Secrets of the Universe

Jake fiercely opened. He just had the worst nightmare. He dreamt that he kissed the most ugly-looking creature ever to exist.

"The sleeping beauty is awake. He slept after kissing his prince charming," Jake heard a voice beside him.

He glanced around and saw three teenagers. They were the ones he saw when he was landing. Their appearance almost rivaled his perfect face. Just from that, Jake already perceived them as threats.

Jake noticed something strange. He could now move his body.

He asked the only boy in the trio, "How long have I been asleep?"

"Three days," firmly replied Nico.

Firmly focusing, Jake got a good glance at Nico. Nico was tall and had an athletic build. He had short curly red hair and goofy-looking black eyes. His face was charming, but when he smiled, it gave Jake cringes. It was the smile of a pervert tricking a young girl.

Noticing Jake was looking at him, he introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Nico. This is my sister Lola and our friend Jaya."

Nico pointed at his sister and Jaya who sat at a tree behind him.

Jake took a look at the rest of the team.

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The one called Lola, unlike her brother, was of petite stature. She had straight black hair that blew intensely with the wind, but she didn't bother about that. Her eyes were deep red and it sometimes gave off an evil feeling which put Jake on edge.

The last female was Jaya. Her appearance was not similar to the two siblings. Her purple silky hair pulled back to reveal a mature yet young face. Her blue eyes reminded Jake of the calm blue ocean he had once seen. He realized that despite having the same eye color as her, the difference was noticeable. While Jake's was icy blue, hers was oceanic light blue. She had a presence that would always stand out despite her average height.

'She is dangerous,' remarked Jake. The real threat to him wasn't the twins, rather it was Jaya!

After observing the trio, Jake realized that they were still in the forest.

"Why are we still in the forest?" asked Jake, not knowing he was being ungrateful.

Lola frustratingly remarked, "That's it? No thank you? Unbelievable!"

Jake wondered if there were a few screws loose in her head, 'Last I checked they couldn't even catch me. Now they want me to thank them.'

Jake couldn't understand how the girl's brain worked.

As he was thinking, Jake discovered that he could move his hands. He waved them a few times, checking if his body was okay.

He tried to stand up a few times. After a lot of failures, he finally stood up.

'As I just got the new body, I wasn't used to it. That was the reason for my inability to move, but after three days it seems like everything is back to normal. I'm functioning well now.'

After a few stretches, Jake could now move his body efficiently.

Though, there was something he felt strange about. His lips. He could feel a kind of liquid on his lip, it was glossy, but definitely wasn't from him. So who was it from?

He touched his lips and saw a black slimy goo. The appearance of the goo triggered the memories of the events before he fainted. The memories flashed through his head.

'I remember now. I fell on a tree and landed on an ugly creature, with both our lips touching! I---I--I--'

Suddenly, Jake fainted due to the trauma he had just received.

Nico, Lola, and Jaya were surprised. They watched as the young boy started making strange movements then he touched his lips, checked them, and fainted.

"Ha, it seems like he couldn't handle it," said Lola.

"Hahaha, I would be surprised if he could," brightly humored Nico.

As the only sensible one, Jaya commented, "We need to leave. It's getting dangerous here."

"And That would have been better if we knew our way out. For the past three days, we have searched for ways out, but we seem to be moving closer to the center of the forest," remarked Jaya as she furrowed her brows.

"What can we do? We woke up in the forest. We can only hope that the direction we are going to leads to the exit," replied Lola as he hung her eyes down.

"It is getting close tonight," cried an anxious Nico.

If there was one thing that the trio feared in the forest, it was the nighttime. Though there was no night in the forest due to the undying gray sky, the concept still existed, but in another form.

At noon, the forest would release a deep gray smoke that would awaken all the zombies.

For the past three days, they had seen the terrors of this night. The relentless zombies with an acute sense of smell always sniff them out of hiding. When they tried to rest, they would be ambushed by one or two zombies. So for the whole three days, they have been on the run, nonstop. They could only rest when the smoke was gone.

"If this continues, we are not going to survive. We have to find the exit tonight."

*Roar!!!*

The trio grimaced as they heard a terrifying roar. They knew what it meant. It marked the start of the forest's nighttime.

The roar woke Jake from his sleep, "What is happening?"

Immediately, Jaya grabbed his arm, "Glad you are awake. Stand up, we need to move now."

Sensing the tension, Jake did not argue and followed the trio.

'What is happening? The foul air has gotten thicker,' Jake thought as he increased his pace.

He noticed the steps of the trio were irregular as if they didn't know where they were going to.

He inquired, "You don't know the way out of the forest?"

Nico said with hurried breaths, "We woke up in a cave in the forest. We also have no idea what is going on. We can only hope our direction is right."

Jake gasped as he thought, 'This fools!'

He understood that they weren't at fault, but they should at least have found a way out of the forest.

Knowing that thinking won't get him anywhere, Jake widely searched his surroundings as he increased his pace.

"Is that--"

He spotted a red arrow mark on a tree. It was pointing to another tree.

Looking at the tree being pointed at, Jake saw another arrow mark on it pointing to another tree.

With his smart intellect, Jake figured it out, 'The arrow marks should direct one to a particular location. My bet is that it is the exit point. Even if I'm wrong, it is better than just blindly running.'

A fierce streak coursed his eyes, as he followed the arrow marks without hesitation.

"What is he doing?" Nico shouted. He noticed the boy they rescued was running off course.

Jaya also noticed that "He is not that dumb to just leave like that."

When looking back, she discovered the arrow marks too, "The arrows! He is following the arrows! Follow him."

She instructed her friends to follow him as she did the same.

*Roar!!*

Before they could relax, they heard a noise.

Looking back, they saw a swarm of zombies.

The trio exclaimed, "Shit!"

With a summoned desperate vigor, they ran after Jake.

...

It was five hours since Jake had seen the first arrow mark.

Five hours. That is how long he has been running.

He kept following the arrows.

He had long realized that a horde of zombies was behind him and if he stopped for even a second, he would be dead meat.

"I see it. The end of the forest."

Two kilometers. It was two kilometers away from him. Jake could see a clear field and a stop sign, indicating the exit point. Having seen hope, Jake burst into a faster speed.

The exit point was also seen by Nico, Lola, and Jaya who were just ten steps behind Jake.

*Roar!!*

Jake closed the gap between him and the exit point. He heard a zombie roar. This time it was not coming from behind him, rather it was ahead of him.

With a quick glance ahead, Jake was terrified. Ahead of him was about ten zombies.

Jake screamingly stopped, 'Fuck! There is a horde at my back and now there is another group in front. What do I do?'

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He couldn't find any loophole for this situation.

"I will risk it. I will try to run past them and kill as many as I can. That is the only way. I can't die here! "

Jake had learned to be decisive when needed. Since his way out was barricaded, then he would make his way.

With a deep breath, Jake prepared for the craziest run of his life.

His thoughts aligned with the trio behind him as they saw the group of zombies in front of them.