18 Ch.18

(Gerion Lannister POV)

Struggling to stand from the physical and mental exhaustion of being stranded at sea, as I stumble through the ruins trying to find fresh water and food. While I stumbled through the streets of this once-beautiful city, I felt as though I was being watched. After almost another hour of walking slowly through the city, I came across a small stream of water. Practically crawling over to it, I fell to my knees and drank heavily from the water.

As I filled my stomach with the freshwater I drank too much it seemed and threw it back up. Which is not a good sign, showing how dehydrated I just am, this time I drank enough to fill me before I felt I'd through up again. Just as I finished drinking the second time, I heard movement behind me. Jumping up I grabbed a stick nearby as a makeshift weapon while looking around me with my heart pumping heavily in my chest. Coming from around a corner I see a man, but before I can relax I noticed the man is covered in grey stony skin.

"Stone Men…" I say to myself out loud, now remembering Old Valyria is where people dump those who get infected.

The Stone Man sees me and like a crazy person charges me with nothing but violence in his eyes. Knowing what I know about these infected people, it is better to flee than fight, as one single touch from them can infect you with the same disease. This disease has no known cure and is a death sentence if caught. I didn't survive that monster only to be killed by some Stone Man. So I ran in the opposite direction, with the adrenaline in my body pushing me past my limits as my survival was back on the line.

I ran through the streets as my body screamed at me for being pushed to its absolute limits like never before. I could hear the stone man behind me, but also what sounded like even more stone men following him as well. With a quick look back I noticed I was now being chased by more than a dozen stone men, making my adrenaline rerelease itself into my body even more than before.

"FUCK ME!!!" I scream in terror at the absolute amount of stone men chasing me.

"Do you fuckers breed?! Why are there so many of you?!" I scream more to myself as I run through this ruined city.

I ran harder than at any other time in my life through this godforsaken city. Until I finally reached the exit, which must have been quite the sight back before the city became a ruin. Running through the broken gates I run into the jungle just outside, passing by these giant stone pillars that had glowing blue writing on them. Looking back I see the stone men run outside the city gates but all stop when they reach the stone pillars. Seemingly giving up the chase which I was happy about, but decided to not take any chances and ran further into the jungle.

After another ten minutes of running, my body screamed at me to stop, now that I was not in immediate danger. Crouching over with my hands on my knees, I stopped running to catch my breath. After a few minutes of catching my breath, I felt the exhaustion hit me even harder than before. I sat down and leaned on a tree nearby while looking around at my surroundings.

Now that I can look around without the worry of dying immediately, I notice how much larger these trees are than any other tree I've seen. They are so tall I can't be sure if what I see is the top of the tree, plus there is so much vegetation that I can not see the sky. Looking around, I decided to head in the opposite direction I came from to avoid the stone men. Plus I figured staying in the middle of this jungle is probably not for the best.

After walking for a few hours, I came across another stream of fresh water in the woods. Taking a moment to get another drink, I consider following this stream up the flow of water. Though that may lead me back to the ruins where the stone men reside. While following it downstream would most likely lead me to the ocean or a lake.

'Either way, I'm fucked…' I think to myself considering my options.

"Downstream it is," I say to myself out loud while walking downstream and following the stream of water.

As I walked downstream, the jungle got darker and darker signifying that it was becoming nightfall. Deciding my best option was to find a place to rest, I searched for a safe place to rest before I could not see more than a few feet in front of me. I eventually found a small cave under a very large tree nearby. The roots acted as a cage to keep large things out. I entered the small cave to rest and luckily found nothing to indicate something else was using this place as a home.

The night was long and harsh as I kept waking up to the strange sounds in the jungle of creatures I assume I'd never seen before or heard of before. Waking up the next day, I felt even more hungry, I may have some fresh water nearby now. Still, I desperately need some food, so far I've seen no signs of life outside the plants and stone men. Though from the noises last night, it appears animals live in the jungle, but stay away from the ruins.

Going back over to the stream I drank some more water, before grabbing a fallen stick on the ground. I then used a rock nearby to sharpen the stick as best I could, since I lost my sword and other items in the monster attack. This makeshift spear is now my best weapon, using my very basic knowledge of survival skills and what I can remember from going on hunts with my brothers. I search around for tracks to hunt down a deer or any other small animal really.

After searching for any signs of tracks nearby, I found tracks that resembled a deer's if I remembered correctly. Though the only big difference was the size of the tracks compared to what they should be like this deer was three times the size of a normal one. Though I just hoped that was not the case and since these were the only tracks I found, I followed them since I've not eaten in days.

Following these tracks, they lead me to a small clearing in the jungle where a small group of deer were grazing. Though these deer were much bigger than any I've ever seen, everything on this island is much larger than its normal counterpart. I crouched down and slowly made my way closer so I could throw my spear at the smallest one. Even the baby deer was as large as a normal deer.

Just as I was getting into the range I believed I could accurately hit the deer with my makeshift spear. All the deer looked up and in the direction a few dozen feet from my left. I held my breath thinking they saw, heard, or smelled me. Though I almost screamed in terror as two giant creatures I'd never seen or heard of before charged out of the clearing. The deer all ran away in fear, but the two closest ones couldn't move in time before being grabbed by the two creatures.

These creatures were at least 20ft (6m) tall and 40ft (12m) long, with leathery/ scaly skin, two stubby arms, with two very thick muscled legs, and a pair of small horns coming out of their heads. They were obviously carnivores as they tore apart the deer I was hunting in seconds eating the flesh with their somewhat small but many sharp teeth.

I backed away with my breath very shallow from the fear and slowly crept away. Once I was back behind a nearby tree, I let out a small breath of relief at not being spotted. Though I looked back at the two creatures who were now fighting over the leftovers of these deer they just devoured in mere seconds.

As quickly and quietly as possible, I ran away from these two giant predators that would take more than twenty well-armed men to fight just one. Once I was about a hundred feet away, I sprinted at my full speed away from them back towards my cave under the very large tree. Once I was back to the only place I felt safe in this hellhole of a jungle, I sat down and felt despair hit me again.

'I'm gonna die on this island… no… No, don't give up Gerion! You have to live so one day you can make it back to Joy!' I think to myself as the despair is sinking in, then stand up as the smallest hope of seeing my family again fills me slightly again.

'I should head back to those creatures, maybe they left scraps for me to eat. Plus with them hunting, I doubt I will be able to find something for myself without becoming the prey,' I think while slowly making my way back to the clearing.

Once there I look around for any sign of those creatures or anything else that looks like it could eat me in one bite. After a long and tense minute of looking around, I deem it safe enough to sneak over to where the two creatures killed the deer. As I approached the area, I could smell the heavy scent of blood and see the splattering of it across the tall grass.

There I saw the very little remains of the deer's carcasses. The bones seemed broken apart, but the marrow is still there. Plus the few organs you can eat seem to be there, like the heart and liver. I grabbed as many bones as I could, the one heart and partially eaten liver. I then ran back to my home as fast as I could hoping not to be followed.

Once there I dumped my findings inside my cave while looking around to see if I was followed. Thankfully I was not followed with a breath of relief, I found some dry wood nearby and started a small fire in front of the cave I was living in. Once the fire started, I roasted the heart and liver on a stick that I soaked in the stream. As I placed the bones in the fire to cook the marrow as best I can.

As the organs and bones were cooking, I kept looking around me with my wooden makeshift spear at the ready. After a few tense minutes of silence other than the sounds of the birds and other 'small' animals of the forest, I deemed the bones ready to eat. Using a stone I crushed the bones open and ate the marrow, this was the best-tasting thing I've ever eaten. Though that might be just because I'm starving.

Once I ate my fill from the bones and organs, I drank some fresh water. Before heading back into my cave to rest even though I didn't do much today. This was the first meal I had in days and my body needed to rest. Plus I was mentally exhausted from the stress of everything that has happened the last few days.

The next few days were me mapping out the area I was living in and scavenging for food. I found some berries and mushrooms in the forest, but I'm not familiar with what is poisonous or not, especially since these plants are not like any I've heard of. I only ate the 'small' animals I could hunt or the fresher dead carcasses I came across.

Even the bunnies, squirrels, and birds on this island were more than twice the size of the ones back home. Though it made eating them that much more enjoyable. Over the course of a few days, I was able to make somewhat usable waterskin from the organs of a deer. Plus a small stone bowl that I used to boil water. Though a week after I arrived on this island, I heard noises of what sounded like speaking approaching me, as I ran back inside my cave to hide.