Chương 26: Not Ready

Mark woke early this morning just before the sun rose. The air was cool. He added a log to the fire to warm up just a little more. Pulling out the stone he got yesterday, he looked it over. He thought it would make a great knife blade. Remembering the way Cora showed him, he crafted a blade just a little bigger than the ones he made yesterday. He pulled out some of the hides he had and cut a piece to wrap its handle so it would be comfortable to hold.

He was able to get the edge so fine that he could shave a paper-thin strip off a piece of wood. The edge held longer. That mattered. If something went wrong— He needed it to. His current trap network was working well. But most, if not all, of his catches no longer gave experience. He needed bigger animals. Find a higher-level trapping area. His plan was to go explore more of the dense grove and see if he could find more there. After he ate some food, he gathered up his tools to take with him.

He had a shovel, an axe, a knife, and a good pile of the fiber strings and cords. The plan was to scout. Looking for tracks and trails. Then, when he had a good lay of the land, he would set traps in this higher-level area. As he traveled, he watched for signs of animals. The farther northeast he got, the larger the prints he found. He could see the trails and the paths they took. He found a small spring where they came to water. He found locations where smaller animals were hunted by larger prey.

The vegetation was getting more dense as he moved through the trees. The sounds of the forest here were different. Quieter, as if the animals were worried about predators. Too quiet. No small movement. No birds. That wasn't normal. He heard a sudden crashing sound. He could hear limbs snapping and brush being crashed through. His first thought was that can't be Cora. Wait, the sound was not that of an animal. It was getting closer. He could hear panting like someone was out of breath.

There was movement in the trees. Wrong movement. Uneven, Then— a person. It was not Cora but a younger girl. She was ripping limbs of trees and throwing them behind her. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. She tripped and face-planted into the ground. Finding a rock, she picked it up and tossed it behind her. She was limping. Her left leg had blood on it. He moved. She was in trouble. Then he saw it. A razor rabbit was chasing her. It was slowly gaining ground on her.

Then she fell again. This time she did not get up, and the rabbit was about to bite. It didn't hesitate. Didn't slow. It had already decided. Without thinking, he pulled out his bow and let off a shot. Too far. Too fast. No time to think. The arrow hit but was not a killing shot. The girl was scrambling on the ground, trying to get away from the still-moving rabbit. Then, like she appeared out of thin air, Cora was there, and the rabbit was dead on the end of her spear. The girl looked at me.

"I didn't need help." Mark looked back stunned.

"You were going to die."

"I said I had it handled." She stood up limping, favoring her one good leg. Mark looked at her trying to move. She could hardly stand.

"Can I give you a hand, help you in any way?"

"You know, you're old enough to be my grandpa." She tried to walk ahead. Failed. Got frustrated. Refused to look at him. Cora just stood there quietly, not joining in at all. In fact she just bent over and looted the rabbit and headed back into the forest. Mark just watched her struggle as she tried to limp away. She made it only a few feet and stopped. Turning to look at Mark, she spoke.

"Fine, I'm lost. I don't know where I am."

"How long have you been here?"

"I don't know where 'here' is." Mark looked around him.

"Well, you're in a forest." She stared at him.

"Yeah. I got that."

"How long have you been here?" She huffed at him.

"I don't know."

"Something weird happened."

"Then I was just here."

"I saw the rabbit and went to pet it." Mark almost laughed.

"Ok, so you just got here."

"Here? I don't know where here is."

"Well, to be honest, I don't know where here is either."

"What help are you then?"

"Did you get the system initialization message?"

"Well, I saw some weird text, and then that thing attacked."

"For now let me help patch up your leg and find you a walking stick."

"We can head back to where I built a camp and we can talk there." Mark spent the next few minutes cleaning up her leg. She was not the most cooperative patient. After finding her a walking stick, he slowly directed her back to his camp. The trip back to camp was long. She could not move fast. When they finally arrived, he looked around. He realized his camp was not really set up for guests. He had only one chair, and he offered it to her to sit on.

"To start with, let me introduce myself. I'm Mark."

"So?" Mark sighed.

"What is your name?"

"Ava""Hello, Ava. I can tell you what I know." He explained what he knew. The system. The animals. The rules he had learned the hard way. She didn't interrupt much. Just listened. He found out that she was level 1, and she had been here only a few minutes before she found him.

"So I have told you what I know."

"Who was that lady that popped in and killed the rabbit and then popped away?"

"Well, her name is Cora."

"Is she with you?" She asked in one of those tones, like, are you a thing?

"I met her a couple days ago."

"She has not talked much."

"I honestly don't know more than her name."

"So she does not live here?"

"To be honest, I don't know where she stays."

"I don't have a lot, but if you want to stay here, it's safe."

"Are you some kind of perv?"

"No, just someone that has kids, and if my kid were lost in a forest, I would hope someone would help them."

"If it would be alright, I can make you a lean-to to stay in so you'll be safe."

"Here?"

"Well, if you would like me to take you back where I found you, I could." Mark went and started to build a lean-to for Ava to sleep in. He built it a little away from his opposite side of the fire. This girl was going to be a handful. She would not make it alone out here. But she did not seem to want to be here either. Mark supposed he would not want to be stuck with a stranger in a forest either if he were her age. He had planned for himself. That wasn't enough anymore. He had someone depending on him.

Even if she didn't understand it yet.

"This just got more complicated."