Day - 2

The sun rose on a brand new day, filtering through the leafs in the trees and causing their trunks to cast long shadows over the forest floor and subsequently over Jack's tent. It was nearly 2 hours past dawn when Jack finally awoke and emerged from his tent, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he evaluated this new day. The fire he'd made the night before had burned out overnight, but a few small coals still glowed at the bottom of the small pit Jack had dug the night before, nearly buried in ash. Jack grabbed some dry leaves laying around him and placed them on top of the coals, carefully making sure they caught fire from the embers and didn’t accidentally smother the last remnant of the fire from the night. Soon Jack had a small fire going again, enough to at least push back the chill of the morning air and let him warm up while he had a bit of breakfast. Jack drank some of the water he had left from the previous day and ate a small portion of his freeze dried food. It didn’t satisfy him, but it was enough for now especially as Jack was trying to ration what he had in case it was hard to find fresh supplies as he traveled. When he had finished his modest meal Jack refilled the canteen from the nearby stream, doused the fire, packed up his tent and bed roll, and slung his pack on his back as he started walking down the bank of the small stream. As he walked Jack thought about the previous evening. Once the sun had set leaving him in the dark, he had spent much of his time studying the tablet. He'd learned a bit about hunting and soon realized he'd need a weapon to have any success. Jack thought he might try his hand at making a bow and a few arrows to that end, he just had to find some suitable materials. More importantly though he'd checked the tracking system and found the general direction he'd need to head in, in order to reach the others. They certainly had survival training as well because the few signals that showed up near him had also headed for the stream, though they were further down along it. That was Jack's plan for the day, head down stream to possibly rendezvous with some of the others and keep an eye out for bow and arrow materials along the way.

The slope of the land was thankfully a gentle grade guiding the stream slowly to ever lower altitudes, meandering a little, but rarely banking at all. The stream and its bank provided a relatively clear path through the otherwise fairly dense forest and traveling along with it was actually pleasant and relaxing. Jack thought that wherever they finally chose to settle it ought to be near some kind of stream or river even if just for the aesthetics and not at all for the survival benefits. As he went Jack searched for materials to fashion into a bow, but not much presented itself. Jack did find a few exceptionally straight thin branches that he took for arrow shafting, and he recognized several stands of wild flax which he gathered to turn into cordage. The trek also failed to present any evidence of the others. Admittedly Jack was moving at a slower pace as he searched for materials, but he'd expected to make contact with one of the others at least. Of course that expectation was based on the assumption that the others were staying put, which given that they also seemed to have survival training and a mandate to find each other was unlikely.

Jack hadn't checked the tablet at all throughout the day, another possible reason he had yet to find any of the others. As he knelt down Jack swung his backpack over his right shoulder bringing the bag to his chest where he could access all the straps and pockets easily. Jack quickly removed the tablet from the straps he had secured it with and turned it on. A small indicator in the top right corner showed a full battery. Apparently even the relatively diffused light filtering down through the forest canopy was plenty to charge the battery. More importantly the tracking system showed that one of the others was very close, maybe a half mile or so further down the stream.

Jack stowed the tablet, but kept it in reach and headed further down the stream eager to find someone else out here. It wasn’t too long before Jack began to hear the stream get louder as it apparently hit a more turbulent section. As the day's light began to fade Jack continued visually scanning the area as he went, looking for signs of the other that he was tracking. So caught up in his search for the other was he that he almost missed the sudden end of the forest as the land rapidly dropped away into a sheer cliff face. Realizing his error just in time Jack leapt back falling hard on his side as he rolled to avoid crushing the backpack. “That was too close! I've got to be more careful,” Jack said to himself as he sat there for a moment gulping down air, trying to get his heart to stop pounding. As he sat for a few minutes he began to realize if that could happen to him, it could potentially happen to anyone, especially if it was dark. A sinking feeling began to crawl through Jack's mind as he crept up to the cliff's edge to test his suspicions. It took several minutes, but Jack soon spotted the other he'd been following in the dying light. His body lay sprawled out on the ground at the bottom, twisted in an unnatural way and ringed by red stains that were the unmistakable color of dried blood. From this far away, there was no telling how long ago he had died, but it couldn’t have been more than a couple days at most.

 Jack made the decision to camp here for the night. This was his second time setting up the tent and it proved far easier going than it had the previous night, even with his thoughts occupied by his dead compatriot at the bottom of the cliff. As Jack finished up with the tent he couldn’t help but wonder about the dead man laying below at the bottom of the cliff. Who was he? Did he know more about what was going on? How much had their potential society lost because of his death? The video had said everyone had the same skills to start. Hopefully the rest of the others could fill any gaps.

Jack didn’t feel much like reading tonight. He had grim business to attend to tomorrow and right now he wanted nothing more than to escape that reality by retreating into sweet unconsciousness.