The forest was in shade, yet I was already sweating like crazy - good thing I had the water from the stream, not on me, but at least in my system.

"It won't allow me to move far away from the pond.. I wonder how far is the closest.. civilization...The man had to come from somewhere, but he was quite battered if I think about it.." - Yes, remembering the bad things was my forte, I was quite experienced at it. Real question though, why didn't I pay attention to these details at the time? Well... being scared shitless was a decent excuse.

Considering the body shape of the man, he couldn't have ran for a long time. Call me judgmental, but he was fat.. I doubt he could keep the pace he had for more than ten minutes - so he had to come from somewhere close. I really doubt that he was any sort of important figure - as someone would come after him..well the toads did come, but that's different.

"It doesn't seem to be anything similar to The Predators movie... really, hunting an ex-cancer patient can't be considered good sports. I would laugh at that to be honest. It's like bragging that you hunted a deer that died before you even took aim." - Being in a different world was certain, but I still thought about a reason, about any sort of explanation. Seems like making assumptions on what was the process which caused me to be in this place, was the favorite topic in my thoughts, along with food, probably second to food.

"People do disappear on Earth, but the stories about time-travelers and other shenanigans seem to be a bit ridiculous. Oh... that's new"

My eyes fixated on a small - arm-length sized bush with tiny pinkish berries on it. Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of bushes around, quite a few patches of grass as well, some purmap and paper-leaf, but mostly - dried moss. Seeing something as fertile as a bush with berries could be considered an achievement. The scarce vegetation - could it be because of the dry heat?

Well- thoughts about plant-life aside, I knelled down to take a better look at the plant. I smelled the air near it, it was a bit sweet, but I wasn't going to jump and eat the berry right away. Well- the drill to determine if the plant is indeed poisonous wasn't exactly a hundred percent deal, but smearing on the skin, leaving some under the tongue without swallowing, and finally eating a little bit was the best choice I had.

Of course I had the godsend of fish, but if I continued eating them without limit- I would exterminate the whole population. Even though I wanted to indulge myself in gluttony and eat all the fish I could, common sense told me to shove that wish somewhere far away. Other sources of food were needed. I could be considered a retard when it came to coming up with a straight plan, most of the things I do aren't quite planned, but intuitive. To be short - I suck at planning.

So without further hesitation, one of the berries was smeared on my hand. Waiting would take too long, so I continued walking.

It was quite noisy in the forest at the time, which I thought of as strange. You see- living in the city, you are constantly surrounded by all kind of sounds - not that subtle. So you can say my hearing was just adjusting to the volume slowly. I could hear my own footsteps, which seemed quite noisy - imagine eating cereal without milk, that's what every step seemed like to me. It was annoying to say the least, I rather preferred to not hear the crunching sound - so my struggle to walk at least somewhat silently began. So at the moment- I had to remember a few things just to walk - avoid sharp things, look where you take a step, feel where you place the foot before stepping... that's already a lot, now add proper placement of the foot to reduce noise. I wasn't walking fast, shuffling through the hot furnace of the forest, looking for any sign of edible plants.

Periodically I would stop to make a sign on the tree closest to me. I was moving away from the known location, so I made a mark every twenty to forty steps I took. A few times I walked back to the previous tree, just to be sure I could find my way back. Losing the camp wasn't a good plan, it was the best I had available to me. Of course it was just the third day.. I was getting confused in how much time has passed exactly, as sleeping in small increments of time made it rather hard for myself to remember how much time has passed exactly. It was obvious that the day was longer than the usual twenty four hours, but I didn't know by how much, well - I didn't bother as it wasn't useful for me, or rather - I had no idea how to use the information even if I had access to it. When it was dark it was night, when it wasn't it was day, easy peasy.

What astonished me quite a bit - was the fact that even though there was an occasional opening in the forest, the tree branches would cover it up almost completely. Only something like the pond-lake was wide enough to let the sunlight pass through the opening above it.

"The berry doesn't seem to have any effect.." - My hand didn't seem to be different, no red marks, no signs of irritation. The spot didn't seem different, In fact - I couldn't feel the place where I smeared the berry at all.

"Holy shit.." - I poked the spot with a thin stick I picked up, all of the sense of touch was gone. I could feel the pressure, but that's it - the hand was completely numb in the area. - "So.. Do I try to chew on it?"

I was hesitant, for all I knew- this wasn't a good sign. I doubt that eating a lot of painkiller-berry was a smart idea in any world. Such a long name again... Numb-berry it is.. Numb-berry was noted as a possible anesthetic plant, and I nearly yelped as I came around another large bush - these were the same ones I camped in, no name - just bushes.

What made me nearly jump and duck in the bush - a herd of animals. They were quite a bit away, but the slow movement between the trees caught my shortsighted eyes. I slowly crept towards the movement - just out of curiosity. The fact that the shapes were constantly stopping to bow their heads, seemed like an indication of a herbivore... of the floor was littered with the corpses of their slaughtered enemies and they were nibbling on the bloody remains. Staying positive was necessary.. I could be cautious and stay in the bushed for the rest of my life, which would be short and uneventful, but that seemed like almost giving up. Saying- life, please get it over with and stop my suffering.. Fuck that, I'd rather shove a cactus up my ass than give up like that.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"But you were wasting your time locked inside of an apartment staring at the screen for the whole day..

Fuck you me.. I was a fully functional person who could pay his bills and keep living like he wanted to.

Secluded from the society.

I was communicating with people online, thank me..

Oh. Sure, saying fuck you to EULA's and making some small coin from games, as well as the at-home job of an accountant.. with NO proper education.. you were living a dream..

I was living the way I wanted to.. " - arguing with myself, I really need some company here, or not... I'd rather not have any company if it would want to kill me. Oh the dilemma.

I crept closer to where the animals were. The fact that they didn't run away yet - was a great discovery. The wind was blowing on the back of my head, so the animals should have already smelled me, but they didn't show any sign of noticing me.

"Oh the great purmap - you are the best deodorant in the world." - Seems like the plant was not only useful as a mosquito repellant, but it also covered the odor of my body. As in completely covered it. Wild animals probably had at least somewhat good sense of smell, so I was pretty confident that was maybe right..

"It works fifty percent of the time, every time." - Yes, that's the sort of things that randomly pop up in my mind for no reason, as well as the moments from random shows and movies, episodes of manga and books. Too bad that I can't control it, I could at least stop grinning like a fucking retard for no apparent reason, as I remember some short dialogue from South Park or something..

My steps were quite silent, but apparently not silent enough. The closest of the animals suddenly popped its head up, looking in my direction dead on. I could feel the goosebumps flowing through my back and crawling up my arms.

"Please don't aggro.. " - the animals took of jumping just like deer, or something similar. I exhaled, a bit disappointed that I couldn't get close enough to take a better look at them. They did take off - so they saw me as a threat, or at least a nuisance, which once again meant that I wasn't the prey here, but rather the hunter.

"A shitty one, but hey... " - This encounter made me more confident, or at least not shitting my pants afraid of every shadow in the forest. There was an animal that was more of a pussy than me, hurray. More importantly, if the tiny amount of chewed leaves could cover up my

smell to this degree, what would happen if I prepared it properly?

I walked around the place where I've seen the deer-like animals, only to find a few round clumps of dry weed. Once I realized what I held in my hands- I immediately unheld it... shit.. deer shit.. amazing timing brain, the realization had to come after I grabbed it, thinking why it is this warm to the touch. At least I didn't try to bite it or something... walking around with an aftertaste of shit in your mouth, that would be a new experience.

Something else was apparent - there was something like a hill up ahead. What I planned when I started walking to its top? Like hell I knew.. It was a spontaneous discovery, and the same with the decision. My legs started talking shit about my mother after just a few minutes. It's one thing to walk on straight ground, but the whole other experience - walking uphill for long periods of time. Once again, my muscles proved to be not as used to physical exercise, figures.

There was a lot less large trees as I climbed higher, I could tell by the amount of direct sunlight that blinded me. Oh how much I love the sun..not. As I got tired and took a quick rest in the shade of one of the smaller trees, which by the way looked climbable, I understood the plan I had. I could make out a lot of green through the trees in front of me, with a hint of blue. I was already above the tall trees, so when I reach the top I could take a better look around. Maybe there's a city not that far away and I'm trying to survive in some park like an idiot.

Good thoughts are a great motivation, so despite aching feet I continued my road to the top of the hill. There were almost no plants by the time I got to the top, only some dry grass. It was brittle, so it crumbled as I stepped on it. That's good news, because what I could see from the top of the hill wasn't. In all directions - only green plants, and even bigger hills surrounding the place where I was standing. If you imagine a not so perfectly round bowl, that would be the valley I was located in, and if you imagine a tiny nipple on the bottom of it - that was the hill, and some even bigger nipples were littered here and there. Even if there would be pathways made by sentient beings, any villages or anything similar, I couldn't make anything out from here, the tall trees covered everything in a carpet of green. I wasn't able to make even the pond-lake from where I stood. There could be a city with skyscrapers on the other side of the hill for all I knew, but there could also be none.

The reality is harsh. I had no way of knowing where to go. What's worse - that was my life from now on for all i knew. A hermit in the woods, living alone.

"Well.. that's it huh? Not the worst that could happen.. just permanent camping in the woods." - I was walking downhill, slowly, as the struggle to keep myself from making excess noise was still going on. I was still able to hear my steps, but it was getting better. I collected a whole lot of Numb-berries which I wrapped in the cloth I carried the coal in, so that's a few handfuls. My plan for now was to continue with getting to know the area better, come up with any good ideas, get some fish..or other food.

Cold water coursed down my throat as I drank directly from the stream. The whole scouting process made me quite dehydrated. My feet were feeling like someone swung a baseball bat a good few times at the muscles. But I still had a few tasks to make, for one - I wanted to get more fish.