Before Nate could dodge, a bolt from John's crossbow hit his shoulder and glanced off to the side. Same fucking shoulder. Nate had luck on his side that the arrow didn't hit something vital, but it still hurt like hell.

Only a flesh wound. Nate realized as he reached up to touch his shoulder. It was barely bleeding and only slightly stung. No system alerts at all. He dove to the side expecting another attack but a guttural scream brought Nate's attention to what was in front of him as soon as turned around.

Glancing at the surroundings, Nate realized the whistling sound of something moving through the air wasn’t the bolt from John’s crossbow.

A large spear had impaled John in the chest and flew out of his back. He was dead for sure. Janie would have been fine if she wasn't standing behind him the whole time. The spear had traveled through her father's chest and implanted itself into her upper thigh.

John’s body was propped up by the end of the spear in a grotesque way. His body weight was keeping the spear planted in the ground. Janie’s screams were deafening as she pawed at the spear sticking out of her like some sort of animal. Just like a boar. It had pinned her to the ground.

Nate didn’t even think about helping her as he quickly scrambled for his weapons sitting on the ground a few feet away. He was in danger. Someone had attacked with a spear twice the size of his own. He stole a glance behind him but didn't see anyone out in the open area. The spear came from the woods. Staying low in the grasses in the open area, Nate found cover behind some debris on the ground. Whoever had thrown that spear was dangerous. It had only taken a split second for the spear to travel from the wood line and into John's chest. Nate could only achieve that feat if he used his forceful throw skill.

From behind what appeared to be half of the broken vehicle of some kind, Nate could see Claire lying on the ground crawling back toward one of the buildings. She was alright. And she still had his knife in her hand.

Nate knew he couldn't remain here for much longer. Even though he was further from the wood line than before, he was still too much in the open. With flipped his backpack on his back and strapped his bow to the outside to free up a hand. He glanced up to look at the opening in front of him again. If someone was out there killing people, he needed all his weapons. He needed his knife.

Seeing Claire crawling into the building, Nate knew she was on the right track. The more cover the better. Especially with potential projectiles flying through the air. He ran for the opening in the building almost tripping over the still crawling woman as he entered.

"Get up," he spoke to the woman as he caught his balance and grabbed her by the arm.

"Let me go," the woman screamed.

Nate obliged and released the woman's arm. She went tumbling to the side into a pile of debris. Claire looked at Nate in terror after seeing the spear in his hand.

Before she could scream, Nate put his finger over his mouth in a shushing gesture.

"Quiet, we don't want them knowing where we are at," Nate said doubting they could hear anything inside the building over the screaming outside. The woman seemed to realize that Nate wasn't with whoever attacked them.

She looked at Nate for a moment then immediately started scrambling to the next room. Even with the screams still happening outside, the woman seemed to only care about getting to safety. Just like Nate.

"Come with me," she said gesturing for Nate to follow as she hit the doorway.

Nate followed while watching behind to make sure someone wasn't sneaking up on him. She still had his knife in her hand.

When she got into the next room Claire pulled a lever in a hole in the wall and caused an elevator to rise from an empty spot in the center of the room.

The woman went inside the elevator and turned to look at Nate.

"Come on," she said motioning for him to come with her.

Nate probably should have rushed to join the woman, but his instincts told him that being trapped in the rooms below wasn't a good idea. Just like being stuck inside the tree hollow with no way out.

He wanted to get back to the woods. Back to his cave. He didn't feel safe in these small rooms. No space to run away.

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"Is there another exit down there?" Nate asked standing in the doorway, "I don't want to become trapped."

Janie's screams were still echoing outside.

His question seemed to cause Claire to think of something she hadn't considered. She looked troubled. Then, she seemed to have a thought.

"There is an air shaft that goes out behind the mess hall, but it would be hard to climb out of," Claire said as she moved closer to the wall of the elevator. Nate could tell she wanted to leave.

"I'm not going down there," Nate said, “Can you give me my knife?”

He still did not feel like going underground was a good idea. Claire seemed hesitant, but she handed Nate his knife anyway.

"Okay, I'm going," the woman said as she pushed a button.

The elevator door closed and Nate was left alone. The cries from in front of the building were still ongoing, but they weren't anywhere near as loud as a few seconds ago.

From the time the spear hit John’s chest to the moment the elevator closed. Only about two minutes had passed. Things had moved pretty quickly.

Nate went over towards a hole in the wall and listened. He could still hear the girl outside, but he didn't hear anything else. Why aren’t they attacking?

Maybe he could get a view of what was going on to assess the situation. He wanted to see if he could leave the facility. All he needed was a chance to get to the woods and he felt like he could disappear. He glanced over to where the elevator had settled into its position. He couldn’t even see a trace of the feature. It was very well hidden. Maybe she will be okay.

He could see another opening in the wall large enough to climb through. Moving around, he paid constant attention to the sounds from outside. By his familiarity with the buildings, he could guess that he wouldn't be seen from the direction of the girl. He could remain hidden and get a view of the situation. The more information he had the better decision he could make.

[‘Duality’ has increased to Level 11]

His effort at observing his surroundings had caused his skill to go up. He peeked out the opening and glanced around quickly. He didn't see any danger so he moved through the hole with his spear at the ready.

Moving between the two buildings, Nate could see a pile of debris that would allow him to climb on top of the building. Height is advantageous. He would be able to see and react quickly if he climbed up. Fighting a beast on the ground and attacking one from a perch in a tree is completely different. This wasn't exactly the same, but Nate felt that it still seemed applicable.

He climbed up on top of the building and crawled to look over the edge of the sloped roof of the building.

He glanced at the screaming girl.

“Help, someone help,” Janie screamed, “Claire, help me.”

Her yelling was getting weaker, but she and the corpse of the man were still the only two things in the open space at the center of the outpost facility. Nate couldn’t risk going out in the open to help her without knowing the danger first. Seeing no change in that situation, Nate's eyes moved to look at the nearby wooded area. By his best guess, the spear had come near a thick patch of brush at the wood line.

Looking closely, he could see some movement in the shadows of the woods. People. Nate could make out at least four bodies moving at the wood line. They were staying behind cover though. From the way that they hid, Nate would have thought that they were the ones hiding from danger.

He could also hear the faint whispers of a conversation but he couldn't quite make out what was being said at such a distance. Then a realization hit him.

They were waiting for a retaliation attack from the facility. Normally, the turrets would have been manned and used to kill any attackers. But Nate knew that the facility’s weapons were destroyed. They are waiting to see if it is clear.

The attackers’ caution made Nate worry.

After a few minutes of watching, the cries of the girl had started to fade. She still whimpered and hollered for help every now and then, but Nate could tell that she was probably losing her life. He had seen the same many times with the beasts he had killed.

When her cries finally stopped, a man emerged from the woods. The shadows moving in the woods had also become motionless.

They are cautious. Nate thought as he watched the man move towards the girl. As he approached, Nate could make out a few of the man's features not covered by beast furs. His skin almost had a purplish tint to it. It was quite a contrast compared with Nate's pale skin. The man’s face was partially covered by a bone mask. Of all the features on the man, the one thing that stuck out the most was his size. In comparison to most people Nate had seen, this guy was the biggest by far. He was at least two feet taller than Nate. Seeing the size of the man, Nate wondered if the others in the woods were just as big.

The beastly man walked up to where the girl was lying. As he approached, she started screaming louder. He only spared her a glance as he reached up and plucked John off of the end of the spear and tossed his body aside. With the body gone, he simply leaned over and plucked to spear from Janie’s leg. The girl tried to get away crawling on the ground but the man paid no attention to her as he turned and made a signal towards the trees. Two more men made their way out of cover and into the open. One stayed in the woods. Nate could tell these others weren't as tall as the first guy but they were similarly large.

The two other men arrived in a few seconds and Nate felt an urgency to get away.

One of the men bent down to look at the girl’s leg. She struggled to get away but his grip on her leg seemed to be pretty strong. The man then nodded his head towards the others and smacked the girl in the face. All the crying and screaming stopped.

In his limited conversations over the last couple of days, Nate had heard a few stories about people that lived outside of the city walls. Apparently, some people lived in groups out in the wilderness. Most had a combative nature with anyone not in their tribe. Some traded goods with cities for supplies. Some were downright vicious. As Nate watched one of the men bend down and wrap something around Janie’s leg, he knew that he had met another inhabitant of the wilds. Outsiders.