Red Eyes in the Dark
Scritch-scritch-scritch-scritch!!
Wood grinding endlessly against wood. A thin, pale wisp of smoke curling upward. Palms so hot it almost felt like the fire had already caught on my skin. I was locked in a desperate struggle to get a flame going.
I'd seen it done somewhere before, so I'd gathered dry grass from around me and set a stick spinning between my palms against another piece of wood — but there was still no sign of actual fire. It had to have been over an hour by feel alone. Smoke kept rising, yet no flame would take, and the frustration was driving me out of my mind.
"Hah... hah... come on... just light already...!!!"
I hurled the stick away. At this rate of progress, it simply didn't seem possible, and my patience had hit its limit. The thought of just giving up on fire crossed my mind — but I was the only one who'd lose out. Then again, people ate sashimi, right? Was raw fish really that bad...?
"Still, that feels a little off... This is actual wild meat I haven't even cleaned, and besides — it got shot. Doesn't that mean there's a bullet still in it?"
The thought hit me out of nowhere, so I checked the wound where the fish had been hit. There was nothing. A hole and some torn flesh, sure, but no scorch marks, no deformed lead slug — nothing.
It hadn't gone clean through, either. I already knew a gun lost a huge amount of power when you fired it into water. The fish had been swimming right up near the surface, so I'd gotten lucky with the hit — there was no way the shot had enough force left to punch all the way through. Digging through the body turned up no trace of a bullet either.
So the lead slug should still have been inside the fish. It wasn't.
"Well... if it's not there, that's a good thing."
Better safe than sorry. At least I wouldn't have to worry about crunching down on lead while I ate. And as my thoughts lingered on the bullet, an idea suddenly sparked and raced outward until it landed.
"What if I use the gunpowder from a cartridge? Wouldn't that catch fire?"
It seemed more than possible. Gunpowder went up with just a little spark or heat — the kind of heat that was already making smoke ought to be more than enough to set it off.
I pulled the magazine from the pistol at once and thumbed out the top round. Figuring it wouldn't go off as long as I didn't strike the primer, I grabbed a nearby rock and knocked the bullet free from the casing.
I packed the powder I'd gotten between the sticks I'd been friction-drilling, piled dry twigs on top, and threw every last scrap of strength I had into spinning my hands again...
Fwoosh...!
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Fish eaten on an empty stomach tasted better than any grilled dish from a high-end restaurant. Not that I'd ever actually eaten fish at a place like that — but it would have been better anyway. Afterward, I noticed the sun going down and started looking for a place to spend the night. Before long I found a space sheltered by rock, and I roughly spread grass underneath it like a mat.
Ideally I'd have found a cave or dug myself a burrow for better safety, but the cave I'd woken up in was too far and too rough a trek to go back to, and as for digging a hole... it was just too much work. I didn't even have a shovel to begin with.
So I settled for spreading a leaf mat under the overhang — enough to keep off the damp mud floor and any rain that might come.
The sun set fast in the forest. In the blink of an eye, day tipped into dusk, and dusk gave way to dark.
I kept the fire going. Part of me worried it would draw animals and broadcast my position — but freezing and shaking in pitch blackness with nothing to see by seemed worse.
I pulled the gathered leaves over myself like a blanket and stared into the flames, praying the night would pass without incident. The moon climbed high. The trees still loomed, vast and imposing.
"Haa... I get dropped into another world and end up filming a survival show..."
I turned over everything that had happened that day. Suddenly dumped into another world, turned into an elf woman, handed a gun. What on earth had happened — and who had sent me here? I couldn't even begin to guess. It wasn't like I'd been deep into some RPG, or writing some long-comment personal novel, or clicking some mysterious email or phone app...
"Just focus on getting through tonight. Sitting here thinking about all that won't do me any good."
I let out a long breath, looked at the fire, then lifted my gaze toward the sky — and locked eyes with a pair of red pupils staring out from between the grass.
"Oh, sh—"
It lunged in an instant. A long, snake-like body wrapped in red fur, a circular mouth packed with row upon row of teeth — it came flying at me ready to tear me apart.
I threw myself sideways in a roll and barely slipped its first strike. In the same motion I ripped the pistol from my thigh holster and brought it up. There was no time to aim; my racing heartbeat moved my finger for me and the gun went off. One shot, two, three... I dumped the entire magazine, but its body was so thin and narrow I couldn't land a hit.
Click... click!
"I'm... out!"
Empty. No knife, no club — I had nothing left to fight with. And the snake-like monster was already skimming back across the ground toward me.
"Just... run!"
I spun and drove my legs hard. The sudden motion nearly cost me my balance, but I used the lean to throw myself forward and bolted, barely staying ahead.
I tore through the tall grass. Twigs and leaves raked my skin, but I had no room to care about the sting. One bite from that thing chasing me and it looked like it would rip the flesh clean off the bone. Our speeds were about even, and every time it launched itself it nearly caught up — but each time I twisted away on pure instinct and kept running.
Damn it, damn it, damn it! How far is this thing going to chase me!!
I had 25 points. A magazine cost 45. I was 20 short. I'd learned over the course of the day that killing bugs and fish earned points — but there was no way to get any right this second.
Fight the snake bare-handed? Not a chance. Maybe it was possible, but the cost of failure was way too high. This place felt far too real to start gambling with my own body like it was a game.
Snap!!
The snake launched again and hissed past right beside my ear. If I just kept running like this, my stamina would give out first. There was no guarantee I'd hit it, but taking the thing down at range with the gun was still the safest option I had.
I have to get points somehow!
I swept the surroundings in a rush. No streetlights out here — only the faint moonlight to go by — but my eyes kept racing over the grass whipping past as I ran. And then, just barely, I spotted them: the giant cockroaches I'd seen back in the cave.
Those things were worth 20 points apiece. Kill one now and I'd hit exactly 45 — enough for a full magazine. I had to take one down. No choice.
But how?
In the cave I'd used the gun. Right now I had no bullets. So what did that leave?
"Bare hands, obviously!"
I charged toward the tree the cockroach was clinging to. Honestly, most of my disgust had just been panic and first-time revulsion — it didn't actually look like it could fight back. It was disgustingly huge, sure, but the body looked soft enough that I could just crush it the way you'd squash any normal bug.
"Aaaagh!!!"
I closed the distance to the cockroach stuck to the trunk. No time to hesitate — the snake monster was still right behind me.
I drove my fist straight in. My knuckles smashed through its soft back; the body burst, and a horrible spray of fluid splattered across me.
"Ugh!!! Son of a—!!!"
No time to be grossed out. The snake came flying again, going for the back of my neck. I rolled sideways once more and slipped clear. And then, mercifully, the status window appeared.
+20P Acquired
"Hurry!!"
I bought a fifteen-round magazine on the spot, legs still pumping as I ran. A magazine materialized in my left hand in a flash of blue light. I slammed it into the pistol — and when I swung the muzzle around, it wasn't at the snake monster. It was at the other cockroaches clinging to the nearby trees.
Dumping all fifteen rounds at the snake and missing most of them was a real possibility. Better to pad my points first and put myself in a position to buy another magazine. Three more cockroaches sat close to the trees — 60 points total, enough for one more mag. I opened fire on the bugs at once.
Eight shots, three kills. Seven rounds left — but I'd just earned enough points for another fifteen, so it was still a net win. That left only the snake. I started to bring the muzzle around toward it when—
Chomp!
The snake launched again and clamped onto my left arm.
"Ghk!!!"
But there was no time to feel the pain. In another fraction of a second those teeth would sink through my skin and tear the flesh free, and that was not a good outcome. So what then?
Right now — latched onto my arm — it couldn't get away.
No chance of missing. Press the barrel to its body and pull the trigger, and it was a guaranteed hit.
Still less than a second. Its teeth dug deeper. My right hand jammed the muzzle hard against its flank.
"AAAAAAHHHH!!!!!"
BANG!!!
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◈ Points Gained: 50P
◈ Current Total: 110P
"Hah... hah... I'm gonna lose it... haha..."