18 First Step

The suns were up high at the peak where all three aligned while we ran among the golden four-meter-long grass trying to escape the oncoming danger. Around a week ago, two alphas had met and fought. Because of that, a stampede occurred.

The results when everything was over: fifty students were trampled to death.

My attitude to this was unmitigated dissatisfaction.

They reduced the amount to seven hundred and fifty-six, later again it fell to merely seven hundred and forty. Well, the numbers seemed to be reluctant in shrinking; perhaps these children were fortuitous or were adequately trained.

We were on the move constantly to get away from the alphas and their fight, plus the other students we avoided instead of confronting.

I taught them a few things: for example, the girl to be better bait. She had a foundation taught by her family but – erm – what sort of "bait" is so incompetent?

While the girl was quick and easily manoeuvring, moving at speeds up to two hundred kmh, her agility was somewhat lacking.

Wow, I'm sure with age she will be quicker. The image of her being a cheetah filled my mind after all. The only thing is that she ran at her fastest for over three minutes. The need to sacrifice her as bait in a pinch was drifting further and further away.

If I can't sacrifice her in the near future, I'd probably need to find other meat shields. Eyes narrowing, I thought of gathering some stray students. After the winter, would probably be the best time.

They would be first starving, and in need of clothing as well. During that time, I can rope the little meat shields in to be of use later.

A smile covering my face behind the helmet, I dashed through the tall grass.

Light on our feet, we avoided the snakes and creatures that looked like raptors.

If it was not for the training those years ago, I'd probably be one of those screaming females that didn't exactly know how she died.

Now though, I was slashing and storing whatever I killed, even some of the grass because it was extremely thick and able to repel the water from those who followed along, falling every now and again.

"Again, don't forget to pluck as much of the grass as possible,"

"Sure."

"Alright."

They echoed respectively. The grass would be good to stuff on the inside of the home I wanted to build.

"Hey, will we be running for another day?" 

I turned my gaze to the girl. She was already tired, and it was only the second day, so she really was like a cheetah: all that speed and no endurance. Pfft. Useless.

The boy was behind, moving without complaints, maintaining a steady pace that made me think how useful he was.

So maybe I'm biased to these two. Sigh. Those new meat shields need to arrive.

"We need to find a few trees; this area is good. We have not had any students following or felt the aftershock from the alphas. On the other hand, during the winter the grass will still be present and the ground will be warm, the trees here also store warmth enough to last the winter months, so this will help us. Mmmm. We just need to check the prey we had caught. I have to finish the suits and helmets, shoes…"

The list seems to be remarkably long.

" How do you know the golden grass?" the girl, Wincu, questioned.

It was obvious, on that island it was tougher, and I had come upon this very grass before. Wherever they grew, the bright golden grass, when there was enough heat, would emit a sort of glow after trapping the heat, which was accumulated from the suns, deep into its roots. The root would thus swell around twenty times its breadth from the accumulated solar energy.

My mom had explained this, but my conclusion was simply that there were nutrients to be slowly digested during the times of the freeze or simply cold.

Anyway, to keep ourselves warm we just needed to pad the house. We will build with it on the inside.

"I had been taught about many plants from a young age," I explained.

"Mmm, you seem to be more and more fascinating," the girl replied, while I saw the first set of trees nearby. These were not as big as the one we had been in, even though it was, nevertheless, good enough for the time.

The major creatures have migrated, and the smaller ones were just quick meals if we ran out.

The alphas, I doubted, would come to this side, so I didn't fear them.

Climbing up the large tree together, I started to point out where I wanted the foundation laid.

"Over there... Bring out the logs... Damn not enough! OK, we need to get some more... I'll get some of the saliva from... Yeh, we will use this… these will be the large sturdy pieces of trees." 

The boy carried and placed them while the girl fixed them with the ceiling liquid. She had assisted me when I had decided doing it separately was too much work and mixed the sap and the saliva from the lizard.

With the only lizard that still followed, strangely, it survived through all the trouble.

I added sap from the trees we had cut, adding water and what I thought was a type of clay.

It took all into the night to lay the foundation, totalling into two layers; the outer layer was sealed by the special sealing liquid we mixed with care and knitted the leaves together, with thick leaves and pieces of wood for the above area which would be the final flooring, which was naturally warm by the ground roots.