Around 3 Kilometers Past The Treeline, 1 PT, Day 1, 9:15 AM?

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Each person stayed focused on themselves for a while longer, catching their breaths and then looking around and observing the people around them. For a while, no one really wanted to say the first word as the sense of imminent danger was still very prominent.

It took a few more minutes of very awkward silence before someone decided to speak up.

“Allah truly has forsaken us… is this our punishment for wronging him so badly?”

The man who first spoke up had an Arabic look to him. He was wearing a keffiyeh on his head which hid most of his hair with the exception of his somewhat messy beard and wore a thawb that covered nearly his entire body. While the man wasn’t old per se, he had a look on his face that told others that, if asked, he could give wisdom beyond his years.

While the Arabic man who was speaking wasn’t really talking to the group in particular, it caught the attention of everyone in the group.

“Well it seemed like your God didn’t really care about us to begin with, from the way that… mist… was talking.”

The next person to speak up was a man who looked like they were of East Asian descent who, even though he was drenched in sweat and sounded exhausted, exuded an authoritative demeanor that demanded respect through the way that he talked. With well-trimmed hair and eyebrows, near jet-black eyes and a face that was well manicured, it was easy to tell that the man was in a top position wherever he used to work on Earth. He was dressed in black business attire that had a slight coat of grass on it, with the undershirt being drenched in sweat and his tie being fully on the outside of his suit. His suit pants weren’t doing any better as the knees had a faint green on them.

“If there was a God that was looking out for us, I’m quite sure that they would have done something before we were taken to this damned place.”

“Allah forgive me for my sins, I have wronged you yet I know not how…”

The Arabic man ignored the well-dressed man’s statements and continued to try and pray for forgiveness.

“Clearly the man has lost it… Anyways, does anyone know where the hell we are?”

For a moment there was a tense silence. No one wanted to say that they didn’t know, as they were all hoping that there was someone else that would be able to recognize where they are, or at least, be familiar with the flora around them. The group didn’t just want that hope, they needed it.

And so there was silence, and no voice came in aid.

“We can figure that out later, we should keep moving.”

Another voice came out from the group, this one a woman’s. At first glance, she was also of East Asian descent. However, compared to the businessman, her face was more of a mess. Before getting transported to wherever they were, she definitely had a light coat of mascara on her face, which has now led to her face to look like she had just gotten through a breakdown that occurs after breaking up with someone. Compared to the Arabic man or the businessman, she was dressed more casually as she was just wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.

“And why should we do that? Can’t you see that we are all tired?”

The businessman snapped at his casually dressed female counterpart.

‘The businessman has a point.’ Devin thought. ‘We’re all so exhausted that some of us can still barely stand!’

There were still some people that were sitting on the ground, listening to what the two were saying and others that were leaning on trees, legs visibly shaking.

“Well old man, what if those wolves are still on our ass? I sure as hell don’t want to get eaten today!”

As the woman makes her point, Devin looks at the mute to try and understand what she is thinking and sees that she is nodding her head, agreeing with what the woman is saying.

Looking to the others as well, he sees the realization in their eyes as well as a tinge of fear in some of them and outright fear in others.

Thus, as quickly as the woman’s point was made, the others started to get up in order to keep on moving into the forest.

‘Hah… well, nothing is a better motivator than the fear of death.’

As everyone got up to start moving again, the businessman looked around and realized that his case was lost.

“Fine, you make a good point, let’s keep moving then.”

Thus the group started to move again, for fear of sharp teeth, claws and a painful death.

Around 9 Kilometers Past The First Treeline, 1 PT, Day 1, 11:54 AM

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‘How long have we been walking for? We’ve been walking forever and the sun still isn’t at its highest…’

Nothing about their surroundings had really changed since they had started walking. They were still in a forest that seemingly had no end, except from where they had entered.

The trees looked all the same, looking very similar to their Earthen counterpart, the oak tree. Devin wasn’t sure though, since the only reference he had to an oak tree were a few pictures that he saw on the internet and the trip he went on many years ago. The only difference between the Earth tree and the trees they were walking under now was that the current trees, instead of having green leaves, had white leaves. This did not help the group as the leaves made it feel like the trees deserved to be in graveyards and alone rather than bunched up together and making a forest.

As for the group, they continued to walk together, huddled close. Each person was almost constantly close enough to bump into another person at all times. No one wanted to be left behind, they feared being abandoned by the others if they were too weak to keep on going and no one had the belief that anyone in the group would help them if they fell.

To Devin, it was easy to hear the constant, labored breaths of the people around him. He could easily understand why they were breathing heavily, he was breathing heavily himself.

Meanwhile, Devin’s legs were killing him, screaming at him to stop moving and to take a break. The calf muscles told him to stop, they needed rest. His soles and heels screamed in agony, they were screaming in pain like banshees. His lungs were only doing a little better, he would wind himself if he even pushed himself a little bit.

‘I want to stop, but I can’t. I have to keep going. I have to keep up with the group.’

It was a battle of mind over matter. Willpower over instant self-gratification.

‘If I stop, then the whole group will stop and everyone will start to tell me off…’

If there was something that Devin wasn’t, it was that he was in no way stand-offish. He did not want to stand out in the slightest and was more than content to just be another face in the pack. Even if it meant that he suffered in the process, to him, the results more than exceeded the costs.

‘Just don’t focus on the pain, don’t focus on the pain, don’t focus on the pain…’

As he kept repeating the mantra in his head, the group continued on their journey through the forest with no real destination in mind with the mute staying close to him as had been the case since the two had first met a few hours ago.

With the only noises heard being the swaying of leaves and the footsteps of the group, Devin was able to have some time to himself to think about the past few hours.

‘What were those red pillars that appeared before I got transported… no, kidnapped? What the hell is the right word for it? Teleported? Ahhhh god damnit. Whatever, I’ll just go with transported.’

‘Back to the pillars, they were so tall that I couldn't even see the end of them! How tall could they possibly be for them to take up that much space? They had to be tens of thousands of kilometers long! Not to mention to appear so suddenly…’

‘I just can’t wrack my head around it, just how? How is that even possible? I’m not crazy, the people that were around me before I got transported saw it as well, I’m not crazy… But how? How is that even possible? Cloaking technology? Some very advanced alien civilization? No… that wouldn’t make any sense, what would they want with us? It wouldn’t just be for entertainment like what that gray mist was talking about…’

Devin started to go in loops about what the red towers were, what their purpose was, and how they appeared so suddenly. There was no reason that he could logically come up with that would explain all the things that had occurred.

He wasn’t able to get far with his looping thoughts however.

“EEEEE!”

A shriek came from the front of the group, causing Devin to jump out of his thoughts.

“What is… *GASP*!”

“Shut it what are… you…”

Multiple voices came from the front of the group, but Devin couldn’t tell who was talking.

‘What are they so shocked about? It must be…’

As he is thinking, some of the people in the front rush to nearby trees and start to puke while others in the front either get to their knees and look down or walk away, allowing the people, which included Devin, to see what they saw.

‘Oh… fuck…’