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  The sun was already up.

  Yet, Tristia was still asleep. Her breathing was quick, making a faint screeching sound every time she exhaled.

  Umbra was still motionless. From first glance, he didn't seem to be alive. No sound. No movement. Just stillness.

  It was not until the sun was quite high that Tristia woke up.

  She stretched her sore body, grunting. “Hm…” Soon, she got up, or rather tried to. “Fuck… right…” she wiped her eyes. “Umbra…” she quickly checked on him.

  His fever was gone. The bulge on his left eye got smaller.

  “Good…” she moved closer and pressed her ear to his chest.

  Two seconds passed, yet. Nothing.

  She stared at him and checked his breathing.

  There was air being inhaled and exhaled from his nose. She also could feel his lungs inflated and deflated under his ribs. So, how did he have no heart beat?

  She pressed her ear to his chest again.

  Thump.

  She jolted, but she waited, listening more closely.

  Thump.

  His heart beat around roughly two whole seconds. Sometimes, it went even longer, even up to a whole three seconds.

  She stared at him. This was his resting heartbeat?

  She still remembered the night before yesterday that his heartbeat was normal… or at least what normal was for her.

  Yet, he did not show any sign of awakening.

  “Huh… alright, then…” she lay down on her back, hoping to rest for today.

  However, she had forgotten that her body did not dump the waste out.

  “Oh… fuck…” she quickly grabbed some clothes, some ashes by the fire and crawled outside. She stopped and turned around. “Water… I need some water…”

  Quickly, she grab another piece of cloth and doused it with water. On the way, she also grabbed one of the plastic bottles containing alcohol.

  “Come on… come on…” she crawled away as fast as possible.

  After around 50 steps away, she stopped and put down some of the fabric, casting away the rest nearby. She lay down, moving around on her back, trying to make sure that her crotch was around where she put the fabric down. She quickly reached in and started to untie her pants and underwear. “Oh… come on!” she struggled to undo the knot. “How the bloody fuck he tie this!?” eventually, she just tore them open. “Agh… fuck… finally…”

  She left out a relieved sigh and moved away.

  She then dug around her own feces, revealing a small soiled bundle around the size of her thumb. The bundle tore open, spilling out three gold coins.

  “Ah… fuck…”

  Then, she stopped. Should she hide it again? Or just let it be?

  She could worry about that later.

  Using the wet clothes, she started to clean her private and bottom, making sure to get rid the smell of the waste and urine.

  Lastly, she cleaned her hands with the soiled cloth.

  She discarded the soiled cloth to her waste. Then, she wrapped the soiled clothes tightly and covered the bundle with some soil, which were able to stick well due to the moisture. She was careful enough not to touch her own waste that much during the process.

  She primed up both of her arms, holding the mud ball above her head. Using all her strength, she managed to lob the waste-filled waterskin even farther away from the shelter.

  She grabbed some of the discarded fabric and doused them with alcohol and cleaned her private and bottom again.

  Lastly, she cleaned her hands and all three gold coins.

  She then threw the fabric away.

  “Argh… bloody arse…” she was out of cloth, forcing her to return to the shelter without anything below her waist. She crawled with the side of her body, which took even more time and energy.

  She peeked inside the shelter

  Umbra was still motionless.

  With a grunt, she crawled inside and swiftly tied around some fabrics for makeshift underwear and pants. She often glanced at him while dressing herself. Yet, she didn’t know whether she would be better or worse if he woke up during all of of those moments.

  As usual, she covered up her tracks and her scent.

  When she returned, Umbra once again, still motionless.

  She sighed. She knew that it was futile to just wait around. Focusing her attention elsewhere, her eyes then lay on the pile of wood.

  If there were a fairly elastic wood, she would be able to make a bow. And for the string… she stared at Umbra’s long hair.

  She just hoped he didn’t mind.

  However, there was none. The wood was either too elastic or too stiff, some were even rotten, forcing her to discard them.

  She eyed the staff, considering them as the material. Yet, the thought of breaking one from two perfectly good staff did not sit right with her.

  “If only… I got more… right… water…”

  She checked on the waterskins. Three more left. She had to ration this well or they would have to filter their own piss in order to drink.

  The best weapon that she could think of was spear. A stone, flint, or anything harder than wood would be ideal for a spearhead.

  She looked at the smoked bones with regret. If only she did not smoke them all, she might be able to make the spearhead out of them.

  She crawled back outside with staff on hands and a makeshift sack make of tied up clothes. She looked around for any rocks. She dragged her body to where a small cluster of decent-sized rocks were.

  None was what she needed.

  Yet, she still stored them. She could still pelt them at emergency.

  As she continued to moved further, she noticed a small round grayish rock a bit far, mostly buried.

  If that rock were as huge as she expected, she could use it as the knapping base.

  She dragged herself to the rock and started to unearth it. Oddly, the rock had seams on it, but she still continued to dig it.

  She widened her eyes as she eventually unearth it.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  It was not rock. It was an old skull of a human.

  She could use them.

  She started to dig even more and unearth more and more bones.

  First it was the necks and shoulder blades, then pieces of ribs and spines, followed with arms. After some times, hip and legs were eventually dug out.

  She hoped for something, anything else. Old rusting steel of dagger, spearhead, just something that she could use. But there was nothing more except for some scraps of soiled fabrics.

  She examined the bones.

  Some had marks of teeth or fangs scratching on it. But, the cause of death was possibly hinted by the destroyed sternum.

  The outside seemed to be preserved, butt, she still had to check the inside.

  She returned to the shelter, briefly checking on Umbra.

  She emptied the sack and grabbed more ashes, then throw a couple of branches into the fire. Then, she crawled towards the skeleton again.

  With the saw, she cut through the upper end of the bones.

  “Fuck…”

  A rotting stench as a yellow and black liquid seeped out.

  She quickly discarded the rotten bone and moved on to the others.

  She always cut through the upper or lower parts of the bone, leaving the hard middle part undamaged.

  This time, the other femur did not emit the rotten scent, but a faint fatty—almost like diluted oil—scent mixed with some tick of earthy scent on it.

  She took a deep breath, finally smiled. “Finally…”

  The sounds of birds chirped lazily in the orange sky. Yet, Tristia still busied with the new materials.

  She sawed through the upper arm bone, making a sharp point.

  More fatty scent and hint of musty—with the fatty being slightly dominant—emitted.

  She continued to sharpen the point, slowly fining the point.

  Then, after the point was fully established, she processed the bone high above the fire, similar to smoking meat.

  The heat would dry the bone, removing the leftover moisture.

  As she waited, she continued to work on the femur. She could not use it since it was too big for her hands. However, if somehow Umbra awakened, he should be able to wield it properly… or should she made it into a spearhead? However, she did not sure than even a femur bone would hold up well.

  She eyed Umbra

  Still, he showed no sign of being awake.

  She shook her head. She could just cut it later for spearhead if he didn’t wake up. Now, she rather prepared for the best.

  By the time she finished carving all four bone daggers—one of them for Umbra—the day had ended. She took the first dagger that she made.

  Warm. Dried out.

  Now, she had a lethal weapon, albeit close range.

  “Perfect…” She knew that it would not be as good as steel weaponry, but this would give her more options. But… what was it for? Would she just die if someone or something got this close?

  She sighed and once again, checked on Umbra.

  His eyes, once again, were opened.

  Doubt started to plague her mind.

  If Umbra did not wake up… what would be of her? Would she even manage to survive alone even without her legs? Or… should she just try to make a peg for her legs then train?

  Once again, she eyed the staff. The temptation to make it into a bow was huge.

  But, when she stopped. Everything hit her.

  Yes she could cut them into bow and then what? To even able to stand properly, she needed a thick leather, or a cup that fit her legs to reduce the ache of her stump dragged around.

  Could she even find something like that? The human skull that she found might fit, but… how about her other legs?

  She shook her head. She knew she needed to rest.

  But before that, she checked on him closely. She sat next to him and stared at his half-opened eyes. She then sighed and poked around his nose. “Come on… wake up will you…”

  He blinked then his eyes moved to her.

  “Huh… did… fuck, I must be going insane…”

  His eyes moved again.

  “W-Wait…”

  His mouth slowly opened, yet, he could barely open it.

  “You’re awake! C-Can you blink?!”

  He blinked again.

  “Oh… great… okay… um… blink once for yes, blink twice for no. Can you understand me?” she spelled each words slowly.

  One blink.

  “Do you remember who you are?”

  One blink, but his eyes showed hesitation.

  “Okay… um, blink three times if you are not sure.”

  Three blinks.

  “Do you remember me?”

  Three blinks.

  “Can you do anything else? Or can you feel your body?”

  Two blinks.

  She looked to all his body parts.

  His fingers twitched.

  She noticed more movement.

  His feet wiggled with the movement of his right foot seemed to be more restricted and limited compared to his left.

  But, that was it.

  “Okay… um, are you thirsty? Hungry? No… better not eat for now… still, want something to fill your belly?”

  Two blinks.

  “Okay… so… you want to… take a leak? Or take a dump?”

  Two blinks.

  “Okay… good to know…” she looked around. “It’s night so… get some sleep if you need more… I, uh… really need some…”

  One blink.

  “Okay… then, uh, good night…”

  Probably due to the peace of mind of Umbra woke up and still exhausted from the previous day, Tristia fell asleep easily.

  Umbra, however, was still awake. He had been trying to move his limbs for the past two hours.

  While he could sense that his left foot were moving, even if barely, he could barely feel anything on the right side of his body, let alone noticing if his right foot moved or not.

  After hours of constant training, he was able to move his tails better than his limbs. Even if they often jolted and jerked around.

  On the other side, he could not even clench his fist.

  More time had passed, Umbra started to sweat heavily as he focused entirely on his left arm, trying to force his fist to clench.

  A sudden pain wrapped around his fist.

  “KRGH! GH!”

  His arm twitched as he exhaled briefly.

  He couldn’t force it, not yet.

  As he took a brief rest, he now noticed that he tingling sensation of his tongue was mostly gone. He could open his mouth and moved his tongue, forcing several voice out, “Ra… urh… gr… gh… rs…” But, to articulate words was still impossible.

  Speech did not matter, not for now at least. He knew that he needed to recover his motor function first. Be it slow and probably took more of his mental state, he had to train his body back, one small twitch at a time.

  An occasional small twitch became a consistent small twitch.

  Then, he managed to lift up his forearm, slowly working on his hands. He tried to grab into a rock, then he lifted it up with just his forearm as high as he could.

  If the rock fell mid way, he had to start over.

  The process then repeated.

  His senses slowly returned; from fingers, to arm, then his shoulder.

  Similar with his legs, from the toes, the it crept up to his feet and then legs.

  Next was his tails. The stingers, the long bones, then it reached his waist.

  Then, it crept to his stomach, chest, neck, face, head… and slowly, he regained more and more control over times.

  It felt so familiar, almost as if he reconnected once again to his body.

  Even if everything was still hurting, he wanted to try something.

  He moved his hand to a nearby rooting system, then forming a shoddy grip with his claws. His tails then followed, slowly coiling around the roots loosely.

  “KRGH! GH!” he pulled his body and managed to sat. But that was it… that simple maneuver drained him so much that his vision went dark and his body fell over.

  He panted. His arm shivered, his fingers twitched uncomfortably. He couldn’t even feel his tails as they were still coiled around the roots.

  “Grh… kgh…” once again, Umbra tried to get up on his own. “KRGH! GRH! KGH!” his arm and tails weakened from previously screamed loudly as he forced himself to sit up.

  His hand slipped, his tails didn’t have enough strength to hold on.

  He fell down. “RGGHHH! Hrg… gh…”

  His loud grunt accidentally woke Tristia up.

  She opened her eyes, jolting briefly. She was surprised to see him panting heavily. Yet, she did not call or announce it. She just watched over him. She needed to know whether he truly wished to survive or just surrender.

  At the tenth attempt, he accidentally fall on his right stump, resulting in five minutes of pure agony as he squirmed like a dying worm.

  Tristia sighed, a brief smile appeared, knowing that everything that she had done, perhaps was not in vain. She was about to get up since she thought that he would stop.

  However, he did not.

  So, she decided to continue watching.

  At around his twentieth attempt, his tails eventually failed him. However, using his claws as hooks, he was able to consistently get up to sitting position.

  Yet, from that moment forward, he always used his claws, slowly straining his fingers, making them bleed.

  It was not until the fiftieth attempt that Tristia just realized that he would not stop.

  “Umbra…” she got up. “Stop… just stop… rest…”

  “Grh… gh…” he slowly shifted his gaze on her.

  “Rest… don’t force yourself…”

  “Rnh…”

  “Look… I can’t understand you, okay?” she sighed. “Just… sleep, please… it’s still midnight…”

  “Nrh… gwh…”

  “As I said… I can’t understand you… look… just sleep, okay?” she laid down next to him. “Here… I’ll pat you…” she patted his stomach softly.

  “Grh!” he snarled.

  Even if she couldn’t understand, she was sure that he was protesting.

  “Okay… look here, you big dumb arse… I can’t fuckin sleep if you grunted all night, alright?” she sat up and grabbed his head, forcing him to look at her. “I am bloody exhausted… I crawled all the way out and dig for some bones… then returned here to make use some daggers… while I don’t have my bloody legs… okay?” she took a deep breath then stared into his eyes again. “So, for the love of what you hold dear… sleep, please… I’m begging you…”

  He exhaled loudly, then nodded.

  “Oh… you can nod?” she raised her eyebrows.

  “Gh…”

  “It is a good thing, okay?” she lay down next to him. “You don’t like being patted… sure, I won’t do it again…” she sighed. “Just sleep, alright?”

  “Rh…”

  “Good night, Umbra.”

  “Grh… nh…”

  ******

  Research Log 8.

  Agent: Creep. Class: [REDACTED]

  Bone daggers, huh? That reminds me of a bad memories… but anyway, bone weapons are very crude… kinda tough, but also fragile…

  Subject 1 still shows the same resourcefulness as the previous session. My hypothesis about her being from a tribe still stands.

  (Grunt)

  Also… she did save up for her dream house inside her rectum. I truly do not expect the simulator to even consider that, but, once again… it matched her nature to store her entire saving inside her ass.

  Moving to Subject 0… a very sad state… but at least he woke up—

  (Door opened)

  Female: Hey! How’re you feeling?

  (Door closed)

  Male: [REDACTED] What are you doing here?

  Female: I got your medicine. And I got an order to set up more RAMs for the Simulator.

  Male: You’re not our tech guy… sure, you can do tech shit, but—

  Female: You want someone else her? I could ask for someone else if you don’t want to see your own [REDACTED], you know?

  Male: Right… sorry.

  Female: And here is your coffee. Moderation, okay?

  (A thermos being placed down on the table)

  Male: Thanks. You’re a doll.

  Female: Any time, hon… um, is that recorder still on?

  Male: Ah, shit…

  ***

  Sorry… she is [REDACTED]. Class [REDACTED]. As some of you may know, we are [REDACTED].

  (Forcing a cough)

  O-kay… Subject 0.

  As I mentioned… he was in a very sad state… however, now that he woke up, we would be able to see how the simulator handled a hardy racial model recovering from this type of injury.

  For now, it is still kinda possible…

  Shelter is really good. They should still be able to last weeks without food. Water is the most…

  Wait—Subject 0 has not drunk any water… at all.

  I only remembered him drinking water when Subject 1 poured some on top of his head in that fight… and he just licked any water dripping over with his tongue. Was it in Session 3? Or Session 2?

  So… does Infernal not need any water? Noted.