Chapter Two
They set anchor and the crew stepped back down onto solid land. Talli looked around. Solid ground under her feet felt weird, after getting used to the slow, steady, rocking motion of the Albutrae.
Captain Sielrite stepped off of the boat, shouting out orders to all.
“Talli, you lead Dylan, Briar, Becka, Robert and Ashelea to go forage for whatever you can find here. We need fresh fruit, and it would be nice to see what kind of wildlife there is here.” He gestured to the beach and the jungle-like forest behind. “I’ll stay here with the rest, unpack a bit, and we can try and get our bearings.”
Talli nodded, calling the others over.
“Pfft. I don’t see why I can’t lead a foraging party.” Dylan Scarwhile complained.
“If it wasn’t Talli who was leading this group, It’d be Ash’ or Me” Robert, a map-maker and explorer snapped back.
Talli nodded to herself. But she felt that it still would have been better if Ashelea led the party, instead of her – Ash’ was a biologist and had studied and read about many plants and animals, and Talli was not. But, Talli supposed, her leading a small foraging party was better then Dylan leading it.
Walking across the damp sand towards the foresty tangle of vines and trees, Talli realized that what looked like a small bank up to the jungle, was actually a steep, eroded-away hill of dirt. Grabbing the vines trailing down from the huge trees above, she climbed her way up, tossing a rope down to the others once she was at the top of the small, cliff-like bank. Once they were all up, Talli took a moment to look around the dense, viney, jungle. There were tangles of branches and vines everywhere, and Talli pulled out here Machete, the rest following, and hacked away at the thick foliage.
They soon came upon a small game trail, and followed it through the forest, still having to occasionally cut away a low-hanging vine or intrusive plant. The party had spread out a bit, each staying fairly close to the others but still far enough away so that they each explored a new area, increasing their chances of finding anything.
“Hey! I found some fruit trees over here!” Ashelea’s voice carried through the undergrowth.
Talli went over, pushing her way through the bush and overgrown plants until she found herself in a small clearing where all the plants had been cut away, Dylan, Briar, Robert and Becka standing alongside her. Ashelea motioned to a few trees around them. A lemon tree, some sort of pomegranate tree, and a mango tree a little bit back.
“Nice find!” Talli said, as Ashelea and the others started to pick what fruits they could find.
Taking out a small sack, Talli did the same, gleaning any freshly-fallen fruits from the forest floor, and reaching up to get any that were still on the trees and in her reach.
“You’re all gonna eat well tonight,” Becka said with a smile.
Dylan said nothing, looking a little sulky, but he did take a mango and skin it for himself, muttering something like “I should’ve found it…”
Talli didn’t get a good vibe from Dylan, that’s for sure, but she didn’t say anything to him. The Captain could have a word with him if needed.
Heading back to the beach, packs full of fruit, Talli and her party chatted a bit, daydreaming about what delicious food Becka would cook up.
Becka just smirked, playing along, “I dunno, it’ll taste good, though, I bet.” Making the others laugh.
Back on shore, however, nothing was going as planned.
The bulky, armored creatures swam surprisingly gracefully up towards the ship’s hull, and at a single flick of the leader’s lobster-like tail, they all tore into the ship’s underside, strong, razor-sharp claws tearing through wood like a knife through butter. The crew who had stayed behind unloading heard the commotion, opening fire at the beady-eyed, crab-clawed, armored creatures. Shrill shrieks echoed all around the cove, mingled with gunfire and yells. More crab-things came up, swarming the deck, tearing sails and destroying the already-sinking ship. Captain Sielrite rushed in, pulling out a sword and trying to behead one of the creatures. It didn’t work, the sword sliding off of the thick armor plating, making a screeching sound like metal on metal. The beast hissed, lunging at the captain. Below, water was flowing into the underbelly of the ship alarmingly fast, the Albutrae starting to slowly sink towards the seabed.
Talli and the rest of the foraging party stepped out of the tangled forest onto the beach, a scene of confusion and destruction before them. No lobster-creatures in sight, no ship in sight, just blood, destroyed timbers, and only one of the 7 people who stayed behind to unpack alive.
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