《Choices》8: The Eighth Choice
Advertisement
You hesitate for a while, unsure what to eat. You go over your options, listing to yourself why you should or should not eat them, but you can't decide.
You keep staring at the food on the ground, almost as if you’re waiting for a sign. One that never comes.
Letting out a sigh, you gather up the spilt berries and mushrooms, stacking them in two separate piles, before grabbing the squirrel as well and placing it next to them.
If you want to eat the squirrel, you would definitely need to cook it. You think you could probably get a fire started but you’re already starving and you have no idea how long it would take too long to get one going.
Deciding that you can cook it once you've satiated your immediate hunger, you pick up a handful of berries and tentatively pop one into your mouth. You shut your eyes and bite into it expecting the worst.
As the berry bursts your eyes open wide in surprise. It tastes great! Much better than you were expecting. Kind of like a raspberry, but sweeter.
You slowly begin eating the rest of the berries, savoring every bite. Too soon you’ve popped the last of the berries in your mouth and you can’t help but feel remorseful that you weren't able to take more as your stomach growls hungrily.
Reluctantly you forget about the berries and pick up one of the mushrooms. It’s spongey and looks unappetizing in comparison to the berries, but maybe its looks are deceiving. You brace yourself before taking a small bite out of it, only to grimace at the bitterness that coats your tongue.
You force yourself to chew the spongy mushroom and swallow. You don’t want to continue, but the growling of your stomach urges you on.
Advertisement
Somehow you force yourself to pick up another one. And another, and another, until you’ve finally, at last, finished. You really should have picked up more of those berries.
To your relief, your stomach has finally seemed to settle.
You stare down at the squirrel as its dead eyes meet yours. Now that you’re not as hungry, you think you could probably spend the time to try to cook it. Although you don’t have any modern means to start a fire with you, you have some general knowledge about using friction to produce a fire. All you need are some sticks and basic kindling.
You get up and head into the forest to get some for the fire.
You spin the wood between your fingers quickly as you squat in the middle of the clearing, grimacing as you accidently press too hard and drive the thorn deeper into your hand.
You stop for a second and stare at it in confusion
A thorn? How did that get there? And where did you get the sticks from?
The small fire flickers as you slowly turn the squirrel. You want to make sure it's cooked right.
You stop and look around.
What’s going on? What’s happening?
A moan of pleasure escapes you as you bite into the meat, the squirrel only slightly burnt but nonetheless delicious.
You lie down contentedly, your stomach full. You just need a small nap after that meal.
You pant as you stumble through the dark forest, your hands clutching your stomach as a severe pain racks your body.
Something is wrong.
You retch the remaining contents of your stomach which unfortunately land on your shirt.
Why is it dark out?
You heave again, however this time the bile is flecked with dark specks of blood.
You feel a burning pain in your throat and you fall to your knees.
Advertisement
Something is very wrong.
You heave again, your stomach empty as you spit out more and more blood.
You don’t know what’s happening but you want it to stop. You need it to stop.
The pain is too much, you can’t handle it. It needs to end.
You fall face first to the ground, landing in a pool of you own vomit.
You twitch helplessly as the pain wracks your body, unable to move.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the pain begins to fade, replaced by a cold numbness.
Finally, it’s over.
You have died. Please choose again.
1) The red berries?
2) The bizarre looking mushrooms?
3) The Gicko Squirrel?
Advertisement
- In Serial230 Chapters
Empress Of The Lost Kingdom
You are already having enough nightmares and demons in your day to day life.
8 320 - In Serial11 Chapters
BattleField - A Never-Ending Nightmare
Twenty-Three million souls. It takes twenty-three million souls to feed the horrors of the Great Beyond for a soul to cross over and land amongst the living. And even then, it would only be a husk of its true self after the whimsical gods of the void got their claws on it. Still, after eons untold, its final crossing shall take place in blood-soaked lands, driving fear into the hearts of its inhabitants. Alistair finds little wrong with himself, that's not considering he somehow was the last living being to have taken part in a battle to decide the fate of the Human world. He remembers walking shoulder to shoulder with his brothers in arms, being showered in the viscera of his closest friends. He also remembers being stabbed by a twelve foot monstrosity as it picked him up with its sharpened blade of a hand, relishing his stunned expression and the soon to be blossoming of pain as it brought him closer to its putrid mouth. And yet, here he stood in a silent battlefield littered with bodies for acres of land. What the hell was he supposed to do now? And equally important, what the hell was he supposed to do with this orb of golden light?!
8 167 - In Serial7 Chapters
My Dear Alice - A Dark Awakening
He’ll cross a lethal land to bring her back home. But is she willing to be found? Appalachian Wasteland, 2072. Jamie Henderson wants to forget all about his ex-girlfriend Alice. Except this nonviolent fixer has been hired to find her after she went missing in the ongoing AI-controlled war. But his quest through the hostile post-apocalyptic terrain turns deadly when a roadside raider attack sees him captured by a terrifying matriarchal clan. Stranded in dangerous territory, Jamie’s jaw drops when he discovers his ex among their numbers. But with her personality split and scattered, his own survival will depend on reaching through her fragmented mind… Can this pacifist hunter make the truth known before he’s sentenced to death? My Dear Alice is a fast-paced companion story that bridges Seasons 1 and 2 of the gripping Cyber Overture dystopian series. If you like complex character studies, gritty worlds, and shocking twists, then you’ll love D. B. Goodin’s outlander opus. Note: This should be read after Sonorous. This story has been published, but I'm adding it here for Royal Road readers to enjoy.
8 149 - In Serial7 Chapters
Emissary
Growing up 400 years in the future in the parentless wing of her skyscraper city, Burke, Shae Westow thought that she was less than ordinary, but little did she know that it was for her own protection. A terrorist organization known as the Others are attempting to unearth a foreign power that almost destroyed the planet 400 years ago and only Shae can find it. When the terrorists attack her city, she is thrust into the world that had been hidden from her for years. She is told that she is a wielder, a person who was born with an asset (supernatural ability), and is forcibly moved up into her new home, The Apex, which resides on the topmost floor of her city. Anxious to stop the Others from achieving their goal, Shae bands together with four other wielders to try and stop them. Along the way, Shae learns about the value of honesty and humility as she experiences love, loss, and betrayal. -New Chapter Every Wednesday-
8 230 - In Serial18 Chapters
Persona 6 (Fan-Made) [STOPPED]
Its the year 2018, a couple of years right after the events of the Persona 5. A young teenager, 16 years old, named Ryu Himuro is an accused drug addict and is heading to a school in Yokohama. His childhood has been always neglected since he never had a easy life with his parents divorce and in the end he took comfort in drugs, something to get him out of reality. He is there to live with his aunt, who just apparently moved there a couple of months ago, Tae Takemi. There in Yokohama he meets some people who had been in and are in the same situation as him. He found out about a power called Persona and the beings like Shadows appear for those people who take a special drug at midnight and wonder in this place called 'The Lost Eden'. Will he be able to fend off the 'addiction' or will he be devoured by it....This is a fan-made persona book I'm writing. it may be different from what I am used to writing so bear with me.DISCLAIMER: I do not own persona. Though this is a book about Persona 6, this all from my point of view of the storyline.
8 178 - In Serial94 Chapters
If It Was Caleb--Divergent alternative ending
David shoots Caleb and Tris is devastated. She lost her whole family and blames herself. What will she do?
8 172

