Beth found herself on a compact dirt path, not dissimilar to those she would find back home. She thanked her lucky stars she had ended up with a clear sign of civilisation. A community hub would be ideal for getting her baring before searching for Pete further. Either generally or using her skill. She liked to think the system wouldn’t dump Pete on a water planet to drown or somewhere similarly desolate. A possibility she had to admit she hadn’t considered until it was too late. But she had been fine so clearly not worrying wasn’t the wrong call.

Beth picked a direction at random, hoping it would lead her towards a settlement of some kind or another. Hopefully the infrastructure of such a place would be just as familiar to her as the compact dirt path she now stood idly on.

It was almost poetic in a way being back on the dirt road. After all she and Pete had first met on a road very much like this one. That had been tricky at first but then they had found a way to proceed and suddenly everything was okay. She might have been alone this time but she was also a lot more competent than she had been then. In fact a small part of her wouldn’t have been surprised if picking the right direction was the only real issue she had on this journey.

About an hour or two into her journey Beth still hadn’t come across another being or animal of any kind. In fact it was remarkably quiet. Not quite silent but closer to silent than home was. There were absolutely no bird song of any kind and the upper leaves didn’t shake from their weight or movement nor did any fly overhead. There was however a small breeze that carried a frosty chill that made Beth consider adding another layer. She was about to commit to wearing another outfit when she heard rustling from a nearby bush. She immediately slung off her bag and grabbed her weapon ready to face whatever it was that the bush hid.

Out hopped what Beth could only describe as a cute fluffy bunny. If anything it was a rabbit that had had it’s cuteness distilled into a liquid that it had then bathed in for weeks on end. The only difference was it was green, a pastel green as though it had been rolling around in the grass and developed a permanently faint staining. It saw Beth and froze it’s only movement being the gentle chewing of it’s jaw.

Beth wasn’t too proud to say it was the most amazing thing she had ever seen. If this was what the planet contained maybe she wouldn’t leave, she and Pete could create a petting zoo and just live among the rabbits till they were old and grey, occasionally popping back to see family and friends. She took a step closer to the bunny almost unable to contain herself she needed to touch it.

To sink her hands into it’s fur, to press her face against it’s warmth, to offer her fingers for it to nibble until it was satisfied even if she was just left with a bloody stump.

He, and Beth was sure it was a he, looked hungry something that broke Beth’s heart. How could such a cute creature be hungry. Something had to be done. Maybe she could offer up some toes too, if only she’d worn sandals it would all be much much easier. As she stepped closer, still caution but sure she needed to give whatever she needed to the cute bunny that was ahead. However as she stepped closer she began to feel a buzzing in her head. She couldn’t let it distract her though, not when this cutie was in such desperate need of a hug and was looking so starved. Yes she would give the rabbit a quick finger or two to snack on and then she would worry about the gentle buzzing. The buzzing continued to increase the closer she got. It was beginning to feel almost painful. She flexed her will a little as she’d learned in her Trial to push the distraction back. She couldn’t be dissuaded from her mission. Feeding the cute bunny her digits. One by one until it was was no longer looking so hungry.

Beth’s will pulsed more aggressively and she took another step closer. Rather than lessening with her will pulsing though it just got more painful almost as although it was coming from the cute rabbit in front of her. That couldn’t be right though surely? This little guy just needed for her to feed him her fingers…

Beth’s thoughts trailed off. Why did she need to feed it her fingers, that didn’t sound like the sort of thing a rabbit would eat, even one as cute as this. Although looking again she wasn’t sure how cute it actually was, it’s fur wasn’t actually very well kept, if anything it was patchy with tufts jutting off in all directions. Plus it’s mouth was stained red deep red with clumps of organic material clinging to in. In fact now Beth was taking a second look it was looking extremely creepy. None-the-less she found herself continuing to draw closer to it. Then all of a sudden the pressure in her head released like the steadily rising buzzing had fallen off a cliff bottoming out completely. Looking at the rabbit she was sure it was actually the opposite of cute; it was downright hideous. She pulled her leg back and with the full force available to her she kicked the gross thing, hoping to send it flying into the undergrowth far far away from her.

That wasn’t quite what happened though, instead her left foot reverberated like a gong. Except instead of a large ringing tone coming out she heard a sickening crack, and it wasn’t coming form the rabbit. In fact the rabbit looked nonplussed it’s fur not even dented from the collision. Beth couldn’t stop herself from letting out a scream and fell to the ground unable to put any weight on her left leg. As she fell she kept her eye on the monstrous rabbit, using her eyes to beg it to leave her alone. She watched it slowly jump closer to her, she didn’t mover a muscle except for her fingers which she slowly retracted into a fist and pressed against her chest. Trying not to let out a sound despite the intense pain she was enduring. She was unable to stop her tears from flowing though.

The rabbit took a sniff of her boots, and taking her lace into its mouth it began to pull, attempting to undo her boots. The were double knotted however and after being unsuccessful the rabbit turned it’s back on Beth and bounced back into the brush, leaving the road and broken girl behind.

Beth slowly worked herself up to her elbows, being careful to not put any more pressure on her leg than was necessary. From there she wiped her eyes and worked herself further into a seated position. She couldn’t think straight all she could think about was the pain she felt. She ever so slowly extended her leg till it was straight. Looking at it there was a lump that definitely wasn’t there before and wasn’t matched on the right one. She considered poking it but then another flare of pain went through her leg. She continued to cry, but remained silent throughout having just about the awareness to not risk attracting further predators.

Reaching into her bag for comfort only brought more disappointment as she was heartbroken to see that nothing that originated from Leeds had made the journey with her. This most importantly including her food supplies. So she was alone without a map, vehicle, any food and with a leg that was almost certainly broken. It was hard for her to imagine a worse situation. In fact she was convinced to throw it all in and return home. She’d try again later if at all, after all if Pete was okay he’d return eventually. Pulling up the shop she went to send her self back home, gulping at the absolutely wasted Credits and the shame of instantly returning. However the bad news just kept coming. The option wasn’t selectable and revealed she’d need to wait until her next Trial cycle something she couldn’t survive to without any food. She was truly stuck.

Beth spent an hour or so moping about her situation, or at least she felt like she was moping. Some would say her reaction was actually very reasonable due to the despair of the situation. Eventually though she knew she had to make a move. She pulled the half-staff off her back and putting most of her weight on it pushed herself up off the ground. It wasn’t quite long enough to provide natural support but if she hunched over she could properly lean on it and hobble her way forward. It wasn’t fast and it wasn’t pretty. She didn’t even want to risk activating her skill for fear of the effect it would have on her damaged leg. As such she was moving at speeds that would embarrass a snail as she travelled in the direct she hoped would lead to civilisation.

Eventually she got into the swing of the movement and crept her speed up. From that of a slow snail to that of a tortoise to that of a hedgehog. Sooner or later she reached a pace that while not at the point that approached an average walking pace was a proximity of the average shuffle of an elderly lady. She’d also more or less worked out how to avoid sharp shooting pain with every step. Her practise with the walking skill and it’s effect of making her steps lighter were very helpful in this regard. Even if she wasn’t utilising the skill itself anymore.

However the general throbbing of leg pain wasn’t something her limited mental resistance had any influence on. Even if she attempted to pulse her willpower in time with the throbbing pain she didn’t have the concentration for such an action. As such the pain persisted. Unfortunately she hadn’t come across any evidence of the civilisation she was desperately looking for. No smoke, no road signs nothing to indicate she wasn’t going to die out there alone on the dirt road. Beyond the dirt packed road she travelled along nothing indicated any signs of sentient life at all. Occasionally the bushes to the side would rustle but she kept herself carefully to the centre of the path not wanting a repeat of the previous incident. After all she only had one working leg left.

She was more than a little terrified of a repeat of last time. What if she couldn’t resist it’s charms a second time. Fortunately on the rare occasion a green rabbit would appear Beth found their effects more subdued and easier to resist. As such she could cope with relative ease. None-the-less she stayed far far away from the cursed creature as a safety precaution. Luckily for her once the rabbits realised she wasn’t going to feed herself to them they mostly stayed away, clearly looking for more easy prey. Ideally those who would literally feed themselves to it. As they were seen to be chewing crud when she encountered them Beth was sure they were omnivorous and didn’t need to hunt to survive.

It was just getting dark and Beth’s fears were becoming all the more real as she considered how she would survive the night when she saw dirt being kicked up in the direction she was coming from. Something was coming up the road fairly quickly and Beth could only hope it was her saviour and not her downfall.