ANOTHER THING THAT ISN'T MINE:

MATTHIAS' BOOK SPACE STORY. PLEASE VISIT BOOK SPACE: http://roleplayingbook.blogspot.com/ IF YOU ARE CONFUSED.

Part 1:
I’d been training for months in anticipation, since I'd heard rumors that it was my turn next. I was going to one of the next contestants. The Race. I had never been quite average from the start, living a solitary life in the mountains of Alaska, about twenty miles north of New Anchorage. I was attending the university early, and had a set life of traveling back and forth every day on a bicycle that I had converted to be usable on snow. I heated my own house with wood I cut for myself from the woods around the cabin I built for myself, and ate food that I hunted and grew myself, except that which couldn't be found naturally. I never had to train to grow strong, as I was self relient from the age of ten, when my parents and I had been out camping and they were attacked and killed by a grizzly bear.I had gotten up to go to the latrine a hundred yards away, and when I reached it I heard strange animal noises coming from the camp. I ran back to find the bear chewing on my mother while my father was hanging on it's back, trying to kill it with an axe. I tried to come closer, but my father yelled for me to stay back.The bear scraped my father off against a tree, crushing his ribs and no doubt colapesing his lungs. The bear turned to face me, and charged. I scurried up a tree, but the bear started to follow. As it tried to bite at my feet, my father used his remaining strength to take his hatchet and throw it mightily at the bear. It buried itself deeply between the bear's eyes, and it let out a gurgling grunt. It swayed gently, then colapesed at the base of the tree. My father lay back rasping heavily and coughing blood. I came over to him and tried to help, but he refused. he told me to save myself, as the bear's mate was nearby and would be angry. "Take care, my son. Make me and your mother proud. Live as we have taught you. We will smile down on you, Matthias."He died there, next to my mother, and I quickly put a grave marker next to their bodies, and carved their names into a piece of wood, but there was no time to mourn or bury them. I turned quickly, grabbed a knife, hammer and a canteen. I ran down the mountainside, tripping and falling several times, but I didn't care. I wanted to stop and scream to the world my misery, but I did as my parents had said, to be strong in times of danger, and not be blinded by emotion. I must have run fifteen miles in the dark, and afterward I could do nothing but fall to the ground and sleep.I woke shivering, and looked for some food. I was discovered shortly after by a trapper in the area. He gave me some supplies and a hundred dollars, and dropped me off in New Anchorage. It was smaller back then, and I walked to the ranger station, where I told them about the incident. They went to the site, retrived the bodies, and the funeral was held the following day. From that point on, I was never the same. I never was a social as I once was. In fact, I became practically obsorbed in myself.My life mainly consisted of keeping stocked and alive, and reading books. I read whenever not working to survive, and schooled myself well, reading eveything in the New Anchorage library. My education was unique, and at my own speed, and I discovered that I was rather bright. I decided to apply for the university four and a half years later, and joined at the age of fifteen.Three years into my education, I now have to worry about something else. The Race. The major turning point in a youth's life where they prove their adulthood. I have read up on the dangerous animals and plants there, and where resources are located. I leave tommorow, with my teamates, and will start the race itself the next day. I'm sure it will be enjoyable, despite the challenge, and am looking forward to it.
Part 2:
We woke early this morning, waiting for everyone to pass us. We knew that people were likely to jump at a skirmish after the attacks last night. Once we thought we were clear, I alone went back to the starting point, and left my team and their supplies, as well as half of mine in the thicket. I waded through a swamp to hide my trail, and came up on what had once been the starting camp. The corpses of contestants and wolvogs were everywhere. I sat behind a rise, and surveyed the area with my rifle scope. It didn't magnify much, since it was the standard regulation 2x, but it helped. Seeing no survivors, I quietly walked down to the clearing, but kept my rifle at the ready, and my knife sheath open. I gathered some wolvog spines, as I didn't know if I would want to hunt one later to get some, and thought perhaps I could use these to make weapons or bombs. I then started to scavange from the bodies. Somebody had lost their arrows, but they still had a compound bow lying beside them. I took it, and some knifes and flints. A hatchet was there too, but it had a large nick in the blade. A fallen pair of binoculars was sitting in the mud, so I grabbed that too. I was able to find some ammunition, of many different kinds, but it was scarce, likely that most of it was already taken, or used in the first attack. I found one .22 caliber pistol, but it was choked with mud, and not usable for the moment. thinking I had a good haul, I tuned to leave. I had only gotten perhaps ten yards when I sensed something was wrong. I saw an indentation in the ground, freshly made, by someone lying in the soft mud. There was definitely someone there to begin with. I knew that my pause was conspiciuos, so I continued walking forward, trying to look non-chalant. It didn't work. I heard a branch creaking over-head, and threw myself into a somersault, and rolled to stand and throw a rock into the tree above me. The guy sitting there ducked awkwardly and fell,and landed in a bush. I couldn't tell if he was injured or not. I ran in the other direction, ducking behind trees all the time. I heard shots being fired, so I found a good rock to hide behind and stayed there. I shouted to him "I'll trade something if you stop shooting!" He paused for a moment."Like what?""How does a pistol and some ammunition for it sound?"" I like that idea." I quickly broke off the tip of a wolvog spine and jammed it deep into the breach of the pistol I had gleaned. The guy arrived and told me to stand up. " How about I trade you nothing for the gun, and kill you with it instead? You shouldn't have been so trusting." He was brandishing a revolver at me, so I felt compelled to hand over the pistol without compensation, and my rifle when he demanded it as well. He loaded its with magazine with a smirk. " I wonder how many shots it takes to kill a man your size. We'll find out won't we.""You're crazy you know." He pointed the gun at my face. " I wouldn't do that if I were you.""Why not? Superior morals? But if I kill you, it would be far more interesting, and I can steal all of your supplies." I rolled my eyes. "The best part is, you'll be killed by your own gun." He pulled back the slide and smiled. I appeared to slouch, but instead I undid the sheath on my good hatchet hanging on my belt with one hand, and hit him with the flat of the blade. He went limp for a moment, and I grabbed my rifle, his revolver and my pack and ran. I would have taken the pistol I gave him, but thought better of it. As he got up from his knees, he yelled and fired. The gun exploded in his hands, and he was thrown into the sinkhole behind him. He didn't scream.I returned an hour later to my camp, and discovered both of my team members talking, and thought nothing of it until I heard three more voices. I stopped, and climbed to the top of a small cliff near the thicket where the voices were coming from. I readied myself, and waited.
Part 3:
I saw from this point that another team had found Simon and Calvin, and were questioning them about where I was. They wanted to take my supplies along with Simon and Calvin's. They started beating them with rifles, and the oldest one kept shouting and demanding. I checked to see if that other man's revolver was loaded, and did the same for my rifle. I mustered some bravado, and called down to them "Hello! I'd just like to warn you, that those to fine men you have there are part of a large alliance of groups, and right now you are surrounded."No we aren't." Oops. They started shooting at me. I called, " You really are surrounded! Men, clap you hands!"The bandits looked around. I threw some rocks around them, to make it sound like there were armed guys ready to jump, but they didn't buy it. They continued shooting at me, so I moved to a new spot on the cliff. They turned back to Calvin and Simon, and started making threats. I readied myself, and jumped, landing on top of the leader. I threw the revolver to Simon, and told Calvin to hide. I tuned to dispatch the guy standing over Calvin, but he ran away. Simon got tackled by the other one, and held a knife to his throat. "Don't move! I'll do it I swear!""Do as he says!" Simon begged. Suddenly the bandit's eyes rolled back in his head, and he crumpled feebly. Calvin was standing there, with a blue wolvog spine in his hand."See, that wasn't too bad?"
Part 4:
That night, we were paranoid, and slept in shifts, with our boots on. I have a new plan for protecting camp. We had ringed the camp with red wolvog spines, and will do so at every site from now on. Now the only danger was if others shot at a distance. We planed on heading forward as fast as possible, to make up time, since we'd camped twice in the same location. I had had some time, so I put fletching on some blue spines and would be able to use them in my crossbow.The next morning, we went north and crossed through some marshes. The terrain was difficult, so we only made five miles before we had to stop. Calvin and Simon went hunting while I set up camp and threw together a shelter, and came back with two rabbits. I was actually rather impressed. Calvin and Simon may appear to be scrawny, but they are good with guns. Calvin likes pistols, and I thought he wouldn't be able to get anything with his .22 s, but in fact he had brought some snake-shot along with regular slugs. I wouldn't have reckoned it based on his lean frame, but Simon was good with the shotgun, and only needed one shot to catch his game. We cooked the rabbits rotisserie, but they were a little lean for me. Once again we set up wolvog spines around camp, but we didn't post gaurds this time.The following day, more excitement was to come. We set off as normal, when we came to a rather large and deep swamp. Calvin went ahead and looked for a way around, but it looked like it extended most of the way across the corridor. We decided it would be more worthwhile to construct a raft and paddle across. After a couple hours spent cutting wood and lashing logs together, we piled on and threw our packs onto the raft. we were slow to cross, and it was maybe a hundred yards wide, but made good time. We were starting to near shore when the raft was jarred violently, tumbling me into the murky water. Calvin and Simon tried to pull me onto the raft, but I told them not to, since I might unbalance it when climbing back on and tip them into the water as well. I swam alongside them as we got to shore. As I was starting to wade, I stepped on a log on the bottom and rolled off. It set me off balance and I stumbled. "You ok?" Simon said."Fine, just a slippery log." I replied. I continued walking when I sensed something was not right. I paused. "Simon?" I felt what seemed like the pole he was using to push the raft."I didn't touch you."" Toss me the crossbow." I saw a ripple in the water. "Now!" I scrambled out of the water, and was persued by a large aligator, at least fourty feet long. I climbed a tree near the shore, and yelled to simon. He threw the crossbow, and it arched overhead, landing just shy of me on a low branch. The aligator rammed its nose into the tree repeatedly. I guaged where the crossbow was, and guessed that it was too close to the jaws of the aligator to be safe. I saw Simon and Calvin getting out their weapons and getting ready to land the raft. "Stop! Don't come near it! You can't kill it like that!" It turned and saw them. I jumped on the oppurtunity, and jumped down to the crossbow and cocked it in one swift motion. The aligator came back at me, jaws gaping, so I shot into the roof of its mouth, and rolled to the side. I readied another one of the poisonous bolts, and ran. The aligator turned slowly, and lumbered toward me, as if it was dazed. I shot at it again, but the bolt bounced off the hard front of the skull. I didn't have time to reload before it got to me, so I hopped on top of its head. As it tried to shake me off, I jammed two bolts into its eyes and leaped clear. The aligator let out a strange moan, and rolled over, its legs shaking convolsivly. Simon and Calvin approached cautiously, guns at the ready."Is it dead?""I think so."" We ought to cut its head off just to be sure.""I have another plan." I figured that it would take too long to hack it off, so I instead stuck a red spine in my crossbow and fired into the partially open mouth from a distance. The head exploded violently, and the legs stopped twitching. I went over to its body, and instructed Calvin and simon to assist me in skinning it. We couldn't possibly take everything, but I figured that the leather it would make would be worth some effort, so we took about a square yard of skin each. We went on for another mile, till we were out of the large marshes. Then we slept with guards once again, but this time on a platform high in a tree. We were taking no chances.
…And then that’s it. He didn’t write any more. Oh well.