The branches crackled. A few bugs wandered close, only to be roasted alive.Watching that was surprisingly entertaining for the brothers.Hunger was starting to take its toll—almost 24 hours without food.Even during their attempts to lose weight, "dieting" had never been a real option.
Seeing those bugs sizzle in the flames only made them hungrier.Samuel was tempted to eat them straight off the ground.
Joshua stopped him. It'd be better to skewer them on a stick and roast them properly.Eating them raw would be disgusting.
Samuel tried anyway. Joshua just laughed inside.
Joshua was growing anxious.Where were they? This was clearly no longer just a park.Had they been kidnapped? Aliens? A hidden camera show? An isekai?But he didn't remember getting hit by a truck.Everything was just… weird.
Lost in thought, he caught the smell of burning bugs.He turned to see his brother holding a stick full of roasted moths—and immediately snatched it away and tossed it into the fire.
"What the hell, you idiot?! You don't eat moths! Go find crickets or grasshoppers!"
Samuel shot him a death glare.It had taken real effort to catch those damn moths.But still, he got up and went searching. Joshua was the cook—and when it came to food, he wasn't going to argue.
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Have you ever wondered if you're secretly good at something?Samuel had… but he never expected it to be catching crickets.
Joshua was surprised. Samuel was surprised.Maybe it was good hearing, maybe fast hands—whatever the reason, they managed to catch around twenty, maybe twenty-five. Enough for a roast.
They tasted like shrimp… without seasoning.Not exactly appetizing—at least for Samuel.Joshua, on the other hand, was already thinking of ways to serve them as a side dish.
The night passed. Cold and windy, but manageable.Did you know body fat is a good thermal insulator? Joshua and Samuel didn't…But luckily, they found that out the easy way.
After some rest and a "peaceful" night under the stars, they woke up sore all over.Their necks were killing them. Tree roots made terrible pillows.Samuel learned that rocks weren't much better.
Feeling a bit more rested, their minds cleared.They had no idea where they were. No food (except for a few leftover crickets Samuel had saved).No water. And—fortunately—no animals had tried to eat them during the night.
A good morning, all things considered.
They had crickets for breakfast.
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Joshua remembered that humans could survive without water for three to five days.Maybe a normal human…
He and his brother felt like they were sweating pure fat.Water had probably abandoned their bodies long ago.
Should they be happy about the weight loss?Or worried that it was just dehydration cooking them from the inside out?
With a sigh, Joshua decided to make use of Samuel's new skill.The crickets, bland as they were, had some water content.Eating them might help, even if just a little.
He also remembered something about drinking your own urine in extreme cases.
…Unfortunately, he remembered that part too late.
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Some monks were said to have survived on wind and morning dew.
Joshua and Samuel survived on crickets and the moisture from tree leaves.
They were starting to enjoy the taste.It was only the third day since they began eating them, and they could already tell the difference between crickets found under rocks and those found beneath branches.
Lately, they'd even started identifying their gender by the sound of their chirps.
That realization disturbed them.
A lot.
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Walking nonstop finally paid off. They found a stream.
They hesitated to drink the raw water, but Joshua, ever cautious, decided to pass the honor to his brother after seeing a few frogs happily swimming around.
Samuel was about to drink…Until he saw Joshua's smug little smile.
Instead, he caught a few frogs and threw them in his brother's face.
Joshua flinched—not because of the frogs, but because of their size.They were huge.
That night, they had roasted frog legs for dinner.Tasted like chicken.Unseasoned chicken.
They even managed to boil water using a makeshift "pot" made of folded leaves.Something Joshua had seen in a video—and, for once, remembered in time.
It was the night of day five.