Marie/ Day 4 of the scouting mission

The forest is shaded into darkness even in the day. Owls dot the trees. Nocturnal means little under the island's canopy. A canopy filled with eyes that exist one second and are gone the next. Like clear glass marbles floating in the trees and catching only the strangest angles of light.

Hunger fills you with a certain primal aggravation. Take a civilized person who's never had an empty stomach and force it on them all at once? I feel lethargic and enraged. Adrenaline fixing to burst out at the slightest smell, but I've already had too many bursts of energy. My second wind has come and gone. My third, fourth, fifth; all used up. I'm barely able to keep moving.

Blain seems almost unfazed, maybe on edge if anything, no doubt his military training. Karla is nervous, fidgety, and she talks a lot, but her words are making less sense by the hour. Mute is... well, mute. He raises an eyebrow every now and then, makes funny faces to. I think I've laughed at every one of them, but it is only a temporary distraction from the slow pain in my stomach drainingmy every ounch of energy.

Ron is the worst one, though. Between longing glances at his briefcase, he acts like he's already dead. When we finally stopped for the night, he suggested cannibalism again. His face was riddled with demonic angles that caught the glow of the fire pit, "so, we're not going to try and kill that croc thing? Seems like the least poisonous thing around."

Karla and Blain shared a look, while I just looked at Ron with an open mouth and raised eyebrows.

Blain broke the awkward silence as politely as he could, "I like your confidence, but that thing had more armor than some tanks. At least the dragon has a weak spot."

"So, option one is people meat again?"

I'm not sure if Ron was joking, but I decided to tell him a cool science fact anyway, "have you ever heard of Kuru kuru?"

Mute gave me a look that changed from confused and tight to wide-eyed and understanding. Something about that word made him suspicious since then. I don't think anyone else noticed.

"Kuru kuru is a protein disease that rots your brain from the inside. It can attack the rest of your body to, but the brain is more vulnerable. They've found people living with half a brain in tribes that practice cannibalism. They say there's a 50/50 chance every time you eat human meat. And it doesn't stop spreading just because you stop eating people. One taste, and you're brain-dead for the rest of your life."

I may have exaggerated the numbers, but Ron hasn't brought it up since.