Ten Zero

My eyes shoot open, my head spinning. "Did I just fall asleep? I can't sleep here!", I think, my eyes scanning the sky for the current position of the sun. "Is it lower than it was before? I don't remember what it looked like before I got jumped", I wonder, as I try to get a handle on what time it currently was. I take a moment to breathe deep, or as deep as I can while pain shoots through my side, then release it, and try to orient myself. I use the river, which I know was 'my northwest', which means the sun should be behind me rather than in front of me, as I couldn't have been walking for more than a couple hours from where I slept. I turn to look towards the east, and see that the sun is still quite low in the sky. "I probably didn't fall asleep," I think in relief, but my exhalation sends another spike of pain through me, and I quickly refocus my attention on the missing chunk in my waist.

My left hand (which had been pressed very aggressively over the wound) begins to pull away, but the blood that leaked through my fingers and around the edges of the hole that my hand didn't cover had become sticky in the few minutes since I had started bleeding. The stickiness made it so when I pulled my hand away, it was like tearing off a weak bandage; the skin around the wound getting tugged, causing new waves of pain to burn through me. "Ssssshhhit!" I spit out through clenched teeth, as I do my best to avoid aggravating the wound any more than I need to. I need my left hand free to be able to tend to the wound, and to help maneuver myself closer to the water's edge. Once my hand is entirely free, I do my best to avoid straining my side muscles as I bend my neck to look at the wound, but all I can see is torn cloth, a few bits of ragged flesh, and a copious amount of blood. "Let's not go two for two on near death experiences", I think as I start pulling myself towards the water.

The river itself isn't very big, but it's more than just a creek; with dirt around the edges, rather than rocks. So, while the process isn't comfortable, it's relatively easy to pull myself towards the edge of the water through the dark, loamy dirt until I'm within arms reach. Once there, I take my shirt off, and begin to rip at the bottom edge of it to tear off some strips. Unfortunately, the shirt was well made, since it was a work uniform for security, so I have to resort to using my keys to shred and fray the shirt so that I can start the tear from somewhere. As I go about the process of cleaning my wound with the strips of cloth and water from the river, my mind wanders to the encounter I had with the jackreature.

"Everything about that was insane. The jackreature was unlike anything I've ever seen before, on the person or on the internet. I can't say I've ever heard of any animals that have an odd number of limbs like that either, barring medical anomalies. It could be possible that it was just a mutation of some sort, but it didn't look like some malformed useless limb. It looked like a limb that was meant to be used, and the arm was clearly strong enough to hold the weight of the rest of it's body in that launch pose, for a few moments at least. Plus, those teeth?! Those were terrifying! They looked like something out of a horror movie. Teeth aren't normally needle thin like that! What could teeth like that even be meant for? It tore through me like soft butter." I wince as I start trying to tie the cloth around my waist, binding it as tight as I can. I know long term it's not good to have it bound so tight, but in the short term I need to apply pressure, or there's a very good chance that I would just end up bleeding out.

"The air, the trees, the jackreature... everything about this place feels wrong. I don't feel ill or anything, but something in my body is telling me this isn't right. I just thought it was 'I've been kidnapped and I'm worried' energy, but now I'm starting to wonder if it's something else. I... still think the maze runner experiment type situation is the most realistic option, even if it's hard to believe. And with everything around, I wonder if maybe... this is some sort of exclusion zone? Like Chernobyl, or something. I don't know any others, but I doubt this one would be on the map. Maybe it was intentionally made or something. I don't really have a better explanation for this all this familiar-but-not plants and animals." I sigh, as I finally manage to tie the last knot in the bandages around my waist. My shirt is absolutely ruined, giving me at best, an immodest crop top, but at least I'm no longer losing blood. I do my best to scrub my hands clean with just the running water, then scrub a little bit more, and when it feel like they're as clean as they're going to be, I go to drink a few handfuls. It immediately quenches my thirst, and my tongue finally gets some relief. But I also notice something in the water; an odd, lingering aftertaste. I pause before going for a second handful.

"Why does that taste familiar?" I wonder, looking at the liquid drip through the gaps between my fingers. I had expected the water to taste 'natural', but instead, there was something about it... "Goddamn it," I mutter, a thought popping into my head. "It tastes like water left in a plastic bottle. And vinyl, like stagnant water from a hose. Is this just what water tastes like with pollution nowadays? Awful", I think, looking at the water as it flows over the nooks and crannies of the river. "I'm... probably not going to die from it, but maybe I should boil any water I drink from here on out", I figure, as I go to make my way to my feet for the first time in nearly an hour.

My legs and arms aren't harmed, but it doesn't matter since the human body always tries to use it's core muscles in one way or another. I can feel the bandage slip and slide a bit, and I pause to see if my handwork is going to hold for the moment. After waiting for a few seconds, I start to move again, but even slower, so that I can be absolutely positive that the bandage doesn't fail, and so that I can be sure I don't eat shit on the way up to my feet. The pace is excruciating, and I want to just rush through it, but I know that that would just be an incredibly easy way to fail spectacularly, so I grit my teeth and bear it as I wibble and wobble. Finally, once I'm in a crouched over quasimodo pose, I begin to straighten my legs and back, my side complaining every inch of the way. Arduous as it is, however, I finally make it fully upright, and besides the still very sharp ache in my side, I feel pretty steady on my feet.

"Score one for Antimony, you little shit!" I shout into the forest, not particularly worried about attracting trouble. I had been loud all day yesterday and hadn't encountered anything, and there was a good case to be made that the only reason the jackreature had attacked me was because I got uncomfortably close to it without it realizing that I was there. I figure the best thing to do in this instance might actually be to make noise rather than be quiet, since there was no way in hell I was in any state to try to fight for lunch. My eating schedule had always been a bit haphazard, so even though I could eat, I wasn't actually feeling particularly hungry at the moment. I knew that once the hunger did come on though, it was going to come on strong. I resolve to keep an eye out for anything edible along the way that wasn't likely to attack me, such as wild veggies or berries or something.

I begin walking along the side of the river, following the stream as it twists and winds through the forest. "You can't... give.. up, your body's tryin...", I half hum, half sing as the words to How Does It Feel as they come to mind. While I do my best to ward off any more animals with my voice, I think more about the situation I'm in, the blood loss leading to my thoughts feeling a little looser than usual. "Maybe I did end up dying. Maybe this is just a really tame hell. Like Dante, and I'm on a top level or something. Damn, guess I need to apologize to my mom if that's the case. Or, maybe I got sent to hell for being gay?" A laugh sneaks up from my lungs in the middle of a word, and I start half laughing, half coughing at the absurdity. "God that would be so stupid! Or maybe I got isekai'd into a fantasy world. I could introduce basic technological advancements like hand washing and immediately have a harem! Or more realistically, get burned at the stake or something equally dumb. Depends on the series I guess." Each thought that passes through my mind causes me to chuckle a bit more, and I've fully stopped singing now to prevent any more choking incidents. "That might actually be the worst one, 'cause if it was a subversion I'd probably just get merc'd immediately." I look down at my side, which still has the remnants of my close encounter with the wildlife.

"I almost got merc'd right here. If you threw magic or some shit into the mix I'd be probably be dead by episode 2. But if I was in hell I guess I wouldn't have to worry about it." I think a bit more about some of the more fanciful situations I could find myself in, before doing my best to bring myself back down to earth. "It could always be worse. I mean, right now it could DEFINITELY be better, but my plan of 'find river, follow until I encounter people' is going off with only a minor speed bump. All I have to do is stick to the path, and I'll run into someone or something sooner rather than later. And if I find a giant wall, well, that will give me the final answer on where I am." My song is starting to wear a bit thin, so I switch to Around The World, since it's easy to keep it going for as long as I want. And then, I walk.

After walking for about 6 hours, I decide to take a break on a very comfortable looking rock. It looks almost as though it had been sheared clean through with something sharp, but since I'm no rock expert, I figure it's most likely some sort of rock that has a low shear force. Not that I could name any. "Woah," I say, looking over the face of the rock. The cut is entirely smooth, and if I didn't know any better I would say that it had been polished. "It's so smooth! How does something like this happen?" I think, touching cool hard surface. It feels solid and unyielding, like one would expect, and the top half of the rock was propped up at an angle against it, sharp side down, so that it formed almost a chair like surface. "Ha, it's even got lumbar support," I chuckle, as I lean against the round bulge of the lower rock. I place my hand over my eyes so I can get a bead on the sun between the leaves, and figure it's roughly about midday, maybe a bit later. Since it's winter, that would mean there's probably 4 or 5 more hours of sunlight remaining. From the day previous, I knew roughly how long it would take to gather branches and leaves to form another lean-to, so I could safely walk for another two hours and still have enough daylight.

"How far have I walked?" I wonder, trying to do some back of the napkin calculations. I'm not in great shape, but I've got okay endurance, and I knew that I had kept a pretty consistent pace the entire time. When I was younger, I could run an 8 minute mile, and now that I'm 26, I could probably do a mile in 12. A sedentary job will tend to do that to people. If my mile is 12 minutes, then with all of the obstructions and awkward terrain on the riverbank, my walking mile is probably close to double that. If I call if 25 minutes for ease of math, that would be 5 miles in 2 hours and 5 minutes, so I've walked roughly 15 miles so far. On one hand, that's not great, but on the other hand, I'm surprised I'm not more winded. "I guess all of the foot patrols are good for something". I also found the ground an easy material to walk on; soft on the feet, but with enough springiness that I didn't feel like I was trudging through something like sand. "Although I do feel a bit floaty, so I'm not sure how much harder I should push myself. If I had a destination in mind, then I would definitely keep at this pace, or maybe even move a bit faster, but as it is, doing this every day for 12 to 14 hours is going to burn me out." I watch the sunlight play through the leaves of a nearby brownwood, as I consider my options.

"This will also get harder without food. Maybe I should spend my two hours today looking for something to eat, rather than continuing to hike." I look around at the area surrounding me, but don't immediately see anything edible. In fact, I hadn't seen anything at all in the last day and a half that I would consider edible. Not even the tree in a pinch, what with it's treesap smelling all sorts of wrong. "Could I set a trap for something? I never learned any traps in Boy Scouts, but I vaguely remember a Youtube video. I'd need either rope or a basket though." I scooch off the end of the rock, and get to my feet, my side protesting at the movement. I make a quick scan of the area, trying to find any sort of plant that I could turn into a rope. As I round the back side of the rock however, I nearly trip over some sort of fabric covered metal object on the ground. "Shit!" I cry out, as I struggle to find my footing, accidentally stepping a second time onto the object. This nearly destabilizes me, and I do an awkward little hop to get my feet off of the thing and onto solid ground. Feeling less like a cartoon character flailing around, I make my way to my knees near the object to get a closer look at it.

It's immediately obvious why I didn't notice the object; the entire thing is covered in militaristic camouflage, allowing it to blend in with the small bushes around the the rock. From first glance, it appears to be some sort of metal, but it has that cheap looking quality to it; the sort you would see in a dollar store plastic toy. If I didn't know better, I would assume that it was injection molded. From touch however, it doesn't feel cheap. It feels durable, like a material that's meant to last, like old school military equipment. It's got a curve to it like a half dome shape that had been pulled down on the sides. Not a lot, but just enough to be noticeable. The patterning on the object isn't like any military that I can think of, but it is sparking something in the back my mind. Unfortunately though, I was never a military buff, so no matter how much I cast my mind about, I can't determine what force would have such a swirly, organic design. I was pretty confident that it wasn't American though; ours was more digital and blocky in nature, almost the exact opposite of this psychedelic pipe type pattern.

Attempting to lift it up, I'm pleasantly surprised at the weight of the... shield? Metal plating? It's likely meant to be some sort of defensive material, but as I lift it up, I notice a pretty egregious gash on one side of it. The material is warped and melted, and cut almost clean through. As I trace my finger along the side, I can't help but imagine what would cause such a tear in a material seemingly as durable as this. "This must've been used for some sort of weapon's testing. Maybe the melting came from some sort of really hot gun fire? Although it would have had to have been shot the short way to cause this sort of gash. Or maybe a really lucky glance?" I cast my eyes around the forest floor and the nearby trees, to see if I can find any other signs of conflict that would fill in the picture as to what happened with this piece of metal plating. Eventually, my eyes come to rest on the rock I was just sitting on, and it's flat, almost glassy like surface. My eyes turn back down towards the held object, towards the warped and melted gash along it's side.

"Holy shit."