As the two climbed out of the lattice of rubble surrounding them, they found the falling rock and metal had leveled a substantial amount of the surrounding scenery. Powdered bits of wood and leaf lay strewn about the floor, mixed in amongst the rubble of the voice’s heart and now permanently separated from the numerous splintered trunks littered around the duo. Outside of the makeshift clearing carved out by the rubble, tall tropical trees pierced the heavens. Thick vines and twisting, wild branches grew from numerous thick trunks as pockets of rain pierced the curtain of foliage high above their heads.

  Walking out into the jungle, an uncontrollable sigh escaped Jake as he realized the sunlight they had felt thus far was only thanks to the destruction wrought by the falling debris. Now, walking through the jungle proper all that awaited them was the slick sensation of the rain, the cool shade cast by the tree, and the faint sounds of beasts stalking them through the overgrowth.

  This sigh would be the last sound Jake or Alice would make as they pushed through the jungle foliage. Part of this was because they were so consumed with trying not to collapse from their overwhelming exhaustion that maintaining a conversation fell on the back burner. Every step forward through the entangling overgrowth seemed to sap what little energy they had left and further aggravate their injuries. Soon they could barely move, only maintaining their steady progress thanks to the support of the surrounding trees.

  Yet another part that contributed to this silence, maybe even more so than their exhaustion, was their mutual understanding that things were different now. They might both try to ignore it, bury the memories, and move forward, but things were different. The abuse of the voice ran circles through the silent pair's heads, round and round he taunted them. Though they both knew he was dead, abandoned, and left to rot behind them an entire reality away, they couldn’t be rid of him.

  Every sound beyond the foliage, every rustle of the leaves, even the falling of the rain above. Whereas before these sounds only inspired intrigue into the wonders of nature, curiosity into what sort of new alien world they’d found to explore, now these sounds only seemed to inspire fear. Even as Alice looked upon the wonderous trees, and felt the smooth surface of the vines tickle her head, she couldn’t enjoy it. Not as she once did. The unknown only seemed to inspire fear, her sense of wonder buried despite how hard she tried to unearth it.

  The voice had cut and scared them, and now as they walked in awkward silence they didn’t know how they could possibly bridge the gap that had formed between them. What could they say to one another, how could they start a conversation now? A joke, a story, a simple hello? The longer the silence went on, the more the pain of the voice pressed down on them and they both realized ignoring the experience was impossible. Yet neither seemed willing to bridge the gap and be the first to talk as they struggled through the jungle.

  Eventually, their silent adventure forward through the jungle was halted as the pair came across a river. It was different from the creaks and streams the pair had seen thus far, it was truly massive stretching dozens of meters across. Even at its lowest bank, the edge to the river from the tree line seemed to more resemble a cliff than a shoreline. A sharp drop-off led down to the fast-flowing water below.

  They stopped at the water’s edge, watching the waters rapidly flow for a while, unsure what to do now. The idea of crossing the river, so rapidly flowing and sinking to depths unknown, was vastly unappealing. That left either turning back or continuing down the shoreline. For the moment though, the two stood transfixed, watching the rivers flow as if hypnotized by it. After a while, as the two stood in unmoving silence the rain beating down hard and fast overhead, Jake turned his head slightly to glance at Alice and asked,

  “Should we… should we talk about it?”

  “What, the river?” Alice asked, turning away and beginning to move downstream along the clifflike bank of the river.

  “You know that’s not what I’m talking about…” Jake replied, and indeed Alice knew what he meant. She had just been hoping to deflect, be able to silently put off any discussion about the voice for a while longer. Stopping in her tracks a moment, she replied without turning back to face Jake.

  “No… No please let's just keep moving…”

  Jake didn’t reply, simply giving a nod he realized a few seconds later Alice failed to see. He didn’t reply audibly though, he simply fell into silence and hurried to catch up with Alice along the bank of the river. In truth, he was perfectly happy to delay talks about their experiences in the corridor for as long as possible as well. He’d only asked to try and restart talk between the two, cut through the elephant in the room neither of them wanted to acknowledge.

  Falling back into quickstep, the two were more careful than ever as they followed along the river’s edge to try and ensure neither fell inside the rapid currents. They both felt certain they lacked the strength to escape the rush of the rainswept waters, so it was highly likely falling off the slicked bank would mean certain death.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Yet the dangerous walk along the bank seemed worth it. Following along its edge meant they were far more likely to successfully hunt something stopped for a drink. Along with this, they began to notice thick reeds growing in their paths.

  These tripping hazards at first were rather unappreciated as the duo carefully did their best to maneuver around them, however, soon they sprouted so numerous and the pair was so tired that tripping became inevitable. His foot caught against a rather ingrown reed that had managed to evade his line of sight, Jake found himself tumbling forward.

  Alice let out a cry of surprise, turning just in time to see Jake crumbling to the floor, both grateful that he’d tripped inland toward the trees as opposed to falling in the rushing river just a few feet away. Sitting up slowly and rubbing his head, Jake cut through the silence once more,

  “Maybe we should move away from the river, at least for…” Yet he trailed off as he caught sight of something. Or rather, numerous somethings scattered across the floor. The reed that had tripped

  him lay to the side, pulled free from the earth now, split open. From it had come pouring what looked to be numerous colored berries, chiefly white and blue. Alice followed Jake’s line of sight, and as soon as she caught sight of the berries sprawled across the floor a sharp inhale of excitement escaped her.

  Both practically salivating now, they threw themselves to the floor crawling about and scooping up the numerous berries strewn about. Mostly they managed to find white, yet their blue counterparts also lay hidden in vastly smaller quantities. Their texture was unlike any berry the two were familiar with, feeling hard and unyielding to the touch.

  Sitting back against the tree line, the pair simultaneously raised a handful of berries up to their mouths, stopping just before the fruit could pass their lips with looks of horror on their faces. The berries smelled of rot, deep and pure decay, an unappetizing smell so potent that even to the starving pair the idea of consuming the handful of berries they’d collected now seemed not only unappetizing but also potentially dangerous.

  Yet, mixed with the smell of decay and death, another scent faded and nearly lost, reached them. Confused and desperate, they dug through their collected piles of berries till at last they found the culprit. The blue berries lacked the smell of rot and decay that permeated every other berry, instead taking on a sweet and luxurious scent. Rasing just a singular blueberry to their lips, the two still hesitated a moment to consume the sweet-smelling fruit. They still felt nervous about eating something so closely associated with the scent of rot and death.

  However, this nervous hesitation could only last for so long before both lost out to the screaming hunger in their stomachs. Popping the blueberries into their mouths, both were underwhelmed by the berry's taste. Despite its strong and luxurious smell that managed to pierce through even the scent of rotting death, the actual berry itself lacked any real flavor. Swallowing the surprisingly bland berry, the two waited in bated breath to see if anything would happen. As the minutes passed, the only symptom that developed within the two was a worsening of their hunger as their stomachs screamed to be properly sated.

  With nervous uncertainty still in the back of their mind, the two began scarfing down the blue berries littered across the ground. Before long the two had completely finished all the blue berries that had spilled out from the first reed and were busying themselves cracking open reed after reed and picking through the multitude of berries that spilled out for those that seemed edible. It was mind-numbing, exhaustive work as every reed around them was packed full to bursting with the rotted white berries, usually only containing a few fit to eat. As time stretched on and the silence seemed to grow thicker and thicker, Alice stopped her work suddenly and looked toward Jake.

  “Tell me more about where you’re from.”

  “Why?” Jake asked, feeling rather unwilling to think about home at the moment, the demoralizing thoughts of hopelessness still clinging fresh to his mind.

  “You’ve told me about it some before, just curious that’s all.” Alice said with a shrug, “Didn’t you say we’d each share something once a day? I think we're behind.” Jake was surprised she remembered that, letting out a small laugh before he fell back into silent thought. Alice watched him for a while, before turning back to her berries.

  It seemed a shame to let this silence continue, she could agree with that, but discussing the corridor wasn’t something she could do. Not yet. She’d hoped she could just change the topic and start a new conversation. But perhaps that was too na?ve. Perhaps she’d…

  “Stew,” Jake announced suddenly, interrupting her train of thought with nonsense as she looked up from her gathered pile of berries to stare at Jake a look of confusion on her face.

  “What about stew?”

  “It’s was my… is my favorite meal back home. My mom's specifically. Just meat, vegetables, flour, and beef broth. I’ve tried making it myself a few times but man, for some reason, I just can’t seem to make it like her. It’s really something else, so simple yet so delicious.” Jake’s eyes had a faraway look to them as he spoke, a look Alice had seen a few times now. A look of sad remembrance he often had when he discussed his home, yet it pained her to see the determination that usually burned alongside the sadness was gone now.

  “We were eating these,” Jake said, holding the rather tasteless berries aloft “So when you asked about home, it’s all I could think about.”

  Alice let out a laugh as she let the berries she clutched fall from her hands. By now her stomach felt rather satisfied, and she was struggling to fight off the all-consuming weight of her exhaustion.

  “Stew huh? Meat and vegetables at once… can’t even imagine it. We’ll have to try it sometime…” Alice’s voice was fading away now as her body slumped lower and lower, curling up against the tree behind her.

  “Green Day too, don’t let me forget. You still… need… to show me…” She was gone, drifted off to sleep as she talked. Jake let out a chuckle as she began to snore, yet his heart had begun to hurt the more she spoke. Moving closer to her, he propped himself upright against a tree, fighting with every fiber of his being to stay awake, to keep watch, trying to ignore the truth that they’d probably long be separated before they could try stew together, listen to green day together.