I decided to put these thoughts aside, right now we need to figure out what to do to survive and collect information.
We both agreed to look around and explore the place
We first headed towards the river stream I had found earlier. Water was essential and we both needed it. Once we reached close, we noticed that the river also had some fishes swimming beneath the surface.
"At Least we have food and water" Zei said
I nodded, "At least we won't die of starvation or thirst."
I knelt and took a gulp of water to quench my thirst. To my surprise the water was sweet like nectar.
"This is.. Strange" I murmured
I noticed some odd looking fish swimming in the river, so out of curiosity I tried to catch one, however, I failed miserably as the fish was too fast making me lose my balance and fall into the clear water face down.
Pfftt!!
I heard a suppressed giggle from behind me
"..Are you okay?" she said, trying her best not to laugh out loud.
How long has it been since I saw her laughing like that?
I couldn't help but smile remembering the memories of the past, when we were just ordinary kids who liked to make trouble for themselves and others. How we got scolded by Lena when we got lost in the mountains and couldn't find our way until midnight. We were all bruised up when Lena found us and we got a good scolding from her.
I Snapped out of my thoughts and looked at Zei who was still trying to suppress her laughter
A silly idea came to me and I splashed some water onto her, drenching her completely.
She looked surprised by my sudden actions, then smiled. She was not someone to take the insult and not return it so of course she retaliated. So we got into a water fight, and just like that we were locked in a childish water fight like a bunch of kids.
Eventually, we were both completely drenched, sitting at the bay of the river silently.
The intensity of the heat from the sun was quite high, the gentle winds breezed by our skin cooling it.
"That was…amusing", Zei said, sitting beside me drying her hair.
"I agree"
"Rayne" she uttered, her tone serious.
"What? Is something wrong?" I asked, tensed.
"I'm hungry," she said, sulking.
"Pfftt", now it was my turn to laugh.
I was also quite hungry so we decided to catch some fish from the river. I put her in charge of catching the fish as I had already failed horribly once and decided to make fire instead while she caught some fish.
It took me a while to start a fire, however being trained in survival skills in my teenage years seems to be somewhat useful and I was able to start a fire in less than an hour. Zei returned with four fish in her hand. She seemed exhausted but hid it well.
The fish were indeed quite different. They glowed faintly, their scales had an iridescent glow to them while their eyes shone like a blue diamond. The most appalling part however was that they tasted sweet just like the water. It was quite flavourful and tender.
After we finished eating, we sat quietly by the fire, thinking about everything. Planning out what we were going to do from this point on.
"What do you think we should do?" I asked her
"We need to get out of here" I continued before she could answer "Who knows what kind of predators we will encounter once night falls"
Zei nodded slowly, her eyes thoughtful.
"Rayne...don't you think all of this is bizarre?"
I looked at her.
"We should have died, however, we are alive and fine as if nothing happened to us. Which we both know shouldn't be possible. Nothing about all of this makes any sense"
I sighed, she was right, all of what had happened till now didn't make any sense, but sitting here was not going to give us any answers either.
"We have to move before the night falls. We have been lucky so far but the same couldn't be said at night."
"Let's travel along the river, perhaps we will find something or someone out there who might give us some answers to our question" she suggested
"We shouldn't venture too deep into the forest. Who knows what kind of dangers lurk in there" I added
Zei agreed. I gave her a reassuring smile. We both need each other more than anything else right now despite what had happened in the past, it didn't matter for now.
I was really tempted to ask her numerous things, however, it was not the right time. The night was coming and we had to find shelter before it was too late.
After packing some leftover fish in leaves and collecting some branches for fire, we finally set out. The sun was shining radiantly above our heads, but the silent winds helped us cool down while we continued to move along the river bank, hoping to find some sign of a human civilization.
"It's weird…" Zei said suddenly
"What's weird?" I asked, confused while we continued to walk.
"How come we haven't seen or heard a single animal?. No birds, no bugs, not even rustling in the bushes. It's eerily silent in this forest"
It suddenly occurred to me how peculiar it was. It was starting to creep me out. The absence of life felt unnatural. Wrong.
"Let's keep moving", I said quickly, uneasy.
And silently. I hoped we'd never find the reason why.