Ran took out a small piece of bread from her backpack to eat for dinner. Even though she had lots of snacks in her bag, she needed to save them. After walking for so long without seeing a single person or finding a way out of the forest, she realized she would have to survive on her own for a while. Finding food would be a big problem.
She hardly saw any animals on her journey. The few she did see ran away quickly, so she knew she wouldn't be able to catch any. Her only option was to try and find more wild vegetables and fruits the next day.
After walking under the hot sun all day, her face was red from the sunburn. She looked at her face with her phone and sighed. The sun was very strong here, and her pale skin was easily damaged. With no other choice, she put the only hand cream she had on her face and hoped it would help by the next day.
She turned off her phone and carefully put it away. Even though it couldn't connect to any network, it still had some useful features, so she wanted to save the battery.
Ran used dry grass and stones to hide the entrance of the tree hole she was staying in. She lay down on her down jacket and waited for night to fall. But the sun didn't seem to go down, no matter how long she waited. It seemed that days here were very long, and she didn't know when it would get dark.
Eventually, she fell asleep while thinking, but later woke up from the cold. It was now night, and although it was hot during the day, the temperature had dropped a lot. She wrapped herself tightly in her jacket, but she was still cold.
She thought the night wouldn't be cold because the day was so hot, but the temperature difference was too big. She shivered and regretted not collecting more firewood to make a fire.
It was very quiet at night, and she could hear many animals moving outside. She was scared and moved to a corner inside the tree hole.
There were very few animals during the day, but now at night, they were all out. She was glad she had blocked the entrance with stones. If an animal came in, she wouldn't be able to fight it. Even the birds here were huge—she couldn't imagine how big other animals might be.
That night, Ran barely slept at all because she was so cold and afraid.
Early the next morning, she carried everything she had and went out. She needed to find food and, more importantly, water—she hadn't had a single drop since yesterday.
Not far from the tree hole, she found a tree with wild fruits. The tree wasn't tall, but the fruits were the size of footballs and bright red.
Some fruits on the ground had bite marks from small animals. Since animals were eating them, they were probably not poisonous. She hesitated, then picked one from the tree, peeled it with her knife, and took a bite.
The fruit was crisp, sweet, and full of juice. Its flesh was white. She was extremely thirsty and quickly ate half of it. Then she picked another one and put it in her backpack. The fruit was too big to fit more than one. She marked the tree's location so she could come back later for more.
Near the fruit tree, she found a tree with long branches like willow trees. She broke off a few branches and made a simple ring of leaves to wear on her head to block the harsh sunlight.
She continued walking, wanting to explore the area around the tree hole to see if it was safe enough to stay.
After walking a bit, she was happy to find several types of wild vegetables. Even though they looked much larger than the ones she knew, they still had the same shape. She picked a lot of shepherd's purse and Indian aster. These could be eaten cold or stir-fried.
She was thankful that the head of the orphanage had taught her about wild vegetables and herbs. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to survive here at all.
But while she was busy picking vegetables, she didn't notice that a huge creature was getting closer.
When she finally heard a heavy breathing sound and looked up, she was frozen in fear. A huge wild boar was only a few meters away. It was over two meters long and more than a meter tall, staring at her while drooling.
This wasn't a fat, harmless pig like on Earth. This boar had two pairs of large, sharp tusks and a long line of bristly hair along its back. It looked at her with glowing eyes, and bits of chewed vegetables were stuck to its mouth.
It had probably been eating in the vegetable patch and noticed her. Now, it was slowly moving closer, ready to attack.
Ran didn't move, knowing that if she ran, the boar would chase and probably kill her with its sharp tusks. She held her knife tightly and watched its every move, trying to think of a way out.
She was in a bad spot. There were no trees nearby to hide behind or climb. She quietly gripped her knife, feeling hopeless. She had survived the car crash, but was she going to die here by a wild boar?
She slowly stepped back while the boar inched forward, trying to find the perfect moment to strike. Her body was soaked in cold sweat. She knew the longer she waited, the worse it would get.
Suddenly, she made a quick decision. She turned and ran left, and when the boar lunged in that direction, she quickly changed direction and ran to the right.
This gave her a little head start, but the boar was much faster than it looked and chased her quickly.
She could hear the heavy breathing behind her getting closer and closer. In her panic, she tripped over a tree root and fell hard to the ground.
As the boar charged at her with its tusks aimed to kill, Ran closed her eyes in despair. It seemed like she couldn't escape her fate after all.