Nope

I try to understand the meaning behind his words and figure he's just pulling my leg. I shake it off and pay attention to the woods around us. After a few minutes of walking, I see fruit! I lift my hand and point, causing Thane and Conner to nod and change course.

As we get to the tree, I see that it's pears! Not the greatest but it was something. Conner spins his gun around and starts climbing up the tree. It wasn't very high so it wasn't hard for him. I stand under the tree with an open bag, ready for him to drop them down.

As he starts dropping the pears, Thane keeps an eye on the surrounding area but when I see him tense, I turn to see him looking over my shoulder. This time I tense as I slowly turn to look. All I see are empty woods...

But as I frown in confusion, something suddenly stands out to me. It's silent... Not a single bird chirp... not even a breeze. It's like the whole area around us was suddenly holding its breath, waiting.

As soon as Conner sees our distraction, he stops and pulls his gun back around. I gently place the bag down on the ground and turn around to face the silence. Being that this was still inside the base protection circle, it had to be animal.

Suddenly, something tumbles out of the trees and hits the ground. Thane quickly yells out "Hold!" as we all watch as the little Monkey drags a huge snake ten times his size towards us! My mouth falls open as he pulls it to my feet and drops it.

I feel myself helplessly smiling as Conner chuckles and says "I guess we have dinner and dessert." Thane walks over to grab the snake but the monkey quickly crawls on top of it and practically hisses at Thane.

Thane smirks and says "Looks like you're carrying it back." I feel my heart drop as I look back down at the dead snake and proud little monkey. The little monkey smiles up at me, ready to be praised but I feel like crying.

I strain to smile as I reach down and pat him while saying "Good job... I won't starve with you around." Thane and Conner both frown at that as I pick up the bleeding snake and say "Let's head back..."

The little monkey rides on my shoulder with his little chest puffed out with pride as I drag the dead snake with gritted teeth. It's dead... it's dead... it's dead. I tell myself over and over as I try to remain the most "manly" I possibly can but with the way Thane keeps watching me with a smirk, I feel like I may not be as convincing as I originally thought.

Once we get back, I hand the snake over and quickly walk over to the bathroom. The monkey fusses the whole way so I quickly pull out a sucker, pop it in my mouth, and hand it over before running to the bathroom.

The monkey was happy with his payment so he quickly hops down and runs off with his loots as I start washing my hands. It was still twitching... I shake out the feeling and start scrubbing my hands for a second time when I suddenly feel a chill down my back.

I glance up in the mirror and suck in! I quickly spin around but the room is empty. The water continues to run behind me as I look around the empty bathroom with unease. I left the door open because I was just washing my hands but...

I could have sworn I saw a pair of animalistic eyes watching me from behind. I look around the bathroom with unease before reaching back and turning the water off. I take a few calming breathes before sticking my head out of the door and looking around.

When I still don't see anything, I take a deep breath and try to calm myself. Maybe I'm just a little too stressed... I shut the door and lock it before turning back to the sink and washing my face. Once I was done, I walk out to find that Thane had already cleaned the large snake up and had started a soup.

Noticing that Titus wasn't anywhere to be seen, I head to the back room with the odd machine. Sure enough, I find him in the room staring at it in silence. As soon as I step into the room, he turns to glance at me before saying "We have to try turning it on again tomorrow. Headquarters gave the orders..."

I slowly nod my head and say "We can do it better this time. We can make preparations before turning it on so what happened last time doesn't happen again." Titus smirks but it looks tired and defeated.

When we suddenly hear screaming, we all take off running to find the monkey attacking Troy again! "Get this little demon off me!!" Troy yells as he stumbles back and falls flat on his ass. The monkey starts ripping his hair out as I walk over and pull him off.

The monkey continues to fuss at him as I ask "What the hell happened? What did you do to him?" Troy looks up at me with disbelief as he points to himself and says "Me!? What did I do!?? You should ask that little freak!"

As if understanding, the little monkey flies off my shoulder and attacks Troy again but when he pulls something out of Troy's pocket, we all grow quiet. Conner frowns and asks "Are those..." Thane steps forward and glares down at Troy as I realize that it was a pair of my underwear!

I look at him with a mixture of emotions as Thane asks "Why do you have Valen's underwear!?" Troy panics and lifts both hands as he says "No! No, it's not what you're all thinking! They look just like the ones that were found hanging on the window back at the Academy! I was collecting evidence! He's the pervert we've all been looking for!! Valen's the pervert, not me!"