Mark continued putting distance between himself and the Forest Stalker, resisting the urge to look back too often. Every instinct told him to keep moving. But he knew he couldn’t do that forever.
“Okay,” he muttered as he moved uphill away from the stream. Staying near water was a bad idea. Everything goes there. Including things that could kill him. His steps slowed slightly as he forced himself to think. “I need a place to sleep. A place I can eat, a place I can defend.” A cave came to mind first. Then he immediately shook his head. No, that’s worse. If something already lived there, he was just walking into its home.
His gaze lifted, scanning the terrain ahead. He needed higher ground. That felt better. Somewhere that he could see when things were approaching. Where he would have time to react. He headed away from the stream and deeper into the forest. Mark moved carefully, each step with intent. His eyes stayed active, constantly scanning, while his ears picked up every distant rustle and shift of the branches.
He was not ready for another fight, not yet. As he walked, his thoughts turned toward something else. If he couldn’t stop them, maybe he could at least know they were coming. That idea struck a chord with him. He needed a warning system. Something simple, something that didn’t require strength, just preparation. Mark began to pay better attention to his surroundings, searching not just for safety but for materials.
He needed dead branches, dry leaves, or anything that could make noise. He picked up a limb covered in brittle leaves, testing how it sounded when it shifted in his hands. It was too loud. He frowned. “How am I supposed to carry this without giving myself away?” The thought had barely finished forming when the branch vanished from his hand. Mark froze, and a message appeared.
[System Message]
Tree Limb Added to Inventory
◈ ◈ ◈
He walked over to another limb and tried to store it without touching it. Nothing happened. “Okay, I have to pick it up first; I can’t just will items into storage. I can work with that.” But how did he get the items back out? He held out his hand and nothing happened. He kept his hand out, focusing on the idea of the branch, and it reappeared in his hand.
[System Message]
Tree Limb Removed from Inventory
◈ ◈ ◈
Mark let out a short breath. “Okay, that solves a whole lot of problems.” As he worked, he also gathered more fibrous plant strands like the ones he had used for his bandage.
He had a feeling that he would probably need more bandages later, and he needed to be prepared. But what else could he use it for? Maybe he could turn it into something useful? Maybe string, twine, or something else useful for binding things. Maybe even rope. Either way it was better to have and not need than to need and not have.
After a long stretch of travel, the forest began to open slightly. He slowed as he approached. It was another clearing, similar to where he arrived but different. This one sat on a slight rise, the ground sloping down on all sides. At the top were a couple of larger trees spaced just far enough apart to work with.
Mark stepped into the clearing, turning slowly as he took in the area around him. “This might work.” From that vantage, he could see in all directions, not perfectly, but better than being surrounded by trees where things could come from anywhere. It was enough, at least for now.
He moved back down the slope and gathered a few of the thicker branches from the forest before returning to the clearing. The work took longer than he had expected. Even with the inventory helping, finding and gathering everything was a lot of work. His arms and legs ached from repeated trips up and down the rise.
The work was harder than it looked, but eventually he had enough items. He started pulling the larger branches from his inventory and leaned them between the trees, forming a crude barrier. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to break the line of sight and give him a small chance of cover.
He sat there admiring what he made, and then it fell over. Walking over, he picked up the branches and examined them again. The angle was wrong; he could fix this. After adjusting them a few more times, he stepped back, and this time they stayed in place. Not safe, but better. As he stepped back, catching his breath, a message appeared.
[Condition Met: Temporary Shelter Established]
Rest Efficiency: LowThreat Awareness: Slightly Increased
◈ ◈ ◈
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Mark let out a small breath. “Low efficiency, yeah, that sounds about right.” Still, it was something. His gaze shifted outward, scanning the edges of the clearing again. The shelter was one thing, but sleep was another. If he slept, he would be vulnerable. But if he didn’t sleep, he would eventually collapse. “This is how people die,” he muttered. “Being eaten while they sleep.”
Mark reviewed the list of items that he had gathered so far. Then he looked back out at the clearing. He did not need to stop anything. He just needed to know it was coming. That thought clicked in his head. He stepped out of his shelter and began studying the ground more carefully. There were signs now that he was looking for them. Flattened grass, faint disturbances in the dirt. Subtle paths where something had passed through before.
There were movement patterns. “Good enough.” He pulled out the fibers from his inventory and sat down. Wrapping one strand around another, he thought about how to get them to stay together and make something meaningful. He tried tying them together with knots, but that did not work. Next he tried twisting the strands together. It took a few tries, but eventually the strands began to hold. Then he received a system message.
[New Craft Discovered: Crude Fiber String]
The fibers tightened in his hands, forming a short length of rough string. He turned it over, studying it. “Okay, that works.” Looking around, he moved toward one of the faint paths he spotted.
Carefully he stretched the string between two low points and attached it to one of the dry-leaf-covered limbs. It was a simple trip line. Not strong, not hidden, but if something hit it, it would make noise, and that was enough. Then another message appeared.
[New Craft Discovered: Primitive Trap Created]
Mark looked at it for a moment and then nodded slightly. “It’ll have to do.” This time, with no hesitation, he set up more traps around the hill. It wasn’t safe, but it was safer than before. And right now that was enough.
Mark sat inside his crude shelter, his back resting against the rough support of a tree, and let out a slow breath. For the first time since everything changed, he had stopped moving, stopped reacting, and thought. “I went to work this morning. Same as always.” Then the world had broken. Now he was here in a forest that didn’t make sense.
* * *
He was home, and the front door opened. Warm light spilled into the hallway, and his wife stood there smiling. “You’re late again. The food is on the table, and the kids are waiting,” his wife said. The smell of dinner was amazing. He heard someone speaking but could not understand what was said. His wife laughed softly and turned around.
“Are you going to stand there all night? The food will get cold,” she said as she walked toward the table. His kids were also walking toward the table. His daughter laughed at something his son said. Plates on the table. Dinner. Everything normal and safe.
Mark stepped inside the house. He walked toward the table. But something was off. A sharp noise cut through everything.
* * *
His eyes snapped open to darkness and cold air. The hard ground beneath him. For a moment, he didn’t move. Then reality rushed back in. “Right,” he whispered. “Just a dream.” Then the sound came again. It was close. Mark’s body tensed instantly. His eyes slowly adjusted to the low light. He scanned toward the source of the sound. Then he saw movement, something small, something fast.
At first, he could not tell what he was seeing. Then he realized it was his trap, and a Razor Rabbit was caught in it. Sort of. The crude fiber string had wrapped awkwardly around its leg. The bundle of dry leaves shook back and forth as it tried to get free. He realized it was that noise that woke him.
The rabbit kept snapping at the fiber string wrapped around its leg, jumping around in panic. Mark slowly reached for a rock. “Okay,” he whispered. “This time, don’t mess it up.” He carefully stepped closer until the rabbit noticed him. Its head snapped toward him. Mark tried to pull away, but he was too slow. The rabbit lunged. Fast, too fast.
Mark squeaked, “I knew you would do that.” And still he wasn’t fast enough. He barely had time to react before it bit him. Its teeth sank into the same spot on his arm. Pain flared instantly. “Not again!”
Before he realized what he was doing, he brought the rock down hard. Once. Twice. The rabbit still didn’t let go. It bit deeper. Mark gritted his teeth, panic flaring, but he didn’t stop. He could not remember how many times he hit it, but eventually a system message appeared.
[Razor Rabbit — Level 1]
Defeated
◈ ◈ ◈
The rabbit went limp. Mark shoved it off his arm, breathing hard, clutching his arm. “I am really getting tired of that,” he muttered through clenched teeth. Before he could recover, another message appeared.
[Skill Acquired]
Trapping Level 1
Allows:
Recognize suitable locations for simple traps.Improve the effectiveness of simple trap placement.Identify common flaws in trap construction.
◈ ◈ ◈
[New Craft Discovered: Primitive Snare Trap]
With the skill unlock, he realized that he now knew more about traps. He could see the mistakes he had made in making the original trap. A few adjustments here and tighter over there, and it would make a great snare trap. Knowledge settled into his mind that hadn’t been there before. The system was responding, teaching, and rewarding him.
Mark looked down at his arm, already throbbing. “Good timing, I guess.” He pulled out the materials, and with the skill he now had, he created another crude bandage, wrapping it tightly around his arm, and the bleeding slowed. He let out a breath again. Then he looted the rabbit, adding the meat and hide to his inventory. He pushed himself up and reset his trap. This time, he knew how to adjust it properly as a snare. His hands moved with practiced familiarity.
When he was done, it was not perfect, but better. He stepped back, scanning the clearing once more. Nothing was moving. There were no sounds, just the quiet of the forest. Mark returned to his shelter and lowered himself to the ground. Exhaustion was setting into his bones. He looked at his traps differently now. Some made noise, some caught animals.
Now what about something stronger? Would he need spikes, a pit, maybe? What kinds of creatures were out there, and what would it take to stop them? His eyes closed slowly. One last thought lingered before sleep finally took him. He needed a way to kill them without getting close.