Gemski, standing a few paces back, cautiously approached.

  His sharp eyes swept over the massive, unmoving carcass—searching, scanning for any lingering twitch, any trace of breath from the launch bird.

  The silence that followed was thick, suffocating.

  After a long, tense moment, he allowed himself to believe it—it was dead.

  Their combined assault had been brutal, effective.

  But even with all the damage they’d done, Gemski knew—it was the explosive birds that were responsible for this killing. Their surprise attack had done something deeper. Internal. Structural.

  And then came the thought.

  Unwelcome.

  Persistent.

  What if they came back?

  What if the explosive birds had only been testing the waters?

  What if that whole encounter wasn’t a fluke—but a message?

  Behind him, groans filled the smoky air as the battered settlers slowly pulled themselves together. Some crawled. Some limped.

  Bloodied, burned, but alive—for now.

  Gemski kept his gaze locked on the launch bird’s corpse. Its final moments replayed in his mind—the monstrous scream, the sudden shift in anatomy, that spine-rattling screech that felt like it tried to liquefy their skulls from the inside.

  He couldn’t shake the sense that something had gone wrong in that final attack.

  Maybe it had collapsed its own lungs trying to push too much air through shredded organs.

  Maybe it suffocated itself.

  Or maybe—

  Maybe the pain, the injuries, the shock of being speared and crushed in its most vulnerable parts had finally short-circuited its body.

  Either way, it was done.

  But that didn’t mean it was over.

  The unease gnawed at Gemski.

  The transformation he’d witnessed… that was not normal.

  To see something that big adapt—change its biology mid-fight like it chose to give up flight for some other purpose—

  That shit didn’t sit right with him.

  Because if something that large could evolve… could metamorphose…

  And the smaller birds could explode with enough force to cripple it...

  What the hell chance did humans have?

  The dust was still settling when Gemski’s voice broke through it all.

  “Everyone, be on high alert,” he called, loud and clear despite the tremor in his gut.

  “We’ve defeated one enemy today, but there might be more out there—watching. Waiting. Stay sharp. Watch everything. Our survival depends on it.”

  But his words floated uselessly in the air.

  Most of the fighters could barely hear him.

  Ears ringing. Heads throbbing. Some still shaking from the shock.

  The launch bird’s final attack hadn’t just been loud—it had rattled their bones.

  And for some, it had fractured more than just eardrums, but also their spirits.

  However, somewhere beyond the trees, in the dense and unforgiving wild,

  something else was watching. Listening.

  Their deep blue fur rippled as it moved along the forest’s edge, the sunlight barely grazing them through the shifting canopy above.

  Each step—slow.

  Silent.

  Each breath—measured. Deliberate.

  Their growls rumbled low, buried deep in their chest like distant thunder—muffled by the forest, swallowed before they could slip past the tree line toward the strange gathering of monkeys now feasting on their stolen spoils.

  The blue furs hadn’t wandered here by chance.

  They had followed a scent—faint, but persistent. A trail left behind by those small, odd packs of monkeys it had encountered many cycles ago.

  They’d lingered in its mind ever since.

  Curious little things.

  Unnatural.

  With their strange, sharpened fangs—crafted from trash. But these fangs gleamed like fallen stars, and tore through flesh with disturbing ease.

  Too easy, considering how slow and clumsy their bodies were.

  But they lacked bite.

  Their strength was in numbers—in the way they moved together.

  The way they chirped and howled and made those strange chattering noises that filled the air with foreign energy.

  Individually, they were nothing.

  Too slow to flee.

  Too fragile to last.

  Still…

  They had brought down a god of the sky.

  That fact alone made them dangerous.

  The onlookers exhaled a long, rumbling growl—low, deep, and barely a tremor in the wind.

  From within the shadows of the forest around it, others answered—soft, guttural tones threading through the trees like whispered secrets.

  They had already marked this place.

  Scratched warnings into bark.

  Claimed the land in scent and silence.

  Then, without sound or stir, they turned and slipped deeper into the forest, melting into the underbrush like phantoms. Swallowed by shadow. Hunting.

  The human-monkeys, camped on cursed ground, had no idea they were being watched.

  Not yet.

  But soon, they would.

  When the horned king of their kind decides to leave the forest—

  That’s when the pack will make their move. With no protection they would be easy pickings.

  General Joe, without rest went and checked on everyone he could, and then some. Wasting no time, barking out orders. He called for every able-bodied hunter who survived and even those who’d chosen to stay out of the fight. Hell, he even summoned the butchers and chefs to the field.

  They had a body to process.

  With grim determination, the settlers got to work on the carcass of the Launch Bird. The butchering was methodical, brutal, necessary. Every cut, every bone pulled free, every tendon peeled away was done with a purpose—to eat, to learn, to live.

  It was a bittersweet victory.

  This beast had nearly ended them. But now, it would sustain them. That alone was worth something.

  Lady Vee, with a long red-stained feather strapped across her back, personally `approached the field dressers, and those trying to clean up the waste.

  She asked for the launch birds intestines to be collected and set aside at her research lab in her zone.

  She wanted to study the beast’s diet—trace what it had eaten over the last few days.

  If they could understand what it fed on, they might understand more about the launch bird, the world it came from, and whatever else might be crawling beyond the crater’s edge.

  The settlers worked shoulder to shoulder. Backs sore. Spirits drained.

  But they were united.

  A shared struggle had forged something solid between them—something earned.

  They had faced something alien. Something lethal.

  And they won.

  The first… but definitely not the last.

  Joe stood near the edge of the clearing, boots sunk in the bloody, scorched damp of the earth.

  He drew a slow, steady breath, eyes scanning the people around him.

  Survivors. Fighters.

  Ordinary folks forced to become something more.

  The air stank—charred flesh, burnt feathers, hair, and blood. Thick. Metallic. It clung to the tongue.

  Before him, the Launch Bird’s pieced-up, smouldering corpse loomed like a downed war machine. Smoke-streaked scars ran across its blackened hide—a monument to everything it took to bring the bastard down.

  The bounty gave them food, fire, and some weird jelly plant the lab rats could poke at.

  If he were the type to believe in anything, maybe he’d have said thanks. But all he could think about was the five they didn’t bring back.

  His thoughts flicked to his colleague—

  Her God, her pride, her presence.

  He raised his voice, hoarse but commanding—worn from shouting, still sharp enough to slice through the chatter.

  “Everyone, give thanks—for the day, and for the bounty. This resource is a gift from Lady Vee’s God.”

  His eyes searched the crowd, maybe her face. Just enough to show he was paying attention—to her, to her beliefs. It was half-strategy, half-sincerity.

  If she felt respected, maybe they'd work better. Train these people. Keep them alive long enough to find a way home.

  His gaze dropped back to the beast’s hide, mind already pulling it apart—oil, sinew, bone, armor.

  “The burns are extensive. I know we don’t have the tools to take proper records yet—but take mental notes as you process. I want to know how deep our damage went compared to those explosive, flamey-ass birds.”

  He paced a few steps, tone shifting practical.

  “Tell me what’s usable, what’s not. Study its build. Preserve what you can.”

  He gave a tired shrug.

  “I’m not the expert. But if anyone knows how to age the meat—stretch shelf life—now’s your time. Don’t take my word for it. I’ll leave that to the chefs and hunters. You all know your craft better than my cobbled-together knowledge.”

  He let the silence settle. Let them absorb it.

  Then his tone turned blunt, grounded.

  “No need to baby any of you. You’re capable. Some of you know more than me when it comes to this stuff—and I respect that.”

  He folded his arms, gaze sweeping the crowd. Focused. Firm.

  “But I know how to keep people alive. That’s what I’m good at.”

  He motioned to the corpse.

  “So take what you need—cut a piece for yourselves, enough to feed your own. But don’t get greedy. The rest gets cleaned, preserved, and stored. We can’t eating this all in one night.”

  Then he gave a smirk—dry as hell, but it meant he was still here. Still himself.

  “Still… be as greedy as you need to be.”

  His expression hardened.

  “The excess—what we can’t use—needs to be dumped far from the settlement. Last thing we need is to turn this place into a buffet for whatever the hell else is out there.”

  He let the warning linger.

  “Maybe we use the scraps to lure or observe other animals. Build a database. Figure out what role this beast played in the ecosystem. But don’t get careless. Until that wall’s up, anything hungrier than us could stroll in and take their share.”

  Silence followed—thick, heavy. The work wasn’t done. Not even close.

  Then Joe’s voice dropped, rough and low. A kind of reverence sat in it now, just under the exhaustion.

  “Eat, fuck, and sleep, my friends,” he muttered, smirk still lingering. “You’ve done good today.”

  He looked to the dirt for a second—just a second. Then back up, eyes glassy but solid.

  “But before we let the fire warm our bones, let’s remember the five who didn’t make it. Grande. Dick. Wand. Camilla. Dios.”

  He said the names slow, like prayers made from ash and breath. Each one landing heavy in the quiet.

  “May your souls travel the great expanse back to your families,” he said. “And may your memories live on in all of us.”

  His hands flexed at his sides—tight, then loose. A single nod, to no one in particular.

  “Tomorrow, and every day after, we live with gratitude. We honour their sacrifice—not with words, but with the lives we keep building. Every wall. Every meal. Every sunrise.”

  Then he stepped back into the firelight—lines carved deep into his face. Letting the silence hold.

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  Space for grief. For pride. For the bitter mix of both.

  Behind Joe, the fire crackled as the blade met flesh—slow, steady, like he was carving a piece of the night itself. The scent of survival bled into the air. Smoke, roasted meat, blood, bone. A silence carried with it the weight of death and necessity. They would eat. They would live. And those who didn’t make it wouldn’t be forgotten.

  Later that evening after the fires and the preparation of meat from the launch bird, in addition to the food they brought back from the expedition, the meat of the babstars, and the fruits from the eden garden, Lady Vee and two other competent individuals took some time to finally revisit the other object that the launch bird dropped in its battle. The plant was separated from this large bluish sack in order for them to move the back to a secure area to study it.

  On inspection, Lady Vee, Dr. Renner, and Dr. Harry noted that this sack had a translucent membrane and from the damage to its membrane the contents within seemed gelatinous to some degree.

  Lady Vee was a military personnel with a science background and on the expedition earlier that day she learned a lot from comrade Issa how to test if things were edible. The other two men were medical professionals with their own level of scientific background, but they were some of the most logical and reasonable thinkers Lady Vee had had the pleasure talking to over the five days. This was saying a lot since she was one of three people tasked at leading this settlement.

  She wasn’t sure who it was but someone had set up a nice campfire near the large jelly-like object which gave them the opportunity to sit and study and reason before the taste test.

  The size of the object, by all of their rough estimates, probably consisted of 9,000 gallons of gel. Imagine them trying to move that in the heat of battle. They were all starving and working to exhaustion and dehydration, adding to the final total of the struggle cart.

  The air around the fire was cool, maybe it was the even winds or the setting sun. But looking at the firelight shining through the sack and the gel contents within gave them a calm that not even food gave them.

  Renner gathered some stones, Harry dug a few holes, and Lady Vee gathered a few pieces of leaves and wood.

  From a tear within the sack’s membrane, Renner took a sample of gel from within, scooping it onto a large leaf with a stone blade and crouched beside the fire to examine it.

  Looking it over slowly and passing it to the others, the three of them were so engrossed that they hadn’t realized at first the people slowly trickling in to observe what was going on.

  That day was hard, terrifying, and most rewarding. They were covered in blood and grime. They hadn’t had the ability to take a bath for five days; health concerns were an understatement. The stench was starting to go unnoticed as smoke and ash clung to every layer of them, adding a smokiness to their slowly rotting bodies. Old sweat, dried blood, smoke, cracked lips, tongue, skin all from dehydration—it’s impressive their eyes and muscles still worked.

  As the sample made its way back into Renner’s hand, he hovered his finger just over the jelly-like substance. His fingers were like an orchestra's wand, capturing the attention of the surrounding onlookers. His eyes examined everything it could in the firelight, his brain working overtime to piece this alien fluid and come up with a reasonable hypothesis. Was it impossible? No. But trusting Earth knowledge alone would be a mistake, but according to whispers from the expedition team, they suggested that some trees, plants, and animals seemed to be native to Earth or at most decent or altered over time in a new environment.

  This bit of information was why he wanted to understand it. Worst case, it’s deadly. Best case, it can be useful in advancement and survival.

  Then his finger flicked and everyone nervously twitched as they saw his finger touch the gel, a soft tap that brushed the section of the gel. They all thought it was a reflex error until he did it again; this time he pressed on it just a little.

  Without the translucent membrane, the gel was like a gelatinous ice. When Renner touched it, his finger was wet but behaved like jello. It also felt like slow, thick honey. The wetness clung to his skin like water would but didn’t stick and ooze like sap or slime. It held its shape. It’s a planet so it should have a level of water within it and its byproducts. But then again, this planet and plant life are alien so his assessment could be wrong, but something was telling him otherwise.

  Just before he could touch it again, Harry stretched out his arm to take the gel and began doing his own examination and test.

  He brought the gel to his nose: no smell. He was aware that other smells could be overpowering it, but just like Renner, he too had a gut feeling that made him one of the world's best medical physicians.

  Taking another sample from Renner’s direction, Harry also touched the gel, but not just touched; he pinched a piece, rolling it between his fingers. Getting the gel on not just his palms but his forearms to see and feel for texture and sensation. No stinging or temperature.

  The small piece of gel he balled up between his fingers he flicked into the fire and it made everyone flinch, as a sharp hiss came from the fire. Like ice on a hot pan. “Not flammable,” said Vee while Harry added, “It’s also not strongly poisonous.”

  Renner quickly turned towards Harry with a look that said, "Explain yourself."

  However, Lady Vee stepped in. “Well, it's good to see no sudden skin reaction on contact, but the problem is whether or not it has long-term effects or a delayed reaction.”

  Harry with a smile said, “That’s correct. However, I would like to do a small taste test. My body is pretty sensitive and so is my reactive reflex when it comes to control and understanding the changes to the body. From Renner's reaction and tap of the gel, I can also tell this is something that he also developed while studying medicine.”

  Before he could get any objections, he took a bite, not a pinch but a small bite.

  The onlookers gasped; some stepped forward while others crouched in to get a better look.

  None of them spoke. They wanted to witness history and didn’t want to be a distraction. Just like the three people conducting the test, they all had hope and vision for this gel. They didn’t speak; they didn't have to because their eyes did.

  They wanted one thing: the bite into the gel sample made them all salivate. The same people who had overeaten on supplies of meat were craving this object which could kill them. It was 10% of their self-control that stopped them from taking a step. Many of them were part of the expedition into the surrounding forest and knew what it was like to give in to the desire to indulge in human cravings. They were prepared to stop anyone who was too weak but their stares only grew more intense as they watched Harry waiting for a reaction of some kind.

  The onlookers were really only waiting for confirmation that it wasn’t poisonous. After that, they would take their chance about the long-term effects if any.

  Lady Vee, Renner, and Harry all knew this from the energy in the surrounding atmosphere. They could feel the longing and restraint. It was why Harry didn’t swallow the gel as much as his tongue and throat tried.

  Coughing and spitting the gel out before the fire, Harry only said, "Welp, that was a mistake."

  Then came a voice from an onlooker. “What does it taste like?”

  Harry at this point didn't have time to focus on the taste, so he honestly didn't have an answer. Was it bad or good? He had no idea. He was paying too much attention to the details around how it felt in his mouth. The fact that his body wanted to swallow instead of throwing up must have meant it was tolerable. So he replied and said, “If I live to do another test, then I will gather that information for you.”

  Pointing to the holes, Lady Vee understood what Harry was trying to say as he kept his mouth shut, thinking and comprehending the memory of the feelings the gel had in his mouth. Lady Vee scooped out some more of the gel sample from the sack and placed it on the ground in these little shallow holes.

  Renner held a sample on a stick, and the others watched Harry waiting for the reaction, the sign that he was actually okay. They at least had 10 minutes to complete their test before the others might say "fuck it."

  In one hole of gel, they placed a leaf; then a piece of bark within another; in another, they placed launch bird meat within. Renner, on the other hand, held his sample over the flame. Renner understood that they were testing to see if there was anything within that would trigger a digestive reaction of any kind. He knew that the gel wasn’t flammable but would it behave differently under different temperatures? Would it vaporize and change its state? Could they extract and separate the water within the gel? What would the byproduct be? How much would they lose close to boiling?

  If he had to build an assumption on if it’s possible then it should be possible. When Harry threw the balled-up piece of gel into the fire, the sizzling hiss confirmed that the Laws of Thermodynamics is prevalent in this reality, which could also mean them teleporting to this planet wasn’t just a dimensional switch but a placement switch. This was just a theory not worth sharing, but he had hope that humans weren’t alone in the universe but alone in their situation.

  No excitement present. Just caution, worry, concern. Nobody said what they hoped it was. No one dared claim or suggest it was water. They didn’t know. Not yet. And they would rather not know than be wrong in this situation. Drinking pee tea was starting to grow on them even though it was getting scarce as of late.

  As Renner watched the gel in the fire, he remembered watching people suck pee right from the source and instantly made himself nauseous thinking about hygiene.

  Harry observing the gel holes looking for bubble releases and changes couldn’t see any change. Looking over at Renner, his test seemed to be going good. The gel was getting more gelatinous as steam rose to some degree. Sadly, the stick was going to give out before the gel, but the small signs that they could see were pretty promising.

  Lady Vee looking on was following the development. Time was running out; she could see some of her expedition members getting ready to stop people who were on the edge of giving in to thirst. Gel, fluid. They had made their mind up that pee tea was going to die today as a survival practice.

  She even heard someone pray to God that he needed to take this cup from them and for him to pass on the jello shots. The level of reverence was unbecoming but she needed to inform them if it was safe.

  Pressure was something that she always avoided by being calm. There was no situation she was a part of that resulted in people dying. But if her gut feeling was wrong about this gel and she couldn't give them the information beforehand then it would be on her. The lives that this gel, that they all wanted to consume, could take would be on her.

  They were clearly changed to some degree but could she really trust that belief? She could do all things through Christ who gave her strength but she was a believer, she was a blessed one that had been blessed. If she believed, would God help them once more? If this was still a part of their test, did she have the right to take on this responsibility if it results in death?

  Renner: “I’m sure that this gel contains a level of fluid that we humans could ingest and I have a feeling that it also contains complex organic compounds which gives it this gel structure. But the unknowns are still strong but I think we need to do another taste test. This time paying more attention to the taste of the gel.”

  A slow breath passed through the group like a shared exhale of dread.

  No dramatics. No speeches. Just motion—deliberate, grim.

  A few stepped forward.

  Silent volunteers.

  Jaws tight. Hands steady from sheer will alone.

  Looking like a proud mom, Lady Vee watched as previous members of her expedition stepped forward. If all went bad, they could help her take a few down if they rushed the large sack of gel behind them.

  However, fear lived behind their eyes, but it didn’t stop them. There was no space left for hesitation.

  Not here.

  Not now. She was sure if Issa was here they would have had more of a calm spirit because her crazy ass would have been slurping up the gel whether it was toxic or not.

  Using wood, stones, and leaves as makeshift ladles, they scooped out small portions of the gel, careful not to spill a drop.

  One by one, they raised the alien substance to their lips, watching one another as they did so. It landed on their tongues with a weight that felt lifting. Maybe it was the fact that actual fluid that wasn’t pee felt good on their tongues.

  Too real. As the insides of their cheeks reacted to the foreign substance that they kept calling a fluid and not gelatinous.

  It was different. Cool.

  But almost like a mint mixed with a hint of water.

  It was slippery. Unfamiliar.

  The first reaction was universal—a flinch of their face muscles.

  The taste bit back.

  Sharp and bitter. How in the world did Harry not react to this taste, they collectively wondered.

  For a solid moment they began sweating, thinking this was like a sap drawn from a poisoned plant.

  Faces contorted. Eyes watered as they remained quiet, trying to focus on the taste and not the feel and texture.

  Then—just as quickly—it shifted. A softness beneath the sting. The sting which not everyone felt.

  There was an odd sweetness bloomed at the back of their throats that their tongues horribly tried to send down their throats.

  Faint, but real.

  The aftertaste was… pure. Clean.

  Like spring water pulled from deep underground—untouched by rot or heat or desperation.

  It went like mint honey seeping in and filling cracks. It felt refreshing.

  The tasters understood why Harry didn’t react.

  Meeting eyes with him, they also tried to not show it. But their actions said otherwise because they didn’t stop savouring the last drops even after the sample was done.

  Then came the waiting.

  Minutes felt like whole goddamn days. Minutes Lady Vee was grateful for as the onlookers accepted the extra time to hold back and show restraint.

  No one moved.

  No one dared look away from the testers who watched Harry. They watched the testers like they might implode.

  They were looking for small uncontrolled twitches to indicate something.

  They looked at Harry who tasted first but didn’t ingest and expected to see some level of bleeding from the eyes. But nothing happened to none of them over the course of 10 minutes.

  No vomiting.

  No gasping.

  No seizures. In fact—the opposite. The people who drank the gel, the only notable thing was their body language. They all fixed their posture as they sat up straighter.

  Their breathing evened out as if they relaxed.

  Their skin wasn’t as pale but they could be wrong and just looking for changes that weren’t actually there.

  Their eyes weren’t as dull. Almost as when they started eating. Something was changing. But was it good? It was suspicious of them to all hide their reaction, almost as if they were trying to deceive them to also take the poisonous gel. They had clearly found something but was it useful to humanity, was it useful to survival?

  Lady Vee, Renner, Harry, and the testers walked over to each other, making a tight circle.

  “This might be it,” one of the testers said in a hushed tone.

  Something Renner and Vee didn’t expect. Harry: “We just found something that might just keep us alive. If we can control how we distribute this gel and ensure that we can keep the plant this gel came from alive, at most, find others like this then we could survive this place.”

  Lady Vee only grunted as she listened.

  Renner: “So long-term damage? What about that?”

  Harry: “Think about the long-term damage of dehydration, of drinking raw pee. Would you rather drink dirty water or no water?”

  Lady Vee: “If we came here to die then it was by the grace of God. We can’t think about the far future; we have to put some faith in the flow of creation. There is a balance to this life and for us to live, the launch bird had to die. For the launch bird to live, it needed this object and a way to escape the explosive flame birds, and in order for these small birds to live, they have to sacrifice their lives to take out a threat so the flock could probably live. I’m sure the law of nature is the law all life understands, which means that there are things within the forest, in this world that needs us dead to survive. Let's use what we can when it's provided and leave the repercussions to God.”

  After hearing what they tasted, Renner went over it in his head. “The bitterness suggests minerals,” he murmured, mostly to himself. “The tang—could be amino acids, maybe electrolytes. It’s… nourishing.”

  He didn’t need to say more. The word hit their ears like a quiet bell—nourishing—and everyone heard it, believe it or not.

  No one spoke, but they all felt it settle into their bones. This wasn’t just another weird anomaly. This was hope.

  Real.

  Slippery.

  Bitter-sweet hope.

  Lady Vee turned to the onlookers, her silhouette framed by the soft, licking glow of scattered fires.

  Even in the low light, her presence cut through the dark like a blade.

  Her gaze moved across the settlers—not just looking at them, but through them—reading their slumped shoulders, cracked lips, trembling hands.

  Weary as they were, something still burned behind their eyes.

  That flicker of resolve.

  That primal urge to keep moving. She knew it well.

  Desperation broke people.

  But purpose—purpose could glue them back together.

  “Gather what you can,” she said, her tone clipped but steady.

  Not a command. A direction.

  “Use the crafted baskets. Bark. Leaves. Whatever holds.

  This fluid might be our fucking lifeline.

  And don’t forget the ones too sick to get up—take some of this gel to the make-shift medical shelter.

  No one gets left behind.” No questions.

  No wasted motion.

  The settlers moved, their limbs heavy but guided by something sharper than pain.

  Will.

  Urgency.

  They formed lines, hunched over the shimmering puddle, careful hands scooping the thick jelly into anything that could carry.

  Leaves folded. Bark hollowed. Baskets patched with vines.

  Even torn sleeves were tied shut and stuffed.

  Every scoop was precious.

  Every drop mattered.

  As the news of a hydration source that wasn’t fruit made it to the other two ruling generals, they quickly took a portion of their labor force to drag and roll logs over the hole where they stored resources. Where the base of the gel plant was hidden.

  It wasn’t perfect—but nothing about their lives was.

  This was survival in motion.

  This was how you kept going when the world wanted you gone. The night stretched wider, deeper—like it was trying to swallow them whole—

  but the camp stayed lit.

  Fire danced on their skin, flickering in sunken eyes,

  making their shadows stretch long and jagged across the dirt.

  They moved like people who had already faced death—

  and decided it wasn’t getting them yet. This strange land had taken plenty.

  But tonight, it gave something back. And they took it.

  Because they had to.

  Because giving up was easy—

  and none of them were built for easy.

  Today was theirs.

  Earned in blood, sweat, and bitter taste. Tomorrow?

  Tomorrow was still a gamble.

  But they wanted it anyway.

  Day 5.

  Total Population: 2,990.

  Total Deaths: 5.

  Total Missing: 5.

  Notable Events:

  Settlement’s 9 rules established.

  Successful exploration into the North and West forest.

  Successful hunt: Meat secured.

  Defeat of the Launch bird.