She is quiet the entire time. No questions, no bothering me. She just slowly cleans my wound as best as she can without water and with just a small piece of cloth.

She always knew me too well. I guess that's why I always felt comfortable around her.

The wound looks terrible even after some healing thanks to my constitution.

While she does her stuff, I drink the last few drops of water remaining in my bottle. I store the empty bottle inside my bag.

"I don't know what else I should do. Pour alcohol over it? I don't have any. Burn it? I've only seen that in movies, so it might not work. And someone already took the first aid kit from the bus."

Her face remains calm throughout, and I noticed she put her long hair into a pigtail resting on her back. She is also not wearing her skirt anymore and is wearing leggings instead.

I look up from the ground.

She is looking at me with an indescribable expression on her face.

I pause.

Why is it so easy to understand her?

"You can come with me next time I go into the forest."

I don't have to say more.

Slow nod.

[Name: Nathaniel Gwyn]Difficulty: HellFloor: 1Time left until forced return: 4y 364d 20h 9m 59s Lvl 3Strength: 6Dexterity: 8Constitution: 10Mana: 4

[Primary Class: Unavailable][Sub-class: Unavailable]

Skills:

- Focus Lvl 3

- Mana manipulation Lvl 2

- Mana Perception Lvl 1

[Skill Points: 0]

[Stat Points: 0]

What. The. Hell?

Not even four hours? Is it bugged? It has to be, right? There is no way that we have only been here for four hours. It feels much longer.

Sigh.

“Tess.”

“Yes?”

“I am hungry.”

“...”

Well, I tried.

“How is your wound?”

I move my hand slightly. It hurts, so I stop quickly. I will have to rely on my constitution to heal it, but for now, my hand isn´t usable. The wound on my side also hurts every time I try to turn around.

Drops of sweat are forming on my forehead and I feel hot.

“Arm´s unusable.”

“I thought as much.”

She pokes my left hand slightly, and a smile flickers in her eyes when I furrow my brow.

Her face stays the same, without expression.

“What are your stats?”

There is a short pause, but she doesn´t think about it for too long and quickly tells me.

It´s something like this.

Lv.0

Strength: 4Dexterity: 7Constitution: 2Mana: 1

Her stats are a bit lower than my starting ones, but they aren´t bad at all. I also know she can fight a little bit, which is more than I can say about others.

“When you level up, put two points into constitution and one into mana. You can do it even without talking. Just think hard about putting your points into the stats you want.”

Then I continue to tell her about the goblins we met, the goblin shaman, and the animated wolf.

I try to tell her anything she can find useful. The way they usually attack, the weapons I saw them use, and everything I know so far about mana.

Tess also got two skills.

[Psychokinesis Lvl 1]

[Farsight Lvl 1]

She also told me that there are passengers with skills such as [Reflection], [Absorption], [Telekinesis], [Detection], [Strengthening] and many other. There is even one person with my [Focus] and another one with her [Psychokinesis].

To be honest I did expect each skill to be unique to a person so this surprised me a little bit.

Some people even started with 3 points in Mana. Weird.

Mana is usually a resource used to cast magic, enchant items, create spells, and is used as some sort of fuel for magic items.

And it fascinates me.

A lot.

If I could, I would most likely spend hours just experimenting with it.

It just feels like I'm a kid once again, and I got something amazing to play with.

Something very few have. Mysterious and so full of opportunities.

Unfortunately, I have no such luxury.

Tess is almost done smoking a cigarette when Hadwin appears. He is followed by two men who both seem to be around 30-40 years old. I noticed them before, and they seem to be fairly close to each other, probably two friends or coworkers.

Still limping Hadwin opens his mouth and closes it after taking a look at my wound. I can see that he is fighting inside, and in the end, he decides to be shameless.

"Nat, I will need you," he shrugs his shoulders and moves awkwardly.

At least he knows how shameless he is. But it's not like I can blame him. I'm sure I'm more useful than most people, even in the state I'm in. And it's not like I didn't expect him to come.

"When I was walking back with Damon..." he pauses for a second and continues after taking a deep breath "I saw the river down the valley. Probably 5 minutes of walking away from the place where we met them..."

At the moment, I am not sure if it's all just an act, or if he really feels bad for asking me.

How many bullets does he have left? It can't be many. One magazine? Two? Or is he already at the last one?

"Cassian and Dominic are going to join us."

Cassian is a shorter man with black hair, while Dominic has dark skin and curly hair. Both of them are in good shape, having figures that come from doing hard manual work.

I find it weird that they would want to join, even after seeing Damon's dead body.

I think it's better to go, but people rarely use logic in such situations.

Maybe...

I look at Sophie, who is standing nearby with her sister.

Whatever.

I slowly stand up. I try to calculate Cassian and Dominic's reach by looking at their arm lengths, and I assess their mobility by observing the way they move.

Let's see how you'll do.

"I'll be taking Tess with us, but I'll need a bit longer to rest. One hour should be okay. Oh, and give her one of the spears."

As I enter the bus, I hear Cassian and Dominic complaining.

I can't trust anyone.

Not Sophie, not Hadwin.

So I have to push, forget about my wounds, and get the last bit of energy from my body.

Because I am sure I will die the moment they become stronger than I am.