The Phoenix.

The next day...

It was already around seven in the morning when Ceres woke up. Some parts of her body were still aching, she also felt hunger.

The last time that she took a meal was yesterday, two hours before the incident...

As a growing child, she needed to not skip a meal to get nourished.

What happened yesterday was very intense to the point that she wasn't able to check the entire place thoroughly or had time to even ponder for a bit.

When she reached the cave, she became complacent when she saw that everything was fine, she then just fell asleep.

After going back to her senses, she stood up and slowly walked outside.

It was weird though that she couldn't hear any birds or even crickets that were making any sound.

Well, due to what happened yesterday, every creature near the area was frightened and chose to stay away!

As she walked into the area, looking for something to eat, she saw an apple tree.

It was not that big, yet she could see some ripe fruits on it.

She slowly climbed on, though it was hard in the first few steps, she realized a trick to do it just fine.

In every step, she would look for a bulge that was made of a severed branch and would move his feet one at a time as she slowly pacing up.

"Yahoo! Finally, I will be able to eat now."

After a moment she managed to pick some fruits. Ate them happily on the tree, while enjoying the view of nature all around.

After filling her tummy, she relaxed a bit.

"Oh, is that where the helicopter crashed? I will go there later and scan the area."

She was very satisfied now that her tummy is full. So she once again was to do her moves, but this time it would be her going down the tree.

It is funny though, she felt that it was actually harder to go down rather than climbing up.

Perseverance is the key!

In just a short while...

Voila! she made it.

With some apples that she dropped while still on the tree, she went back to her cave where she left them and forwarded outside once again to probe the area.

While she was walking, she saw a big rock not too far from the cave.

This rock was actually at the bottom of a hill, but what amazed her was the water coming out from a small hole in the middle part of it.

The flowing water was very clear, so she tried to drink some.

"Is this what they called water spring? I thought the water should be coming from the underground? Hmmm, Oh! Maybe it's coming from that hill? Alright, no time to waste. I still have a lot of things to do."

Although she was only nine years old, she was smart and she loved to watch survival and wildlife-themed films. So she wasn't that ignorant at all...

What were always featured in those films that she watched were the regular animals that all are aware of, they seldomly shoot mutated ones due to the fact that they are very dangerous and most of the time, aggressive!

Adding what she experienced yesterday, it made Ceres mature a little bit...

She went back for a moment, took the jacket that she used yesterday. She then washed it properly and placed it on top of a rock nearby to dry.

Though she couldn't do it better like what their family workers do, Ceres was most of the time being curious about all things around her...

So she always sees them while they were doing their job.

"Even without some laundry soap, it should be fine. I did everything as I had observed from the nanny."

When the jacket was set, she then advanced to the place where the copter crashed. The entire place was actually destroyed by the impact and fire.

Everything was almost turned into ashes.

She didn't lose hope...

Ceres still searched for anything that could still be useful and assessed the area properly.

After a short while, she recovered two army bags, a canister, some flat metals, and metal-sheets that were still fine to use, and some grilled meat...

Yeah, bird's meat from the big Roc that hit the chopper yesterday. Unexpectedly it also fell near the helicopter and was roasted.

The bags were made of super high-quality fireproof materials, though that was the case...

Due to the extreme heat, their locks were crushed.

The canister was the one her father entrusted her!

Due to her weak body and poor strength, it took her a couple of hours just to bring everything inside the cave.

Ceres was still busy when suddenly, she heard a scary loud sound!

Ssshhhhrieeeehhheeeeeekkkk!

Flap Flap Flap

She was scared to death when she heard it.

But still...

Out of curiosity, she carefully peeked outside to see.

"Wow! what a beautiful red big bird, also a mutated bird? Oh, some fresh wounds. Was it the one who injured the giant Roc?" She asked herself.

Exactly!

Every territory has an overlord. When the red bird reached the area, it fought the Roc in order to own the place.

When the Roc had been defeated, it chose death rather than submitting...

So it was badly injured by the other one.

When it can no longer endure the pain, it flew swiftly to escape and hit the helicopter...

It was due to the fact that its eyes were cut, and the Roc couldn't see anything!

When the big bird was already far away, Ceres also moved out going to the spring to freshen up and drink some water.

Afterward, she has already finished everything there is to be done. So she went back to the cave, ate some grilled meat, and checked all of her carried stuff from earlier.

From the first bag, she believed that it was owned by the other guy...

She saw a dagger, a gun, five bullet boxes, family photos, five pairs of men's clothing, protein bars, and books of mutated animals and plants, world history, and basic knowledge about fighting and shooting!

She suddenly opened the book about mutated animals and plants, to first look at what kind of beast was she able to catch a glimpse of earlier.

"Hmmm, beautiful big bird and red feathers... Oh here, Phoenix!"

•••

Phoenix, one of the mighty mutated birds.

They have the ability to produce fire all over their body, it was due to some combustible gasses that they can emit and bioelectricity that is enough to produce some sparks.

They are strong, fast, and very intelligent avian beasts!

•••

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