It was a dark stormy night when Olivia heard a sound of growling near the forest. She was so scared that she could not sleep deeply all night. When she woke up in the morning, the weather cleared and the sound of growling was gone. She told her mom and dad, “Mom! Dad! I heard something growling yesterday night. It was so scary.” She was trying to persuade them to find out what was making that scary sound. However, her parents told her that everything will be fine and that they are busy doing something else. This is because the whole community was working on the projects to build more shelters. Olivia decided to go find out what is going on by herself. When she was getting ready to go outside to the forest, she heard the growling sound once again. She went outside straight to her friend’s house which was located right next to her own house. She called her friends out, “Hey Claire! Come on out! We have to do something.” Claire showed up and asked her what was going on. Olivia told her about what she heard yesterday night and even just a moment ago. They both were scared, but at the same time, they were very curious to see what was in the forest. They arrived at the entrance to the forest, and began to search for anything strange. Suddenly, they sensed the movement behind them. They turned around simultaneously and screamed. There was a bear staring at them. They ran back to the town as fast as they could. They started shouting to the adults building the houses, “We saw the bear in the woods.” Olivia and Claire were so proud of themselves that they found out something that could hurt people in the town so that people could protect themselves from danger in advance. However, unexpectedly, the adults started laughing and told the girls that they already know that there are bears in the forest. They have even investigated whether the bears in the woods are dangerous or not, and they have figured out that the bears are not trying to hurt people. It was good news, but Olivia and Claire were a little disappointed because what they did became nothing.
The next morning, Olivia woke up again in an ominous feeling. She felt like she had heard another growling sound last night, but this time, it was different from what she heard the day before. She tried to ignore it by thinking, ‘it was a bear, it was a bear, it was nothing…’ The weather outside made her feel worse because it was raining very hard. Olivia was staring out the window and she saw a human-like figure running towards her house. As he got closer, she could definitely hear him trying to say something. The stranger came into her house and told her parents about something. As soon as he left the house, he went to the house next door and told people the same story. He did that to all the other houses near the lake. Her parents’ faces were full of concerns and worries. She asked them what was going on, but the response was, “Do not go anywhere outside of the house until I tell you to do so.” When the storm was gone, people in the town held a meeting in the small shelter, located in the middle of the lake. Olivia and her friend Claire followed the adults secretly. And what they heard was shocking. “There is no way that cannibals are getting closer to this town!” One of the men said. Then, Olivia’s mom told the group, “I think what my daughter Olivia heard was the sound of the cannibals. I thought what she heard was a bear growling…” The whole room became so quiet that even the sound of breathing could be heard. Olivia broke the silence and jumped into the people gathered around. She said, “We should come up with defensive strategies. People need to be trained to form an army to fight against the cannibals just in case they attack us!” Olivia’s parents were mad at her because they told her to stay at home and do not leave, but what she said was right. They needed an army consisting of well - trained people. So the whole community decided to delay the shelter building project for a few months and began the training project.