Before I could even register it, I was sliding down what felt like a tube surrounded by complete darkness.

At first, I tried to fight the forces that were making me plunge faster and faster, but as I repeatedly attempted to thrust my hands out against the space beneath me, I found it to be slippery and cold, likely ice. No matter how much I tried to slow myself down, all I got in return was the sensation of my palms freezing and a numbing pain.

After a few seconds bathed in that pitch black, unable to see, the tunnel swerved to reveal several faint lights that sparkled like stars. As my eyes adjusted to the brightness of the light, I became able to make out more details.

On closer inspection, the lights that shined in different sizes, shapes, colors, and intensities were actually some kind of gem or crystal. Not only that, but when I reached my hand out closer to them I felt them emanating a soft heat.

Red, green, blue, purple, yellow... gems of all colors whooshed by my hand as it extended, and I felt the urge to run my fingers along them, to feel their textures. However, just as my finger was a mere inch away, I felt a hand grip my shoulder.

Turning to my side, I saw Derek, his face bathed in multicolored lights. His brows were slightly furrowed and his lips slightly pursed.

His expression snapped me out of my trance.

"We're almost there. Brace yourself."

Sure enough, as Derek began mouthing a countdown from five to himself, the bottom of the tunnel suddenly opened up. Not only that, it arched up like some slide.

Of course, uncertain how to slow myself down, I was suddenly propelled forward and sent skidded somewhat painfully to a stop on uneven ground. Derick, on the other hand, deftly leapt to his feet as though it was an easy feat.

Collecting myself as I stood up from the ground, I inspected my surroundings.

First, the cavern we were in.

Unlike the tunnel or the area above, it was completely barren of snow and ice. this was probably due to the large number and size of those rainbow jewels inside of it. Whereas the tunnel had a few small ones, there were quite a number of jewels the size of my head here among a large number of smaller ones.

As for the space itself, it was about the size of a high school gymnasium. It was sectioned off into "rooms" by what looked like the blankets they give out of planes strung together as dividers. Pillows and makeshift futons were set up on the floor, and it looked like one of the sections had what remained of their food supplies, probably enough for a few days.

As Derek walked forward to greet the others in front of us, my eyes scanned over them.

"Hey, Jackson. What's with the fat kid?"

There were four of them other than Derek, and each of them seemed very different. The one that spoke was the one that had stepped in front of the others, and his words were followed by a derisive snort. I immediately narrowed my eyes, but in some odd way it was reassuring to know that not everything in the world was so different after the crash.

The speaker/snorter looked somewhat like a stereotypical lumberjack. He had a head of curly ginger hair and a long beard, and stood at over six feet tall with an extremely muscular physique.

Some might call him handsome, but his face that was clearly distorted in annoyance and mild disgust while looking at me ruined whatever positive aspects he might have.

"..."

Derek remained silent as he looked back at the man with a slight frown. There seemed to be a slight tension between the two. Not just the two of them, but the rest of those present seemed unhappy with the "lumberjack," too. However, at the same time it was as though the lumberjack was completely unaware that anybody disliked him.

"He's another survivor, he's going to be staying with us now."

"For real, this useless fucker? I thought you were supposed to be getting intel, not fucking around." The lumberjack turned to me as he paused, "You better not eat through all the supplies. In fact, make sure you eat less. We didn't plan on feeding this many people, and adding on a whale like you isn't doing us any favors."

He eyed me up and down, causing me to grit my teeth in annoyance. I clenched my fist tightly when-

"Pft-"

There were three others besides the lumberjack in the cavern.

One was an old man with gray hair. He was short, with a slightly ripped suit that seemed like it had once been obviously expensive and elegant. Of all of the others, he seemed the most fearful of the lumberjack, basically cowering from him as he fiddled nervously with the gold wedding band on his left hand. I could only infer that his fearfulness had something to do with the black eye he had.

Beside the old man was a woman noticeably younger blonde woman, somewhere in her fourties, who looked like some kind of model. Much like the older man, she wore clothes that were ripped and dirty but seemed like they'd once been very elegant, in her case a bright red dress. On her hand was a matching wedding ring, and unlike the fearful man she seemed more... dazed. It was unsettling, as something about the situation felt very, very wrong.

However, it was neither of these two that had laughed, nor even Derek. Rather, it came from the final of the survivors, a young girl who appeared to be around my age.

Whereas the older woman seemed to be like a model, this girl's beauty was... well, it was ethereal. Glossy, jet black hair cascaded down her shoulders as her black eyes gleamed.

Her skin was pale white, soft, and clear.

More than anything, it was like a cool, relaxing energy emanated from her.

I wondered to myself how I could have not noticed her earlier, and as our eyes met it was like an electric shock ran through my body. My heart immediately started to beat faster, but I closed my eyes for a second and calmed myself down.

"Who the hell are you laughing at?!" The lumberjack whipped around veins bulging in his neck and arms. "I'm the only reason you're all gonna survive! You wanna run out of food without being able to hunt anything out here?!"

He took a step forward suddenly and threateningly, but a hand gripped tightly onto his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.

"Relax, James. Don't get too far ahead of yourself, you haven't even gotten the info I collected on those monsters yet, much less successfully hunted one. Why don't we step away and talk for a bit?"

Derek spoke forcefully, displaying that it wasn't really a question but more of an order.

"... Fine. Guess we're gonna have to rearrange the sleeping groups, since fatso's apparently staying with us now. Samantha can keep staying with me," James, the "lumberjack," licked his lips as he spoke. At his words, the blonde woman flinched as her husband tightly clenched his fists while looking at the ground. "Fatso can stay with Hannah, since the odds of him having the balls to do anything are small, and Derek, you can start rooming with William."

The old man, William, looked up at Derek helplessly while the black haired beauty, Hannah, looked at me intently with her head slightly tilted.

On that note, a frowning Derek and whistling James walked to the far end of the cave.

As William and his wife Samantha separated from the rest of the group to talk as well, soon enough it was only me and Hannah in an awkward silence.

"Hey, if you didn't figure it out already, my name's Hannah. I don't think I caught yours."

She slightly smiled as she spoke, increasing her beauty further, and stretched out her hand for me to shake. However, I frowned in response.

What kind of person is she?

Thinking such thoughts, I cautiously outstretched my own hand and shook hers.

"Jack, Jack Moore."