Ten days had passed, and David had been busy. He worked on improving his barriers and spike traps, continued to fortify and make his tent feel more homely by adding more sinew, reinforcing the hide turning it into more of a leather, and then adding some glowing moss as lighting. He also worked on improving his aiming while moving, his ability to accurately stab with a knife but most importantly he worked on his dodging skills and footwork.
David's body had recovered slightly over the past ten days, most of the small cuts, scrapes and bruises were either healed or healing. The burns that hadn't been affected during the brawl with the centipedes were almost healed enough to no longer need bandages. In the places where the burned skin had torn the bandages were now acting as a pseudo skin until he could fully heal his wounds. He had now become accustomed to the pain of his broken ribs, the holes in his leg and foot had stopped bleeding and large scabs covered the holes.
He built himself a new splint for his broken arm and used the remaining soft centipede membrane and chitin to build himself a cast.
The cast would hold his arm in place so it could heal but David found another use for it as well. He used some sinew and a curved chitin plate to make himself a shield. If he was in a dire situation, David didn't mind sacrificing his already broken arm if it meant surviving.
David had prepared, he trained, he built, he planned, and now he was ready to act upon everything he had been prepping for.
David grabbed his gear and loaded it on to the sled before he made his way through the barriers and spike traps, towards the oasis where he had faced his first true enemy.
David passed the large offshoot where he was nearly ambushed by the first Shleem-low centipede. Further down that offshoot the remains of his earlier ambush could be found but he had no intention of opening that can of worms again, at least for now.
David's objective was to recon the oasis and see if he could occupy it. If he was able to then he would secure a near permanent source of water and an opportune hunting ground.
Along David's journey he saw the now faded remnants of his fight for survival. Drops of blood here, a crack in the rock there, broken stalactites and stalagmites now scattered turned to rubble that littered his path.
'If I can't secure the oasis fully, I should be able to use the broken rock to make a sort of wall or barricade. I could use it to stop or slow down the mutant creatures, so I have enough time to properly aim and kill them.'
David let that idea sink into the back of his mind as he continued to make his way towards the oasis.
500 yards from the tunnel entrance to the oasis, David stopped and placed the chitin sled in a small alcove. He didn't want it to be damaged if he was attacked and it would be to inconspicuous and unwieldy for him to take with him as he reconned the oasis.
100 yards from the entrance, David began to move slowly and deliberately. He wanted to make as little noise as possible and hide himself the best he could. As he reached the curved arch that acted as an entrance to the oasis, he lowered his body into an almost prone position and peeked around the curve.
The oasis was as lively as before he left but unlike before there were no longer dozens of different types of insects and other small creatures. The oasis had been completely taken over by cave glower spiders.
The baby cave glowers that had originally accompanied their mother had grown since he had first encountered them. The now more like the infant one that had nearly took his leg and foot. With how many of them there were and how deadly they could be, David wouldn't be able to conquer the oasis, at least not without dying.
He would need more equipment; in David's mind he would need a flamethrower at minimum to deal with the swarms. The biggest problem was if he left them alone, they would become even more deadly.
If they were allowed to grow, they would start to leave the oasis and threaten his encampment. But even worse they would be able to reproduce and cause an even bigger crisis.
Seeing that if he tried to attack, he would just be killed, David slowly crept his way back from the entrance. He would need to use the other tunnels as hunting grounds until he had the resources to kill all the cave glowers.
Upon reaching about 300 yards from the oasis entrance David started to walk again. He grabbed his sled and made his way back down the tunnel.
He would need to set some sort of alarm system to alert him if any of the cave glowers started to head to his small sanctuary.
As David made his way back to his 'home' he passed the cave offshoot that led to the corpses of the centipedes he had killed. He didn't want this trip to be meaningless, so he chose to go down the offshoot and explore. He passed the broken rock and dissected remains of the centipedes he had killed. Moving further down the tunnel almost always present glowing moss and cave critters started to disperse turning into large glowing patches, leaving large areas of the tunnel dark, perfect places for the monsters down here to ambush and attack from.
Seeing that the lighting was getting worse the further he went remined him of when he first awoke in this cave system over a month ago. Heading towards the moss, David chose to use the same tactic he had used when first navigating the dark damp tunnels. Grabbing a large clump of glowing moss was easy but with only one fully working hand it was extremely difficult to cut the moss. releasing the moss. Next David tried to use his knife but with no tension on the moss it was useless. David made a decision that would affect him for the rest of his life. He bit down on the moss hoping to rip enough from the wall to be able to use it as a light source.
The moss tasted like dirt mixed with an overripe lemon as he began to try to cut the moss from the wall using his teeth. As he pulled, he felt a small amount of the moss tear away and he accidentally swallowed it. He began to cough and gag, trying to get the moss out from his throat.
The chimes he had now long associated with a new notification sounded in his head. Closing his eyes, David looked at the notification.
"You have ingested bioluminescent Jarden Moss; your mouth and neck will continually glow as long as Jaren moss is being chewed. This glow can be adjusted based of the rate of movement."
'What the fuck! Now I have to chew this shitty moss like its gum just so I can have some light. But as long as I chew it like gum and it doesn't dissolve or become mush, I can use it as a permanent source of light without constantly having to back track to garb more moss just to chuck it on the ground in front of me so I can see.'
Reasoning that this new ability could be useful and helpful, David decided to try it out. He tore some more of the moss from the wall and began to chew on it. His entire neck and mouth started glowing a soft blue. The light was unnaturally bright and acted more like a lantern then some glowing moss.
Using this new source of light David continued on his journey, dragging the chitin sled behind him. he noticed the lack of life the further he traveled, as if nothing wanted to venture into this area, or as if it had all been hunted. Davids first sign that something was wrong was a cave-in 75 yards in front of him, he could make out a large bone sticking out from the rubble. As he approached to 50 yards from the cave-in David was able to make out what was sticking out from the rubble. It was the spear like bone from a teenage cave glower. In front of it were the broken exoskeletons and bones of numerous creatures. The bones and exoskeletons were all shattered and ripped apart, with large gashes in them from what looked like teeth. Within the remains David could see what looked like the bones of one of the bats like monsters he had seen feasting on the cave glower's remains.
David slowed his chewing, to dim the light. He let go of the sled and pulled his pistol from his belt. All these bones and exoskeletons could be very useful, but he had to get rid of whatever had killed them first. David started creeping forward, keeping an eye out for potential ambushes or lurking monsters.
As David made his way into what could only be described as a graveyard he could make out the faint outline of a depression in the left wall of the tunnel 35, maybe 45 yards Infront of him. He began maneuvering through the skeletons and long eaten corpses. He could see it now, a large dent in the rock wall ahead and near it looked to be fresh remains. As David approached, he could smell the strong sour and repugnant smell of death and rot. There were fresh bones and exoskeletons now, the blood was still coating them, he could make out the places where they had been ripped open and eaten. How the teeth of whatever killed them cut and tore their flesh apart while splintering bone and chitin.
Within the almost hollowed out depression into the tunnel wall, David could make out what almost looked like perfectly places outcroppings of rock leading up towards and hollowed out hole in the wall 14 feet off the ground.
'Those outcroppings don't look natural and neither does that hole, whatever is killing all these things, lives up there. It must have cut or moved the rocks to make itself stairs then carved a burrow into the wall. This thing is extremely clever, using the remains as a sort of deterrent and then building itself a home at a high vantage point where it can see predators coming and get the jump on them if need be. If I want to secure this area and use these remains as supplies and materials, I need to kill whatever is up there.'
David started climbing the carved rock outcroppings and multiple points the rise between the outcropping was too high to simply jump over. He had to run up and jump then crawl his way over the bigger ledges. He now stood at the last outcrop before being at the cave entrance, he wouldn't be able to run and jump to get up this one he would need to climb up the rock face but with his broken arm it was going to be a difficult challenge.
His good hand found purchase in a crack in the rock. he used it as a hand hold to pull himself up as his feet found placement on small pockets and edges. once he had gotten his feet high enough and in good holds, he placed his cast into the crack in the rock to keep his leverage on the wall while he used his good hand to find another good hand hold further up the stone face. Once he found another good handhold he removed his cast from the crack. The small joints on the bottom of his fingers were bleeding. with his hand in a cast, he could only use two fingers to hold onto the rock in the crack and their sharp edge cut into the flesh at his finger joint.
David began to find placement for his feet again. he was close to the top of the ledge now, just a little bit more and he would be able to get his arm high enough to use the ledge as a hand hold. He placed his foot into the crack in the rock, and he found a small pocket in the rock to place his other foot. All he would need to do now was find a suitable hand hold for his cast would be able to support, David could now reach the ledge, but his broken arm wouldn't have the leverage or grip to hold him on the wall as he climbed up. He couldn't find any small pockets or anything he could wrap his two fingers around there was only some small ledges and small slope he could use to push off from.
Deciding the slope was his best option he quickly looked around for any other hand hold he could use and where he could quickly place his feet once he had a firm handhold on the ledge.
He quickly placed his cast against the slope and leaned into it. He would remove his good hand and jump at the same time while pushing off from the slopped ledge. 'Alright I just need to make sure I grab the ledge and place my feet in the proper spots, and I should be good.'
David jumped and grabbed the ledge; he could feel the pressure from pushing off the rock slope with his cast on his broken arm. he quickly moved his feet to find their holds and he began to feel gravity hit his body and increase the weight he was trying to hold with his one good hand. Finding purchase David began to raise his body, working each foot closer and closer towards the ledge until he could get his waist over the lip and crawl onto the ledge.
'Whatever in this cave is either not home or asleep, there is no way if it was awake, it wouldn't have heard or sensed me by now.'
David began to rise into a crouch, pulling out his pistol and setting it to burst. He slowly moved towards the cave entrance, seeing some more bones along the way. One of the bones made him stop instantly and his blood run cold. A half crushed human skull lay before him, its left eye, frontal and temporal bones were all caved in. It looked as if the left front half of their face was ripped apart and crushed. He found bone segments and fragments that looked like a spine, ribs and an arm. This scared David, he had come across many corpses so far, but this was the first time he had ever found the remains of a human since coming here, and whatever had killed him didn't do it painlessly.
David reached down and grabbed the skull, staring at it and imagining it as himself if he hadn't been so lucky so far. He heard the chime of a notification again but knew now was not the time to be closing his eyes and removing his focus from his surroundings. Placing the skull back where it had originally lay, David made his way into the carved tunnel, hoping to ambush whatever was in here while it was asleep.
David found himself in a long corridor, with bones and chitin shells littering the floor in weird patterns, looking more like defensive barriers than random littered remains. The further he went the more corpses he came upon. The human skull scared him immensely but now he had passed the skeletal remains of three more humans. Their and other creatures' bones had been arranged like small a birds' nest with broken chitin acting as a sort of carpeting to cover the sharp broken ends of the bones. Inside of the bone nest David could see white lizard-like creatures sleeping, it was about 3 feet long and a little over a foot wide. Around the large hollowed out oval like cave he could see three more small nests. At the far end of the cavern the largest nest could be seen. Made from what looked like the remains of multiple Shleem-low centipedes and those bat-like creatures. Within the nest must have been the parents if the nest sizes were anything to go by.
Slipping into the first small nest, David found what he assumed was the weird lizard's head. Its head was split into four separate parts; each one was a long triangular flap covered in serrated teeth, smooth pale skin and a singular eye at the back by what David could only assume was the jaw mechanism for each of the four parts.
David slowly put his pistol away, if he used it to kill this baby then the other lizards in their nests would wake up, and judging by the human corpses he had seen so far, if that happened, he would die very brutally. David slowly pulled his knife from his belt and moved it under the lizard's neck.
'I really, really hope that their neck works just like ours, if I slash it open, I might be able make it bleed to death. Wait it will wake up when I start cutting and it could wake up the other or fight back until it bleeds out.'
David removed the knife from under the lizard's neck and moved the blade over the beats head towards the large rise in the creature's skull just behind and above what David could only assume would be the things throat.
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, David performed a few practice swings of driving the knife down into what he hoped would be the lizard's brain. Once he was sure he had practiced enough to land the blow in the right spot with the blade at the correct angle, He raised his arm and shifted his stance to give himself as much leverage and power as possible before swinging the knife down with as much force as he could muster. The knife pierced skin and eventually bone before cutting directly into the beast's brain. Its eyes shot open and as its body started to spasm. Panicking as the lizard hadn't died, David began to try and twist and push the knife hoping to inflict enough damage to kill the thing before it could alert the others.