Story and characters written and created by JustSomeNumbers

  What was previously a numb tingling, slight numb touches and distant feelings of interactive stimulation was now a concrete piercing aspect of reality. Karla could now feel the shallow gusts of wind and twilight sun-rays hitting his skin. The vision of a dusk setting on the serenity of the calm wilderness before him shocked his verifiable truth of warfare. It was like…

  “It was like… before. Before the war, like the pictures-”

  Looking back down at the clump of what seemed to be leather, he quickly flattened it out against the air. Stretching the cloth as much as possible to see what the hell was in his hands. Interestingly, it looked similar to a nightgown- just incredibly… poorly constructed.

  “What a shit-stain of a design- It doesn’t even- What- Where are the zippers or buttons? and the lack of cotton would get you frozen in the eastern front. What idiot made this?”

  Shifting over the piece of what was now supposedly clothing, Karla realized the feeling of cold wind was the result of having no exterior clothing on his newly minted body. Letting out a begrudging sigh of exasperation- Karla flipped over the tunic and on his body. It was only roughly annoying to fit this tunic on his body, it seemed to be many sizes larger than his own figure- but when it came to the area surrounding his chest it was… difficult. In his previous life he had never had so much…mass near his collar bone, which made the act of “pulling over” this tunic a rather embarrassing endeavor and the resulting squeezing feeling was quite uncomfortable.

  “...This…Is…”

  Looking down at his contours, he looked much to feminine for his liking. While his breast tissue wasn’t the most sizable, it was enough to be mistaken for a female at first glance- which contrasted his internal identity. He bit his lip in anger and decided to move past this emotional outburst and push forward. Looking around the space, an open field was presented to him. It made him nervous. The quiet was the first aspect he noticed- not so much the lack of noise, as he could clearly hear birds and the rumbling of the riverbed. It was the lack of gunfire. There was no smoke from fighter interceptions, nor the smell of char or gunpowder in the air. The lack of the resounding heartbeat of war made Karla nervous and on edge. Mumbling to himself, he decided to follow the river to potentially find at least some type of civilized aspect.

  The trek Karla was about to start was creating much more anxiety than what he had endured within the theatre of war. While he crested small hills and entered the forest, he kept constant watch on any potential ambush spots which significantly slowed his progress. Karla made note of the surroundings he was navigating- he kept watch of the horizon, any foxholes, dips in terrain, tree-lines and even the vast skies above. While he realized this was borne out of a force of habit from his patrol duties on the western front, he continued to do so for the simple aspect of safety. The dark brown tree bark, the moss lazily growing from the sides of old wood, and the crisp cold his nose was still adjusting too only compounded with the visuals of the warming autumn leaves falling to the wet ground. It was a constant reminder of his location:

  I’m in an unknown place. I need to keep watch. I need to be on guard.

  The aspect that was the strangest in his observations were the weird life-forms of the nature surrounding him. While much of the wildlife from his previous life existed, like the small ants of the world or the geckos he was familiar with- there were definite abnormalities in the wild population. He felt eyes watching him. This furthered his suspicions and elevated his paranoiac unease. However his suspicions were confirmed when the forest bed which was usually filled with fallen leaves, loose piles of mud and the small hum of insects, was now blocked by one of the strange creatures he was noting before.

  “...What trickery are you?”

  The gelatinous being oozing before him didn’t respond. It couldn’t respond. It was a slime. It’s green translucency mimicked the texture and buoyancy of jello, with a strange opacity shifting around what seemed to be the center of its mass. However unlike the jello of his world Karla noticed the smallest and most important detail of the strange thing in front of him.

  The ground underneath him- it’s… burning?

  The creature- which at this point has still not reacted to Karla’s presence was simply minding its business to a point Karla found suspicious. To prod for information Karla quietly broke a branch off of a nearby bush. He couldn’t help but hark on his days as a cadet in the Rostovan reserve officer corps. Filled with the smell of gunpowder and the constant booms of overhead aerial combat- any movements on the ground needed to be precise, quick, and absolutely un-noticeable. Careful to limit his movement and to follow this instilled doctrine as close as possible- he then threw the stick directly into the creature. He wasn’t attempting to aim for anywhere in particular- but what he saw was a clear reminder that this place was not his world. The stick that was now lodged into the slime's viscous body- was slowly being dissolved right before his eyes. The slime slowly sucked the stick into its body as pieces of it began to break off and make room for more.

  “No- I don’t think I’ll interact with you for now, thank you.”

  While the small hike into the forest did take quite a bit- it wasn’t significant progress- as he was only about half a mile away from the clearing he originally awoke in. As he turned around to go back to the clearing, his survival instincts reminded him of a very critical detail. Karla needed shelter and food. As he was realizing this body hadn’t eaten in quite a while, he discussed the options of attempting to kill the strange creature to eat. He did technically have a valuable source of water in the river-bed he was next too, which would take care of the water if he boiled any infection out of it. All he would need to do to make the clearing a “makeshift camp” was to ascertain the resources he needed for a shelter, and the rations he needed for nutritional needs.

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  It wouldn’t be pleasant… but I could try to cook this…thing.

  Turning back around he saw the slime was still standing still- seemingly un-aware of the intentions Karla now had. However he didn’t have any of his tools… Looking around at what could be useful, Karla found a rock with enough of an edge to reasonably sharpen a larger branch. Going atop a nearby tree, Karla used his body weight (which wasn’t much) to shift the weight-bearing branch over the edge and snap. Taking the branches off the main “trunk”, Karla snapped off the extruding remaining smaller twigs and leaves to create a make-shift pole. Looking at the ending point, where the branch was originally snapped- Karla used the rock to create a very very crude spear. It was quite dull, but with enough force behind a thrust it would at least do some damage.

  God… This is fucking ridiculous. If only I had my bayonet or combat knife- this would make this task so much less miserable. I have scrapes and bruises all over my arms and hands.

  Apparently, this body was easily bruised. It was to Karla’s dis-satisfaction that he inhabited such a weak body- but this wouldn’t mean much if given a weapon like a rifle, or even training that would negate such weakness. All it really meant was that if given an opportunity to be overpowered by a stronger individual, it would most likely result in his defeat. After Whittling down the edge, and standing up. Karla returned to the small being and slowly followed its movements. Keeping a keen awareness of the surrounding area so as to not be interrupted while hunting his prey, Karla took special note of the activities it was conducting.

  For whatever reason, the slimy creature he was tracking tended to occasionally duplicate when it reached a large enough mass. While he didn’t fully understand why or how this happened, he reasoned that the time right before it split off to form two entities was the moment it would be most vulnerable. Following a rather large slime- about 3 feet in diameter- Karla slowly moved with as light a step as he could manage.

  This body… its- it’s amazing!

  His body was light and flexible, allowing what he would usually not be able to do become reasonably akin to child's play. He was swift and agile, making sure to move almost soundlessly behind a tree next to the slime. When the slime was finished scavenging whatever it was dissolving it started to move in the opposite direction of the tree Karla was keeping an eye on it from.

  Now! I’ll pierce its center!

  Moving with almost ghostly speed Karla thrusted the tip of the spear into the only mass he could realistically aim for, which was the small opacity in the center of the gelatinous creature. As the spear was forced into the slimy ball of mass, the dull tip of the spear created a large enough crack in the opaque mass in the center to nearly shatter it in half. Karla, feeling his…habits…kick in- continued to twist and forcefully press the spear into the now deflating being to both ensure its death and provide some small stress relief. After holding it steady for a few seconds, the gelatinous creature was now almost completely flat. The only way Karla could describe its current appearance was that of a large fried egg, except it was a mixed color of navy blue from the deflation. Satisfied with the result Karla started to remove the spear and attempt to carry the felled being back to his small makeshift camp-ground.

  “It’s rather…unfortunate its appearance is so un-appetizing, but survival is survival.”

  As Karla reached down and touched the slime, the first sensation to hit his senses was the intensive slimy fluid-like substance the strange thing was composed of. Its viscous nature meant it stuck to his hand- but it was enough of a liquid to deform and change its shape and slip through small cracks like the parting between his fingers.

  “Eugh. this is disgusting- it reminds me of-”

  !!!!

  Before Karla could finish her thought, a shocking sensation went throughout his entire body in an intensive pulsating pain. It rippled throughout his nervous system sending shockwaves of pins and needles- his legs slowly gave out from his knelt down position. His pupils shifted and his muscles began to spasm. A brief moment of respite quickly followed what felt like minutes of laborious straining pain.

  “ACK. Igh- I… I…”

  Falling back on his butt Karla started to massage his temples in an attempt to sooth a large migraine. Something felt like it had shifted inside him. It wasn’t something any living person could describe, but a sense of gluttonous appeasement in the deep recesses of his brain had triggered. He could picture a strange image of some unfamiliar words just distant enough to understand something was there. Something new was now wedged somewhere in his memory- but he couldn’t understand what, it was too foggy. Whatever had been added to his mind wasn’t the biggest concern to Karla however.

  “FUCK. gah. stupid fucking…”

  If this little rat did something to my mind….

  Karla harkened back on the age he was familiar with. When his new body and renewed sense of autonomy was non-existent. When he relied on the idea of his mind being the only remaining bastion of self he could point to as justification for his own sense of self. This also brought upon the remembrance of what led him to this strange place, the realization that he had already been manipulated to someone else's will. The consequence of which cost him his dear comrade in arms.

  After sitting for a couple hours, the migraine had passed. It was darker than he wanted it to be- the sun was setting on the tree line as a calming purple filled the sky’s boundless painting. He felt better after resting, but that strange sensation was irking him. He lamented not fully understanding what was happening. Looking up at the twilight ridden star-scape, he gathered his breath and sat back up. Looking at the spear and the still deflated “corpse” of the slime, he moved his arm to pick the spear up.

  “Wait a minute….”

  As Karla was moving to pick the spear up, all of the bruising and scrapes he had accreted seemingly vanished. Further intriguing was the fact he felt not only rejuvenated- but in better shape than he had previously recollected. A thought popped into his head, it was a dangerous thought he told most soldiers under his command to wash out and lock away. This instance however- Karla made an exception.

  Feeling around for a sharp object, he found the same rock he used to chisel away the makeshift spear. Pressing it against his skin, nothing happened. Realizing this was too dull, Karla understood to test his…theory, he would need to move to an extreme test if he truly wanted to understand.

  …

  Fuck. Whatever. I need to choose a finger that won’t cost me too much. I should have had the bruising from my work from before but it disappeared. If that creature from before and the shock I felt were to be connected- perhaps it’s similar to the occult in my prior existence?

  Breathing slowly and taking a final exhalation, Karla extended his ring finger and clasped it with his dominant hand. Holding his breath he nervously focused on what he was about to do. Biting down and locking his jaw, Karla forced his ring finger back out of the socket it was in. An audible snap as the sinew and tendon broke out of their various fixtures and positions heralded a deep sudden pain and a loud yelp. Karla slammed his un-harmed hand on the ground to help distract himself, afterwards looking at his now broken finger. Panting from the pain, he looked at the confirmation of his test.

  “...By the gods… W-what trickery..!?”

  Karla’s finger was quickly forcing itself back into place. He felt his skin pull taught and re-adjust as it started to crack and bend back into position. The discoloration and loss of feeling slowly left as a new sense of relief and normality was restored. His finger was somehow regenerating of its own volition. What Karla found interesting, secondary to this finding, was the sheer speed that it unfolded.

  Karla seemed stunned. He had unknowingly absorbed some sort of regenerative ability from this slime.

  It’s really hard to write Karla’s actions in a way that I wanted to, we’ll see how this goes but good gravy keeping track of everything is a lot lol. Let me know how you all are finding the writing so far! I'd love some feedback :3

  -JSN