ARK Survival Evolved, A Survivor's Tale

Ark: Survival Evolved
A Survivor's Tale

It all started like a normal morning. My alarm went off about 5 minutes after the gentle rays from the rising sun coming through my window woke me up. I turned it off before the noise could disturb my husband, and dressed quickly in a light t-shirt, shorts and my jogging shoes. Opening the kitchen door I realized it was a little chilly, so I grabbed my hoodie and pulled it on as I walked down the long winding driveway to the front gate, stretching and warming up before my run. Ipod set to my favorite mix, a cross between top 40 and old school metal, I hit the sand road in front of our farm and settle into an easy jog. My whole family has always been overweight, and I'm no exception, so I have worked hard these last few years trying to get and then stay in shape. The peaceful quiet of a long run on a deserted country road appeals to me, and I have found running to be my personal niche.
I suppose I should introduce myself, since if anyone should find this and read it, and manages to find a way out of this hell I'm in, it would mean the world to me to have my loved ones know what happened to me. My name is Achara, and I'm married to the most wonderful man in the world, my best friend, David Sampson. I live in a very rural area of south central Mississippi, on a small farm that's been in David's family for 4 generations, where we have our 3 horses, 2 dogs and a constantly changing number of cats in the barn, so I only count our 2 house cats as permanent residents. My husband is a carpenter, among multiple side jobs as a farrier, mechanic, and even chef. I'm so lucky! Or at least, I was, until that morning nearly 2 years ago, when everything changed in the blink of an eye.
I had just settled into my second wind, sure now that I could run for another hour or more if I wanted to, when there was a blinding flash of light, and then my world dissolved into total blackness. I woke up on what in any other circumstance I would have described as a glorious beach, with gentle waves breaking on the shore and a cool breeze coming in off the ocean, to find that I was totally naked save for a loose fitting pair of wraps, one about my chest, the other covering a more personal area, and a glowing jewel-like, diamond shaped THING implanted into my left forearm. Confused and more than a little angry, in fact, more into the strata of Pissed As Hell, I shouted “Hey! What the fuck do you think you're doing! Who the fuck do you think you are? I'm gonna beat you half to death when I find you if you don't come out right this minute!” An instant later the bushes near me began to shake, I assumed from the approach of the person or persons responsible, but to my surprise it was a trio of very large lizards, about the size of a doberman, walking on their hind legs and heading my way in what seemed a bit too eager a fashion. I backed up a few steps, suddenly feeling a rush of fear and adrenaline, and holding my hands out in front of me I could hear myself saying things like “nice little guys, you don't want to hurt your Auntie Achara now do you?” and in that soft voice you use around animals when you want them to think you're happy with them, but you really want to kill them, “I wish I had my 12 gauge right now, slugs or shot wouldn't matter, end result would be the same”. Suddenly the slightly larger one in front reared up a little taller, flaring out it's frill with a hiss, and then spat at me, hitting me squarely in the face. The pain in my eyes was horrible! I could barely see, everything seemed to be washed out in a sickly green color, and before I could do more than scream the trio was on me, biting, tearing and slicing into me with claws sharp as razors. I have never felt such pain in my entire life, but it was nothing compared to the shock and horror of feeling my right arm pulled off my body! Even as death closed over me, I still didn't believe what was happening.
You're thinking that's the end of my story, right? Eaten by wild animals on a deserted beach after being kidnapped and dumped there. I almost wish it were. The horror of dying was still fresh in my mind when I woke up to find myself in the same original situation, alone, nearly naked, stranded on a long, lonely beach. I found myself gasping for breath, nearly hyperventilating as the horror of what had just occurred sank in. I looked at my whole, healthy right arm, the one I had, only a few minutes before, felt ripped from my body, and I began to shake uncontrollably. I sat down hard on the packed sand, sobs of terror and despair nearly choking me. What kind of cruel, sadistic game was this? Was I in a mental institution back home, having nightmare fantasies? That seemed far more plausible than finding myself resurrected after being eaten alive! I don't know how long I sat there, sobbing and gasping for air, but a sound in the distance finally caught my attention. It was the same hiss I'd heard from the lead 'lizard' just before it attacked. I scrambled to my feet and looked around frantically, both to try to locate the source of the sound and to find something, anything I could use as a weapon. Perhaps 200 yards down the beach, I saw what looked like the same three lizard-things attacking a small fat ground bird, and I crouched low as I made my way into the thick brush a little ways from the high water line, still scanning the ground for anything that I could use to fight back if they saw me. My mind wanted to leap back to the questions of who had done this, why, and was it real, but I forced myself to pay attention only to living through the next few minutes or hours. At last I spotted a piece of driftwood, aged into near rock hardness by the baking sun, with a nice crotch at one end where I was sure I could secure a rock, if I could find something to bind it with. Stripping the leaves and berries off some fibrous plants nearby, I was able to braid something that looked like a thick twine, and seemed pretty strong, too, and quickly tied a rock into the end of the stick. Wrapping more of the twine around the lower part made a firm grip point, and I felt a little better about my chances if those lizards showed up again. That breeze, though pleasant, had just a bite of a chill to it, and I could see the sun getting closer to the horizon, so I figured I'd be a lot better off with a fire in front of me, and it might help keep the obviously dangerous animals at bay in the coming darkness. David had taught me long ago how to build a good campfire, and now that I was a bit farther from the waterline small trees, dead branches, and dried grass were more plentiful, and it wasn't long before I had a decidedly larger than normal campfire blazing away inside a ring of rocks. I had placed it about 10' from a solid rock wall I'd discovered, and after only a bit of thought I decided more was better, and add two more campfires, one on each side and close to the wall, essentially ringing me into the middle. My stomach was so empty I actually felt nauseous, and realizing that if time had been linear, it had been well over 24 hours since my last meal, I knew I was going to have to risk a taste of a berry or one of the roots I had dug up. I felt more certain of the roots, especially since one had looked and smelled like a carrot, and another had been so close to an Idaho potato it would sell in any grocery store. Wrapping several of each in thick layer of leaves, I dug a hole at an angle under one of the camp fires and set them to roasting while I thought of a way to bring water from the sea up to my tiny camp to try to desalinate it. The veggies tasted like their normal cousins, even if they were three times as big as I was used to seeing, and it wasn't long after eating that I drifted off to sleep curled up inside the fire ring.
The brilliant rays of the sun hitting me full in the face woke me next morning. I was amazed I'd slept so soundly, I had been sure the nightmares would have been neverending, but I didn't remember a single dream. Breakfast was the leftover veggies from the night before, and I carefully banked the fires planning to return later on. I spent a few minutes formulating a game plan. I needed to find or make something more to wear soon, between the cold of the night before and the now steadily rising temperature under the glowing sun I'd need protection from the elements as well as from the fauna. My grandfather was a full blood Sioux, and when I was little he used to show me all sorts of things about crafting. By the time I turned 9 he took me hunting with him often, and though he used a rifle to hunt for food, he wanted to keep the old ways alive, so I learned early to make my own weapons and bring down wild game with a bow or spear. The supplies were all around me, a good spear would be easy to make, and a few minutes in the glowing coals of the fire hardened the point nicely. The plant fibers pounded out thin and woven together made a passable shirt and pants, along with a sort of hankie to tie over my head, holding my hair back out of my eyes. I set off along the bottom of the rock wall for what I judged to be a few hundred yards, moving slowly and keeping an eye out for those damned lizards. Once I figured I'd gone about a football field, I turned towards the water to finish scouting out a big square around my little camp. A huge bush practically bursting with bright blue berries was right in front of me, and I couldn't resist trying just one, hoping it would be edible. It was, and pretty darned yummy too! Wanting to be sure there wouldn't be side effects, I stuffed a big handfull into my shirt pocket for later, and pushed past the bush, right into a big fat ground bird. I froze, not wanting to startle it, but the bird, that I would find out later on was an actual Dodo, was too stupid to be afraid, and just stood there cackling and looking at me. One spear thrust and a field dressing later and I had fresh meat to cook slung over my shoulder as I moved down to the water line. Much to my surprise the sea was fresh water, not saline, and I found a large empty conical shell nearby, which I washed thoroughly in the sea before filling it and making a beeline back to my camp. I still felt fine, so I ate a few more berries while the spitted carcass slowly roasted over the fire, then climbed up on a nearby rock. The smell of the bird cooking was almost heavenly, and it had suddenly struck me that if I could smell it anything else in the area probably could too. Sure enough, it wasn't long before my little 'friends' from yesterday came trooping down the beach, noses in the air, following the smell like hounds. I had a great perch, the rock below me was perfectly vertical, if they didn't circle I'd be able to throw spears as I wanted, no rushing. Taking careful aim as they reached the edge of the rock, my first throw took the smallest one cleanly through the head, and as it dropped I was amazed, and disgusted, to see the other two turn on their fallen comrade and devour him, bones and all. While they ate though I had another easy shot, and one closest to me dropped, keening loudly, my spear lodged in it's side. This time the last one, the leader, turned on me not his companion, I can only assume because it was still alive, and charged towards me, hissing loudly. My first throw missed when it stopped suddenly, falling short, and I recognized the flared frills from yesterday's blinding attack, and dropped to the ground just as it spit towards me. The vile green fluid soared over my head, and I jumped back up, flinging my last spear at the lizard. Much to my horror I missed once more, and the thing was circling towards the back of the rock, where the climb to my position would be easy for it. Grabbing the only thing to hand, a big rock, I threw at it's head as hard as I could, leaping into the air with a cry of victory when it landed squarely and the beast dropped to the ground. I climbed down, going first to the wounded, crying one and dispatching it with the small knife I'd knapped from some flint I'd found on the ground. Dragging the body I moved around the rock to where the last one lay, and as I approached I realized it was still breathing, snoring softly, and making chewing motions with its jaws. Damned if it wasn't almost cute! I stood over him for a minute, gender was obvious this close up, one of the spears I'd recovered at the ready for a coup de grace, and just couldn't do it. I'll never know what made me do it, but I cut a hunk of meat off the lizard I'd just killed, and gingerly dropped it into the side of the “air chewing” jaws. I fell back onto my backside as it leaped to its feet, gulping down the morsel of meat and turning my way, but before I could bring the spear back up I realized the entire posture of the thing was changed. It was almost cooing at me, and had a nearly eager look in its eyes, like an oversized puppy. Sure I was making a big mistake, I extended my hand as I would to a dog, and after a couple of sniffs it butted my hand with its head! Oh my god, I had tamed the thing! Later on I would discover that this was an actual dinosaur, a dilophosaurus to be exact, and used by many as a sort of guard dog and companion, but at the time I just thought of him as a big lizard, and named him Eddie Lizzard after one of my favorite comedians. I cut off a few more pieces of meat from the dead dilo, and with Eddie trailing along like a good doggie I dragged the body “home”, cleaned it and spitted the meat over the fire next to the roasting bird.