(Noah) “crap…… still no good huh.”

I tried imagining the gridlines…… My head started to feel like it was going to cave in, my heart started to palpitate and beads of sweat started forming on my forehead.

It’s been like this ever since I woke up a couple of days ago……. When I woke up…… I found myself in an old run down house….. It’s the apocalypse, go figure. Torri and Scott explained to me that I had been out cold for a day…. But what was even more shocking was where I was…..

When I used the last of my strength to teleport Torri, Scott, and I…… I was barely conscious at the time and randomly hurled us through space, landing us in the ass end of the Mojave Desert. Luckily when we arrived we were still together….. and for the most part….. Healthy. Scott explained how my wounds ended up closing by themselves……. How they just up and vanished. Though I’ve tried cutting myself in the past couple of days…. It never seems to heal. I wonder why? Is it because of my damaged core? Furthermore….. How did I gain the ability to heal? Did I even gain the ability to heal……. Or is it just a one-time thing?

While I’m on it I should probably explain what I mean by damaged core huh?

The ability to control 3 layers of space at the same time gave me the ability to transfer multiple people, however it is a power beyond the current me. I think I can control 2 layers……. Err….. When I recover my abilities that is. I wonder what kinds of things I can do with 2 layers. To be honest…… I don’t know how I “controlled” multiple layers….. it was kind of instinctual…… it just came to me due to the stress of the situation….. If I had to explain it…….. it’s kind of like how I know my core is damaged….. or how I know that I’m probably able to control 2 layers of space……. Or how a person just knows how to breath. What I also know is that what caused my core to be damaged in the first place, is the over use of my power……

 (Scott) “hey Noah, let’s go…. it’s time for some combat training”

When I told Scott and my “situation,” he took it upon himself to offer up his experience in close quarters combat….. I…… didn’t want to be useless so I accepted his offer. Although it’s only been a couple of days, I’ve learned a great deal through training….. Though Scott just tosses me around like dead weight and calls it training.

I took a minute to thoroughly stretch, after which we both took up a fighting posture. 

Scott started charging towards me like a ferocious animal. I bent my knees to lower my center of gravity…… closer….. Closer…… when he was about close enough to tackle me I threw my arms out in front of me to intercept….. Latching onto his arm…. My body fell backwards… but not because he was running me over….. Because I was trying to use his momentum from running and my momentum from falling, to toss him……however just as I was starting to shift his weight……. He leaned forward to counteract my throw and brought his elbow to the front….. Hoping to crush my rib cage. I pushed my elbow out in front of my face….. aiming at his face…. He extended his arm from the elbow…. Putting his palm right into my stomach…..

(Noah) “ugh…..!”

using my free hand, I sent a strike into his elbow hoping to make the arm bend.... effectively throwing his weight towards his side, sending him rolling away from me………. I attempted to get off of my back so I could get some distance…….. And regain the wind that was stolen from me.

Unfortunately he had other plans.

Capitalizing on my lack of breath…… he was already in front of me……. or I should say was in front of me……. because I’m now lying on my back……. No clue as to how I got there.

(Scott) “It’s amazing how far you’ve come in only a few days……. However you have a lot to work on.”

“you’re still relying on the reflexes of your body to fight…… though it’s nice…. You should try imagining what your enemy will do….. Rather than wait for him to do it.”

(Noah) “……I’ll try”

We continued sparring like that for a while.  

 (Torri) “Now it’s my turn”

(Noah) “Haa.” *deeply exhales*

Our schedule for the past couple of day have pretty much played out like this:

Get up……. Not sure I even want to. Clean up…….. thank god the apocalypse has running water. Eat breakfast…… whatever Scott caught running around?

Morning running……. Or should I say suicidal sprinting. Scott then teaches me how to use knives…… my favorite one being the karambit.

Torri then makes me do short burst exercises to get my speed and stamina up.

After Torri tires me out, Scott gets to kick me around. And finally once everything has been dragged or beaten out of me over the course of the entire day….. Torri makes me run away from her and Scott while they swipe at me with sticks to work at evasion…… its like a messed up game of tag.

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Oh by the way if that wasn’t all bad enough…… We are currently living in a farm on the outskirts of Las Vegas.  We have to hunt for ourselves. We have to cook for ourselves. And we have to fend for ourselves. Luckily I only have to take care of the cooking…… Scott says I should learn everything though…. in case I end up by myself…… well that’s kind of how I got good at cooking in my last life…….

There is one good thing waiting for me at the end of every day though……. Dinner. Scott usually hunts for something. I cook it and Torri…….. Does the dishes?

(Noah) “It’s ready…. Come and get some”

Once dinner is ready we sit and eat at an old broken table. I’m actually surprised that there’s a complete roof over our head, everything else about this house seems to be run down……. This place must have been ransacked before we got here.

After dinner, we all usually retire to our beds to get some shuteye.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

At the crack of dawn, when the light was just beginning to spill into my room, I dragged my body out of bed, and into the shower. The waters warm embrace soothed my weary body.

Once I was refreshed I headed downstairs only to be dragged into a conversation about me…..

(Scott) “He needs actual comb……”

(Noah) “Good morning”

 (Torri) “Oh hey Noah, we were just talking about you”

(Noah) “Oh… about what?”

(Torri) “We were just thinking about taking you out for a walk….. to get some live combat training.”

(Noah) “Why?”

(Scott) “You need to fight against someone who’s actually trying to kill you. You need a sense of danger…… after all your power gave you some reassurance and lowered your wariness……”

(Noah) ”I had a claw penetrating my body….. how much more danger do you want?”

(Scott) “That’s just it…… you should have been more careful! You should have retreated and waited for us.”

.....

After deciding on live combat for today’s regimen, i finally got to make us some breakfast. After breakfast Torri made me do a morning run despite being sore already……….. I swear I could hear the creaking of my bones.

We soon set out to find myself a “training partner.”

We didn’t dare enter the city…….. its crowded with abhorred…… furthermore there could be something like that wolf we fought last week.

We ended up looking around the desert for something to kill.

(Scott) “Look over there……… it might not be what we were looking for but it will do.”

Of course it didn’t take long to find a dancing partner. It was a stage 2……. Bull.

One thing I neglected to mention…….. Animals evolve too…… if you couldn’t tell by the wolf we fought. I wonder if there are any killer bunnies?

Technically this bull is not an abhorred, but since it’s aggressive and you can eat its core……. It doesn’t really matter.

I left my companions behind to get closer with the beast. Scott and Torri took up positions close by in case I needed backup.

Of course the first thing the bull did was charge at me. I rolled to the side of it narrowly dodging its horns. When I stood up I pulled out 2 blades……. A karambit in the right, and a kukri in the left, complements of Scott…….. Seriously, how many knives does he carry on him?

The bull spun around.

(Noah) “Well…. Hello to you too.”

Now that it finished its greeting, it started to scrape its hove along the ground; its eagerness in charging creeping along its face……..

Suddenly…. It spewed fire from its nostrils….. the flame catching onto its own fur……. Now it’s a flaming bull.

(Noah) “You have got to be kidding me”

It came charging at me….. I again rolled to the side….. Failing to escape the tenacity of the heat. My patchwork shirt, though it protected me, is now gone.

(Noah) “I am so….. lucky”

Seriously if it was the flames and not just the heat that touched me……. I don’t even want to think about it.

The bull quickly turned around and begun to charge at me again…… this time I dodged perfectly.

The bull was furious that it couldn’t hit me….. it spun around, threw back its head……. It started sucking in air at an enormous rate….. The flames on its body were also consumed by its breath…… a sense of danger welled up in me….. I knew what would probably come next……

(Noah) “Oh shit”

Fighting the urge to run away, I launched myself at the oversized bull. As I was approaching, it threw its head forth…… and a jet of flames launched at least thirty feet in front of it……. However I had already rolled to the side of the bull…. Just before the river of fire could consume me.

As I was rolling past the bull….. I swung with my kukri through one of its legs severing it at the joint….. as I completed my motion by standing up……. I rode the edge of my karambit along the side of its back leg muscle……..causing it to fall to one side.

The bull struggled uselessly to get back up. Its two right legs were not in a good state…… I quickly brought my blade upon its neck silencing it once and for all.

Stinging sensations spread across my whole body. My body, which was now red, did not suffer anything worse than what sunburn would give….. Nonetheless….. This isn’t easy without my power…….

After collecting myself and resting for a few moments, I made my way over to the corpse……

*thwack* *thwack* *thwack*

The familiar sound echoed into the surroundings…

I dug out the core from its head and hungrily eyed it….. I wiped it down and threw it into my mouth……

I didn’t get the usual sensation of my core filling up….. Instead I felt a soothing sensation wrap around my head……

(Noah) “This……?”

Another instinctual feeling suddenly sprang forth and I decided to try and use my power again…….

I pulled up the grid lines……. No pain……. Granted the lines were a bit fuzzy…. But I could see them…… its back…..

(Noah) “Gaah…..”

 I tried to distort the grid like I’ve done in the past…….. And a wave of intense pain rushed forth from my head……. But I feel better than ever. I found a way to restore my core.

(Scott) “What’s wrong Noah?”

(Noah) “No… it’s just…… my powers are starting to come back”

(torri) “was it that core?”

(Noah) ”…. Yes it was”

“I also feel like I’m on the verge of evolving”

I noticed that my body was no longer in pain….. it was back to its original color……

(Torri) “Noah….. Quit fooling around we’re going to go hunt some more.”

 “we need you back in tip top sh…… “

(Scott) “hey guys…… what’s that?”

just as we were about to set out……… Scott asked us a question while pointing off into the distance. When Torri and I turned to look at what caught his eye…… our mouths dropped.  We saw a dust cloud on the horizon……. Getting bigger and bigger……… as it got closer and closer……….