A few hours later they finally came to a clearing. Tabitha instinctively knew it was coming. She made sure that I jumped first.
“Remember, duck and roll.”
It came time for me to jump. Every part of my being was telling me not to. My heart was pounding, and I felt sick. I had come too far to turn back now. With that, I jumped and rolled as she had instructed.
It was far from painless, with a few cute and bruises here and there. Tabitha jumped just a few seconds later and I walked over to her position.
“See, I told you that you would be fine.”
I grin back at her.
“Let’s go. We still have quite a walk ahead.”
So, I followed her. It was easy at first but then we were back in the thick forest. In the forests of my homeland habitat, there would mostly be silence. But here, you were hit with a cacophony of sound from all directions. A machete had been left under a rock and Tabitha used it to cut a route through the thick vegetation.
“Everything grows really quick here. All I’ve cut will quickly regrow. It’s both a blessing and a curse. It’s the heat and the rain.”
“What rain?”
Just as I asked I felt a droplet hit my ear. Then another, followed by a downpour.
“What is happening?”
“Oh, they don’t have this on your home habitat. It’s all piped irrigation. It’s mimicking what happens on earth.”
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