when they still lived in the country.

(It’s dangerous, and will probably attack the moment I turn around… What’s more if it bites me, then I’ll get infected, and I can’t risk that…)

Slowly he reached for his knife, not sure just yet what he was going to do with it, but knowing that whatever happened next, he was going to need it.

(It’s an rabid animal, you know what you have to do…)

Taking the knife into his hand, he forcibly controlled his breathing.

(Inhale, 1…2…3…4… Exhale, 1….2…3…4…)

He readied his stance the same way his mom made sure he knew how to, the beast across from him doing much the same, each waiting for the other to make the first move.

Of course, since the wolf was sick he didn’t have to wait particularly long for it to lunge at him with a foam filled snarl.

Kicking off the ground, he dodged to the side, knowing he could not afford to get bitten by this thing. With that focus in mind he spun on his heels and lunged forward himself, latching onto the beast from behind as he used one of his arms to leverage it so the wolf couldn’t snap at him.

As he struggled to keep his hold and lock the rabid beast down, he maneuvered his arm into a position to drive his knife into the wolf’s throat, before twisting it just right to sever both an artery and nick its windpipe.

The animal thrashed for a moment or two, not quite realizing it was already dead, before slowly going limp under his weight.

Once he was sure he was safe, he stood up and backed away from the beast’s corpse, his eyes slowly drifting to the blood covering his knife hand.

He couldn’t help but stare at the blood with a twisted sort of detachment.

(I’m going to have to clean up before I head back to camp…)

This wasn’t the first time he’d killed an animal, the hunting trips his mom took him on as a kid had seen to that, but (I still don’t like killing them though…)

With a sad sigh, he pulled his blade from the wolf before cleaning his knife on its fur.

(I guess if the entire pack had gotten infected, that would explain why the quartermaster had to put them down… Even if he probably enjoyed it more than was healthy…)

Hopefully that’d be enough to give him peace over the matter.

A strange crackling sound caused him to freeze, his eyes jumping to the dead animal.

Odd black vines began to shoot out of the corpse before diving back into its flesh, the unnerving substance almost dancing like electricity.

“The hell?”

Flakes of the wolf’s fur began to burn and drift into the air.

“That’s not normal…” He couldn’t help but comment as the wolf’s body slowly disintegrated into ash, leaving burn marks where its body had once lain.

As the last of the ash faded into nothingness he spotted something laying in the center of the dark marks. Reaching down he picked up an object that looked similar to a fang almost, if not for its odd size and coloration.

“Weird…”

Spoiler: Spoiler

Scene Consequences:

-Gained [Awareness: Investigation] skill.

--Due to similar and overlapping skills this skill starts at rank E. (Lv. 5)

-Jon’s realizing the forest may be more dangerous than he thought. (Lose 1 Mental Health)

-Jon had to fight and kill a rabid animal. (Lose 1 Physical Health and 2 Mental Health. Gain 2XP to both Small Blades and Defensive Combat.)

-Found ‘Mysterious Fang’

--- Night ---

He shook his head. (I know she said to wake her, but it’s just a water, it’s not like the kids asking for much.)

“Alright, just give me moment and I’ll go get you a water, alright?”

“Mm-kay…” the girl mumbled drowsily.

With that settled he moved off to the cabin fridge where the camp kept a number of ice packs and water bottles for anyone that needed them, before bringing a bottle back to the little girl.

“Alright, here you are.” He told her, handing over the opened water bottle.

“Thank you…” The girl nodded sleepily before taking a sip of the bottle.

“You need anything else?” He asked as she placed the bottle on a table between the beds.

“My tummy feels funny…” The girl told him before promptly throwing up.

“Okay, this is the limit of what I can handle!” He cried leaping away and hoping he hadn’t gotten any of it on him.

He ran back to Jill and began shaking her shoulder. “Um, Jill!”

“Huh, whash happenin’?” Jill mumbled as she began to blink into consciousness.

“One of the kids just started throwing up!”

“Oh,” Jill blinked once more before her eyes shot wide. “Oh shit!”

Moving with a speed he wouldn’t expect of someone who’d just been asleep, Jill ran back to the little girl who was half crying as she held her stomach.

Jill grimaced as she caught sight of the floor, before edging around it and sitting next to the girl. “Jon, go get me a bucket and a bottle of water, then get a towel before this can dry.”

“Right, on it!” He nodded, before racing around the cabin to try and help however he could, and by the end of it all he was thanking his stars that that was the only eventful thing to happen through the night.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Scene Consequences:

-First Aid gains 2XP.

-Obtained First Aid Manual.

(*Grants a bonus while training [First Aid] and [Anatomy] skills up to Lv. 5 for any character. Also contains several medical crafting recipes.)

-Earned [Child Care] skill, at rank F-. (Lv. 1)

--Due to overlap in [Teaching] skill gained 1XP. (1/4)