It was still night when my eyes opened, and I realized just how stupid I'd been to have gone to sleep here, like this, next to a creature that could have easily made a ton of noise, even if it had been restrained.
The feeling was followed by knowing how lucky I'd been. They could have come up to me without realizing it, I had no watch, I was basically unarmed, god - gods, I was going to have to work that out. Doing this alone was absolutely not good for me. Finding Rachel at some point would be essential. I was far too heavy a sleeper.
I looked over at the prisoner, who hadn't moved at all during the night. I got up carefully and approached it, leaning in close to see if it was still alive. It was, in fact, still alive.
...Why the hell had I taken this thing prisoner? It's not like it was going to communicate with me. All I'd done was waste my time and make things more dangerous. I grabbed at the club and raised it. I stared at the creature, bile rising in my throat as I did. What the hell was this feeling? Was it because it was humanoid? The thought of killing this comatose, unarmed creature was suddenly sodisgusting to me. I scowled, and lowered my arms. Fuck. Fuck. This is not how I should be. I was calm, collected, cool, and I'd already dealt with the violence here. Why was this suddenly so damn hard?
I turned around and fumed at myself as I walked away, getting some water from the well. I ignored the corpse of the other creature, still grossed out by it and now contending with feelings of guilt. I needed to focus. I just started moving this morning and I'm already fraying. Maybe I should have waited another day before coming in here.
Moving on should be my priority. Explore for supplies, and just be merciless against creatures I encounter. I couldn't afford to be anything less. I'd died twice in this damned labyrinth, and there was no guarantee that would continue to allow me to come back. I fished my my last potato out of the bag, but thought better of it, with me feeling this queasy. No, I needed to make a decision. The fake breeze sang through this portion of the city, and that unnerved me even more. This many buildings should block any kind of breeze, but with this unreal one coming through, the labyrinth's environment pressed on me more, reminding me that this place simply wasn't fully correct.
Arriving before the creature didn't take long. 'Goblin' couldn't be the right term, right? Goblins were green, and not furry, and smaller than this. Shaking my head, I forced myself to look at the thing. It lay motionless against the structure, awaiting my judgement on it without the chance to acquit itself. Sure, it'd tried to kill me, but did that give me the right to be judge, jury, executioner of it? Or was that logic fundamentally flawed? If this thing didn't have enough intelligence - sapience - should the idea of an animal be applied? Do I treat it like a particularly dangerous dolphin, or octopus?
Wolves were social, communicated, worked in packs, and we treated them as animals. It was downright unfair, wrong of me to ascribe special status to this thing because it was bipedal. Bears often stood on two legs. Birds were bipeds. No, I had to get it through my thick skull that these things were not friends, not allies. Making sure I could kill these things without hesitation was not only essential to succeed here, but also integral to who I would become. What this thing was shouldn't matter, because there was a foe I would have to face.
Could I kill Nathan? If I had him prisoner here, unrepentant and hateful? A bandit? An enemy soldier? Who knows where my life was going to take me here.
I resisted the urge to scream, knowing that it would attract far too much attention, all of which would be unwanted. I needed a pillow to grip, some way to vent this anger, but I had nothing except what was in front of me, and what I had to do.
I squatted down in front of the creature, taking a good look at it. If I was going to do this, be this, then I would face it head on, nightmares and guilt be damned. Jesus, I missed my therapist already.
The creature sat serenely in front of me, unmoving, its face a mask of almost innocence, were it not for the violent wounds struck upon it. Just hours ago it had been fighting against me, a fight for its life, a fight it lost. I leaned forward and whispered at it. "Sorry."
Something made me wait a moment. I reached my hand forward and placed it in front of its face. My hand only felt the air, and risking it, I reached forward and touched its cheek. Cold and unresponsive. A look down to its chest for a few moments turned my existential angst into a confused catharsis of amusement.
The stupid thing had gone and died while I'd dithered away about what to fucking do with it. I had to suppress my laughter, which could not be held back completely. A couple of mad giggles escaped me anyway. My emotions were whirling about and I spent several moments staring up at the bright, blue sky before slapping my cheeks.
"Okay. You've moped enough, girl." I picked myself up, physically and emotionally, and started to move carefully through the ruins again. I made sure to check out every building I could. Most of them were still bereft of anything useful, but I did begin to find hints of useful things. Damaged cookware, torn clothes and bags, and other such almost-usable items crossed my path more and more often. It was slowing me, but worth it, in case I found anything actually useful.
The city (this place was way too big to be a town) continued onward and turned from the loose, standalone buildings into more tightly-packed structures, more like apartments, but lacking the uniformity they offered. Many of them were still empty, but the density of the buildings was going to slow me down considerably.
Over the course of several hours, I made two trips back to the well from before, just to stay hydrated, but now my stomach was rumbling. Finding food, or the end of this place soon, was important. As I returned from my most recent trip, I put my hands on my hips and stared at the nearby buildings. Things were getting more and more complete as I went, and I didn't have the resources to keep checking everything. So, the best thing to do would be to simply skip a section until I find better places to loot. My RPG game brain hated me for it, but my RPG game brain also didn't have to deal with the damn growling from my stomach.
So, I continued on. I tramped past the buildings, stomping down my irritation.
Again, the sun was setting on my progress. My stomach rumbled louder now, and it was clear I was approaching the city center, though I hadn't made it quite yet. A large castle-like building had begun to loom above different buildings in front of me, and the streets were becoming labyrinthine and difficult to navigate. I began to wonder about settling down and resting before I finally saw something that looked interesting.
In front of a building, perhaps a large government-type thing, there was an actual banner. The design on the front of it was far too deteriorated to see, but the golds and greens were intact enough to make it seem like this might be a jackpot of a find. Tempering excitement with caution, I slunk forward towards the door. I hadn't seen any of those humanoids, and if the fact that they'd been by the well was any indication, they would probably be here too.
Nothing assaulted me as I approached the building, and a quick test of the front door indicated it was unlocked. Light was fading from the day, so whatever I was going to do here, I needed to get it done. The door opened and I stepped inside.
The initial room that greeted me was a decent entry hall. Painting frames hung on the walls, bereft of any sort of painting inside them. Though this place was the most intact building so far, it's not like it was in great condition. Doors lined the walls on either side of me, with one dominating the end of the hallway, and there was a rickety stairway near the end of it that promised another floor to explore. Unsure initially where to start, I reasoned that I should simply just check everything as I go. With new resolve, I opened the door immediately to my right and stepped inside.
"Score!" I let out, a little too loudly. Inside there were two of the treasure chests that I'd seen before, and I rushed up to them. The rest of the room seemed pretty simple, maybe it had been some sort of dressing or waiting room once? It made sense, being near the entrance. Coat hangers, hat hooks, and low, destroyed benches decorated the chamber, but those really didn't speak to me more than just my cursory glance around the room. Giddy, I quickly chose the left chest, opening it excitedly. It was unlocked, and inside the thing was a little bag. I could tell it was magical, and picking it up let me feel that there was liquid inside. Checking out the side opposite what I had seen before, I found what I was looking for - a drinking spout. This was a waterskin!
My senses told me whatever enchantment this thing had on it was similar to my boots, or Nathan's axe. How that worked, I had no idea, but at the moment, that was less important than what was inside this thing. I opened it up and sniffed at it. Nothing really stood out to me, so I poured a little out on my hand. Water! Beautiful, life-giving water. I could finally stop worrying (as much) about my distance from the last source of drinkable water. I greedily took some drinks from it before placing it one of my bags. Now, all I needed was something to alleviate my hunger. I looked hopefully at the chest next to me, and opened it up.
Unfortunately, instead of getting a bite to eat, it tried to bite and eat me.