Eloy's fingers closed on empty water. The trout flicked past his shin, a silver blur already three feet downstream by the time his hand broke the surface.
The HUD timer read 13 days, 21 hours, 17 minutes. The cold had stopped being cold an hour ago. Now it was just a dull spreading numbness from the ankle up, with sharp stabs whenever he shifted his weight wrong on the slick creek bed.
FORAGE: 2/20.
Two fish. One hour. Seventeen more to go.
A third trout drifted past. Close. Tauntingly close. Its fins barely stirred the current.
Eloy lunged.
His bad ankle hit a slick rock. The joint folded sideways. His arms windmilled once, twice, and then the creek swallowed him whole. Freezing water filled his ears, his nose, the back of his throat. He came up gasping, hair plastered to his face, the bandage on his head dripping brownish water onto his shoulders.
[IsoldeSimp47]: LMAOOO HE FACEPLANTED
[GlitchWitch]: BRO IS NOW AQUATIC
[Slayer_007]: frame-perfect belly flop
