I trudged through the red dirt while reading a punctured map I’d found in my fathers jacket… I had to get to Japan if I wanted to be able to join the main story… but I couldn’t fly there and hitching a ride by plane or boat was unlikely… so I was stuck on foot.

I’d have to head up through Australia and swim to either Papua New Guinea or Indonesia… then make a choice between swimming along the coastlines until reaching Japan or trying to swim to Guam… maybe I could follow a ship?

I kept running through contingencies in my head… I’d been on foot for about 2 weeks recently, the lack of food had driven me mad at first- even with the knowledge it wouldn’t truly kill me… hunger was a scary thing, I’d actually considered eating my arm before my power kicked in to stop it!

I’d also grown bigger… I was worried all this walking would make me quadrupedal or something but I’d actually ended up getting legs that looked quite similar to an ostriches… a heavily muscled and clawed version but still.

Occasionally I’d start flat out running, I barely needed to breathe and I’m not sure if I had to eat or drink… yet hopefully over time I’d be able to run all out with no issue. Every time I pushed myself to the limit I could feel my body slowly adapting to get better, every new sprint I did going farther than the last… and getting faster than the last too.

And so it’s been going like this for the last 2 weeks. I'm sure I could go without sleep if I really wanted to, it’d probably speed up my journey too… but sleeping was one of the few things I enjoyed and to hell with being unable to do it.

The land was slowly but surely becoming more rich in vegetation… that wasn’t saying much currently but the fact I could see little streams occasionally was a far sight better than only red rock and scorched dirt. One little creek widened up considerably and I must say looked rather inviting. I could adapt and survive but cleanliness was swept aside… or left to die and rot… either-or honestly.

I jumped in and immediately sank. I wasn’t worried since I could just walk out from the bottom though I was sad my plan of floating downstream had crashed on arrival. I opened my mouth and took a drink from the river, the water tasted fresh and I’m glad I could do this without worrying about parasites or other nasties.

I enjoyed myself for a short while before-

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*SNAP*

-I met the most deadly reptile on the planet.

I felt a tremendous force close around my head, yeah sure I was made of stronger stuff than the average joe but I’d seen videos of these things cracking turtle shells! I’d never seen any large bodies of water before and it just didn’t register as a source of danger to me!

SHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT!

I felt the force increase as I moved my hands in an attempt to poke the bastard's eyes! Even if I missed I made sure to furiously scratch anything I could, my nails were basically razorblades and I was gonna let this fucker feel them!

IT HURTS! I felt the force getting stronger faster than my adaptation could handle, then… black.

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump* *THUMP*

Round 2 you little shit!

I hopped up ready for a fight! *squish* I looked down… ew. It seems the Croc had eaten me and I’d ended up making my way out chestburster style, or… backburster in this case? The crocodile was lying flat with its back looking like a shredded tarp, the good news is that I was now approaching 4 feet in height with a much tougher body, the bad news is I was now covered in blood and bits of bone with my shorts and sunglasses wrecked.

I was tempted to jump right back into the river but I wasn’t too eager for a repeat. I went into the nearby vegetation in search of some leaves to wipe this crap off… then I’ll take a small dip when I look and smell less like a chum bucket.

I grabbed a random assortment of leaves before starting to wipe the blood off… Did Australia have poison ivy? Cos I was really starting to feel an itch… Burn?... Sweet mother of Christ that hurts! I dropped the pile of leaves and started frantically hopping around like a chimpanzee on meth.

MY HANDS! MY FACE! EVERYWHERE HURTS! I could see one leaf that looked heart shaped and a little fuzzy, of course this hellscape has plants that chose violence! GAH! I ran back to the lake heedless of my current blood covered body, this was more painful than the crocodile was!

Splashing into the cold water… MADE IT SO MUCH WORSE! The blood and croc bits had fallen off as I shot right back out of the water and started rolling on the ground, my entire body felt like it was on fire or dipped in acid or both! My skin everywhere started glowing red, oh yes please make it stop! My eyes also felt the burn with tears going down my face.

I felt the pain start lessening… but not stopping, another minute of agonizing pain and my body tried another approach. I was in too much pain to notice as my entire body started being covered in bone white armor and I was essentially sealed inside. This definitely made sure the plant wouldn’t hurt again but whatever it had done to me already still persisted! I thankfully passed out as my body continued trying to fix the problem.

6 hours later

Is… Is it over? I couldn’t feel that horrific pain anymore but I also couldn’t see, I was doomsday so there was no way it had destroyed my eyes… permanently at least… which meant It was night or adaptation had really gone all out.

I tried reaching for my face-

*Crack*

A shiver went down my spine at that familiar sound… but weirdly it had come from me, only now did I notice how it felt like my entire body had been encased in plaster… some really REALLY tough plaster.

Well… shit.