Surviving Daybreak by Kendra Merritt

Author:Kendra Merritt [Merritt, Kendra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blue Fyre Press

19

Daybreak: Day 33

I left the moment the light went gray, and the flood had receded enough I could get to my tree bridge. The gunshot had come from the southeast. Across the river and toward the crater. I knew that much, but I would need BB to keep me pointed in the right direction once we got into the forest.

I carried the cross bow across my back even though I hadn’t actually managed to hit anything with it yet. But I couldn’t help remembering the megawing, and I didn’t think it would be impressed if I waved a tree branch at it.

My pack weighed a ton with the nuts and the fruit I’d packed, but I didn’t want to count on being able to forage along the way. A lot of the greens I’d tried so far had turned out okay, but if I couldn’t find anything familiar, I’d be stuck testing new options when I didn’t really have the time to be sick after a bad reaction.

Both bottles of water hung from the clips on my pack and the first aid kit was tucked on top of my food, along with my sleeping bag and the salvaged parachute to use as a tent.

My path took me within spitting distance of the colony, and I swerved to give it a quick look. As far as I could tell from here, nothing had changed. And without knowing what was wrong in the colony, I didn’t want to investigate any further.

Besides, I didn’t have time to waste. I hadn’t heard anything beyond the gunshot the night before, and my chest ached with anticipation and a little worry.

From the colony, we struck out almost directly south in order to get to the edge of the crater. I had a utility knife now, big enough to use as a makeshift machete, and I had a much broader knowledge of the planet, but I still hadn’t found a faster way through the dense undergrowth. Walking around the rim of the crater where the jungle didn’t quite reach still seemed like the best way to travel.

On this side of the colony, there were a lot more of the smooth brown swathes I recognized as the jungle quicksand that ate my escape pod, and I counted myself lucky that there weren’t any pools close enough to my tree to cause trouble.

After a long night of prep, it was exhausting watching my feet and keeping clear of itchbushes and sucking mud. But I raised my knife to cut a path through the vines and other unfamiliar plants, ignoring the burn of fatigue until I finally broke free from the edge of the forest.

My boots thumped against the solid rock of the cliff edge, and I raised a hand to shield my eyes as I stared across the crater. The Last Resort still hulked in the distance. The fires had long since gone out, but a hazy glow still hung around the engine spouts on this side of the ship.

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