Chapter 25

When Adair woke up, she checked how Hank was and how the healing process was going, and it appeared that everything was going nicely. Nothing appeared to be infected, which was a good sign because she didn't know what she would do if one of his injuries became infected.

She made sure to double-check the two huge piercings on the left side of Hank's body. These were at least six inches deep when Hank had come back just a few days ago, but now they were barely half an inch deep. This again made her question if it was Hank's body or the food he ate which allowed such great healing factors, but there was no way she was going to test this out herself.

She also learned from inspecting Hank that he had little to no injuries from the storm itself and his only injuries were from the red tree, which was interesting to hear since it felt like her skin was being shredded when Adair was in the storm.

After her checkup, she noticed that all of the milk bottles that she had left out were empty, so the first thing she did was go and get some more bottles. She also got one for herself which she sipped on as she watched Hank sleep. After she finished her bottle, she started to remove all of the wood blocking the entrance because, while she had only a few interactions with the trees of this world, she was almost certain that they could not easily move.

She did recall that the blue tree was able to double itself, but she had learned that that was only possible due to another tree dyeing which she was pretty sure did not happen anywhere near their house. She also remembered that the blue tree said that it was one of its special abilities, so even if another tree died, she was pretty sure that the red tree did not have the ability to move itself. At least she hoped that it couldn't.

She continued to move the wood because she was not sure how much longer their food supply would last, so she needed to make it as easy as possible for Hank to get some more food once he had fully healed. She realized that they hadn't tried eating the fish in the lake yet, so that was always an option.

The second reason was that she wanted to get an easier look at the storm, and it hurt her neck looking out the natural holes in the wood and having one giant opening fixed this problem.

Eventually, when she was about halfway through moving all of the wood, Hank woke up. So she stopped and went to check on him, but once he wrote he didn't need anything, she went back to moving the logs away from the entrance.

This whole process of moving the logs took a few hours longer than it took to put the wood in place because she wanted to make the house look nice and organized. Once she was done, she was very satisfied with herself because she was able to get her exercising in while making her living conditions better and prettier.

Nothing else interesting happened for the next two weeks. By this time, Hank was all healed and even explored the surrounding area a bit on Adair's request to make sure that the red tree was not anywhere close to them. During this time they also talked about what they wanted to do when the storm was over.

Hank wanted them to stay at this location since he had already built a house to protect them from the storms. Still, he had already scouted the surrounding area, and the only danger nearby was that red tree, but that tree was still over a day away, and they had nothing to worry about staying here.

Adair had a different mindset, though. To her, it was just so boring staying in this one place, and while yes, they had a shelter, they could make a new shelter in the future. There was also the problem where they were running out of food for Hank, and this is when Adiar reminded Hank that they did not know how much longer her milk supplies were going to last with both of them using it for food.

Hank did not seem to care what she was saying, though, and said that they would be staying at this location until he decided not to. This frustrated Adair since it didn't seem like Hank was taking her seriously, but she guessed that she would not take herself seriously in Hank's position.

While Adair could see why Hank was not taking her seriously, she still thought that Hank was making a mistake by not listening to her. Unfortunately, Adair's suspicions were proven correct when they ran out of milk just one week later.

The day started like any normal day when Adair woke up and went to get several milk bottles for Hank and one for herself, but nothing came out. At first, she questioned herself if she was still in a dream or if this was happening.

When she confirmed that she was awake and that no milk bottles were coming out of the bag, she questioned if she was getting the items out of the bag correctly. When she also confirmed that she was doing it correctly, she thought that maybe Hank was playing a trick on her and hid several of the milk bottles as he did with the fruit he collected.

While she always knew approximately how many bottles she had she guessed she just lost track since she fed so many to Hank to feed him. She then looked around for a bit but found nothing, so she decided that it was a good time to wake up Hank and see if he knew what was going on. When she woke up, Hank, he was mad that he was woken up, but then when he heard what was going on, he freaked out as well.

He also then went over to the bag and tried to get some milk bottles, but he also had no luck. This was a pretty big problem for both of them because while Adair thought that maybe they would run out of food, she had no idea it would come so quickly. She had thought that they were at least a few weeks away or maybe longer from running out of food, but apparently, that was not the case.

The more worrying part was that their food was also the liquid replacement for water they were drinking but now that they were out of that, they were also at the risk of dehydration. The thought of drinking the lake water came up but, but she did not know the risks of drinking an alcoholic beverage at such a young age and would only do it if they had no other options.

Hank and Adair then talked about it, and it was decided that Hank would search for more yellow fruit. For some reason, he did not heed Adair's suggestion of trying to kill any of the fish in the lake because he dismissed it without much thought.

He was gone for only one day and he came back with only three fruits. While this was better than nothing, it still wasn't sustainable. When Adair Asked where he got these, Hank responded that these were the last ones within days of traveling from their house. He only knew where these were because he hid them just in case something or someone else was taking the fruit.

They then portioned these fruits out so that they lasted three days, but after that, they were out of luck. Adair then asked Hank to go fill up a few of the bottles of lake water since it appeared that they would have to survive on that until the storm ended, which should only be a few more days at most two more weeks if it was anything like the previous storms.

Hank did as requested, and at first, Adair was a bit hesitant to try the water, but eventually, she realized that it was this or nothing, and when she took her first sip, she started crying because it was the best thing she had ever tasted in either of her lives.

It not only tasted amazing, but it also had the texture of something only gods were allowed to drink. She now knew why the blue tree wanted it so much. Even if it could taste only one percent of what it was, then it was worth it.

She also now understood why Hank had told her it was addicting because she could easily tell that it was very addicting. After a while, she got over its taste, and that is when she noticed that she no longer felt hungry or thirsty. Just like the milk, she was perfectly content with just one bottle of it.

She wondered how long this feeling would last and if it was just her mind tricking her, saying that she was full or if this drink actually made her full. While the first option was definitely something that it could be, she had grown used to how the milk did the same effect, so she was not too worried.

It appeared that the bottle of water also had the same effect on Hank, and after one bottle, he no longer drank anymore. She did not feel hungry until they both drank another bottle and felt full again until the next day. This continued for the next few days.