As Tadiwa slept, she had a nightmare of being devoured by the beast, remembering her internal organs being eviscerated and her dying again and again. The traumatic experience of feeling the warmth of another animal that intended to eat her was mind boggling. As her body healed faster due to the solution she got from the former film maker, Malcolm, it became clear that the rapid physiological changes were inducing her with very graphic dreams.
Tadiwa soon enough woke up in the morning, crying, not due to pain, but the fear of her near death experience. The crying woke everyone up and made Malcolm dash towards her with much dread. He embraced her like a father comforting his little girl and told her, "Everything is going to be okay, I am right here." Tadiwa who had realized that her right hand had been amputated the previous night was only now going manic over the loss of the rest of her hand as she juggled between her terrible nightmare and the fact that she would be handicapped for the rest of her existence in Goshem.
The other 3 watched, worried and saddened by her crying. John who had made the quick call of ripping off her cursed forearm was feeling a bit guilty for having made the girl have such an incomplete arm in the first place. They were going to have to contend with her hysteria and hopefully ease her pain away.
After a few minutes of crying passed, the girl calmed down and ate the food that was offered to her by Malcolm, with her left hand. She was right handed, but still she could gobble down the fruits, vegetables and roasted snails that Malcolm had made. The 3 guests watched with much interest in her recuperation, but John wondered how she would handle what he had done to her. After she was done feeding, she looked at the 3 and recognized primarily John and Tinashe from yesterday. Clarice had washed her grey tank top, but most of the thick blood was hard to wash away and had left indefinite stains on it.
The girl's scruffy ginger hair, almost silver like eyes and freckles, gave her a rather street kid look of a child who probably didn't belong on the streets. She called out John and Tinashe's names and waited for them to come closer. The two of them looked at each other, composed themselves and then went close to the girl who was lying down covered in an animal fur blanket. John wasn't sure if his presence was going to be met with praise or hatred, but Tadiwa soon broke the tension by saying, "Thank you for what you did, both of you guys. I owe you my life. You are true heroes." John then quivered in fear and told, "I am sorry for your arm. If there was another way we could have done things…" Tadiwa immediately stopped him with her left hand, touching his left side profile and told him with twinkling eyes, "Malcolm told me what happened and said that if it wasn't for your actions, I would have died. I think that animal had infected the rest of my arm, so, as much is it sucks right now to be in this condition, I at least live to fight another day. So don't feel bad, I don't hate you or feel angry about your efforts. It's that darn animal's fault that I am the way I am right now." John felt partially relieved by her words and hoped she didn't secretly hate him for what had happened.
After her discourse with him, she turned to Tinashe. The caramel skinned, short, blue eyed 18year old with medium length brown hair, looked solemn as her gazed at her. Tadiwa was initially in a poignant mood, but got a good look of Tinashe's face and became entranced by his appearance. To her, he was a metrosexual male who retained his boyish youth that was intertwined with the physical changes of adult hood. Though small in stature and being slim, she couldn't help but notice how cute he seemed to her.
She then slightly changed her straight lips into a smile and told him, "Thank you Tinashe for carrying me. It must have been quite the scare to have seen me in that state, but I thank you for your bravery." Tinashe unintentionally winched at her and said, "As long as you are okay. How are you feeling, like your arm and back?"
"My body feels almost 100%, just some itchiness on my shoulder, but my arm feels okay. The pain is completely gone which is just a miracle in itself. Yeah, this body of mine is really different."
As the 3 of them delved into the niceties of talking to each other and bonding, Clarice couldn't help but feel left out. Yeah it was true that Tinashe was the one who got to her, but when it came to carrying her all the way to this peak, she assisted Tinashe in carrying the wounded girl. She decided to think nothing of it as she sighed in relief that the girl was at least healthy. Malcolm had gone down to check for something he had set up as this happened and only returned after 20mins. During that time, the 3 of them talked whilst Clarice watched.
"So where were you guys coming from when you found me?" asked Tadiwa.
"Well the 3 of us were planning on going back to my base and then we heard you crying in the jungle. We decided to find out what that was and then you know the rest of the story." said John, with a smile.
"Yeah, you're really lucky. John literally ran off to find you. I was really scared at first when I saw that animal on top of you, but he managed to chase it away and then I and Clarice helped you. I hope the process didn't hurt that much." said Tinashe, who looked at her carefully.
"Well it really did hurt, but that's fine. You said he chased away the animal, how did you get away from it John?" asked the girl, who averted attention to John.
"Well I killed it." he said nonchalantly.
"You killed it?" said Clarice, loudly, as she wondered how it was even possible for him to do such a thing against a higher levelled beast.
"Well I figured something out and made some sort of lasso using those thick vines and strangled it to death." he said with a rather rigid facial expression. Both of them looked shocked and then suddenly Tinashe began to pat him on the back in awe of his tale.
"That's amazing. That thing was like burning things and at the same time level 3, you're incredible." said John, who was glowing with excitement.
"Amazing, you killed it! You must be some expert hunter or something because I don't think anybody could have stopped 'it'." said Tadiwa, whose face seemed more lively and excited now. Her conspersed freckles gave her a southern look as she grinned widely in fascination.
"Well I just got lucky. If my plan hadn't worked who knows what could have happened. Hey, Clarice, join in, don't stand back there and leave yourself out." said John, who began to feel off because of her not being close.
"I am on my way." she said, rolling her eyes a bit because she could have easily joined them. Clarice came over and crouched close to Tadiwa's bed. Tadiwa gazed at her but immediately returned back to her sullen look as their eyes met. Clarice's eyes became squint as soon as she noticed this specific behavioural change in the young girl. She didn't understand why she way acting all catty, but her instincts were telling her that something was amiss.
"So what were you doing out there when you bumped into the beast?" asked John.
"Well, it was my turn to do the gathering of fruits from the jungle so I ventured out there; being extra careful to not let myself get noticed my anything. There is an open field, far from here, where those beasts gather like a pack of wolves, but from Malcolm's observations, they would rarely go out of their way to enter the jungle." she said in a serious tone.
"Some observation, he almost got you killed." said Clarice, who thought that Malcolm's miscalculation had endangered the girl.
"No. You're wrong! Malcolm didn't put me in danger. What happened was that I came across another person on the island. Some Asian guy who was really quick on his feet and had white hair. He was being chased by one of those beasts and I got me mixed up with his troubles. The jerk pushed me down to use me as bait so that the beast would attack me instead of him. He ended up disappearing whilst I tried my best to get away from that monster, but darn it. If I were to see that guy I would really give him my piece of mind." she said, trying to quell her anger as she fixated on the imagery of the man.
"That scum bag pushed you down, okay. Well if he is capable doing that then we should probably look out for him." said Clarice, who was now emotionally charged with resentment towards the man who pushed Tadiwa.
"Yeah, we will make sure he pays for what he did. You said Asian with white hair, right? Was he an old man?" asked John, who really wanted to picture this man.
"No he wasn't old, his hair was bleached, at least it looked bleached to me." said Tadiwa, whose face looked like she was going through some mental recapping of how she encountered the man in question.
"Well, if it's bleached, then I doubt that there would be a lot of people who are here who have that kind of hair. If we bump into him, there is no way we would miss him" said Tinashe, who really wanted to assure her that they would deal with this despicable person.
"Yeah, he probably thinks I got eaten, but once I see him, I will make him regret it." she said, with a fixed gaze.
"So, apart from Malcolm and this asshole who pushed you down, have you encountered others in this place? Others other than us?" asked John with a serious expression.
"Well, apart from you guys, it's just been me and Malcolm, surviving on this island. I think we met after about 3 nights being here. I am not the survival type, so I dealt with one sticky situation after the other, proving how useless I can be when I am not in an urban setting. I had fallen into a hole and was hanging for dear life. I couldn't tell how deep it was, but during the night, he stretched down a vine and told me to grab on. I would have probably died for my 2nd time if he hadn't shown up, so we ended up living together and I learned to adjust to this place. I mean, I have never done any camping before and not having to tweet or post stuff on the internet for weeks felt different." she said with a stoked look.
"Yeah, living on an island is quite a unique experience." said Tinashe who couldn't help but relate to her experience.
"But you and Malcolm seem to have gone by fine. He has barricaded this place and made wooden spear guns. He must be really handy here." said John.
"Handy is just an understatement. He is very hands on, and knows how to handle this kind of lifestyle, plus his funny and tells me stories about his work experience in the film industry. So even without a book to read or Netflix to binge watch, I at least have someone who lived an interesting life who can keep me from getting bored." she said, smiling enigmatically as she talked about Malcolm.
"Malcolm seems like a good guy." said Tinashe, who felt reassured by her description of the guy.
"Well then, as long as things are going great between you and him." said Tinashe.
"Well, we are not like that. Um, what I mean is that we survive together but we are not an item." she said, trying to make it clear to Tinashe.
"Oh sorry, I didn't mean it in that way." said Tinashe, who was beginning to feel coy because of the misunderstanding.
"Hold it together kids. So anyways, what do you think of this place Tadiwa? As in us being in Goshem." asked John who was curious to find out her opinion.
"Well I believe that this is like some purgatory or afterlife, but that purple thing made it seem as if it's all just some game and we all supposed to level up. But I wonder, how far we are supposed to go with this levelling? Is there like a specific target that needs to be reached?" she answered a bit unsure of what she was saying.
"Well I won't speak for the others, but from what I have noticed, this place will definitely require for us to get stronger, wiser and for us to work together. I have levelled up my strength to 86% and if I wasn't this strong, who knows if I could have even killed that beast with my bare hands. At the end of the day, our current bodies in this world are a gift. We not only have to become stronger than the dangerous animals here but we also have to be strong enough to defend ourselves from people who may want to harm us or worse, kill us. So even if this is the afterlife, its better if we form groups, train and take ownership of what's ours and defend it from anything that poses as a threat." he said, with an inspired look of confidence in what he was saying.
"So you want to establish groups and societies, hmm, so those are your intentions?" asked Malcolm who had just returned from gathering fruits, vegetables and snails with his wooden buckets. Everyone glanced at the man who had just returned and the angle of the sun cast a shadow on the front part of his body. Tadiwa was excited to see him, but John was wondering how he would handle where he was going with this discussion.
"Well groups. I don't intend to upscale to societies." said John.
"Well, it's not a matter of you not wanting to, because it's likely that as our numbers increase we will have to establish rules and even accommodate others with unique perspectives from how you think. People who have died like us or generally people who die, come from all walks of life. If you wish to form a group that won't self-destruct on itself, you are going to have to do a background check on every single person you come across before you form an entourage," he said, putting down the buckets and giving out handouts of something that looked like an apple, "trust me, these babies taste good. How are you now Tadiwa?"
"I am fine now, just adjusting to the hand." she said, looking a bit glum.
"Well, everything is going to be fine Tadi, you well get by safely as you are." he said, caressing the stump of her amputated hand.
"Well, as I was saying, I think it would be best if we worked together and levelled up, figured out what special abilities we would be getting upon reaching level 2 and tried to live here without fear of hostile wildlife or dangerous people." said John.
"I am guessing you played around with the custom goal and saw the information about the Assimilation method. Well I won't fault you for being cautious and wanting to gather people who feel the same way about your principles, but are you really prepared to deal with those who would take a life without flinching?" said Malcolm who was interested in hearing what John had to say.
"Well if worse comes to worse we would have to kill them before they kill us. If there is a peaceful solution, I would prefer detaining such individuals and reinstituting them into a proper code of ethics. We may have given up on our lives in the past, but we don't have to become savages in Goshem. So yes, those are my intentions." he said with a stern look on his face.
"Well, you have thought things through. Do you plan on staying with us?" asked Malcom.
"If you allow it." said John.
"I have one condition then. You are going to have to earn your keep here. It's one thing to give nice speeches, but if you put in the work that backs up what you claim to stand for, then I am more than eager to help." said Malcolm.
"We will put in the work. If it's gathering food, hunting or building things, we will try to be as useful as possible. If it's training then I can assist in that department." he said, with much resolve.
"So I guess the survival pack has expanded then." said Malcolm who grinned at the thought of them teaming up to challenge anything that would come their way, in Goshem.