2

The Hive Queen had kept track of how she'd gotten to the river, but decided not to walk back on the same path. Instead, she would meander around a little bit, maybe on a curving path, but ultimately heading back where she came from. The hills and the river were the only landmarks she had, and she should probably explore the place where she'd woken up a little more.

As she walked through the forest, she tried to catalog what she saw, and kept an eye out for anything edible.

She guessed that it was spring or early summer. Even though she wore no clothes, which she wanted to fix as soon as she could, she didn't feel particularly cold. She'd estimate the temperature to be about twenty degrees Celsius. Although that could be off, since she didn't know anything about her body's reaction to temperature or how well it stored heat.

There didn't seem to be any mushrooms or any kind of nuts around, but she found several berry bushes. Those were probably the easiest source of food, but she had no idea if they were poisonous or not.

Finally, she stopped by a bush of dark berries with its lower branches and part of its upper branches stripped of berries. Hopefully by animals. That indicated that the berries, which looked like purple blackberries, might be safe. She carefully took one, remembering not to pick close to the ground.

Even if they were poisonous, one berry hopefully wouldn't kill her, right? Of course, it was possible they were mildly poisonous and one wouldn't be enough to tell, so she'd still have to be careful later.

She popped it into her mouth. It tasted sweet, a bit like a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry. Feeling herself start to smile for the first time in her short life, she examined the berries more closely to be sure she could recognize them, then set off again. She was already tempted to eat more, her empty stomach crying out for food, but she needed to wait.

Because of her slow pace and occasional stops and detours, the walk took a lot longer than before. But finally, she emerged back into the small clearing around the hills. At first glance, nothing had changed. She still couldn't see any larger animals, although a few birds kept singing. She didn't recognize their calls, but her mysterious source of human knowledge didn't have much to say about birds, so she probably just hadn't known enough to place them.

She started walking towards the hillside where she'd come from, then stopped. It had taken her a moment to realize that the darkness inside the doorframe wasn't the lightless depth of the tunnel. Instead, something had moved to block it.

She ran towards it, feeling her heartbeat speed up. The doorway was now closed off by a slab of some dark material. It felt hard and cool to the touch, and she couldn't be sure if it was metal or stone of some kind. She pushed against it, first tentatively and then with all of her strength, but it didn't budge at all.

Great. She let out a breath and stepped back.

The thought that someone had come and closed the door after she'd left sent a shiver down her spine. She hadn't seen, heard or scented anyone else. That thought gave her pause, but she quickly shelved the realization that her sense of smell was better than human and refocused on the issue. It was possible this was some sort of automatic mechanism, maybe triggered when she went out of the door.

Oh god, were there cameras watching her right now? She looked at the entrance again, scrutinizing it closely, but she didn't find any sign of something like that. Of course, that didn't mean much. Still, she hadn't seen a single sign of technology since waking up here.

She took a few steps away from the door. She'd just have to find somewhere else. But before she could figure out what her next move should be, she paused. There was a strange scent in the air right now. Something that she hadn't smelled here before. She clenched her fists and cursed herself for not at least taking a stick from the forest and sharpening it to get a weapon.

The scent got slightly stronger, and now that she focused on it, she could hear movement, too. A few seconds later, the creature causing it stepped out of the trees. The Hive Queen blinked and had to suppress the urge to rub her eyes. Well, that answers the question of whether or not this place has monsters. I don't think that's a normal animal.

Her first thought was that someone had made the world's largest version of a bathroom rubber duck. It looked just like that, a duck as big as a pony that was colored yellow all over, except for the dark eyes and the beak, which was orange. Then the duck opened its beak to let out a shrill cry and she saw a maw filled with sharp teeth that would have made any wolf envious.

The Hive Queen gulped and took half a step back nervously. "Good ducky?" she tried. "You're not going to attack me, are you? Who's a good monster?"

The monster clearly didn't like that, or maybe it was just generally bad-tempered, because it advanced forward in a menacing manner that ducks should not be capable of, emitting another cry and showing its teeth.

She cursed and quickly looked around. Unfortunately, she didn't find either a weapon or a good escape route. She quickly ducked to gather a few loose stones, then stepped forward. She didn't want to get pushed against the rock by her opponent.

The duck clearly wasn't quite as confident as it appeared, since it didn't immediately charge her. She approached the middle of the clearing and even managed a bit of sideways movement. She didn't think ducks could climb trees, so getting into the forest might be a good idea.

She stared at it, trying to look for any tells and evaluate its threat level. After a second of intense focus, another blue box popped up over its head, fading quickly.

Monster Duck — Level ?

She jerked in surprise. But the greater implications of this could wait for later. For now, at least she had a name for her opponent. The level display was not encouraging, but it didn't seem like a very high level monster. Maybe you got question marks for any enemies of a higher level, or you needed a special skill to tell someone's level at all?

The duck approached more closely. She took a deep breath, then threw the heaviest of the rocks she found.

It clanged off the outside of the duck's beak. At least it made the monster stumble.

She quickly took the next rock in her right hand and tried again. This rock was a little rounder and gave her better aim, and she managed to hit the duck's side.

This projectile actually seemed to hurt, sending a few feathers hurtling away and making the duck give another shrill cry. Unfortunately, it also charged her immediately.

She stumbled to the side, somehow managing to turn the movement into a proper dodge. The feathers of the duck's stubby wings brushed her cheek. Her hand darted out, and she managed to score a cut on the back of its leg.

She jumped back while the duck turned around, and tried to gauge the effect of her cut. Her claws were pretty small, but clearly sharp, and there was blood flowing from the wound. Not enough to have it bleed out, though.

Now the duck was further inside the clearing, closer to the hill with the entrance. Before she lost more valuable time, the Hive Queen turned and sprinted towards the treeline.

She smelled the duck approaching and somehow heard its steps over the thundering of her heart. It was much faster than her and catching up quickly.

She managed to reach a tree just in time. This one was pretty big, old and sturdy, and she scrambled up the trunk using a few lower branches. Her claws were a big help. The duck's maw almost caught her, and she felt something sharp brush against the back of her lower leg. Then she pulled it up and sat on a wide branch a few meters up the tree.

She took a deep breath. The hard covering on most parts of her body clearly had at least some defensive value. She wouldn't trust it with a full-force bite from that maw, but it should come in handy. And the duck apparently couldn't climb, judging from the way it screamed shrilly. She winced and clapped her hands over her ears.

Okay, now what? I can't just sit here all day. It might get tired and wander off, but it might also find some way to attack her. Plus she really need to eat something. Actually, it did smell pretty good.

She shook her head to clear it of that thought and looked around. The birds in their vicinity had fallen silent, and it looked like the smaller animals had made themselves scarce. She had let go of her stones to run and climb. Note to self, when I get clothes, make sure they've got decent pockets.

She could probably sleep up here in the tree, but a part of her really didn't want to let the duck prance around down there any longer than she had to. That part wanted to not just ensure her safety, but to kill this monster. It had dared to attack her, and it was a threat. Threats should not be tolerated. Of course, whatever her Hive Queen side might like, killing it wouldn't be that easy.

Now that she looked at it more closely, its feet had some pretty sharp-looking talons. But those and its teeth seemed to be the only dangerous spots. How flexible was the monster? Well, it's still a duck. Definitely a bird of some kind.

There were some vines clinging to the tree. She'd ignored them earlier since they didn't hinder her climbing up, but now she saw that they looked quite sturdy. Experimentally, she reached over and tugged at a vine. It barely budged. Frowning, she peered at it more closely. Was there a slight blue tint along its side? Another box appeared.

Climbing Vine — Plant

She sighed. Very helpful. She tried cutting one with her claws, but it was hard. And she probably couldn't get a long enough part to work as a rope, anyway. Still, she persevered, and after a few minutes managed to saw through the vine. She then carefully stood up on her perch and tried the same at a higher spot of the same vine. After ten minutes, she had a piece of Climbing Vine to use as a short length of rope.

Then she repositioned herself again and watched the duck carefully. It didn't stay still, but fidgeted and paced under the tree, occasionally baring its teeth at her. This was definitely a monster, she didn't think a normal animal would show that amount of baseless aggression.

She steadied her breathing and held still, all of her focus turned to her prey. The minutes slid by as she patiently waited. Then, finally, it moved again, to what she judged as the perfect position.

She let herself drop. The impact when she hit the monster drove the air out of her lungs, but she acted right away. Clinging on tightly with her legs, she yanked on her arms and caught the duck's beak with her vine.

It started thrashing, but she held on grimly. It clearly struggled under her weight on its back, unable to jump and try to buck her off. Its taloned feet couldn't reach her, and it couldn't open its beak to bring its fangs to bear even if it could have contorted itself enough to bite her.

Minutes dashed by in a frantic struggle for survival. Her arms, legs and back ached, and she once felt herself almost slipping loose, but she clamped onto her prey and refused to let go. It lost feathers and at one point rammed into the tree, but it didn't seem to be smart enough to try and get her off that way, and it wouldn't have the right angle for it, anyway. Finally, its struggles slowed as it ran out of energy.

Dark spots started to gather in the corners of her vision, but she wouldn't let up. When she judged it sufficiently exhausted, she quickly passed the ends of her improvised rope into her right hand and struck with her left. Her claws sank into its eyes and popped them. The duck jerked. She drove the tip of her index finger further in, ignoring the mess coating her hands and the throes of her prey, drilling into it until she could go no further. Finally, the duck's spasms slowed and ceased.

She took a few deep breaths, carefully relaxing her clenched muscles. She slid off the monster's back, stumbling as she reached the ground.

She went to brush off her hands on the duck's coat. Then she paused. Suddenly, she was acutely aware of the raging pit of her hunger, and the dead monster in front of her smelled delicious.

She sank to her knees before it and started ripping off feathers. The monster's skin parted easily under her hands. She stopped thinking about anything except her meal.