Hey everyone, Ejwaxy here! I just wanted to thank everybody reading this series for all the support! I know that there are some who are disappointed that I stopped my last series, "You Stole My Isekai!", without knowing when or if I'd start again, but came to this series regardless. I know that this is only my second attempt at writing a series, and I hope to continue improving going forward. If anybody has any comments about the series, I'd love to hear them! Look forward to more chapters!

No matter what I did, it seemed like I could never escape the cold.

I shoved my hands in the pockets of the orange jacket to warm them up, which helped slightly but not much. Rather, as the sun continued to get lower on the horizon, it only seemed to get colder.

I'd been following the arrow up the mountain for about four hours now. With no food and only snow to get water from, it seemed like I would probably either freeze or starve to death before finding anybody else.

However, as the sun continued to set it seemed like I might not even have the time for that.

The lower the sun got, the more it became apparent that I wasn't alone. Walking through dense trees and foliage, hearing chirps overheard became frequent early on.

That was more pleasant than anything else, in all honesty, but as it got darker and darker more noises contributed to the cacophony of life in the forest. Namely, monstrous growls and howls, and the impact of large feet with the ground that echoed through the trees.

I made attempts to ignore it, but as the sensation of being watched grew stronger along with the increased tension, I couldn't help but be on edge. Even though my emotions felt frozen, like they were trapped behind a screen of glass, the sensation that something was wrong was unavoidable.

As I crept between trees, my hair stood on end. Amidst the variety of sounds, two seemed to become more and more prominent: a loud, etherial screech and the howling of some sort of wolf.

I normally would have tried to get further away from the sounds, back to somewhere even a small bit safer, but it seemed like no matter what I did the sounds would creep closer. Not only that, but they seemed to almost... jump around.

Eventually, I simply froze.

Despite the cold, I was in a sweat. I could feel my heart racing.

This wasn't necessarily an unfamiliar sensation to me. It was, after all. something I'd felt every time I would get hit in the past. Confronted with what my body perceived to be a life and death situation, my sense of fight or flight was kicked into overdrive.

My bodily fatigue and issues seemed to get swept away as my senses got sharpened. With every breath I took, I could feel my lungs expand and contract. I was acutely aware of every muscle in my body.

I focused on my hearing more, trying to figure out where exactly the noises were coming from, but it seemed like even as the noises got closer, it was no easier to follow them.

It was only when they were right on top of me that I managed to pinpoint them, but by then all I could do was look on in stunned silence as fourteen foot tall stag hurtled at me with intense speed. In that moment, my adrenaline was meaningless. My speed, no matter what I did, was simply not enough to avoid being crushed. My coordination, even on the best of days, wasn't good enough to allow me to deftly move out of the way.

In that instant, when I recognized that my life was about to end, I felt odd. There was no fear, nor a sense of relaxation. Rather, as if by instinct the corners of my lips tugged up.

"Move!"

Suddenly, I was yanked out of the air by the hood of my jacket. I instantly flew back, narrowly avoiding being impaled by one of the stag's antlers. Almost immediately after, an equally large gray wolf jumped in the direction in pursuit.

Within a matter of seconds, the two clashed repeatedly. As the stag maneuvered on its front legs, it drifted like a car to redirect its motion and face the wolf. It immediately moved to thrust its antlers forward and stab the wolf, but the latter creature simply ducked under before attempting to claw at the stag's body with its immense paw.

However, as the paw was about to make contact with the stag, a high pitched ringing sound began to spread out and then-

BOOM

The air warped around the stag's antlers as some sort of quaking occurred, and in the next instant the wolf was knocked back with some immense amount of power. It spun in the air before landing on its feet and charged again, causing the stag to leap away once again.

"C'mon kid, we can't stick around if we want any hope of staying alive! We've gotta move!"

Shaking myself loose of the trance I'd been in looking at this inhuman battle, I turned to see who'd saved me. More precisely, the person who had not only yanked me out of the way but had continued to drag me away from the chaos.

He looked to be about 40 years old, with a kind face and some light stubble. His eyes gleamed with kindness despite an apparent fatigue, and his long black trenchcoat blew slightly in the wind as he ran while gripping my wrist. Occasionally, light from the moon filtered through the trees would reflect off of his dark brown skin.

"You ok, kid? You haven't said anything... You're from the plane, too, right?"

Bringing myself back into the moment, I shook off the man's hand and began to run just a step behind him.

"..."

My mind, still influenced by the adrenaline, quickly weighed my options. Though I could attempt to lie or keep the information that I was in the plane crash from him, it would only serve to make me a more suspicious individual. After all, what type of person would randomly show up here?

"Yeah."

"Thought about that for a while, didn't you." The man chuckled amusedly, as though he knew something I didn't. A light of intelligence gleamed in his eye as he looked at me sympathetically.

I narrowed my eyes slightly, but there was no malice in his actions. However, I knew full well that people could be... misguiding, so my guard remained up.

As we ran through the dark forest, weaving between trees, the sounds of battle grew farther away. However, the roars and sounds of activity other creatures gave off remained ever-present. Eventually, we reached a clearing and began to slow down.

By this point, I was coated in sweat. My breathing was ragged, my lungs screaming. Before all this, I'd never really seen the point of working out, getting "buff." Now, on the other hand, I couldn't help but wish I had a trained body. In fact, I swore to myself I would start working on that as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

Looking at the man, my "savior," I frowned seeing how he was barely out of breath.

"Why're we stopping?"

I spoke quietly, not wanting to draw attention to myself as we grew further from the forest and the sound began to be swallowed by an oppressive silence.

"Relax, kid, we're almost there. The other survivors are all gathered together."

"..."

I looked up at the man, who squinted as he looked out at the horizon. I couldn't tell what he was looking at, considering the snow that fell from the night sky made it hard to see any real distance ahead.

"Jack Moore." I spoke simply, scanning the pure white horizon for some indication of human life.

"Hm?"

Though a quizzical sound escaped his lips, the man seemed to be looking at me with a knowing smile. It felt more like he simply wanted to hear me say it again, like he enjoyed me opening up, than him actually not knowing what I meant.

"My name, it's Jack Moore."

"Well, nice to meet you, Mr. Moore. I'm Derek, Derek Jackson."

I nodded, my face remaining unmoving with furrowed brows.

Looking at me, the man seemed to get lost in thought for a second. It felt like he was looking through me rather than at me as his eyes took on a more sorrowful luster. However, it took only a second for him to snap himself out of things as his focus returned.

"Mr. Moore, I'd recommend bracing yourself. We're about to drop down."

Not seeing anything around, I hadn't realized anything different approaching. Obviously, I immediately began trying to work out what exactly was happening. Was the base moving to us? Was it hidden somewhere in plain sight?

"Wh-"

In the end, the simplest way was to ask, but as I opened my mouth I was cut off.

The world dropped out in front of me as I slid smoothly down a tube of ice and snow, right into the next part of my survival story.