*Hug*

This is my second entry for the contest. My character's name is Sophie, a 13 year old girl, and she is from the year 2030. It has 864 words. (part 1)
Title: Black Heart
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Black Heart

No. No.
It can't end like this! I felt my tears falling on the dry desert ground and then quickly evaporating. My leg was trapped underneath a chunk of the
car. We had been driving away from someone following us. They were going very fast! My mom looked behind us and suddenly the two cars hit. An ear-splitting sound rang in my ears. That's all I remember.

Suddenly, the sound of sirens could be heard in the distance. My mom! Where is she? I tried to slide my leg out from under the car part but it was jammed in there. Then, the ambulances got here.

I woke up in a hospital bed. I wasn't stuck anymore! I tried to wiggle my leg. My leg burned like it was on fire! A person walked in, carrying a clipboard and said, “Good. You're finally awake, Sophie!” Sophie? Was that my name? Then, he frowned. He tossed off my covers and that's when I saw my leg. If you want to call it that.

I screamed. My “leg” was twisted, bloody, and maybe broken. That explains all the pain! But what am I supposed to do with this mess of a leg? I know I won't be able to run and I doubt that it would be possible to walk. “Sophie?” he asked.

“Yes…” I tried to say but my voice was so hoarse it sounded like, “Ek.”

“Your leg hasn't been healing so… So…” he kept stumbling, trying to find the words to explain it. “Y-you will have to have surgery for-for a new leg.”

My mouth dropped. A new LEG? Wait a second… What about my mom? She was in the wreck too! “Mom.” I said. “ Your mother? She is alright. She just has to have some stitches. You were both very lucky. You could've died!” he said and then he shivered, as if he was frightened by the thought. “Would you like to see her?” he asked. I nodded. He sat me in a wheelchair and pushed me through two big glass doors.

“Sophie?” my mom asked. Her long blonde hair was a mess and there were circles under her eyes. Her face broke out in a big grin. She practically ran over to me and gave me a giant hug. It felt nice that she was right beside me, safe and sound. It made me feel like everything will be alright.

“I'm sorry! I shouldn't have gone over the speed limit. I shouldn't of been scared. I shouldn't of let this,” she motioned to my leg, “happen to you!” She collapsed in my lap and started weeping. I tried not to scream. I did my best to hug her while she was in my lap, which was suprisingly hard. “It's going to be okay, Mom.” I whispered to her. “We're going to be okay.”

Today we finally got to go home. I had a new leg. A robotic leg. My voice also started working again. The house was comforting. There was a distant smell of cinnamon. I looked around admirably and then my mom said, “I tried making it nice for you.” I wobbled over to her and gave her another big hug. I went into the bathroom to look at my reflection. I had dirty blonde hair and green eyes. How did I have dirty blonde hair? My mom had plain blonde. How did I have green eyes? My mom had brown eyes. What else was there to know about me?

“Mom?” I asked. “Yes, my dear?” she replied. “W-where is my dad?” There was an awkward silence between us. My mom walked up to me, grabbed my hands, and then made me look at her. “Your dad,” Her voice cracked and tears formed in her eyes. She started over. “Your dad is gone.”

I was suprised. I didn't know what I was expecting to hear. Maybe, “your dad is at work.” or “your dad is flying back here from Louisiana.” But gone? My mom has a lot of explaining to do.

She sighed. “I guess I better explain, huh?” I eagerly nodded my head. “Very well then.” she replied and began her story.

"I met your dad 14 years ago.When I met him, he was reading a book. A book called, When Midnight Comes. I had asked him what the book was about. He told me. It was about monsters, nightmares coming to life, stuff like that. We fell in love. A year later we got married. He told me the truth about himself. When he reads out loud, something odd will happen. I didn't want to believe it so I ignored it. What could possibly go wrong? When we had you, we realized that we couldn't hide it from you. When you were 9, you asked him to read a bit of When Midnight Comes to you. While he was reading the book to you, he disappeared.“ I couldn't believe it! ”S-so it's my fault?“ I asked. ”Of course not! We both knew something would happen but we didn't take it seriously. If anything it's my fault.“ Tears came to her eyes. ”I was the one ignoring it."

<33333 ly Pikaaa :DDDDDDD

So was I! Myth was fun, but being an Adventure Survivalist was even better!

How do you join? I know I have been adding stories and poems but I've never been a “member” of it.

aw thank you! <3 i bet that you're an epic person!! also, yeah, i regret not being able to reach out to many of you! hopefully i can!! <3

<3 <3 Thanks Pika!

Kit's Survivalist Journal Megapost
Containing all of Katya's Survivalist journal entries

Day 1
We hiked some today. We all had to go with “buddies,” but I didn’t really pick anyone. I ended up with this girl named Gabbie. I don’t know her, but she seemed nice enough. She talks a lot. I talked a little She likes animals, and has a snake, a turtle, 2 chinchillas, and no goats, but she wants one. She thinks Dracul sounds cute.
I think I saw another person. I mean, obviously I saw another person. I was walking with another person. I mean I saw someone who didn’t seem to be one of the Survivalists. They were just standing there, over by some trees about 50 feet away from us. Watching us, it looked like. Maybe they were an Intensity. How many groups of people could there be, climbing this mountain at the same time as us? I pointed them out to Gabbie. But when she looked, the person had disappeared into the trees. I wish I’d gotten a better look at them. I wish I knew what they were doing. I’m not even sure they were a person. It could’ve been just a shadow, or a tree, and I imagined that it was a person.
It rained. We figured it would. We had to cross a stream in the rain– luckily, it wasn’t as big a river as I expected, otherwise it would have been dangerous to cross it in the rain.
I am enjoying the journey so far. Right, who doesn’t want to go on a dangerous adventure that involves going on hikes through rainstorms? But hey, there’s supposed to be treasure at the top, and it’s not like hiking is terrible. It is kind of chilly, though. And it’ll only get colder as we get higher up and the month goes on. At least I have a jacket.
My wrist is getting sore from writing, and I need to go bed since I have to get up ridiculously early tomorrow. I think that will be the hardest part of this journey: Getting up early.


Day 2
Today was… interesting.
I was hiking with this girl named July. She’s a few years older than me, and not exactly what you’d call friendly. I tried to make conversation, but that’s really not one of my strong points, so it was pretty awkward. She fractured her ankle yesterday, which slowed us down. I miss Gabbie and her constant chatter.
See what I meant when I said today was interesting? Pretty interesting, I had to try and make conversation and failed miserably. I know, basically the most exciting thing ever, right? I doubt the trip can get much more exciting than this! So glad I journaled about this, I would absolutely hate to forget it– not that I could forget something so interesting. Yeah, that was interesting.
Haha, no.
Here’s the interesting part:
We (me and July) ran into some Intensities– I think that’s who they were. July accidentally hit one with a stick, so they attacked us. I threatened to throw a rock at them, and I think they almost just let us leave, but then changed their minds. One of them attacked July. She got them off of her, but a bunch more came. I threw the rock at one, and we ran off. When we were almost at camp, July had to stop, because of her injured ankle. I helped her walk back to camp. She wouldn’t let me help her before– back when we were just walking, before we ran into the Intensities, I mean– even though I told her she would only make it worse if she kept walking on it.
We made it back to camp. I told Rella about the Intensities we saw.
I don’t see how July is supposed to climb the cliff with her fractured ankle. And are we expected to climb the cliff now? Today? I like climbing, but I am EXHAUSTED. Seriously, I already ran for my life. Climbing a giant cliff? No thank you. Tomorrow? Sure. That sounds fun. But today? Ugghhhh. Hopefully we’re climbing it tomorrow, not today.
Okay, I cannot write any more, especially if I’m still supposed to climb the cliff. I think I will go flop down on the ground now.


Day 4
I never wrote in here yesterday. Oh well.
Rella left to do… something yesterday, but she’s back now, and made us all get up at 5 in the morning for a 10-mile hike. Scratch that. 5 AM is not morning, and no sane person would willingly get up so early.
At least I was with Gabbie again. She actually asked me if I wanted to be her “buddy”. I said yes, because what else was I going to say? “Yeah, no thanks.”?
It was very foggy, and we could barely see anything. Once, I had to grab my goat– her name is Ophelia, which seemed like an omen of her suffering a tragic dea+h (unless I have my Shakespeare plays mixed up)– and lost track of Gabbie. I called for her, and she called back, and I found my way back. After that, she insisted we hold hands, which was awkward, but better than getting lost in the mist. Besides, my hands were cold, anyway. I should have packed gloves.
Gabbie was less chatty today– not that that’s saying much. I did learn that her turtle is named Clyde, her snake is named Ka, and her chinchillas are named Rocky and Fluffball. She told me this after I mentioned how my goat being named Ophelia seems like a bad sign. Her goat is named Billy, which I already knew and found rather uncreative, but she says it’s short for William, which I found amusing.
We didn’t see any Intensities, but considering how foggy it was, that shouldn’t be surprising. If they were only 5 feet away from us, and kept quiet, we would’ve had no idea.
None of us– me, Gabbie, Ophelia, and Billy– were injured, though I came close. There was a rock that I tripped over. (I couldn’t see it because of the fog.) I’m just fine now, but my arm was sore for the next half hour or so. Gabbie made a big fuss about it, even though I told her it was fine, and that if it still hurt at all when we were making camp, we’d check to make sure. (It didn’t, so we didn’t.)
I think that pretty much covers everything important from today. I am completely exausted exhausted, not so much from the hike as from getting up at 5 AM. (Gabbie actually likes getting up really early, but even she would rather sleep until 7 in the morning.) I think someone brought coffee with, so maybe I’ll try that tomorrow.


Day 5? (yes, day 5)
I’m tired. Coffee is bitter, but it makes me less tired, so coffee is good. At least we had to get up at 7 instead of 5, and 7 is actually morning (though just barely). It’s still insanely early.
It’s supposed to rain today, so we aren’t walking very far. Hopefully we won’t be walking in the rain.
We are leaving to hike now.

Gabbie is missing.
It is storming, and she is missing, and no one is looking for her. I should go look. She
She is back. She is okay, although very cold and wet. I was If she She is fine. She is safe.
Ophelia is still missing. She was missing before. I do not know if she is okay, if she is even still alive. I thought the name was a bad omen. Seems I was right.
Who knows, maybe she’s just fine, and will come waltzing in at any moment, laughing a goat laugh at us for thinking she wasn’t, or bleating angrilly because no one came and got her.
I do not want to be responsible for an angry goat. But I would rather be responsible for an angry goat than a dead one. Although a dead goat would be easier to manage.
I can hear the storm outside our cave. This cave doesn’t keep us dry enough to be at all comfortable, but it’s better than nothing.
I am in my tent now. Gabbie is here, too, because she lost her tent in the storm, along with most of the rest of her belongings. She has the thickest of my blankets, because her own blankets were among the things she lost, and she’s colder than me.
She says she’s sorry to take them, and that I should just use them myself. She’ll take the thinnest, most raggedy blanket, she says. She’s not that cold, anyway. Her teeth chatter as she says it, which makes it even less convincing.
Billy is safe. He is with some of the other goats. He came back with Gabbie. Even though she got lost in the storm, she still managed to keep track of her goat. I, on the other hand, lost Ophelia. Maybe whoever named her is to blame. Who did name the goats, anyway? Where did they even come from? Gabbie says maybe they’re Monty’s friends. Turns out she’s been reading over my shoulder.
It’s getting darker, and it’s hard to see what I’m writing. I’m cold. I’m surprised the rain isn’t leaking through the roof of the tent.
Oh, did I mention we got to the rainforest?


Day 6
Has it only been 6 days? It feels like longer.
It is still morning. (Thank God (whatever god there is) for coffee.) I’m trying to write in here both at the start and end of every day. We’ll see how long that lasts.
I’d better get going. We’ll be hiking through the jungle today.

Today was fun, even though it rained a little. Really, it was nothing compared to the storm yesterday. I guess it is called a RAINforest.
I saw no Intensities (it’s been awhile since I have, actually– I’d actually somehow sort of forgotten about them until now… heh.) but I did see a massive turtle sunbathing on a rock, a weird creature that looked kind of like an anteater, and a green bird that looked like a little flying ostrich (except green, obviously), as well as lots of big, mossy, vine-y trees.
Ophelia has not reappeared, and I am pretty sure she never will. Even if she’s still alive, she probably won’t be able to find us, since we’re so far away from where she went missing. We hiked 8 miles today.
The trees were huge. I climbed one of them, but not to the top. See, the goats had to stop and eat or something, but since I don’t have a goat anymore, I climbed one of the trees. I got up about 15 feet before it was time to get going, which was less than half the height of the tree. I slipped on the way down, and almost fell out of the tree, but I managed to catch myself on a branch. I got down from the tree with only two small scratches, which I sterilized and bandaged, just to be safe.
I could list everything interesting we saw in the jungle today, but that would take forever, and I need to go to bed. Even with coffee, I can only stand getting up so early.


Day 7
We will be hiking and running for an insanely long time today. Great. 13 miles? 16 miles? 20? I don’t know. Gee, thanks, Rella. She also doesn’t know what the weather will be like.
Still no sign of Ophelia, as I expected.

I’m so tired. My legs ache and my feet hurt. I also have bruises on my elbow and cheek from falling into a small ravine. I’m not injured or anything, but still, it hurts.
I am writing this during a brief break, and now we have to get going again. We’re only a bit more than halfway done for today. Great.

Ugghhhh. I. Am. EXHAUSTED. I think I’ll need a new pair of hiking boots before we get to the top. And then we have to get back down…
I was so distracted by trying to reach the treasure, I had completely forgotten about the fact that after we get to the top, we have to go all the way back down to the bottom. Or maybe a helicopter will come and collect us at the top or something. Although if a helicopter could do that, why hasn’t anyone just flown one up to the top and collected the treasure that way? Or maybe someone has, and now there won’t be any treasure left for us.
Okay, now I’m confused.
Let’s see… What was something good about today? “Think positive,” or whatever, right? Ha. Well, I guess we made progress on the whole mountain-climbing thing. So that’s good. Shame it came with a however-many-miles long hike and run. I guess that’s back to negatives. “Thinking positive” isn’t really my thing.
Oh, Gabbie said I’m her friend. Which is nice? But like, I’ve only known her for a week. It usually takes me longer to make friends. Wait, when was the last time I made a friend? What friends to I have? Well, there’s Gabbie (apparently), and
I didn’t come on this trip to make friends, anyway. Nice thing for Gabbie to say, though. She’s a nice girl. She has brown skin and eyes, and curly black hair that she had in lots of tiny braids the first day, but hasn’t styled that way since. I guess we’ve had to get going so early, she hasn’t had time to braid it like that.
I just realized that anyone reading this– although I don’t know why anyone would be reading this– might want to hear more about the ravine.
It wasn’t very interesting. It wasn’t very deep or anything, and I didn’t fall in any exciting way. I just tripped, and fell in, and now I have bruises on my arm and cheek.
So yeah, today was just great. My elbow and cheek hurt, my legs are sore, and now my wrist is getting sore from writing this.


Day 8
Yay, I actually got to sleep until 9 today. I haven’t slept that late in ages. Well, a week, but it feels like longer.
Still no sign of Ophelia. If there is any sign of her, I’ll say something. Otherwise, assume there hasn’t been. I doubt I’ll ever see that gaot again.

I am currently sitting in the branches of a tall tree, writing this. It’s a massive branch, so I can sit here pretty comfortably. I’m at least 20 feet off the ground.

We’re taking another break now. I climbed even higher in the tree after I stopped writing there– I got like 50 feet up before I headed back down. I wasn’t the only one to climb the tree, but I got the highest by far. I’m certainly not scared of heights, but up that high, even I was getting a bit scared. Climbing back down, I started to slip, which was pretty terrifying. I think someone back on the ground screamed. I didn’t fall, though. If I did… well, I wouldn’t be here to write this. Anyway, I got back to the ground safely. Gabbie was all freaked out, said I shouldn’t have gone so high, it was too dangerous. I told her I was fine, and pointed out that this is called “Adventure Mountain.”

We’ve made camp now. So, other notable things from today: There was this waterfall, for one. It was only as big as the trees, but the trees were huge, so that’s pretty big. It was fairly narrow, and poured down into this pool. (Yeah, a man-made swimming pool in the middle of the jungle. Totally! …not. It was a natural pool, obviously.) Some of the Survivalists went swimming, including Gabbie, but I didn’t.
Oh, and I saw this big shadow, but I don’t know what it was. It moved, so I assume it was something alive, but I didn’t get a good look. I wonder what that thing was. Probably one of this jungle’s weird animals. Or maybe an Intensity.


Day 9
Today sounds like it is going to be absolutely exhausting. We’re supposed to go 15 miles. Great.

OH MY GODS I AM TIRED. (Yes, gods. The one book I packed was of Norse mythology. Turns out Thor had a chariot pulled by goats. I wish our goats would pull me in a chariot.) It was getting cold, but I’m still all sweaty.
Not only are my feet and legs sore from walking, but I turned my ankle. We were running up a rocky hill when it happened. It isn’t broken, or even sprained, but it will probably keep hurting for a few days. I’ve wrapped it up, and I’ll have to use a walking stick now. Maybe I should be glad it isn’t more seriously injured. Yeah, like, “Yay! I twisted my ankle! It isn’t broken or anything, so woohoo!”
Yeah, no.
Still no sign of Ophelia. Wait, I said I wouldn’t mention it unless there was. (Well, if I don’t even have one goat anymore, I guess I can’t have 2 goats pull me in a chariot. I also don’t have a chariot. And even if Ophelia were here, I’d need a second one. Maybe Gabbie would let me use Billy, at least if she got to ride in the chariot too.)


Day 10
Today seems do-able. We aren’t going too far, which is good, because I’m still sore from yesterday, and my ankle still hurts.

I just saw a flock of little bright green parrots fly out of the trees. I don’t think anyone else noticed. They’re a bit ahead, doing something with the goats (Ophelia’s still missing), and I’m resting about 20 feet behind th
There is this shadowy figure standing in the trees the birds flew out of. I should maybe go get the others. No, it’s probably nothing. Let me just get a closer look.

Hi, Gabbie here. Katya is missing, and I thought we should check her journal here for clues since it was laying on the trail by where she disappeared, and it looks like I did find a clue. Someone else is checking over in the trees already, and maybe after I show everyone this, they’ll think something is actually wrong, which most of the other Survivalists didn’t before. Well, I’m not sure if it was most of them or not but some of them thought we’d find her right away and that it was no big deal. I’ll have to go show this to Rella and all the other survivalists since it might be important.


Day 11
Hi, so I guess I’m writing in this journal until Katya gets back. We’re all looking for her right now, and I’m using this to take notes in case we find anything. Writing in here right now while we look isn’t helping anything, so I’ll put this away soon.
Our best theory about where she is is that she was captured by intensities, which isn’t something I knew the intensities did. Anyway, I’m putting this away now so I can look better, and by that I mean do a better job searching, not look prettier. Anyway, bye.

Later
We have not found Katya yet, and it’s dark out, so we set up camp and will look more in the morning, since it will be hard to find anyone in the dark. It is very late, since we stayed up a while in the dark, still trying to look even though it was night, but now we decided this isn’t working and we’d have better luck in the morning. We didn’t tell any scary stories or anything, and we are going to get up early. One of the other survivalists is missing too, the oldest one of us, named Eon, I think. Not like old-old, like grandparent old, but 18. This is really really not good, and Rella is very worried, and the rest of us are too. Most of us, anyway, because I haven’t asked everyone how they feel, since we’ve been busy looking.
I am supposed to be sleeping so I can get up early tomorrow, but I can’t sleep, and I don’t think I’m the only one who can’t. So I am still writing in here while I try to figure out what to do, or how to fall asleep. I’m using Katya’s tent, since mine is lost and has been for a while, so I’ve been using her tent for a while. ANd now she is the one missing. I wonder if she found my tent and everything, and her goat, too. She thought that it, the goat I mean, was going to die because of its name, which was Ophelia. But maybe the goat didn’t die, and now Katya has found it, although if she is captured by intensities she probably hasn’t, unless the intensities capture goats, which I don’t think they do. I am going to try to sleep again now, and I’ll probably fail to sleep, but I’ll try anyway. So goodnight, journal.

A little more later
Guess what? I couldn’t sleep, so now I’m writing in here again. This is no fun, and now I sound like a whiny little kid, but it’s troo true. Why did I just spell true with 2 Os? I guess I’m tired, and that’s why I spelled it TROO, but I tried to speep I mean sleep, oh I guess I can’t write right anymore. I tried to sleep and I can’t, and so now I am writing in this journal about random things that don’t matter at all, which isn’t helping anyone at all and isn’t even any fun.
Maybe I should go look some more, only I’d probably get lost or captured too, and I think going and looking alone is how Eon disappeared, so it’s a bad idea and I won’t. But if I got captured and Katya got captured, then at least I’d find her, and Eon too if he also got captured, and maybe I could save them but probably not and I’d just get myself in trouble and make things worse. OKay, I’m going to try to sleep one more time, and then tomorrow I can look more along with everyone else, which seems like a better idea then going and maybe getting myself in trouble and making everything worse. Goodnight.

Day 12
Hi, Journal, or person reading this, or whoever I’m writing this to. I am looking with someone else, this kid named Rowan, and so far we’ve found nothing. We aren’t giving up obviously, right now we’re just stopping for a quick break to eat real quick and stuff. We have to keep going now so we can find Katya and also the other missing survivalist, Eon, and save them if they need saving, which hopefully they won’t.

Later
Okay so we found the intensity camp! And Katya is there, and I don’t know about the other one, Eon, but at least we found Katya! We’re hiding in the forest because I wanted to just go free her, Katya, right away, but Rowan said that is a bad idea, which I guess it probably was so good thing we didn’t do that. Rowan is going to go get help now while I stay here to make sure they don’t leave or anything, the intensities I mean, and I need to not to anything stupid. I guess that means no rushing in and freeing Katya, or anything, so I have to not do that or else Rowan will be mad at me and I will probably get captured. Okay now I’m going to stop writing because maybe that will make noise and the intensities will here me, oops I mean hear, and then I could get captured and we don’t want that to happen.

More later
Okay so it’s REALLY boring just waiting here, so now I’m writing some more while I wait for Rowan to get back with the other survivalists. How long am I supposed to wait? I am SO BORED. I thought keeping an eye on the intensities would be the exciting part, but it isn’t and I can’t even really see them very well, and they aren’t doing anything interesting, and I can see Katya sitting there tied up, and it would have probably been more fun to go back and tell everyone what we found, although fun isn’t really the right word. Anyway, this is so so so so so so so not entertaining, and neither is writing the word so over and over and over and over and over again.
Maybe I should go sneak in and save Katya, and look for Eon too. But I’m terrible at sneaking, and I don’t know how they haven’t found me here yet, so that wouldn’t work. I can see Katya from here, even though it’s getting dark which is making it harder to see anything, including what I’m writing, which maybe is how the intensities haven’t found me yet. She’s tied to this big pole, and it looks like she’s sleeping, or something, I don’t know, but I hope she’s okay. Maybe she’s pretending to be asleep so she can sneak away? I can’t stand this much longer. Hopefully the other survivalists get here soon, or else I might not be able to wait anymore and will go try and rescue her and then get captured, and we don’t want that to happen so they’d better hurry up.

Day 13
It’s after midnight now, so I guess that means it’s a new day! I think, well I guess I fell asleep at some point, because I woke up, and I don’t know how anyone I mean no one, that’s not the same thing, found me, none of the intensities. No one else found me either, and Rowan never came back. Or maybe Rowan DID come back, but then left? That makes literally no sense at all. Maybe I should go back and see what happened, and tell everyone I found Katya, or maybe the intensities will have left by then or something, by the time I get back I mean, and it will be too late if I di that and we will never find her. Or I could try and save Katya myself, and then either I would save her, or I wouldn’t and might end up captured. Let’s just wait a little longer.
I am bad at waiting. I don’t know how I have waited this long, and I don’t think I can wait any longer. So, let me plan here. I’ll go get Katya, but do I sneak or run? If I untie Katya, then what? Because if she’s asleep and I can’t wake her up, I’ll have to carry her back, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to do that, so now what?
Oh, wait! They, the intensities I mean, are distracted by something, I don’t know what, because it’s really dark and I’m hiding in the trees, but I think it looks like they’re all gathered over to one side of their camp, away from Katya. This is my chance! Well, wish me luck!

I’m back. Gabbie thinks I should just rest. But from what she tells me, I seem to have been asleep for awhile, so I don’t feel the need for more rest.
I don’t remember much of the past few days. I mean, I think I was unconscious for most of it. I guess Gabbie took over writing in this journal while I was gone. Not sure how I feel about that. But it’s time for my side of the story, which isn’t much.
That shadowy figure? That was an Intensity. When I saw, I went to go get Rella, but the Intensity attacked me. They had… oh, now I’m not sure. A club or something? And I guess I must have been knocked out.
The next few days are what I don’t remember much of. When I woke up, I was tied up, and someone put something in my mouth. That kept happening until I was rescued. Even when I was awake, everything seemed… foggy.
I don’t know what happened to the other missing Survivalist. Eon vanished after I was kidnapped. He might have been kidnapped, too. I don’t know; I don’t remember seeing him at the Intensities’ camp, but since I barely remember anything, that’s no wonder. Maybe they will find him now, since we know where the camp is. But maybe the Intensities will have moved, since I was freed.
Wait, how did Gabbie escape with me? She never said. She’s outside right now (I’m in my tent), but I’ll have to go ask her.

Day 15
I never wrote in here yesterday. There was nothing to write about, really.
It will be a long hike today, since we haven’t really made any progress the last several days. I guess that’s partially my fault, since they were looking for me and Eon, and Eon got captured looking for me. It’s also the Intensities’ fault, though, since they’re the ones who kidnapped us. Apparently they are going to give us the other captured Survivalists back, or something. At least, that’s how I understood it.

Yes, it was a long hike. I think my boots are going to wear out before we reach the top. That is, if my feet don’t fall off first.
Still, it was nice to just be hiking and stuff again, instead of being either kidnapped or sitting around while Gabbie fussed over me. (Although after everything that’s happened lately, the kidnapping and just this whole trip, being fussed over isn’t the worst thing in the world. Still, after 2 days of it, it gets tedious.) My ankle has healed now, which also helps. Lucky I hadn’t broken it, or even sprained it, otherwise it would still hurt.
Oh, still no sign of Ophelia. Unless we come across her on the way down, which I doubt we will, I am pretty confident I will never see that goat again. Maybe she’s met a tragic Shakespearian death.
Okay, now I want to see a Shakespeare play where everyone is played by goats.


Day 16
Nothing notable to say about today, as of this morning. Yep, that’s the beginning-of-the-day report. Nothing has happened quite yet. Rella says we should reach the top in 6-ish days.

Yay, hiking in the rain. How fun. Woohoo.
At least we crossed the biggest river before it started really pouring. And at least that biggest river wasn’t fast-moving. We weren’t done with rivers by the time it did start pouring down rain.
You know what’s even more fun than hiking in a rainstorm? Walking on a log to cross a river while trying not to fall off and drown in a rainstorm.
Seriously, that was one of my least favorite parts of the trip. (Aside from the kidnapping and everything, I mean.) That river was not the widest of the ones we crossed today, or the deepest, but it was one of the fastest. The strongest swimmers would have trouble surviving its rapids, and I am far from one of the strongest swimmers. I have decent ballance– thank God (or gods or goats or whoever)– but walking across a log, even an extremely wide one, when it’s pouring down rain is not easy in any way, especially not when there’s the obvious risk of drowning.
I’m so cheerful and positive, aren’t I?


Day 17
Rella instructed us to “Keep an eye on the goats.” I no longer have a goat, since Ophelia is still missing, presumed dead. (Presumed dead by me. Gabbie says she could still be just fine, and maybe we’ll find her on the way down, and no one else has said anything on the subject. I don’t exactly go around asking, “Do you think my goat is dead? She’s named after a tragic Shakespearian figure, which seems like a bad sign.”) Maybe this means I’ll help Gabbie keep an eye on Billy. (Okay, I just realized Gabbie says the goat is named William, just called Billy for short. Ophelia is from a play by William Shakespeare. Coincidence? I think not.)
(Okay, I do think it’s just a coincidence.)

HELP, I’M BEING EATEN ALIVE.
Seriously. There are mosquitoes everywhere, and they keep biting me. I’ve somehow managed to keep the big, weird ones away (I think I might be the only one they didn’t bite at least once), but I am covered in bites from the normal kind. (At least, I think they’re normal. They aren’t giant, and don’t seem to have any weird colors or anything.) It is so hard not to scratch them. I’ve put witch hazel in the bites, and shared it with a few other Survivalists, too.
We met some Intensities today. (Yes, that should be more notable than the mosquitoes. But as I am writing this, I am very, very itchy, and it is hard to think about anything else.) They didn’t do anything to us, fortunately. Obviously, I was absolutely delighted to see them. Completely over the moon. They were even more fun than the mosquitoes!
Yeahhh… The Intensities aren’t exactly my BFFs. I don’t think they’re any of our BFFs. Gabbie actually started yelling at them. I had to tell her to stop. I was worried that if she didn’t, they might attack her. That would be… bad. There would probably be enough Survivalists to stop anyone else from getting kidnapped or anything, but a fight could lead to injuries, and I don’t want anyone getting hurt. Well, I wouldn’t mind the Intensities getting hurt, as long as it wasn’t fatal or anything.
In other events, I saw a dragonfly almost as long as my arm, a plant that could be a corpse flower based on the smell, only I don’t remember what corpse flowers look like (I’ve never seen one in real life), and an orange lizard with yellow stripes.


Day 18
I`m so tiired. It is the middle of the night, basicly, and I cannot spell at 4 AM. Coffee is good.
Rella wants to talk to me, apparently.
Rella told me I could scout ahead, walking about 20 feet in front of the rest of the goat ugh I’m too tired to write group. Almost everyone else has goats, who they will have to take care of, but since I don’t, I could do it. I didn’t have to, given my… shall we say, unfortunate encounter with the intensities, but I aggreed.

Nothing of note happened so far. Not writing more now. Time to sleep more. Still so tierd tired. Going too i forgot how grammer GRAMMAR works sleep.

I slept. I am still tired, but after some more coffee, I am ready for the next 5 miles. I will still be scouting ahead, although hopefully no scouts will be necessary to avoid trouble.

I almost got kidnapped again. Yay.
I ran into 2 Intensities. One had a dagger, and the other had a club. I ran back to warn everyone else. Some of us grabbed sticks or rocks just in case they attacked, and we all grouped close, with our goats in the middle, for safety. There were way more of us than them, but unlike us, they had decent weapons and probably wouldn’t mind using them. We kept walking, giving the Intensities plenty of room, and they didn’t harm us.
My head does hurt, though. I banged it on a branch while running from them. Thanks to that branch, my forehead now has a large, painful lump on it, and it is hard to write in here because I am holding an ice pack to it (my head, not the branch) at the same time. Gabbie was worried, although I told her I would be perfectly fine in a few days, and she is displeased my me agreeing to scout ahead today. So, I guess I won’t be doing that tomorrow.


Day 19
I got to sleep until 10 today, which was both amazing and weird. I am not at all tired, and do not need any coffee (which is good, because coffee is bitter, and I don’t actually like what it tastes like.)
Apparently, we’re almost at the top. It will be nice to get the treasure (unless the Intensities get it first, or it turns out the “treasure” is just a bunchof junk). And it will be nice to go home, see Dracul and my mom, and not be under threat of kidnapping. But I will also miss adventuring, and I’ll miss Gabbie and the rest of the Survivalists.
Rella gave us weapons. Nothing fancy or anything, and they are only to be used if absolutely necessary. I got a club that looks suspiciously like a baseball bat.
Anyway, time for us to go.

Fortunately, the weapons weren’t necessary today. It did make me feel better to have one, even a simple one. Probably better that it wasn’t anything much, anyway. A sword would be awesome, but I might worry about accidentally stabbing someone with it, and I absolutely do not want a gun. (Also I have no idea how to use one.)
Today wasn’t actually that eventful, though we did climb a small cliff. It was only 10-15 feet high, and I honestly really enjoyed it. I was first to the top, though not by a lot. Several others were very close behind me, and it was hard to tell who got there first.
I think I’ll try telling spooky stories tonight, since for once, I’m not completely exhausted by the time we made camp. I would like to continue getting up at 10 AM. Or at least 9.



Day 20
Apparently we are going to be trained how to use our weapons. I’m not sure how much training goes in to using a club, but maybe there is some. Rella apparently has some “requirements” to deal with, which means we’ll have to find our way to this cave ourselves.

Rella instructed us to “not get lost”. So of course, we got lost.
She didn’t appoint anyone to lead us until she got back, like she did last time she had to leave for some reason, so things were kind of chaotic. No one knew who to turn to when we got lost, which lead to a while spent trying to figure out what in the cosmos (I’m still reading that Norse mythology book, and in Norse mythology there isn’t just one world) we should do. And then someone’s goat ran off, so we had to go chase after it. Fun.
We didn’t get to the cave until it was after 2 PM. Yeah, Rella was absolutely delighted that we got there more than 2 hours late.
The cave is pretty impressive, though. The first bit is pretty narrow, but it leads to a much larger room where we’ll be spending most of the time in (and where I’m in right now). It seems like a good place to stay the night. There’s plenty of room (this chamber is like the size of a small house). And it’s not right at the mouth, which gives us more shelter from weather, animals, and Intensities, but it isn’t very deep either, so we won’t get lost and could escape quickly if we had to. The cave goes back much further, and I’d like to explore it more. But not now, because apparently it’s time to practice fighting learn how to use the weapons.

Pretty much everyone else has some sort of knife, so I’m not sure why I got a baseball bat- I mean, “club”. I guess maybe Rella ran out of pocket knives. I didn’t get much in the way of training. Rella basically got as far as how I should grip the club before she had to run over to help some younger kid with their knife. She had to spend a while working with the little kids, actually, so some of us, including me, pretty much had to figure out the details of our weapons for ourselves.
Eventually, I got tired of practicing swinging my club at the air, and went and read some more of the Treasury of Norse Mythology. Rella wasn’t terribly pleased about that, either, when she noticed.



Day 21
Apparently we’re going to walk through mud in the rain. Doesn’t that sound like the absolute very most fun ever? More fun than anything in the entire universe?
But seriously, we’re supposed to get to the top today. Not looking for the treasure yet, but still. And there’s going to be a big bird migration, according to Rella. So that should be cool, at least. We’re also supposed to tell Rella if we see any Intensities, which I’ve been doing anyway, but okay.

Today I did not stay clean, drown in quicksand, find Ophelia, or get kidnapped. So, based on that, today was pretty average.
But we are basically at the top. There’s just a small(ish) cliff between us and the very peak of the mountain. We’re staying in a cave that is built in to that cliff.
The birds were spectacular. There were so many of them, and they just kept coming. Sometimes it would seem like that was all of them, but then another flock would follow. They really filled the sky. Me and Gabbie found a ledge about 5 feet above the ground, and about 20 feet away from the next nearest Survivalist, to watch it from. We briefly played a round of “Name-The-Birds,” which is where we would point at a bird and give it the first name that popped into our head. The names I remember were Birdy, Caramel, Emily, Charles, and Sir Flappy. But most of the time, we just sat there, staring at the birds. It was getting dark by the time the last of the birds finally left.
We set up camp in the cave. I’m writing this from my tent. Rella says she’ll tell us what’s going on with the treasure hunt tomorrow.
I think something’s going on with one of the other Survivalists. The other one that was kidnapped. Eon. I just don’t see him much. That doesn’t sound strange, but I saw him leaving his tent yesterday night when I was going out to check on I don’t remember what. I didn’t think much of it, though, because I was tired and only half-paying attention. I don’t think he saw me. I also don’t think he likes me very much. The other day, I saw him give me this… look. Maybe it’s that he was kidnapped looking for me.

We set up camp in the cave. I’m writing this from my tent. Rella says she’ll tell us what’s going on with the treasure hunt tomorrow.
I think something’s going on with one of the other Survivalists. The other one that was kidnapped. Eon. I just don’t see him much. That doesn’t sound strange, but I saw him leaving his tent yesterday night when I was going out to check on I don’t remember what. I didn’t think much of it, though, because I was tired and only half-paying attention. I don’t think he saw me. I also don’t think he likes me very much. The other day, I saw him give me this… look. Maybe it’s that he was kidnapped looking for me.
The campfire is set up, and I’m being called over to go tell scary stories. It turns out I’m good at that. I don’t make the plots up, they’re out of books. I think tonight I might tell them a summarized version of The Graveyard Book. I’m not sure if that will be spooky enough, but it does have ghosts in it. (Nice ghosts, but still.) Maybe Coraline would be better?


Day 22
Apparently I’m going to go scouting with Rella and Eon. So that will be… Interesting? Maybe, or maybe it will be boring. Who knows. Well, anyone who can see the future might know. Most of the Norse gods can.

I am back from scouting, and sitting in my tent back at camp. We didn’t really find anything, but at least we ruled out several places where the treasure isn’t. We climbed trees, explored caves, Well, we did find something, but it has nothing to do with treasure. I disturbed a colony of bats. We were checking a cave for treasure, so I walked into this one chamber of it. As soon as I did, a ton of bats started flying everywhere. We all ran out of the cave, which didn’t seem to have any treasure in it, anyway. The bats weren’t hurting anyone, and I think they’re really cool, but it is not a pleasant experience to be stuck in the middle of an agitated flock of them.
What if the bats were guarding the treasure?
I don’t really think they were. I got a good enough look around that cave to know there was no treasure there. But that would be pretty cool, having bats guard treasure.
Oh, I think maybe tonight I will tell a story of my own invention. Giant, treasure-guarding bats.
Gabbie greeted me when we got back, asked if I had done anything interesting, and told me all about her day. Apparently she was told to look for food, which she did, and then gave me a very detailed description of it that was filled with tangents. Her hair is braided today. This and the 19th are the only days she did, I guess because most of the time there isn’t time to. I always braid mine, but she has so many little braids, it must take forever. They do look cool, though.
Obviously I don’t go off on tangents at all. Not even the tiniest of ones. Nope, not me, not at all. Clearly.
I actually have a decent amount of free time here. I guess I’ll read some Norse myths, and then just hang out until dinnertime, and scary stories.

Okay, I just finished reading the Treasury of Norse Mythology. So… I guess I’m back to writing in here. Yeah. So, the worlds ended, and then they un-ended. In the book, I mean, not for real. Why did they all fight in Ragnarok if they knew how it was going to end? (It ended with most of them dying, and the worlds getting destroyed.) And what happened to the goddesses? Were they just killed by some random giant, and that wasn’t important enough to talk about?
I’m confused.
Yep, I don’t go off on tangents AT ALL. No, I’ve NEVER gone off on any tangents, especially not when writing in here.
There has got to be something more interesting to do than write in here about my thoughts on the battle of Ragnarok.



Day 23
Apparently things are going better with the Intensities. Which is good, because I really don’t want to be kidnapped again.
We’re going to be looking for the entrance of the treasure vault. I’m not sure what exactly it’s supposed to look like. Maybe it’s a “we’ll know it when we see it” thing.
I suggested we should check that one cave again, the one with the bats. We left so quickly after the bat storm, there might have been something there that we hadn’t noticed before. And I think I saw the entrance to another chamber in the bat room.

We tried the bat cave again. We were more careful this time, so the bats did’t go crazy right away this time, but they still started flying around a lot. There doesn’t seem to be any treasure in the cave. There was and entrance to another chamber, like I thought, but that dead-ended pretty quickly.
On the way back to meet up with the others, we ran in to a pair of Intensities. Some of the others started chatting with them. I guess Gabbie’s still mad, because even though she rarely stops talking, she just glared at them the whole time. I’m still wary of them, too.

No one else found anything, either, although Rella thinks one of the caves she checked seems more suspicious. But it sounds like it’s hard to access some of the chambers, so I’m not sure how someone would have gotten treasure into there. We might be investigating it further tomorrow, with more caving gear.
In unimportant events today, I stepped in bat poop. I took my boots off because of it. My feet are sore, too, which is not the fault of the bats. Bat guano is apparently good fertilizer, but I don’t think my hiking boots need to be fertilized.
I’m not sure what we’ll be doing tomorrow. Some of the new clues point to the one cave, too. (Not the bat one.) That cave apparently has a lot of tight squeezes and climbs in the dark. Yeah, that should be a pleasant little stroll.



Day 24
We are in fact going to investigate that cave more. It’s called Gasher’s Cave, apparently. The other cave I am just calling “the bat cave.” It (Gasher’s Cave, not Bat Cave) sounds pretty dangerous. Rella says we won’t die, which isn’t actually that reassuring. It means it occurred to her that we might think we could die.
I am leaving my Norse mythology book here at camp (it sounds pretty stupid bringing it), but I will bring this journal with. Actually, no, I’m taking the book with. I’m not sure if we’ll come back to this camp at all.

Oh, spelunking went great. Just great. Absolutely wonderful. Lovely little trip.
I wish.
We almost got lost in the cave several times, and had to keep doubling back. There are not any bats in this cave. I much prefer the swarms of bats. There were some cool stalagmites and stalactites, but it was hard to appreciate them. We didn’t find any treasure, either. There’s some creepy story about an explorer, and rumors of a monster somewhere inside. So that makes being stuck here even more fun.
Yeah, we’re trapped. We were in this one dark cavern, and we fell down into a… I don’t know, another chamber or something. I’m all wet now, as well as sore. I’m all scratched up, and covered in bruises.
I don’t know how we’re going to get out.
On the bright side, there’s some ancient-looking cave art on the wall. It looks like pictures of stylized stick figures, honestly. I read a book on early humans once, and I remember finding it interesting. I wish I remembered more of the actual book.
Speaking of which, is that a skeleton over there?
Yes, it’s a skeleton. But it looks ancient, too. Maybe it’s the fossil of some early human, a species predating Homo Sapiens. Maybe it’s a new species. Maybe we’ve just made a major discovery. Maybe we won’t live to tell anyone about it, and will end up as skeletons, too, trapped in this cave until some other explorer visits and marvels at these ancient finds.
I, um, don’t think any of us are in the mood for scary stories. That’s just what we need, more things to be scared of. If we want any stories, I guess I could read some Norse myths to the group. But I doubt anyone will be in the mood for those, either.
If only one of us could shapeshift, or had a flying chariot pulled by goats or cats.
Wait, where are all the goats, anyway? We brought them into the cave with us, but they don’t seem to be down here.



Day 25
I’m pretty sure it’s the 25th. I mean, yesterday was the 24th. Only maybe it’s still the 24th, or maybe 2 days have passed and today is the 26th. Okay, I’m going with day 25. I’m pretty sure that’s right. I really don’t know what time it is. None of us do. Rella thinks it’s 5 in the morning, because she feels rested. 5 isn’t the morning, and I’m tired, but not nearly as much as I would be if it were 5. I think it’s more like 7. But who knows how late it was when we went to sleep.
Forget the time. Here’s what Rella said the marks on the wall said, so I don’t forget: “The one that keeps fighting, the one with balanced light. It will be found if one keeps writing even when out of sight.” (I asked Rella, to make sure I had it right.) I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean, but maybe I should keep writing in this journal? That’s kind of what it sounds like.
Me and Gabbie decided we’ll take turns having our flashlights on, so it would take longer for our batteries to run out.
Before we left the chamber we camped in, I said goodbye to the skeleton. I’m sure I looked and sounded ridiculous. But if this skeleton has been here so long, I’d imagine it gets lonely. Except it’s dead, so it can’t get lonely. That’s why I said I’d imagine. I don’t think it actually gets lonely. The skeleton didn’t follow us. It’s missing all its muscles, so it can’t exactly move. Also it’s dead. Hopefully we won’t end up like it: Dead skeletons, sitting in a cave to spook future explorers. This is reminding me of The Graveyard Book. Well, we will all die at some point. We aren’t gods. And the Norse gods can die. Most of the Norse gods did die in the myths.
I am SO cheerful and optimistic.
At least we’re getting closer to the treasure, according to Rella. But will we be able to get the treasure out of here, even if we find it? Will we even be able to get ourselves out of here?

We did not find any treasure. We did not get out of here. But at least no one died. We are now camping in one of the safest-seeming caverns, although we still have no idea about the time. We also haven’t solved the riddle, or even found the place with the 4 chambers.
There’s something about this tunnel up ahead… it looks like it could have multiple tunnels or something coming off of it… I’d better investigate. I am not going to just go off on my own, though, since that’s how I got captured by the Intensities. It could be nothing, though, and we’re all tired. I don’t want to bother anyone. I know, I could ask Gabbie if she wants to come. She doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to, and if she doesn’t want to then we’ll just stay here.
Gabbie agreed to come with me. We’re going to investigate. I tore a page out of this journal and wrote a note on it, in case we take a while to come back and the other Survivalists notice us missing.

There are multiple chambers leading off of this tunnel… but which is the right one? And are there 4? It’s hard to tell. We can’t see very far, since we just have our flashlights. I also have a little booklight, for reading and writing after dark, but that doesn’t do much good. We’re going to look around.
There’s some more cave art on this wall here. It looks to me like 2 groups of people fighting. “The one that keeps fighting”, maybe?
We’d better go back and get the others.

Rella has been told, but almost everyone is already asleep. We probably won’t look at that tunnel more for a few hours or so. Rella says she’s going to go check it out herself tonight.
In other news, my head hurts. We were heading back to tell the other Survivalists what we’d found. There were these weird sounds coming from down one of the chambers. Maybe it was some monster, or maybe it was just the cave doing weird things to the wind. Either way, it sounded creepy, so me and Gabbie rushed back. And I managed to trip over something in the mostly-dark (we just had our flashlights), and fall. I hit my head pretty hard. I’m not seriously injured, but it really hurts at the moment. I also feel pretty stupid about the whole thing. We’re on a big adventure, and I manage to hurt myself in some of the most mundane ways possible.



Day 26
We are going to go into the chamber. Rella thinks I’m right, and that it is what the riddle was talking about. She told us that she found the chamber room, “with the help of a certain Survivalist”. She never said who the “certain Survivalist” was, and I’m glad. If I’m wrong, and this gets anyone killed, everyone is going to hate me. Also I’ll feel bad for getting them killed, of course. It’s not like it would be a huge loss if they hated me, though. I only have 1 friend here.
It sounds like it’s going to be pretty dangerous, though. So hopefully, whether or not me and Rella are right about that being the right chamber, no one dies.

Well, no one died! Yay!
That’s a pretty low bar, honestly. “Hooray! No one died!” But that’s basically the best thing about this. We all made it through it. The room was filled with traps, and we were all nearly killed several times. Let’s see… there was the falling block… the arrows… the crushing walls… the pit… It was kind of ridiculous. And honestly, why would someone hide treasure back there? If they wanted to get it back, they’d have to go through all their own traps. And what good is treasure doing if no one can do anything with it?
Yeah, we all survived. I guess we are called the Survivalists, so it would be ironic if we didn’t. None of us have any potentially-fatal wounds, either. So that’s all good. You know, this would be a good place for Ophelia to die. Not that I wish death on my goat. Besides, she probably found it elsewhere, anyway. I wonder what exactly happened to her.
No one died, but we’re all in worse shape than we were before we went through that room. Some of us are just filthy, but there were several injuries. I was just helping tend to some of them. Gabbie broke 2 ribs dodging one of the things. When I first asked her if she was okay, she said it hurt but we’d better keep going. According to her, she thought it was just a bruise. I meant to check as soon as we got out of the Chamber of Doom (Doom Room?), but so much happened during that, I honestly forgot. No one seemed to have any urgent injuries, so we went down the tunnel that followed the Doom Room right away. I took care of her first once we set up camp, and I’ve done what I can now, and she’ll heal. It’s only a few broken ribs, and she’s strong. But still, I feel bad for not doing something earlier.
She says not to worry about it, and points out that I was pretty banged up myself by the time we got out of the Doom Room. I wonder if the world heard what I wrote in here yesterday, about me managing to hurt myself in the most mundane ways possible, and thought I meant I wanted to be hurt in a more interesting way. If so, I didn’t. Got it, world?
I didn’t break any bones, but I’m covered in cuts from arrows. Most of them are very shallow, but one on my leg is pretty deep. I quickly bandaged that one as soon as we got out of the Doom Room. I’ve cleaned all of them out now. I also have large bruises on my shoulder and cheek.
Yeah, today was nothing interesting. Just another nice little walk.
I am tired now, and I’m wasting flashlight batteries writing this. We still don’t know what time it is, but a lot of us are going to sleep now. I’ll try to sleep now too. I’m sure I’ll need rest for tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow will be less painful than today.



Day 29
They took Rella. I barely saw it happen. I woke up to her yelling. Apparently me and Eon are in charge now. We are in charge and we need to find the treasure. Everyone is panicked and confused, and no one knows what to do.
She was kidnapped by an Intensity, it sounds like. I don’t know the details. I don’t know what they looked like. There are rumors about it already, but no one really knows. It was dark. It is still dark.
I don’t know how I am supposed to lead everyone. Co-lead. Eon will be leading too. Everyone is panicked and confused, and they’re asking me and Eon what to do. I don’t know what to do.
We will split them up into groups to search. Me and Eon will each lead a group, and there will be 3 others. Eon and I appointed leaders for each group. 1 will be led by a kid named Lynn, the other by one named Rowan. Gabbie suggested Rowan, actually. Apparently Rowan were the Survivalist who was there when Gabbie found me, who helped Gabbie find me. I had Gabbie lead the other. I would rather have her stay with me, but I trust her more than I trust anyone else here. I also had some doubts about her leading because of her broken ribs. I talked to Gabbie about it. She says she’d be happy to do it. She told me to stay safe, and I told her the same thing. We laughed, because this whole thing was basically the opposite of safe. We laughed, but it wasn’t funny.
IS it the 29th? Or the 27th? The 28th? The 30th? I don’t know. It doesn’t matter right now. We have to go. I am wasting time writing in here. We are leaving now. We will find the treasure. We will get Rella back. And no one is going to die. I hope.

We found the treasure. We found it. And no one died. We still need to get out of here with it. And save Rella. And then get home. Without anyone dying. We can do this. We have to do this.
Me and Eon forgot to come up with a means of communication, to figure out what to do if a team found the treasure. So apparently a pair of kids just went around, running through the catacombs and yelling about it. That could have gone very, very badly (they could have added 2 more skeletons to this cave), but everything somehow worked out. They found Gabbie and her group (or maybe it was the other way around), and then they all found the others, and we were all led back to the treasure. I’m surprised those kids were able to find their way back to it, but they did.
There were some more bones near where the chest was hidden,, which made us all feel nice and cozy. Yeah, they were such nice, cheerful decorations. Luckily Lynn isn’t at all scared of skeletons.
And then there it was. An old chest, filled with treasure. It’s what you’d think of as treasure: gold coins, gems, crowns, jewelry, all that. Eon didn’t want to take it. The rest of us insisted. I mean, this is what we came for. We weren’t going to just leave it here. It would be one thing if we were just climbing this mountain for the fun of it, and happened to come across a treasure chest (although we probably would have insisted then, too), but this was why we came. Why we climbed this mountain. Why Gabbie broke her ribs. Why I was kidnapped. Why Ophelia the goat got lost and maybe died (though with a name like that, she was doomed to suffer a tragic death anyway). Why Rella was just taken. Yes, we need to get her back. But she wouldn’t want us to just leave the treasure here.
Eon is carrying the treasure now. He’s the oldest and biggest of us, so I guess it made sense. A few of the Survivalists (mostly the little ones) grabbed bits of it. Mostly just a few coins or gems that they pocketed, but one put a crown on her head. Gabbie slipped me a ring. It’s gold, with these little markings around it. It’s pretty, as well as very valuable. It was nice of her.

Eon gave it to the Intensities. All the treasure he had. They were threatening us, and he just gave it up, no argument. The treasure we had worked so hard to get.
Let me back up.
We found our way out of the cave. We started trying to figure out the way back to camp. Rella wasn’t waiting at the exit for us, but I kind of expected that. What I didn’t expect was the group of Intensities waiting for us. They offered to help us, and Eon agreed. I didn’t. I tried to tell him not to. I still don’t trust them. Neither does Gabbie. A lot of us weren’t delighted by them, actually, but we were tired. Me and Gabbie were the only ones to really protest.
He should have listened to me. The Intensities threatened us with weapons. They told us to give them the treasure. He did. Eon just handed it over. All that he had, which was almost all of it. I have the ring. That’s all. He just gave it to them. The treasure we worked so hard for. The cause of all our struggles this month. The riches. The reason we came. The reason I was kidnapped. The reason we were kidnapped. He barely seems to mind. He just gave it to them.
Clearly, I am absolutely delighted with him. Completely, totally, absolutely, thoroughly delighted.
I am angry about the treasure. But what I am absolutely frumious over is that he trusted them. This wouldn’t have happened if he had listened. I TOLD him not to. Rella appointed both of us to lead the Survivalists until she got back. But he just went ahead. I didn’t trust the Intensities. I was right not to.
They say they’re taking us back to our camp. I still don’t trust them. I trust them even less now, in fact. I don’t think we should. But let’s see, what are the options? Either we try to find our way back ourselves, or we accept their help. If they don’t actually want to help us, if they have some evil plan for something to do with us, they won’t just let us go if we refuse. And if not, well, I guess they’ll help. I guess we don’t really have a choice. Oh, Thor, Odin, and Freyja, if the Intensities try to hurt us, I swear I will kill Eon. If the Intensities don’t beat me to it, that is.


Day 17
Rella instructed us to “Keep an eye on the goats.” I no longer have a goat, since Ophelia is still missing, presumed dead. (Presumed dead by me. Gabbie says she could still be just fine, and maybe we’ll find her on the way down, and no one else has said anything on the subject. I don’t exactly go around asking, “Do you think my goat is dead? She’s named after a tragic Shakespearian figure, which seems like a bad sign.”) Maybe this means I’ll help Gabbie keep an eye on Billy. (Okay, I just realized Gabbie says the goat is named William, just called Billy for short. Ophelia is from a play by William Shakespeare. Coincidence? I think not.)
(Okay, I do think it’s just a coincidence.)


HELP, I’M BEING EATEN ALIVE.
Seriously. There are mosquitoes everywhere, and they keep biting me. I’ve somehow managed to keep the big, weird ones away (I think I might be the only one they didn’t bite at least once), but I am covered in bites from the normal kind. (At least, I think they’re normal. They aren’t giant, and don’t seem to have any weird colors or anything.) It is so hard not to scratch them. I’ve put witch hazel in the bites, and shared it with a few other Survivalists, too.
We met some Intensities today. (Yes, that should be more notable than the mosquitoes. But as I am writing this, I am very, very itchy, and it is hard to think about anything else.) They didn’t do anything to us, fortunately. Obviously, I was absolutely delighted to see them. Completely over the moon. They were even more fun than the mosquitoes!
Yeahhh… The Intensities aren’t exactly my BFFs. I don’t think they’re any of our BFFs. Gabbie actually started yelling at them. I had to tell her to stop. I was worried that if she didn’t, they might attack her. That would be… bad. There would probably be enough Survivalists to stop anyone else from getting kidnapped or anything, but a fight could lead to injuries, and I don’t want anyone getting hurt. Well, I wouldn’t mind the Intensities getting hurt, as long as it wasn’t fatal or anything.
In other events, I saw a dragonfly almost as long as my arm, a plant that could be a corpse flower based on the smell, only I don’t remember what corpse flowers look like (I’ve never seen one in real life), and an orange lizard with yellow stripes.


Day 18
I`m so tiired. It is the middle of the night, basicly, and I cannot spell at 4 AM. Coffee is good.
Rella wants to talk to me, apparently.
Rella told me I could scout ahead, walking about 20 feet in front of the rest of the goatugh I’m too tired to write group. Almost everyone else has goats, who they will have to take care of, but since I don’t, I could do it. I didn’t have to, given my… shall we say, unfortunate encounter with the intensities, but I aggreed.

Nothing of note happened so far. Not writing more now. Time to sleep more. Still so tierd tired. Going tooi forgot how grammer GRAMMAR works sleep.

I slept. I am still tired, but after some more coffee, I am ready for the next 5 miles. I will still be scouting ahead, although hopefully no scouts will be necessary to avoid trouble.

I almost got kidnapped again. Yay.
I ran into 2 Intensities. One had a dagger, and the other had a club. I ran back to warn everyone else. Some of us grabbed sticks or rocks just in case they attacked, and we all grouped close, with our goats in the middle, for safety. There were way more of us than them, but unlike us, they had decent weapons and probably wouldn’t mind using them. We kept walking, giving the Intensities plenty of room, and they didn’t harm us.
My head does hurt, though. I banged it on a branch while running from them. Thanks to that branch, my forehead now has a large, painful lump on it, and it is hard to write in here because I am holding an ice pack to it (my head, not the branch) at the same time. Gabbie was worried, although I told her I would be perfectly fine in a few days, and she is displeased my me agreeing to scout ahead today. So, I guess I won’t be doing that tomorrow.


Day 19
I got to sleep until 10 today, which was both amazing and weird. I am not at all tired, and do not need any coffee (which is good, because coffee is bitter, and I don’t actually like what it tastes like.)
Apparently, we’re almost at the top. It will be nice to get the treasure (unless the Intensities get it first, or it turns out the “treasure” is just a bunchof junk). And it will be nice to go home, see Dracul and my mom, and not be under threat of kidnapping. But I will also miss adventuring, and I’ll miss Gabbie and the rest of the Survivalists.
Rella gave us weapons. Nothing fancy or anything, and they are only to be used if absolutely necessary. I got a club that looks suspiciously like a baseball bat.
Anyway, time for us to go.

Fortunately, the weapons weren’t necessary today. It did make me feel better to have one, even a simple one. Probably better that it wasn’t anything much, anyway. A sword would be awesome, but I might worry about accidentally stabbing someone with it, and I absolutely do not want a gun. (Also I have no idea how to use one.)
Today wasn’t actually that eventful, though we did climb a small cliff. It was only 10-15 feet high, and I honestly really enjoyed it. I was first to the top, though not by a lot. Several others were very close behind me, and it was hard to tell who got there first.
I think I’ll try telling spooky stories tonight, since for once, I’m not completely exhausted by the time we made camp. I would like to continue getting up at 10 AM. Or at least 9.


Day 20
Apparently we are going to be trained how to use our weapons. I’m not sure how much training goes in to using a club, but maybe there is some. Rella apparently has some “requirements” to deal with, which means we’ll have to find our way to this cave ourselves.

Rella instructed us to “not get lost”. So of course, we got lost.
She didn’t appoint anyone to lead us until she got back, like she did last time she had to leave for some reason, so things were kind of chaotic. No one knew who to turn to when we got lost, which lead to a while spent trying to figure out what in the cosmos (I’m still reading that Norse mythology book, and in Norse mythology there isn’t just one world) we should do. And then someone’s goat ran off, so we had to go chase after it. Fun.
We didn’t get to the cave until it was after 2 PM. Yeah, Rella was absolutely delighted that we got there more than 2 hours late.
The cave is pretty impressive, though. The first bit is pretty narrow, but it leads to a much larger room where we’ll be spending most of the time in (and where I’m in right now). It seems like a good place to stay the night. There’s plenty of room (this chamber is like the size of a small house). And it’s not right at the mouth, which gives us more shelter from weather, animals, and Intensities, but it isn’t very deep either, so we won’t get lost and could escape quickly if we had to. The cave goes back much further, and I’d like to explore it more. But not now, because apparently it’s time to practice fighting learn how to use the weapons.

Pretty much everyone else has some sort of knife, so I’m not sure why I got a baseball bat- I mean, “club”. I guess maybe Rella ran out of pocket knives. I didn’t get much in the way of training. Rella basically got as far as how I should grip the club before she had to run over to help some younger kid with their knife. She had to spend a while working with the little kids, actually, so some of us, including me, pretty much had to figure out the details of our weapons for ourselves.
Eventually, I got tired of practicing swinging my club at the air, and went and read some more of the Treasury of Norse Mythology. Rella wasn’t terribly pleased about that, either, when she noticed.


Day 21
Apparently we’re going to walk through mud in the rain. Doesn’t that sound like the absolute very most fun ever? More fun than anything in the entire universe?
But seriously, we’re supposed to get to the top today. Not looking for the treasure yet, but still. And there’s going to be a big bird migration, according to Rella. So that should be cool, at least. We’re also supposed to tell Rella if we see any Intensities, which I’ve been doing anyway, but okay.

Today I did not stay clean, drown in quicksand, find Ophelia, or get kidnapped. So, based on that, today was pretty average.
But we are basically at the top. There’s just a small(ish) cliff between us and the very peak of the mountain. We’re staying in a cave that is built in to that cliff.
The birds were spectacular. There were so many of them, and they just kept coming. Sometimes it would seem like that was all of them, but then another flock would follow. They really filled the sky. Me and Gabbie found a ledge about 5 feet above the ground, and about 20 feet away from the next nearest Survivalist, to watch it from. We briefly played a round of “Name-The-Birds,” which is where we would point at a bird and give it the first name that popped into our head. The names I remember were Birdy, Caramel, Emily, Charles, and Sir Flappy. But most of the time, we just sat there, staring at the birds. It was getting dark by the time the last of the birds finally left.
We set up camp in the cave. I’m writing this from my tent. Rella says she’ll tell us what’s going on with the treasure hunt tomorrow.
I think something’s going on with one of the other Survivalists. The other one that was kidnapped. Eon. I just don’t see him much. That doesn’t sound strange, but I saw him leaving his tent yesterday night when I was going out to check on I don’t remember what. I didn’t think much of it, though, because I was tired and only half-paying attention. I don’t think he saw me. I also don’t think he likes me very much. The other day, I saw him give me this… look. Maybe it’s that he was kidnapped looking for me.
The campfire is set up, and I’m being called over to go tell scary stories. It turns out I’m good at that. I don’t make the plots up, they’re out of books. I think tonight I might tell them a summarized version of The Graveyard Book. I’m not sure if that will be spooky enough, but it does have ghosts in it. (Nice ghosts, but still.) Maybe Coraline would be better?

We set up camp in the cave. I’m writing this from my tent. Rella says she’ll tell us what’s
going on with the treasure hunt tomorrow.
I think something’s going on with one of the other Survivalists. The other one that was
kidnapped. Eon. I just don’t see him much. That doesn’t sound strange, but I saw him leaving
his tent yesterday night when I was going out to check on I don’t remember what. I didn’t
think much of it, though, because I was tired and only half-paying attention. I don’t think he
saw me. I also don’t think he likes me very much. The other day, I saw him give me this…
look. Maybe it’s that he was kidnapped looking for me.
The campfire is set up, and I’m being called over to go tell scary stories. It turns out I’m
good at that. I don’t make the plots up, they’re out of books. I think tonight I might tell them
a summarized version of The Graveyard Book. I’m not sure if that will be spooky enough,
but it does have ghosts in it. (Nice ghosts, but still.) Maybe Coraline would be better?

Day 22
Apparently I’m going to go scouting with Rella and Eon. So that will be… Interesting? Maybe, or maybe it will be boring. Who knows. Well, anyone who can see the future might know. Most of the Norse gods can.

I am back from scouting, and sitting in my tent back at camp. We didn’t really find anything, but at least we ruled out several places where the treasure isn’t. We climbed trees, explored caves, Well, we did find something, but it has nothing to do with treasure. I disturbed a colony of bats. We were checking a cave for treasure, so I walked into this one chamber of it. As soon as I did, a ton of bats started flying everywhere. We all ran out of the cave, which didn’t seem to have any treasure in it, anyway. The bats weren’t hurting anyone, and I think they’re really cool, but it is not a pleasant experience to be stuck in the middle of an agitated flock of them.
What if the bats were guarding the treasure?
I don’t really think they were. I got a good enough look around that cave to know there was no treasure there. But that would be pretty cool, having bats guard treasure.
Oh, I think maybe tonight I will tell a story of my own invention. Giant, treasure-guarding bats.
Gabbie greeted me when we got back, asked if I had done anything interesting, and told me all about her day. Apparently she was told to look for food, which she did, and then gave me a very detailed description of it that was filled with tangents. Her hair is braided today. This and the 19th are the only days she did, I guess because most of the time there isn’t time to. I always braid mine, but she has so many little braids, it must take forever. They do look cool, though.
Obviously I don’t go off on tangents at all. Not even the tiniest of ones. Nope, not me, not at all. Clearly.
I actually have a decent amount of free time here. I guess I’ll read some Norse myths, and then just hang out until dinnertime, and scary stories.

Okay, I just finished reading the Treasury of Norse Mythology. So… I guess I’m back to writing in here. Yeah. So, the worlds ended, and then they un-ended. In the book, I mean, not for real. Why did they all fight in Ragnarok if they knew how it was going to end? (It ended with most of them dying, and the worlds getting destroyed.) And what happened to the goddesses? Were they just killed by some random giant, and that wasn’t important enough to talk about?
I’m confused.
Yep, I don’t go off on tangents AT ALL. No, I’ve NEVER gone off on any tangents, especially not when writing in here.
There has got to be something more interesting to do than write in here about my thoughts on the battle of Ragnarok.


Day 23
Apparently things are going better with the Intensities. Which is good, because I really don’t want to be kidnapped again.
We’re going to be looking for the entrance of the treasure vault. I’m not sure what exactly it’s supposed to look like. Maybe it’s a “we’ll know it when we see it” thing.
I suggested we should check that one cave again, the one with the bats. We left so quickly after the bat storm, there might have been something there that we hadn’t noticed before. And I think I saw the entrance to another chamber in the bat room.

We tried the bat cave again. We were more careful this time, so the bats did’t go crazy right away this time, but they still started flying around a lot. There doesn’t seem to be any treasure in the cave. There was and entrance to another chamber, like I thought, but that dead-ended pretty quickly.
On the way back to meet up with the others, we ran in to a pair of Intensities. Some of the others started chatting with them. I guess Gabbie’s still mad, because even though she rarely stops talking, she just glared at them the whole time. I’m still wary of them, too.

No one else found anything, either, although Rella thinks one of the caves she checked seems more suspicious. But it sounds like it’s hard to access some of the chambers, so I’m not sure how someone would have gotten treasure into there. We might be investigating it further tomorrow, with more caving gear.
In unimportant events today, I stepped in bat poop. I took my boots off because of it. My feet are sore, too, which is not the fault of the bats. Bat guano is apparently good fertilizer, but I don’t think my hiking boots need to be fertilized.
I’m not sure what we’ll be doing tomorrow. Some of the new clues point to the one cave, too. (Not the bat one.) That cave apparently has a lot of tight squeezes and climbs in the dark. Yeah, that should be a pleasant little stroll.


Day 24
We are in fact going to investigate that cave more. It’s called Gasher’s Cave, apparently. The other cave I am just calling “the bat cave.” It (Gasher’s Cave, not Bat Cave) sounds pretty dangerous. Rella says we won’t die, which isn’t actually that reassuring. It means it occurred to her that we might think we could die.
I am leaving my Norse mythology book here at camp (it sounds pretty stupid bringing it), but I will bring this journal with. Actually, no, I’m taking the book with. I’m not sure if we’ll come back to this camp at all.

Oh, spelunking went great. Just great. Absolutely wonderful. Lovely little trip.
I wish.
We almost got lost in the cave several times, and had to keep doubling back. There are not any bats in this cave. I much prefer the swarms of bats. There were some cool stalagmites and stalagtites stalactites, but it was hard to appreciate them. We didn’t find any treasure, either. There’s some creepy story about an explorer, and rumors of a monster somewhere inside. So that makes being stuck here even more fun.
Yeah, we’re trapped. We were in this one dark cavern, and we fell down into a… I don’t know, another chamber or something. I’m all wet now, as well as sore. I’m all scratched up, and covered in bruises.
I don’t know how we’re going to get out.
On the bright side, there’s some ancient-looking cave art on the wall. It looks like pictures of stylized stick figures, honestly. I read a book on early humans once, and I remember finding it interesting. I wish I remembered more of the actual book.
Speaking of which, is that a skeleton over there?
Yes, it’s a skeleton. But it looks ancient, too. Maybe it’s the fossil of some early human, a species predating Homo Sapiens. Maybe it’s a new species. Maybe we’ve just made a major discovery. Maybe we won’t live to tell anyone about it, and will end up as skeletons, too, trapped in this cave until some other explorer visits and marvels at these ancient finds.
I, um, don’t think any of us are in the mood for scary stories. That’s just what we need, more things to be scared of. If we want any stories, I guess I could read some Norse myths to the group. But I doubt anyone will be in the mood for those, either.
If only one of us could shapeshift, or had a flying chariot pulled by goats or cats.
Wait, where are all the goats, anyway? We brought them into the cave with us, but they don’t seem to be down here.


Day 25
I’m pretty sure it’s the 25th. I mean, yesterday was the 24th. Only maybe it’s still the 24th, or maybe 2 days have passed and today is the 26th. Okay, I’m going with day 25. I’m pretty sure that’s right. I really don’t know what time it is. None of us do. Rella thinks it’s 5 in the morning, because she feels rested. 5 isn’t the morning, and I’m tired, but not nearly as much as I would be if it were 5. I think it’s more like 7. But who knows how late it was when we went to sleep.
Forget the time. Here’s what Rella said the marks on the wall said, so I don’t forget: “The one that keeps fighting, the one with balanced light. It will be found if one keeps writing even when out of sight.” (I asked Rella, to make sure I had it right.) I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean, but maybe I should keep writing in this journal? That’s kind of what it sounds like.
Me and Gabbie decided we’ll take turns having our flashlights on, so it would take longer for our batteries to run out.
Before we left the chamber we camped in, I said goodbye to the skeleton. I’m sure I looked and sounded ridiculous. But if this skeleton has been here so long, I’d imagine it gets lonely. Except it’s dead, so it can’t get lonely. That’s why I said I’d imagine. I don’t think it actually gets lonely. The skeleton didn’t follow us. It’s missing all its muscles, so it can’t exactly move. Also it’s dead. Hopefully we won’t end up like it: Dead skeletons, sitting in a cave to spook future explorers. This is reminding me of The Graveyard Book. Well, we will all die at some point. We aren’t gods. And the Norse gods can die. Most of the Norse gods did die in the myths.
I am SO cheerful and optimistic.
At least we’re getting closer to the treasure, according to Rella. But will we be able to get the treasure out of here, even if we find it? Will we even be able to get ourselves out of here?

We did not find any treasure. We did not get out of here. But at least no one died. We are now camping in one of the safest-seeming caverns, although we still have no idea about the time. We also haven’t solved the riddle, or even found the place with the 4 chambers.
There’s something about this tunnel up ahead… it looks like it could have multiple tunnels or something coming off of it… I’d better investigate. I am not going to just go off on my own, though, since that’s how I got captured by the Intensities. It could be nothing, though, and we’re all tired. I don’t want to bother anyone. I know, I could ask Gabbie if she wants to come. She doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to, and if she doesn’t want to then we’ll just stay here.
Gabbie agreed to come with me. We’re going to investigate. I tore a page out of this journal and wrote a note on it, in case we take a while to come back and the other Survivalists notice us missing.

There are multiple chambers leading off of this tunnel… but which is the right one? And are there 4? It’s hard to tell. We can’t see very far, since we just have our flashlights. I also have a little booklight, for reading and writing after dark, but that doesn’t do much good. We’re going to look around.
There’s some more cave art on this wall here. It looks to me like 2 groups of people fighting. “The one that keeps fighting”, maybe?
We’d better go back and get the others.

Rella has been told, but almost everyone is already asleep. We probably won’t look at that tunnel more for a few hours or so. Rella says she’s going to go check it out herself tonight.
In other news, my head hurts. We were heading back to tell the other Survivalists what we’d found. There were these weird sounds coming from down one of the chambers. Maybe it was some monster, or maybe it was just the cave doing weird things to the wind. Either way, it sounded creepy, so me and Gabbie rushed back. And I managed to trip over something in the mostly-dark (we just had our flashlights), and fall. I hit my head pretty hard. I’m not seriously injured, but it really hurts at the moment. I also feel pretty stupid about the whole thing. We’re on a big adventure, and I manage to hurt myself in some of the most mundane ways possible.


Day 26
We are going to go into the chamber. Rella thinks I’m right, and that it is what the riddle was talking about. She told us that she found the chamber room, “with the help of a certain Survivalist”. She never said who the “certain Survivalist” was, and I’m glad. If I’m wrong, and this gets anyone killed, everyone is going to hate me. Also I’ll feel bad for getting them killed, of course. It’s not like it would be a huge loss if they hated me, though. I only have 1 friend here.
It sounds like it’s going to be pretty dangerous, though. So hopefully, whether or not me and Rella are right about that being the right chamber, no one dies.

Well, no one died! Yay!
That’s a pretty low bar, honestly. “Hooray! No one died!” But that’s basically the best thing about this. We all made it through it. The room was filled with traps, and we were all nearly killed several times. Let’s see… there was the falling block… the arrows… the crushing walls… the pit… It was kind of ridiculous. And honestly, why would someone hide treasure back there? If they wanted to get it back, they’d have to go through all their own traps. And what good is treasure doing if no one can do anything with it?
Yeah, we all survived. I guess we are called the Survivalists, so it would be ironic if we didn’t. None of us have any potentially-fatal wounds, either. So that’s all good. You know, this would be a good place for Ophelia to die. Not that I wish death on my goat. Besides, she probably found it elsewhere, anyway. I wonder what exactly happened to her.
No one died, but we’re all in worse shape than we were before we went through that room. Some of us are just filthy, but there were several injuries. I was just helping tend to some of them. Gabbie broke 2 ribs dodging one of the things. When I first asked her if she was okay, she said it hurt but we’d better keep going. According to her, she thought it was just a bruise. I meant to check as soon as we got out of the Chamber of Doom (Doom Room?), but so much happened during that, I honestly forgot. No one seemed to have any urgent injuries, so we went down the tunnel that followed the Doom Room right away. I took care of her first once we set up camp, and I’ve done what I can now, and she’ll heal. It’s only a few broken ribs, and she’s strong. But still, I feel bad for not doing something earlier.
She says not to worry about it, and points out that I was pretty banged up myself by the time we got out of the Doom Room. I wonder if the world heard what I wrote in here yesterday, about me managing to hurt myself in the most mundane ways possible, and thought I meant I wanted to be hurt in a more interesting way. If so, I didn’t. Got it, world?
I didn’t break any bones, but I’m covered in cuts from arrows. Most of them are very shallow, but one on my leg is pretty deep. I quickly bandaged that one as soon as we got out of the Doom Room. I’ve cleaned all of them out now. I also have large bruises on my shoulder and cheek.
Yeah, today was nothing interesting. Just another nice little walk.
I am tired now, and I’m wasting flashlight batteries writing this. We still don’t know what time it is, but a lot of us are going to sleep now. I’ll try to sleep now too. I’m sure I’ll need rest for tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow will be less painful than today.


Day 29
They took Rella. I barely saw it happen. I woke up to her yelling. Apparently me and Eon are in charge now. We are in charge and we need to find the treasure. Everyone is panicked and confused, and no one knows what to do.
She was kidnapped by an Intensity, it sounds like. I don’t know the details. I don’t know what they looked like. There are rumors about it already, but no one really knows. It was dark. It is still dark.
I don’t know how I am supposed to lead everyone. Co-lead. Eon will be leading too. Everyone is panicked and confused, and they’re asking me and Eon what to do. I don’t know what to do.
We will split them up into groups to search. Me and Eon will each lead a group, and there will be 3 others. Eon and I appointed leaders for each group. 1 will be led by a kid named Lynn, the other by one named Rowan. Gabbie suggested Rowan, actually. Apparently Rowan were the Survivalist who was there when Gabbie found me, who helped Gabbie find me. I had Gabbie lead the other. I would rather have her stay with me, but I trust her more than I trust anyone else here. I also had some doubts about her leading because of her broken ribs. I talked to Gabbie about it. She says she’d be happy to do it. She told me to stay safe, and I told her the same thing. We laughed, because this whole thing was basically the opposite of safe. We laughed, but it wasn’t funny.
IS it the 29th? Or the 27th? The 28th? The 30th? I don’t know. It doesn’t matter right now. We have to go. I am wasting time writing in here. We are leaving now. We will find the treasure. We will get Rella back. And no one is going to die. I hope.

We found the treasure. We found it. And no one died. We still need to get out of here with it. And save Rella. And then get home. Without anyone dying. We can do this. We have to do this.
Me and Eon forgot to come up with a means of communication, to figure out what to do if a team found the treasure. So apparently a pair of kids just went around, running through the catacombs and yelling about it. That could have gone very, very badly (they could have added 2 more skeletons to this cave), but everything somehow worked out. They found Gabbie and her group (or maybe it was the other way around), and then they all found the others, and we were all led back to the treasure. I’m surprised those kids were able to find their way back to it, but they did.
There were some more bones near where the chest was hidden,, which made us all feel nice and cozy. Yeah, they were such nice, cheerful decorations. Luckily Lynn isn’t at all scared of skeletons.
And then there it was. An old chest, filled with treasure. It’s what you’d think of as treasure: gold coins, gems, crowns, jewelry, all that. Eon didn’t want to take it. The rest of us insisted. I mean, this is what we came for. We weren’t going to just leave it here. It would be one thing if we were just climbing this mountain for the fun of it, and happened to come across a treasure chest (although we probably would have insisted then, too), but this was why we came. Why we climbed this mountain. Why Gabbie broke her ribs. Why I was kidnapped. Why Ophelia the goat got lost and maybe died (though with a name like that, she was doomed to suffer a tragic death anyway). Why Rella was just taken. Yes, we need to get her back. But she wouldn’t want us to just leave the treasure here.
Eon is carrying the treasure now. He’s the oldest and biggest of us, so I guess it made sense. A few of the Survivalists (mostly the little ones) grabbed bits of it. Mostly just a few coins or gems that they pocketed, but one put a crown on her head. Gabbie slipped me a ring. It’s gold, with these little markings around it. It’s pretty, as well as very valuable. It was nice of her.

Eon gave it to the Intensities. All the treasure he had. They were threatening us, and he just gave it up, no argument. The treasure we had worked so hard to get.
Let me back up.
We found our way out of the cave. We started trying to figure out the way back to camp. Rella wasn’t waiting at the exit for us, but I kind of expected that. What I didn’t expect was the group of Intensities waiting for us. They offered to help us, and Eon agreed. I didn’t. I tried to tell him not to. I still don’t trust them. Neither does Gabbie. A lot of us weren’t delighted by them, actually, but we were tired. Me and Gabbie were the only ones to really protest.
He should have listened to me. The Intensities threatened us with weapons. They told us to give them the treasure. He did. Eon just handed it over. All that he had, which was almost all of it. I have the ring. That’s all. He just gave it to them. The treasure we worked so hard for. The cause of all our struggles this month. The riches. The reason we came. The reason I was kidnapped. The reason we were kidnapped. He barely seems to mind. He just gave it to them.
Clearly, I am absolutely delighted with him. Completely, totally, absolutely, thoroughly delighted.
I am angry about the treasure. But what I am absolutely frumious over is that he trusted them. This wouldn’t have happened if he had listened. I TOLD him not to. Rella appointed both of us to lead the Survivalists until she got back. But he just went ahead. I didn’t trust the Intensities. I was right not to.
They say they’re taking us back to our camp. I still don’t trust them. I trust them even less now, in fact. I don’t think we should. But let’s see, what are the options? Either we try to find our way back ourselves, or we accept their help. If they don’t actually want to help us, if they have some evil plan for something to do with us, they won’t just let us go if we refuse. And if not, well, I guess they’ll help. I guess we don’t really have a choice. Oh, Thor, Odin, and Freyja, if the Intensities try to hurt us, I swear I will kill Eon. If the Intensities don’t beat me to it, that is.



Day 30
Wow… it’s been… a lot. You could say the day was intense. Ha ha ha.
The Intensities brought us safely back to our camp. Rella was, in fact, there. The thing is, she wasn’t just sitting around waiting, and she wasn’t alone. The leader of the Intensities (whose name is apparently Lipa) was there, and she had Rella tied up. They were arguing. Rella was yelling at her.
Rella was mad about us giving the treasure to the Intensities. “YOU GAVE THEM THE TREASURE?!?” I really felt like telling Eon “I told you so.”
It sounds like Rella knows Lipa well. Like they used to be friends. She’s been keeping secrets from us. But then, it’s not like I ever asked. And this does explain how she knew about the Intensities. I never wondered how.
All of us were mad at Eon. The first thing I said, once I managed to talk, was actually telling Eon I told him so. “See?! I TOLD you we shouldn’t! I TOLD you we couldn’t trust them! I KNEW we shouldn’t give them the treasure!” Lots of others joined in. He barely argued.
Rella said the Intensities are evil. They said they aren’t. Lipa said Rella makes us do her dirty work. That’s not true. Rella does a lot of work herself. Most of the Intensities sided with Lipa, most of the Survivalists with Rella. Not all of them, though. A few Intensities seemed to be on Rella’s side, and vice versa. It was chaos. Rella got herself untied. Me and several others kept yelling at Eon.
It was Rowan who eventually managed to really do anything. They climbed up on top of a boulder, and yelled (somehow loud enough to be heard over everything) “HEY! I HAVE AN IDEA ABOUT THE TREASURE!!!”
The idea was that we just share it. Half and half. This led to more yelling. “We can’t SHARE it!” was the main reaction from almost everyone. “We found it! WE should get it!” said some of the Survivalists. “They’ll use it for evil!” Rella said. “We already have it! Why should we give you half?” some of the Intensities pointed out. I didn’t love the idea of sharing, either, but half of the treasure seemed better than none. Although we didn’t quite have none. Some of us had little bits in our pockets.
Almost everyone was really not a fan of this idea, but a few of us started muttering about it, debating.
And then the Intensities came up with another compromise. Not all of them agreed to it, and it wasn’t a very good one. One of the ones holding the treasure said, “We’ll give you like a fifth of the treasure.” This led to more yelling and protests. “Which is still worth a lot. AND we’ll let you go ride off in your helicopter.” Some people seemed to think this was a pretty good deal. I didn’t, really. “Why should we give them ANY treasure?” another Intensity demanded. “WE have it! We don’t have to share ANY!” “WE found it!” some Survivalists argued. “It’s OUR treasure! We should get ALL of it!” The Intensity who had offered that compromise said, “Okay, okay, we can talk about it more. First, let’s pay these Survivalists for their help getting it.” And they handed each of us a coin. Some of the Intensities started to yell more. Some of the Survivalists yelled that this wasn’t enough. Lipa was yelling at her Intensities not to share. Rella was yelling at her Survivalists to take it all. Some people thought we should just take what we had and escape in the helicopter, and others said we should take all the treasure and escape the helicopter. Then someone realized the helicopter wasn’t even here.
It was supposed to be here by now, according to Rella. Or was it? How long had we been in that cave? Had it not been as long as we thought, and the helicopter hadn’t arrived yet? Or had it been way longer, and it had arrived, but the pilot got tired of waiting and left? I didn’t know. I don’t think anyone knew, except maybe the pilot.
Some of us tried to figure out what had happened to the helicopter, or what to do now, while others kept arguing and yelling. I did both, which meant I didn’t really figure anything out. It was chaos. It had been chaos for a while, and it didn’t seem like it was going to stop being chaos any time soon. I don’t know how long we were there, yelling, fighting, angry, confused.
Then we heard a helicopter. People looked up, pointing towards the sky. I don’t know why the helicopter wasn’t here before, but it was now. It was coming down, about to land on the mountain, about 50 feet away from the nearest of us.
For a moment, everyone quieted down. Then a Survivalist said that this was our chance, that now we could grab the treasure and run away. And so there was more yelling and fighting and arguing and chaos, maybe even more than before. I think someone tried to actually steal the treasure back the Intensities. Then people started actually physically fighting. Lots of us had weapons, but the Intensities had better ones. I didn’t want to fight. I didn’t want a battle. Lots of people, both Survivalists and Intensities, were yelling at everyone to stop, to not hurt each other. It just added to the chaos. I could barely see what was going on. Even if I wanted to fight, I didn’t have any weapons. I had my baseball bat “club”, but it was in my bag and I couldn’t get it. Gabbie had a knife, but she lost it in the chaos.
I had the chance to wonder what the pilot was doing, why they weren’t doing anything. Maybe they were smart enough not to get in the way of whatever was going on. Some of the Survivalists ran for the helicopter, and I think they were let in. That meant there was someone in the helicopter capable of letting people into it, someone who could try to help.
Then I was being pulled toward the helicopter. The doors to it were open, and I was pushed inside. There were others sitting there already. Gabbie was there. Rowan was there, but running back out. I think Rowan was the one who brought me in. I’m not sure.
There was more chaos outside. I didn’t know what was going on. I still don’t know, exactly. But eventually, all the Survivalists ended up back inside. 2 of them, Lynn and another whose name I don’t know, had a lot of treasure. Nowhere near all of it, maybe not even half. But it was at least a third of it, which is still a lot.
Rella was one of the last to get on. I saw her talking to Lipa out the window before that. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but no one seemed to be yelling, which is a good sign. I wonder if they’ve made up. I don’t think I’m the only one. No one has asked, at least not yet. Rella’s been really quiet the whole flight, but then, a lot of us have. I think we’re all tired and confused.
Yes, we’re flying back down now. Everyone is here, all the Survivalists and the goats. I’m not sure where the goats came from, or how they ended up on here There’s also 1 Intensity that somehow ended up on board. I don’t know how they got here, either. They’re just sitting, staring out the window. They just shrugged when someone asked what they were doing here, and said, “Do you mind if I just stay here?”
Ophelia is sitting next to them. Apparently the Intensities found her, and a few decided to keep her as a pet. I don’t know if Lipa is evil or not. But some of the Intensities seem okay. I still don’t trust them, but it sounds like they aren’t all evil.
I don’t know what will happen next. Maybe the Intensities will make friends with the Survivalists Maybe I will go on more adventures. I will miss adventuring. But I need a break now. I’m looking forward to going home. To seeing Dracul, and my mom. I miss them. I miss home. I miss the library. I will also miss Gabbie, though, when I get home. I’ll miss Rella, too, honestly, and Ophelia. (I think the Intensity will be keeping her.) But I will miss Gabbie the most. I don’t know if I’ll see her again. Even with all her chatting, she never said where she lives. I know she lives in the suburbs, in a boring-looking gray house that is at least nice and big, and has 4 bedrooms and a recently-remodeled kitchen. But I don’t know what suburbs. I just realized, I don’t think she ever even told me her last name.
I can ask her. There is still time.
That’s not the only thing there’s still time for, I guess. There is still time to apologize to Eon. Not for yelling at him over the giving-the-treasure-to-the-Intensities thing. I’m not sorry for that. Apologize for being the reason he was kidnapped. I could apologize. Well, in theory, anyway. But can I really? Do I want to, really? We’re going to land before too long, anyway. Maybe there isn’t really time. I’m tired, maybe too tired to do it. Okay, now I’m just making excuses. This is getting ridiculous.

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Closing this before the ST does - we'll create a new writing sharing thread for next session <3