The noise of the wind woke Ralph.
He stood up slowly, feeling pain in his chest.
After taking another antibiotic pill and changing the cottons in his ears, he started looking around.
The woman must have created the shelter after he fell asleep, and she was still asleep.
Ralph's stomach started to protest, and he prepared a meal. It was already noon, they slept for a long time, and luck was on their side, since no beast attacked them.
The woman seemed to have woken up by the smell of the food and the noise Ralph was making and stood up slowly, with a hand on her chest. She then turned and vomited.
"Gods ..." Ralph sighed.
The woman didn't seem to hear.
She then walked slowly to the river that was a few dozen meters from the shelter.
After washing her mouth and face, she took an antibiotic pill and changed the cottons in her ears.
The cottons were completely red, but luckily there didn't seem to be an infection.
She then went to the shelter and saw that Ralph had already finished cooking.
She looked a little uncomfortable but she also took some supplies and did something to eat.
Ralph, who had already finished eating, watched the woman for a moment.
She was dirty from head to toe, her hair was covered in ash and there were blood marks on her ears. If it weren't for the woman's innate beauty, Ralph would think twice about staying close to her.
"... Are you alright?" Ralph asked after a moment.
The woman did not answer, seemed not to have heard.
-Is she still angry?
Ralph thought in surprise but then shook his head, having thought of something else.
"Cough Cough ..." Ralph coughed loudly.
The woman continued to eat.
Ralph frowned and thought:
-Maybe she's in a worse condition than mine, can't she hear anything?
Ralph's hearing was also impaired, but he was only deaf for a few moments, and his hearing, although not perfect, is enough to talk.
Ralph thought for a moment and thought of something.
Slowly, several letters began to appear in the air, forming words in front of the woman.
"Are you alright...?" The woman murmured to herself and looked at Ralph.
Ralph looked back, looking into the woman's brown eyes naturally.
The woman then made a strange expression and asked:
"Are you dumb? Why don't you speak?"
The corners of Ralph's mouth twitched and he said:
"You do not listen to me."
The woman understood then, had she not noticed this before, perhaps because of nervousness?
Ralph then made other letters appear in the air, forming another sentence.
"If you have lost your hearing, you better give up, you can't tell what's coming." She murmured as she read the sentence.
She was silent for a moment and said coldly:
"This is not your problem."
Ralph sighed, it was probably impossible for her to understand that he was speaking out of politeness.
He then decided to ignore her, since he already warned her, and lay down, not to sleep but to conserve strength.
Nobody spoke on the Walkie Talkie, but probably because there was nothing to talk about. They were all distant from each other.
-... Shit, I almost forgot.
Ralph thought and said:
"My status."
The same transparent window appeared.
Ralph smiled after seeing that there was another stats point available. Although he did not acquire a skill, he knew that the chances were low.
After thinking for a moment, Ralph decided to apply to intelligence again, there was no reason to deviate from the path he has already pre-defined. Perhaps in the future, when he has the ability to kill beasts more easily, he will add points to other stats.
He quickly noticed the difference, just like the first time he added a point to the stat. His thoughts sped up and he realized a small increase in efficiency.
When Ralph thinks of efficiency, it means less distracting thoughts and greater focus, therefore greater efficiency.
Ralph thought he saw these differences naturally, but now he thinks it's the platform that makes him "see".
If each point added has the same effect, when it reaches ten points in the intelligence stat, it will basically double the brain capacity he has.
This is pretty scary.
The woman looked in the direction of Ralph, who was smiling, with a little envy. Although she doesn't know if he got a skill, the stats point is guaranteed.
Ralph caught her eye and smiled slightly at her.
The corners of the woman's mouth twitched, for some reason Ralph's attitude irritated her.
Time passed and the sun had already given way to darkness.
Ralph's expression became serious, the military has not yet made contact with them, so "training" was underway. Frankly, Ralph would rather have to face a beast during the day, when there is better visibility.
Strangely, the whole night was calm and without big waves. The woman agreed to exchange guard shifts with Ralph, the previous experience seems to have taught her a lesson.
Ralph was not happy that nothing happened, he thought the military was trying to slowly undermine their spirit.
Supplies were running low, and ammunition was scarce. Their wounds would take time to heal completely.
Ralph spoke to the other Walkers on the Walkie Talkie and their situation was not good either.
-If it continues like this ...
Ralph thought worriedly, they had to do something.
The woman's hearing was starting to return, but Ralph speculates that the military will not give them that much time.
-What is their purpose?
Ralph pondered, but came to no conclusion.
After eating the rest of the supplies, Ralph and the woman decided to go fishing.
Ralph found a fishing rod among the rubble, and the woman was left to create fish traps.
Ralph doesn't think it was a mere coincidence but went fishing after finding some worms to use as bait.
After a few hours, Ralph was sweating deeply, he hadn't caught a single fish, while the woman had already caught several with the traps she made with her skill.
-The fish in this region don't like worms?
Ralph considered that possibility.
He was about to give up when he suddenly felt something hook the line of the stick.
"Hahah !!" Ralph laughed and started pulling the line and fighting the fish.
The current did not help, but slowly Ralph was winning.
"It must be a big one!" Ralph's eyes lit up and spittle began to fill his mouth.
After a few moments of struggle, the fish finally came out of the water. It was as big as Ralph had thought, and it looked tasty.
But before Ralph could celebrate and say 'Look at the size of the fish I FISHED', the mutation occurred.
A large monster jumped out of the river and with a mouth bigger than the beast's alligator, snapped the fish, returning to the river soon after.
The line was broken in half in the process, and Ralph was paralyzed by the event. First he was surprised, then he was scared and finally he was angry.
"Damn it !! My fish!" Ralph shouted as he looked in the direction the beast had gone.
"Shut up...!" The woman said as she put her hands over her ears.
Ralph, who was breathing heavily, stopped himself and didn't scream anymore.
But the beast, not happy, came back and stole all the fish the woman had caught.
"Bastard!!!" The woman screamed angrily as her expression writhed in pain.
Ralph felt a little better when he saw that he wasn't the only one to be robbed, but he knew one thing, they were out of food again!
During the rest of the day, they again caught more fish, but the beast always came back and managed to steal them, despite the preparations of Ralph and the woman.
The beast looked like an armored tank, nothing worked against it, no attack or illusion had an influence on it.
Ralph even started to feel lucky that the beast was not aiming at them, or else they would be dead.
When night fell, they were both tired ... and without food.
There were no fruit trees nearby, and wild animals also seemed to be avoiding the area, as they saw none.
If it continued at this rate, they would become increasingly weak and hungry.
Ralph and the woman tried the same thing during the night, but without success.
Whenever they got a single fish, the beast attacked.
"Damn you!" Ralph spoke while he was on all fours on the floor.
The woman was also irritated, the hunger plus the wounds were influencing even her head.
Another day passed, and this time both tried to venture into the forest in search of food, but even walking for hours, they could not see a single animal or fruit.
Although there were birds, they were difficult to catch, with the slightest sign of danger they fly.
It was starting to get dark, and they had to go back to the outpost. Both could only accept defeat.
On the way back, however, Ralph smiled like a madman and started digging at the foot of a small tree.
The woman first thought that Ralph had gone mad, but after a while she understood his action.
"A fucking sweet potato !!" Ralph spoke excitedly and looked around.
-If there is one, there are certainly two or more.
Ralph thought and explained the characteristics of the plant to the woman.
Both started looking for sweet potatoes as they returned to the outpost.
Ralph was smiling from ear to ear. He found 2 sweet potatoes!
The woman had only found 1 but she seemed satisfied, it was better than starving.
Ralph didn't hesitate and started preparing the potatoes. He had seen a video on social media once about a guy preparing it on hot coals.
He repeated the same process as the man in the video and after a few minutes the potato was ready to eat.
The woman tried to imitate Ralph but ended up burning part of the potato too much.
Seeing this, Ralph hesitated for a moment and gave the woman half a potato.
If her situation got worse, she would just be a burden to him, and he didn't want that. The woman's skill had been useful before.
Although her personality was irritable and Ralph didn't like her, he knew he had to prioritize certain things.
The woman hesitated for a moment when she saw Ralph offering her food. But she understood his intention and accepted it.
After they both ate until finish the food, Ralph and the woman lay down in their sleeping bags.
"... What the hell, we never introduced ourselves, right? But you must have heard my name ..." Ralph tried to start a normal conversation.
The woman was silent, making Ralph think she had the same attitude as before.
"My name is Briella." She spoke slowly, surprising Ralph.
For a moment, Ralph thought the name was quite strange, but he shook his head. She could be a foreigner.
"I wouldn't say it's a pleasure to meet you, but I don't think it would be bad if we hated ourselves less, right?" Ralph spoke with a slight smile.
Briella frowned and did not answer.
"You're a foreigner, right? I noticed your strange accent ... Where are you from?" Ralph asked.
"... England." Briella replied in a weak tone and said after sighing:
"Enough with the conversation, go to sleep, I'll take the first shift."
Ralph realized that she didn't want to talk anymore and was silent, falling asleep shortly after.
Briella then sneaked a glance at Ralph while frowning, but then turned her attention to the surroundings.
Having tasted the marrow, the longing for its flavor grows. The other day, they looked for other sweet potatoes to eat, but they were never more than three hundred meters from the outpost.
Although scarce, Ralph managed to find two potatoes by the end of the day, Briella managed to find three.
But Ralph knew that at one time or another, they would need to distance themselves more and more from the outpost to get food.
The situation hadn't really changed.
During the night, Ralph tried to talk to Briella again. He ended up discovering that she was born in England, but has Argentine citizenship. She moved to the country when she was very young.
Ralph did not ask about the Briella's life after that, since she was not the type to speak anyway.
Briella was a little surprised to learn that Ralph was a student at TULA, but she did not find it so extraordinary, since she herself was approved in Oxford, but because of all the events she did not have the opportunity to go to study.
Ralph thought it was a little strange, since most likely, universities would return to work at some point, but he didn't ask her why she came for this training.
"You can sleep, today the first shift is mine." Ralph spoke while getting up.
Briella was a little hesitant, and said:
"No, you can go to sleep first."
Ralph frowned, it wasn't like she was afraid, right?
"After all this time, you still don't trust me at all?" Ralph asked.
Briella shook her head and did not explain.
Ralph didn't care that much and went to sleep.
Briella seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when she saw that Ralph didn't bother, and started her shift.