While others seek survival, I engage in flirtation Chapter 32: Searching for Supplies

No way in hell was I giving supplies to that jerk! After all the crap he pulled on us, why would I share anything with him?

"What happened to your foot?" I asked, pointing my axe at his ankle.

"Don't even get me started. I was just chilling in this cave when a bunch of hairy monsters jumped me out of nowhere, beat the crap out of me, and then vanished!"

From the look on his face, he seemed pretty pissed, and for once, I thought he might actually be telling the truth.

I had Lilian keep an eye on him while I checked out the cave behind him.

The cave was mostly dirt, with part of it sunken below ground level.

It was more damp and even than I expected, not really looking like a natural cave.

And the kicker? As soon as I stuck my head in, I felt a slight breeze.

If I was right, this cave wasn't a dead end, but after feeling around the walls for ages, I couldn't find any hidden door or mechanism.

"Let's not waste any more time on this," Lilian said, pressing her fruit knife against Matt's neck again.

She pressed right on the spot I had cut with my axe, making Matt wince in pain and pull back.

"I've told you everything I know, why are you still messing with me?" Matt cried out. I didn't know what Matt had been through, but he looked like he'd had a rough time.

I signaled Lilian to ease up. She gave Matt a hard shove, pushing him aside.

"You're lucky to have such a pretty girl with you!" he said, reaching out towards Lilian. "Does she always listen to you?"

In a flash, Lilian's knife slashed across the back of Matt's hand.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Matt cried, clutching his hand.

We didn't stick around and headed straight to the camp Matt had mentioned.

Following Matt's directions, Lilian and I quickly moved from one forest to another.

This forest was way denser than the last one, with massive trees that would take several people to wrap around. Even the plants here were different from what we had seen before.

We followed a path through the forest until we reached the end, where we could just make out a camp.

The place was actually pretty nice, and the camp was coming together. Probably to keep wild animals away, they had hung a bunch of weird herbs around, filling the air with a fragrant scent.

We didn't know much about this camp, but it looked like at least a dozen people lived here.

As Lilian and I were checking out the entrance, we suddenly felt a chill and were covered by a shadow.

We looked up and saw a tall, muscular guy staring down at us with a serious expression.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" His rough voice startled me, and I jumped up.

Caught off guard, the guy got hit on the chin by my forehead and immediately passed out.

I looked at the scene in front of me, unable to help but wonder what the hell just happened.

Did I really knock out that huge guy?

I stared at the unconscious man, then exchanged a bewildered look with Lilian. We were both at a loss for words.

"He's not dead, right?" I asked.

Lilian glanced at me, then at the guy on the ground. She quickly leaned in and checked for a pulse. "He's still breathing, so he should be fine."

Once we confirmed he was alive, we moved him to a safer spot.

Ever since we saw this guy, I couldn't stop thinking. It finally hit me who he might be.

He was probably from this camp, and with his build, he was likely their guard.

But he didn't seem like a bad guy.

"What do we do now? We've knocked out their guard," Lilian said, looking more worried than usual. "They definitely won't let us in now!"

Yeah, this was a mess, but not impossible to fix.

We sat by the guy's side, waiting from afternoon until dusk, and then until evening, when he finally woke up.

"I'm really sorry, we didn't mean to," I said as soon as he opened his eyes. But he didn't seem to care. He got up without a word and headed back to the camp.

Without thinking, I quickly followed him.

Why was he acting so weird? Why wasn't he saying anything? I apologized... even if he didn't forgive me, he should at least say something.

This made me look like an idiot!

But I remembered my goal: to find that wooden box. Whatever was in that box, it was something I had painstakingly salvaged from the ship.

Lilian almost lost her life for it! How could he just take it?

It wasn't until we reached the camp's entrance that he finally spoke.

"What exactly do you want? Are you here to steal our supplies too?" His tone was colder than I expected, and his eyes were full of suspicion.

"Is it Matt again?" I blurted out, thinking of that bastard Matt.

He had pulled this kind of crap more than once. Last time he got kicked out and didn't learn his lesson. I bet he got injured by someone from this camp.

"You know that guy?" His expression grew even more complicated. "So you're with him?"

His question confirmed my suspicion. Matt must have had a run-in with this camp, otherwise, he wouldn't have said that.

Matt thought we were here to steal too!

"Of course we're not with him!" I quickly defended. "We came here just to get back the supplies we found, nothing else!"

"Your supplies?" His puzzled look left me momentarily speechless.

His expression seemed to say, how could they possibly have our supplies?

"Yes, a big box." I gestured with my hands to show the size. "About this big."

"No, we don't have what you're looking for." His face clearly showed he knew about the box, but he chose to dodge our question and waved us off.

Lilian and I both felt something was off, but we couldn't put our finger on it.

But I was sure that the box was in this camp.

I watched him walk into the camp under the moonlight and immediately followed.