Chapter 4: A Walk in the Woods

After reaching the bottom of the stairs, I found myself inside of a wooden shack. The daylight was shining in through the windows of the shack, it was still very early morning. Some of the red sunlight was getting through the cracks in the wooden logs that made up the walls.

The windows and door were heavily barricaded. Sealed tightly shut with planks of wood. Some of the wooden planks were scattered along the floor near windows as if preparing for quick replacing of broken materials. The windows had shattered glass strewn about everywhere, and in the corner of the room was a human skeleton with a familiar leather book.

Seeing a nearly intact skeleton was unnerving to say the least, but after seeing plenty of creatures half in the state of decay already, something that had finished the process wasn't all that scary. I reach for the leather book and grab it, noticing a thick layer of dust on the book. Who knows what this dust is, but I should be careful when I wipe it off in case it makes me sick.

The skeleton I am borrowing the book from is missing its left arm, and the clothing drooped over the skeleton is brown and dried where the bone is missing from the skeleton. It looks bitten off. I should read the book before I get too distracted trying to guess why they died, I'm sure the book will tell me what I need to know.

'To whomever reads this, I'm sorry, I can't help you escape.

But I can help you survive.'

It is the same intro as before, maybe a common way to tell that it is the same author, so the information can be trusted? Either way, I can see drops of old and dried blood on the pages, causing them to stick together slightly, but everything is still legible, thankfully.

'I've left books on every floor I can get access to. This book is for Floor Four.

The forest outside the starting shack is vast. If you found a compass on the previous floor, you should head due east, and within a shack roughly three days away, there is an exit. This floor is not a maze floor, it will not change and you can not, under any circumstance, randomize the monsters away. It is up to you to survive this floor.'

A dangerous floor. I am extremely happy that I've managed to find some form of medical supplies then.

'The forest is functionally endless, and even if you dare to go to the edge where there is more danger it is a four month walk. The trees are too dense in this forest to be cut down by tools acquired here, so do not try to build your own shelter. Hopefully, there is an ax left in the starting shack for you to bring with you, if not, check another shack, you will always find a shack within a six hour walk.

DO NOT STAY OUT AT NIGHT

A warning I do not give lightly, but you will be swarmed. No matter how skilled you think you are at fighting, you will die. Death is certain if you are outside at night, do not under any circumstance stay out, and if you can, barricade the doors and windows if they aren't already.

If at all possible do not destroy the doors on the shacks, if one is barricaded shut with a corpse inside, do what you must, but repair the door quickly with the supplies in the shack. Shack supplies will reappear a week after using them, whether you are observing them or not. It can be disorienting to watch the first few times, so if you see a silver light near a pile of materials, it is better to just look away for a bit.'

So much information, and it hasn't even told me about the monsters yet. I was beginning to worry that this floor might not be as easy as I suspected it might be after getting some good loot from the houses. Without losing motivation in the slightest, I continue to read.

'For those without a compass, just wander to your heart's content. The average for finding an exit is fifteen shacks, some need less, some need more. If you can navigate by the sun, do your best, but this world's sun is not the same as the one we know from our old reality. Sunset is many magnitudes faster than what even I thought was possible.

If you have a watch, sunrise starts at 04:00, sunset starts at 16:50 and ends at 17:00. If you have a cell phone, save the battery. When the sun is directly vertical above you, get to a shack immediately. It will go from vertical to below the horizon in ten minutes. A nasty trick to say the least.

The final section, the singular type of monster that roams this floor in abundance, the Shade Hounde, also known as the Swarm Wolf. It travels in packs of no more than three during the day and is weakened by sunlight. This unsleeping creature hunts competitively against hundreds at night, unhindered by its weakness.

The Shade Hounde is a vicious creature that hunts for human flesh, jaws capable of removing limbs in a single bite. The pitch black fur makes it easy to spot during the day, and nearly impossible to spot at night before it is already too late.

The flesh of the Shade Hounde is already rotting, making it weak to any type of sharp weapon. Aim for the throat and stomach of the monster, as those are the weakest points unobstructed by dense bones. An ax from this floor should do the trick, the longer the handle, the safer you will be.

There was a lot, good luck. As much as it pains me, please leave the book in the starting shack if at all possible. If anyone comes after you, it will save their life, just like this information has saved yours.'

I'm going to struggle on this floor. I will encounter this Shade Hounde, and I will have to defend myself from its attacks. Six hours to reach the next shack, and the sun has just risen based off of the now orange glow.

Beside the skeleton was an ax with a worn handle, roughly longer than the average arm. A good woodcutting ax. Something I would need to even get out of the shack. I would try to pry the planks off first before destroying them, as destroying them was going to take a lot of energy I wasn't sure I had.

I wedged the ax head between the wooden planks and the door frame, then pulled the handle to the side. The nails started to squeal against the wood as they came out slowly. Side by side, and piece by piece, I take the planks off the door.

With the planks finally removed from the door, I was able to leave the shack. The great outdoors was not as pleasant as I remember it being. Instead of fresh air, the only thing I could smell in the air was rot. Rotting trees, and a faint smell of something slightly more foul. At the very least, there was a small breeze making the air feel colder than it really was.

I randomly picked a direction and started walking. The book said that it would take roughly six hours to get to the next shack, and I was hoping that was accounting for a leisurely pace while occasionally getting lost. The trees were evenly spaced apart from each other, and the ground was mostly flat with slight elevation changes over time.

The forest looked artificial, and I did not like that one bit. For now though, I walked between two lines of trees while holding the ax I had acquired in my right hand. If the Shade Houndes are as dangerous as the book implies, not having a weapon ready for defense at all times was just stupid.

The trees looked like some kind of deciduous species, but I wasn't able to pinpoint it based on the shape of the leaf. The trunks were perfectly straight, and the branches didn't start jutting out until just below the canopy of leaves.

Walking through the forest was nice. The wide open area was a good change of pace from the insanity of closed hallways, tunnels, and rooms. Despite my unwillingness to always leave my home, I have always loved the outdoors. Unfortunately, most of what I loved about the great outdoors was not present here.

There weren't any bugs, no sound of water flowing, no birds chirping in the trees. The only things I heard was the wind blowing through the trees and my footsteps on old and dry leaves. The trees were getting more and more densely packed together the farther away I was getting from the starting shack.

Instead of them being about six people end to end apart, it was now maybe two. Visibility was only good down the rows between the evenly spaced trees. I was getting a bit nervous because of how hard it was to check every angle to make sure it was safe. To be honest, I was on edge after reading the book.

Shade Houndes. If I see them during the day, I should be able to defend myself with a long weapon. I should aim for the neck or stomach as the book said. I let myself laugh a little as I realized that my confidence from the previous floor had all but disappeared in the face of actual danger.

While nearly lost in thought, I noticed a clearing between the trees that was to my right. In the center of the oddly circular clearing was a large formation of rocks. Brandishing my ax, I scouted out the area, pure curiosity fueling my actions.

I found nothing that seemed dangerous to me immediately, so I relaxed a little, returning to holding the ax with a single hand. Being so high strung when my body is already reaching its limits is not exactly an enjoyable experience.

One thing that stood out to me was the cave entrance. The book didn't mention anything about caves, actually, it didn't mention anything other than the shacks and the wolves. I was skeptical, entering the cave was an objectively bad idea, no matter how I thought about it.

This place is hell, but it is usually fair. Floor one had the offices with food and water, floor two had an easy way to counter the monsters, floor three had seemingly infinite resources if you could manage to find respite from the screaming creatures at night.

If I can explore the cave, maybe it has something for me. Extra resources or some special reward. Against my better judgment, I decide to enter the cave. If something goes wrong, I can just walk right back out, and I also won't be able to get too far in as I don't even have a flashlight.

My boots hit the rock, it feels softer than normal rocks should. It looks identical to rock, but has an almost moss-like feel to it. Unsure of what to think, I go deeper into the cave, seeing what I could find within. Nothing but the soft rock was everywhere within the cave, and I noticed that it emitted a slight yellow light that made delving deep into the cave a possibility.

I immediately started to panic as the sunlight that was previously flooding in behind me disappeared. I turn back to leave the cave, but hear a low growl from every direction. I'm screwed, signed my own death warrant by entering a death trap.

I bite the bullet and try to run out of the cave, despite a Shade Hounde probably blocking the exit. I was ready to attack if it showed itself. Show itself it did, and more than one. Three Shade Houndes blocked the exit in front of me.

I was expecting something larger, more dangerous looking, but the Shade Houndes looked almost identical to a gray wolf in shape and size. However, the fur was so dark, there wasn't a single glare on the fur despite it standing in sunlight, and the peeks of flesh below revealed a gray, rotting flesh that looked like the Rotting Angels.

I took a breath as I charged the first Shade Hounde, trying to get an edge on the creature, hoping to catch it off guard. Wrong choice. It lunged at me with a speed that I had never seen from a wolf, not even on the internet. I swung the ax at the wrong time, the ax head digging into the soft rock of the wall as the wolf was in the air in front of me.

I shift my body as quickly as I can and shove the handle into the large maw of the wolf. I let out a roar of frustration and struggle as the wolf almost pulled the ax from my hands with a swing of its head while it dropped low. I kicked the wolf in the throat as hard as I could while it was stretched to pull.

The wolf opens its jaw, yipping in pain, reeling back. My weapon now free, I could see the handle is thankfully barely damaged, with slight tooth marks in the wood. Not having time to admire the craftsmanship, I lunge forwards as another wolf charges me from the front. With two wolves in swinging range, I choose the undamaged wolf to do an upswing on, in hopes to hit the soft throat.

A clean, well timed hit to the throat caused way more damage than I was expecting as the wolf's blood started to leak immediately out of the wound. The wolf wasn't completely out for the count, but it couldn't breath, and was bleeding more than I've seen anything bleed in my life. The soft rock was absorbing some of the blood in a way I found unsettling, but I didn't have time to check it out.

The third wolf charges me in tandem with the first I that I had kicked in the throat. I managed to pull the ax out just in time to swing it at the closest wolf. I put as much power in as I could, but I missed the neck and hit the shoulder of the wolf.

My ax feels like it bounces off of the wolf's bone, causing a sharp pain to shoot through my hand as it rebounds. The wolf lurches to the side and trips the first wolf in a comedic fashion. Without stopping to admire my handiwork, I jump over the knocked down Shade Houndes, lifting my legs to avoid the snapping maws as they reach for me anyways.

I escape back out into the sunlight, and wait to see if the wolves follow me out. The two of them did, regretfully. I see them squint their eyes in the bright mid-morning light. I try my charging strategy once more, and this time it catches the injured wolf off guard as it flinches at my approach.

I ruthlessly go for the chance with a well aimed upswing to its throat. While I was pulling the ax out of the throat of the Shade Hounde, the third one came up from beside me unexpectedly. I move my right hand that it was aiming for out of the way as fast as I can, but I'm not fast enough.

The Shade Hounde catches the outside of my hand and takes a good chunk out below the pinky. I moved the hand out of my direct vision, I knew from experience that looking at a wound always made it feel worse. I grabbed my ax again with the injured hand, pulling it out successfully from the bleeding throat of wolf one.

The third wolf was already trying to jump at me, and with the advantage of being in the open, I easily sidestepped the leap. It seemed slower than the jump while it was inside the cave, but I was probably high on adrenaline. Using the chance, I aim a perfect golf swing at its throat, only for it to twist out of the way and dodge at the last second.

Stopping the momentum, I bring the ax back to neutral as the wolf lunges at me. The Shade Hounde catches me off guard by not actually leaping at me so I had nowhere to dodge. It goes for my leg that is closest to it while I slam the handle into the skull of the creature.

It stumbles away, whimpering slightly. Without hesitating I go for the throat of the creature as it stumbles. Landing a direct hit, I hear it start choking on its own blood. Gruesome, but I know it would do the same to me without even thinking twice like I was.

There was nothing else coming out of the cave, but I needed to get some distance before something did come out of that cave. Without waiting an extra second, I was already on my way back through the forest.

My heart was beating so hard, I thought my chest was going to split open. The adrenaline was finally coming out of my system, and pain was flooding my senses. I could feel the wound in my right hand pulsating. I knew it was bad, but I needed to get further from that cave before I could sit down and perform first aid.

After reaching what I think might be a safe distance, I take my bag off and assess the damage I was dealing with. My right hand was covered in half dried blood, making the wound look much worse than it probably was. However, I could already see that a chunk was missing from the meat of my palm about halfway down below the pinky.

I grabbed my first aid kit, a bottle of 'Clear Water', and a rag from a t-shirt I had already decided to tear apart from the previous floor. I slightly wet the rag and wiped away all the dried blood from my hand. The gouge was nasty, as long as two fingernails, and as deep as one. There wasn't enough skin left to stitch it together effectively, so I was just going to push it together and cover it in superglue.

I wish I had more options, but the teeth on those Shade Houndes are much sharper than a normal wolf. If I encountered any more, I would have to make sure that I kept my distance from the mouth. Nothing would be worth the risk of losing a limb in a hell scape like this.

I clean the wound to the best of my ability with some clean water, using as little as possible. The superglue stung slightly as I covered the wound in it carefully, using an entire small tube of it, leaving me with only two more. I give it a few seconds to dry. I was still able to mostly straighten my hand and ball it into a loose fist.

It hurt pretty bad, but it was going too. I knew it was also going to get infected, more than likely. Something I wouldn't be able to avoid with the saliva of a half rotting wolf deep inside the wound.

I check myself for other wounds, finding nothing on the surface, I gear back up. I needed to get moving, getting my wound cleaned and dressed took longer than I would have liked it to. I have a good stretch off all my limbs to make sure no muscles were hurt from wildly swinging the large ax around. I seemed to be good, my arms were a little sore, but it just felt like normal muscle pain.

Whenever I heard a noise that wasn't me, I would pick a different direction to walk. I avoided clearings with rocks, and eventually, I found another shack. I knew it was a different one than the first as it looked to be made from a darker wood than the first.

I holed up for the night inside. The door opened smoothly, and there was no spooky skeleton on the inside. I boarded the door up, using the back of the ax head as a hammer to nail the door shut. The nails were scattered randomly all over the ground, but at least they were there.

I propped my bag against the wall as an impromptu pillow, and decided to call it a day despite there still being plenty of time before the sun even reached straight up. I was exhausted, more than I think I've been in my entire life.

I fell asleep as soon as I laid down.

…

A dream. Something that I haven't had or remembered in a long time. I knew immediately it was a dream, but it went on anyways, as if I was watching a movie.

It was me and my father walking through a forest that had recently burned down. There was soot and ash everywhere, standing our shoes and pants black. We were wearing respirators that some people had given us.

The more I watched, the more I remembered. This wasn't a normal dream, it was an old memory. A fond one for me. It was a week-long vacation I had spent with my father, we were exploring old locations our family had history with.

This forest was one that my father's great grandfather had lived in for a while, living off the land. We made it to an old wooden cabin and entered, despite the outside being burnt to a crisp. The inside was relatively unharmed, but covered in a layer of ash and soot.

We were looking for memorabilia to take back with us. We found an old knife with initials stamped in it, and that was it. Some of the pots and pans had melted on the wooden shelves where they sat and had almost bonded to the wood.

A simple trip that had great significance to my father. It made him so happy to find something left from our old family members. I smiled to myself, hearing a wolf howling in the distance.

…

I wake up hearing hundreds of howls. The Shade Houndes were now extremely active, as the sun had gone down and it was completely black, save for the light of what I hoped was a moon. A faint white glow illuminated the shack from the window.

I could hear the crunching of leaves, howling, barking and yelping as the Shade Houndes swarmed the shack. I crouched beside the window to take a peek outside, and while I couldn't make out the form of anything, even under the moonlight, I could see at least twenty pairs of bright glowing yellow eyes.

The howling intensified for a short time after that. They slammed against the walls and doors with way more force than the ones I fought could produce even in the cave. Fighting them in the day felt like a death sentence, trying to do that at night would be suicide.

I stuffed small torn pieces of cotton shirts into my ears and the howling felt bearable at this volume, so I went back to sleep, trusting the safety of the shack, too tired to care if they broke in while I slept.

…

The early morning red was shining directly into my eyes as I woke up, causing me to turn away. I pushed myself off the ground to do some morning stretches. I no longer heard the scurrying of animals outside, and looking out the windows, there was not a thing in sight, almost making me feel like I was crazy for seeing so many Shade Houndes at night.

With my morning routine completed, it was time to get moving. I had a slice of bread, a granola bar and a small amount of water for breakfast. I had seven water bottles left, and enough food to last me ten days. I could probably ration the water for at least fourteen days if I was desperate.

One bottle a day was for me to stay healthy. I knew it still wasn't the proper amount, but supplies were hard to come by in the majority of floors so far, so rationing is still going to win the day. I had no choice, if I did, I would have made it so that hunger and thirst weren't even a worry in this hellish place, there's enough other danger.

Personal thoughts aside, I needed to take the boards off the door so I could leave the shack. I made certain that I hadn't left anything behind, and started on my journey for the day. Before I knew it, I had fallen into a routine.

Walk for a few hours. Avoid literally everything, get to the next shack, loot it for food and resources, sleep. Eight days of this. There were no granola bars in any of the shacks to my surprise, but there was beef jerky in one or two of them. I was facing a net gain on 'Clear Water', which made me quite happy.

There were crackers and jams in some of the shacks as well, which I happily looted. One jam in particular I was going to ration was a blueberry lemon flavor. My personal favorite to have with bread.

On the tenth day of wandering floor four, I found a shack with an exit. I was unsure at first if it was an exit or not, but there was an exit sign above the door. It was nearly identical to the one that led to this floor. It looked like a normal door for a wooden shack.

Behind the door was a set of slightly damp wooden stairs. With some decay visible on the edges. Time to head down, I actually felt pretty rested for the first time heading to a new floor.