Tanaka could hear birds chirping, water running some distance away and leaves jostling in the wind, among many other forest sounds. He sat up in a tree and looked around, unable to recognise anything around him.
"Where on Earth am I?" Tanaka's words drifted off into the forest, receiving no response. "Bell?" He sat silently in the tree for a few minutes as the reality of his situation dawned on him.
Smack!
Tanaka smacked himself, a look of determination settling into his brown eyes. 'I can't just sit around! I've got to find my way out of here. But how?' The boy placed his hand on his chin as he took a moment to think.
A look of realisation then slid onto his face, and then a grin crept onto his face. 'Yes! I did hear the sound of running water earlier. I could just follow that upstream or downstream. If I remember correctly, civilisations are usually built around the parts of rivers where water can most easily be collected. At least that's what my geography teacher told us.'
Tanaka, now satisfied with his plan, first looked up to the sky to note the position of the Sun. He saw that it was around midday according to its position. 'I think that's more than enough time to at least look around, and if the Sun starts setting without finding anything, then I'll have to make plans to build some kind of shelter.' He then decided to descend the tree. He carefully wove his way between branches until he reached the ground. Once his feet touched the ground.
Tanaka then listened carefully to determine the position of the river. 'It's to my right.' He then quickly moved in that direction, making sure to keep his eyes open for any animals and creatures that might be dangerous to him.
As he made his way closer to the river, Tanaka could only wonder how he'd even gotten here. Was it some cruel joke by the universe, or was there a reason he was sent here? Times like these made Tanaka miss his disembodied friend. 'Bell would definitely be able to help me figure out what's going on.'
Fallen branches and leaves crunched underfoot as Tanaka made his way closer and closer to the river. He then ran past a clearing and could finally see the river. Its water glistened as it rushed down. It was wide, really wide. Tanaka estimated that the river was at least 100 meters across.
Tanaka breathed out a sigh of relief as he looked around at the trees, trying to determine which was the tallest. He needed to find the tallest tree to ascertain whether the river ended in a pool of water, like a lake or an ocean, or if it disappeared, either by drying up or by going underground.
He found a particularly tall tree, being about as tall as a 4 story building. He climbed the tree and went up as high as he could. Once he was sure that the branch he was on was firm enough to handle his weight, he stood on the branch, staring out towards the downward stream of the river.
From what he could see, the river got wider and wider until it formed a...swamp? 'Wait, what am I supposed to do if it ends in a swamp? We never got taught anything about what to do with that!'
Tanaka could only lament the situation he was currently in. He was supposed to be back at school right now, not out in some jungle. He shook his head as he sighed.
Thwack!
The tree shook violently from some impact, causing Tanaka to lose his balance and fall off the branch he was standing on. His heart began pounding heavily as he covered his face. The branches scratched his arms and legs as he fell through them.
Bonk.
Tanaka bounced off another tree's branch, causing him to twirl around in the air. He couldn't focus on the pain as he could see the ground starting to take up more of his vision. He braced himself for impact and closed his eyes as he prepared himself, but then he stopped.
Tanaka quickly opened his eyes, looking up to see his leg caught on the vine of a tree. 'Oh, thank goodness. I thought I was going to die.' Tanaka then tried to get himself down by swinging around to loosen the vine wrapped around his leg.
Swoosh!
A gooey blue tendril sliced through the vine, causing Tanaka to fall onto the forest floor. "Ah!" Tanaka cried out I pain. He then got up and dusted himself off as he tried to get a bearing on his situation. As he looked around, his eyes landed on a gooey blue blob with some kind of object in its centre.
Tanaka could only stare at it in shock. 'What the heck is that?!'
The blob then swooshed and moved around Tanaka as if it were analysing him. Tanaka was unsure what to do. He stood there waiting for the blob to leave him alone. The blob eventually stopped circling him. It then started to wriggle around before letting out a low rumbling sound that sounded like a man gargling water.
Tanaka began to feel uneasy and began to move away from the strange creature. However, the blob didn't seem to take kindly to this action as a tendril lashed out, smacking Tanaka in the face.
As he recovered from the shock of the hit he felt something slimy grabbing onto his right leg. He was then flung up into the air and then dragged back down, facefirst into the ground with a thunderous thwack!
Before he could recover he felt his entire body being pinned down as tendrils wrapped around his neck. He tried to move his arms but they were being restrained. 'Darnit, no not like this.' Tanaka thought this as he struggled to get himself free. He could feel the tendrils around his neck start to squeeze. He struggled more and more but only found it harder and harder to move his muscles as they began to scream out in pain.
With his airways so contricted, he could feel his body growing weaker and weaker. His eyesight started to blacken as he felt his consciousness fade and the last of his strength finally gave out.