Almost But Not Quite Human

Following No One

Trees.

Rest.

Walk.

More trees.

Sapnap was tired of it. George was more paranoid than ever.

Who had left them that note? What were their intentions? Were they still following?

If they were, they did a good job at hiding it. There'd been no sign of the mysterious person for two and a half weeks. The food that George and Sapnap brought with them was starting to dwindle, and so Sapnap suggested they try foraging. Neither suggested hunting just yet - feeling queezy about the idea of murdering an animal for food.

The first forage was largely unsuccessful; the boys only finding a few bushes with berries safe to eat. There were a few plants but Sapnap's herbology info on them was a bit shakey so they decided not to risk it. But that was okay! This is why they decided to try foraging before their food ran out.

They both hoped that the next forage would turn up more successful.
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Sapnap hoped that by now George would become more accustomed to the various forest sounds but instead he grew more jumpy instead.

One particularly quiet evening, George said, "Sapnap"

"Yeah?"

"I think there's something following us"

Sapnap only had sympathy for his friend, but wasn't quite convinced.

"I think we'd have noticed someone filling us by now George"

"But what about that note?"

The night after the note, both boys had elected to put up the torches again, and were once again safe from harm, but other than their new habit of lighting the camp Sapnap hasn't really thought about it much. What was the point if they couldn't do anything about it? Obviously whoever it was didn't want to be seen. Why bother them?

"Hey, com'ere"

George caught up to Sapnap, who had been walking slightly faster than him because of his long legs. Sapnap threw an arm round George in a bro hug and mustered all his confidence to say, "Who cares about them, if they try and hurt us, I'll protect you. And if they don't, then there's no need to worry!"

For emphasis he jabbed his knife forward, but since his other arm was around George, it threw him off balance and sent them both tumbling to the floor. Sapnap was about to hastily apologise when he noticed George was laughing.

Well, at least one of us found it funny
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The rest of that day had gone by in a breeze, but the following ones resulted in a lot of growing anxiety.

The foraging was still turning up poor, and even if the boys were desperate enough to hunt, there was no animals around. With a day's food left in thier packs, Sapnap and George were getting hungry.

With the sun dipping just past midday, the boys decided to make their camp and rest, remembering to put up the lights that were most likely keeping them safe.

When George woke up, he had a moment of deja vu when he spotted a note fluttering on a tree outside the circle of light. He made to wake up Sapnap.

"Dude look! Another note!"

It took Sapnap a little while and a lot of squinting but eventually he said, "Oh wow! Guess you were right George, someone is following us... "

George went over to grab the note. He found that instead of a message, the paper had a little picture of some plants separated into two categories: edible, and not edible. There was also a small pile of berries by the base of the tree that the note was on.

Wow.
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At first they were both a little skeptical (the boys had never even seen this mysterious person) but eventually they tried the plants that Sapnap was originally unsure about and were in the "edible" category of the mysterious list.

Well, they were still alive, so the plants were probably safe.

With only a week left to go before they reached the river, and packs full of berries and plants, George and Sapnap were feeling optimistic.

Of course something had to ruin their good mood.
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A little while after the sun had set, George and Sapnap were setting up camp and discussing the topic of the mystery helper.

"If they want to help us, why won't they show themselves?"

"Hm. Maybe their shy?"

"Sure man, shy enough to follow us for weeks"

Even though his words sounded not so kind, Sapnap's tone showed he meant them good naturedly. It still annoyed George a touch, and he felt himself get slightly defensive of the stranger. How surprising, considering George's typical behaviour. He wasn't quick to trust.

Neither boy noticed how late it had gotten, their chat distracting them from the rapid passing of time.

Guurgh

"Dude was that your stomach?" Sapnap joked

George went pale "No. Sapnap I think that was-"

George was cut off by a pain in the back of his shoulder and he cried out. He whirled around to see a rotten face staring back at him, an outstretched arm that had blood on its fingernails. Just great. That meant George's shoulder was probably bleeding.

Sapnap looked over to see his friend's shoulder be clawed by what could only be a zombie, and he pulled out his knife while running towards it.

George took a moment to recover his balance while darting away from the zombie and drew his knife too - a bow would be no use in such short range after all.
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Ť̵̡̤̎̔̇ḧ̸͉̥̹̙é̴̖͓͚ÿ̶̦̱̣̳͆̽͑ ̴̤̻̹͖̇̕m̴͎͍̐u̴̼̓̽͒ś̷̠͔̀̄ͅt̷̨͍̐͆ͅ ̶̡̧͖͙̊̿h̶͚̳̤̿͠a̴̤̦̾̀v̷̞̯̺̒e̵̹͐͝͝ ̵̢̦̣͛̋͠ǩ̶͔̘̽͜͜n̸͖̲̎̋̀͘ǫ̸̤͔̜́̊̓w̶̙̩̞̙͑̌͝ń̶̢̛̺̩͠ͅ.̷̠̘̠̟̈

̸̢͈͙͒̇̋̾͜T̷̙̗̔ḧ̴͉̘́̋̌̏e̷͇͇̕y̷̛̘̾ ̸̭́l̷̲̈́͐̏e̵̩͖͈͕̾̈́̽f̸̲̐̽̋ͅt̴̤̀́͑͠ ̵̳͒̓͜ȯ̸̖n̸̦̭̓͘͠ ̴̞̑̌̐p̴̠͔̃̈̑ǔ̷̡̻ŗ̸̾̕͠p̵̲͖͌̇̈́o̵͖͇̖͚̿̾s̴̥̈͑̉̕e̸̼͙̻̘͋̃

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Get ready for the first real fight of the book, but be warned... I have no clue how to choreograph a fight :)

Sincerely, a deadly ballerina