CHAPTER 4

After what felt like a lifetime, Jack came back to reality. Facing the ever-increasing torrents of pain, he couldn’t keep track of time.

His lips were dry and his face was haggard. “The pain has decreased a lot compared to before. My wounds have basically healed. I seem to be in a tent. Was I rescued by somebody?” Jack thought hazily.

He crawled out hurriedly.

Dozens of rough-looking men laughed as they shared jokes. Some were cleaning their swords while others wandered about. Jack was stunned. ‘Was I rescued or kidnapped?’

“Look at that scrawny boy over there. What’s he doing here?” A burly man with a ferocious face shouted.

Immediately, a lot of people looked at him. Jack shivered indistinctly. He didn’t doubt he would find himself three feet under if he fought one of them.

“Catch him and bring him to the Leader. He wants to escape.” Another man shouted. Jack immediately raised his hands in surrender.

It was not that he was cowardly. They were holding guns!

He watched as a burly man near him roughly twisted his hands behind his back. The man laughed. “Old Black, you were right. This kid’s waist isn’t as big as my muscles!”

Old Black sneered. “You’re bragging again.” The crowd burst into jeers as the man holding Jack scowled.

“Let’s go. I’ll bring you to Leader.” In a bad mood, he twisted Jack’s arm further. Jack could only groan in pain.

After a few minutes of walking, Jack was led to a large tent. He could hear muffled moans and heavy breathing. Neither Jack nor the burly man near him were kids. They waited beside the tent in silence. Not absolute silence, as Jack could not hold back hisses of pain as his arm was twisted further.

The sun wasn’t compassionate either as it heated Jack up. He felt extremely thirsty.

“What do you want? Be quick.” Jack almost shouted in joy as a huge man with tattoos and scars covering his body swaggered out.

Jack saw the man bullying him instantly burst into a smiling face. “Great Leader, this man was caught wandering around our camp. I suspect he is a spy from one of our rival gangs.”

“Torture him and then kill him.” The huge man answered and turned back to walk inside his tent.

‘Fuck, isn’t it you who rescued me? When was I wandering around?’ Jack cursed in his mind. He had noticed that this ‘great leader’ loved to be flattered as his scowl from being disturbed had changed to a smile when he was praised.

“Great Leader was the one who saved me out of his righteous and benevolent heart. I wasn’t spying!”

The huge man turned back with surprise. “Oh, it’s you? The injured guy?” He looked at Jack who was feverishly nodding his head.

“You have paid for your treatment with the bottle of water and that piece of meat.” The leader pointed at the man who brought Jack here. “Mike, throw him out.”

‘Fuck, you shouldn’t have rescued me, if you want me to die wandering about in the desert.” Jack was sure that he wouldn’t be able to survive if he didn’t have food, water and a place to go. He hurriedly came up with something to say “Great Leader, I was stunned by your wisdom and kingly aura. I want to fight for you, great Leader.”

The huge man smiled when he was called a king. He laughed, “I can crush you with a finger. Why would I need you to fight?”

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Mike, the burly man who had twisted Jack’s arm, also smiled. “Great Leader does not need weaklings like you.” Mike lifted Jack and was about to leave.

“I can cook!” Jack shouted. When Jack saw that the two other men were still laughing. He changed his words. “I am a doctor too!” The men froze.

…

A few burly men were thanking a man enthusiastically as they supported a limping man. Others lay down as they waited for their turn patiently. It looked like a good and healthy relationship between doctors and patients. Or not.

Jack was no doctor.

…

Jack rubbed his eyes wearily. It was a hot morning and his patients weren’t making it any easier for him.

The hot morning wasn’t really the problem though. His situation was a bit troublesome. Jack tapped his chin thoughtfully.

A day ago, he had lied he was a doctor to survive. He went out with some containers with the excuse of brewing a concoction. He found some thorny plants and painstakingly squeezed out the juice filling a jar to about one-tenth.

He couldn’t help it. The plants only had a small amount of juice, after all!

The main issue was that he didn’t know when his recovering patients would die. That’s right. It would be okay if the mixture he made had no healing properties. He had no idea if it was poisonous or not!

All he wanted now was to steal enough food and water, then make a break for it. Hopefully, he could find a map.

After wearing some clothes given to him, he walked out with a calm face. However, he was ready to run if he heard that any of his patients were dead.

“It’s the doctor!”

“Doctor, good work.”

“He wasn’t a quack, after all.”

Jack was stunned for a while. He recovered when an old burly man hobbled out. “Great Doctor, it’s me! Old Knife!”

“Oh, the one suffering from internal bleeding yesterday.” Jack nodded in realization. He looked carefully at Old Knife. This was one of the people he thought would die first. Internal bleeding wasn’t something that he could heal.

Jack waved his hand. “Come nearer.”

He grabbed Old Knife’s arm and checked his pulse. Pretended to.

“Hmm, you’re getting better. What are you doing hobbling around? Go lie down so you’ll recover faster.”

Jack could feel the gazes of awe and admiration from the bandits.

“Yes, doctor. I’ll do that immediately.” Old Knife nodded obediently and walked away with some of his comrades.

“I’ll brew another concoction today. Why don’t you guys fetch me some food and water.” Jack said as he looked at the expectant crowd.

After the crowd dispersed, he sighed. He didn’t get full of himself. This time, he was lucky. He had to get supplies and run away as quick as he could!

…

The guards of the temporary camp let him out. He was their only doctor, after all. Jack could feel they had ensured he didn’t carry rations with him, though. They may have guessed he would try to run away.

The golden sands looked quite spectacular. Jack panted as he kicked the sand under his feet. It felt somewhat heavy. He wondered which desert he was. Kalahari? Sahara?

There was no one to tell Jack he wasn’t on Earth. He never asked because he couldn’t even fathom that there was another world just like Earth.

“Du-Du-Du!”

The sound of hooves reached Jack’s ears. It felt like a multitude of beasts were behind him. He looked back confusedly.

The only thing Jack could see were swirls of dust and heavy winds.

“Fuck! What’s going on?”

The camp was in danger! It would have been better if he had snuck food out. Now, he would be stranded in the desert without food.

He resisted the urge to run back and slowly walked back! He wanted to preserve as much energy as possible. He would surely die if he was tired when he reached the camp.

It took Jack twenty minutes to finally be near enough to make out what was happening.

“Are those snakes? Is that big shiny thing a scorpion? What the fuck are these bloody camels doing?”

The bandits were waving swords and guns about as they fought fiercely. What stunned Jack was how powerful they were!

A man slashed at a camel that charged towards him. Jack could only see reflections of the sword. He couldn’t see the man’s arm at all! Even more unbelievably, the sword passed through the camel’s head without any harm. It was an after-image that didn’t dissipate for a full second. There was no doubt that the camel could have killed Jack three times in that second if he was the opponent.

Of course, it was Jack who wasn’t fast enough to keep up with the pace of the fight. The burly man had no problem defending and attacking.

The camel sneaked a kick at the man during the intense fight. The man was hurt terribly! As the camel reared its head for a fatal bite, Jack saw the camel’s head exploding into a bloody firework!

Nothing was unfair in a free-for-all fight.

“Boom!”

Jack heard a loud sound further ahead. He watched in shock as the man jumped…

“Holy Molly! Is he flying?”

The man defied gravity as he rose above three meters. Jack’s mind further collapsed as a pillow sized fireball formed on both of his hands. Jack saw the target of the attack! It was a gigantic silver snake. The snake was definitely above three meters even though most of its body was coiled around it.

The snake spat out a black mist. The fireballs decreased in size and power as they passed through it. The final outcome was a scratch on the snake’s scales.

Jack looked at the battle in shock. “Are these…” He looked at the superpowered creatures around him. “Seekers?”