I woke up after an amazing sleep. I felt fresh and full of energy. To the point, that I just couldn't stop myself from laughing. I stood up, and picked all of my equipment, alongside with now a bit dusty bowl. Then I started to head to the city center.
It was not that early. Other hunters probably were on their way to the woods by now, but I didn't care too much. I couldn't hunt properly anyway, cause fucking Nacho.
Just as yesterday, I bought some seasonings, meat, and four oranges. Then I sat with firekeepers. At this point, you would probably want to know their names. Well, there were two guys from Russia. Ilja and Boris. Then Kagiso, another guy, but this time from RSA. They usually called him by his last name - Mbeki. And the last person was Boris's girlfriend Irina. They used to hunt together, but now they couldn't.
Boris, kindly, shared the story of how they met and fell in love. I couldn't imagine something like that happening to me in this place, but they did in spite of everything. It made me smile, and a seed of hope started to sprout.
I left my bowl with them, asking if they could keep it for me, and they agreed. Before I headed to the woods, I bought a portion of water, drunk it all, and gave them my precious possession.
My walk outside the city walls was boring, so I'm not gonna write about it. The hunting also was nothing special. I did use the same tactics as previous, and it worked. After a few hours, I had six crystals in my pockets and started to head back.
I found my hiding spot and buried three of them, then I went through the gate. It was still early, but Nacho and his guys were waiting for me. They had to come back after killing one or two groups themselves.
- Peter! My friend! - He yelled from afar.
I didn't answer, but he started to walk my way. I stopped unconsciously wanting to prolong the time.
- So, how many do you have today for your friends? - While saying that he already was rummaging through my pockets.
He took all three crystals, looked at me, and then said:
- Didn't I tell you? You need to work harder. You also should stop hanging with those firekeepers. You have us. You don't want to make us sad, do you?
I got hit by a 'friendly' punch to the shoulder. It made me think if I could be able to take them down. Their condition was worse than mine, but they were armed and outnumbered me by a lot. In the end, I just gritted my teeth and did nothing. It was too dangerous.
- Why are you not talking Peter? Are you angry? You shouldn't be. It's bad for your health.
He patted my cheek.
- Well, anyway, take care, Peter.
He gave back one of the crystals and left. I waited for them to make some distance between us, then followed. Part of me wanted to go back to the woods, but It was too risky. In the end, I walked behind them to the city center.
As I said before, It was very early, but around the device gathered a bunch of people in new clothes. Newcomers. A few of us already went to search for those, who didn't found us yet. I, personally, didn't care. With Nacho's gang on my back, I had enough problems.
I took my bowl from firekeepers, and bought a nice piece of meat, with some seasonings plus water for 9 points. A sat with them to cook the meat, but didn't talk too much, repeating that I'm tired and have no mood for conversations. I think they felt offended a bit by my words. The food was great, but the drink was a bit salty. I got better at not burning my diner over the flame.
After that, I took my things and went to the device once more. Had to wait sometime in line, cause newcomers had many things to check. At some point, I finally got to use it, and I invested more points in dexterity. I bought four upgrades, with every single one costing five more. I spend a total of 210 points on that. I felt the device's influence in my body but still couldn't tell if there was any difference.
Then I headed to my hideout. Taking a longer route. I noticed Luca sneaking behind me. It was not easy to lose him, but I managed to do so after almost an hour of walking. It could also be, that he gave up, or thought I'm looking for newcomers. I didn't go to my place right after, and walked for another hour, just for good measure. I didn't meet anybody though.
Tired went to sleep. Day ended with 415 points on my account and 7 crystals hidden in the forest.