"Who will notice?" Tarkv questioned, his tentacles swaying in worry. The words on the canister sounded ominous. But keeping Girisia's words in his head, he took the marrow canister out of the case and got ready for any accidents.
Though his worry was for naught as nothing happened, and all now he had the thing Girisia so desired in his hand.
"A child's marrow… What kind of place was this." Tarkov was not so stupid to think that the marrow belonged to a normal little girl with the care and warning label on its body was enough to tell how unique this little might have been. But still, the thought of a little girl going through hellish experiments sours his mood a little.
'Need to move.'
Tarkov made an improvised bag out of the intact clothes he found on the fossilized workers and placed everything he found into it, including some data chips that he found in the vault.
He was pretty curious about the experiments that happened here and if he found the trace of his ancestry in this place. And maybe learn more about the donor of this bone marrow too.
And after he was done, he hurried out.
*****
"You came back… Curious." Called out Sitara to the player who had just logged back in.
Her mood was already soured by the fact how her older brother desired to give these monsters a refuge and after seeing the dead come back to life without an injury, her anger and frustration increased.
Though, not all was lost. She learned of a special fact.
"Can't you revive elsewhere?" She asked, her eyes filled with curiosity.
"Can you do a pose?... Please!!" The player asked, salivating over her biceps. The player had once again started to record her one-on-one experience with the native of Danav.
"Huh?" Was the only feeling left in Sitara's head?
*****
'I shouldn't have told him… my life was better when they didn't come here to ruin everything.' The witch who lived in the outskirts of Pilua village cried with tears streaming down her eyes all alone in her hut.
Her previous happy and joyous facade has disappeared with Sura the village chief leaving her hut.
'I shouldn't have lied… I should have just remained silent.' Her voice was weak. She liked the company of the young man who came to her sometimes to share stories with her. So out of pure desire to make herself seem more interesting, she said some words she had been regretting now.
'I can't let him find out…' The young witch didn't know the impact her words will have on the valiant figure she only ever dreamed about from afar in her previous life.
She was only a normal player then and this young man was the rising figure who could fight off the titans with his bare hands.
In her fantasies, she always dreamed of marrying a man like that but knowing that he was just a few lines of code, fantasies never progressed from there.
But after getting thrown into this world twelve years ago which changed her whole perception of reality. She didn't consider it a curse, instead, it was her opportunity to pursue her immature dream of before.
She even succeeded in it to some extent. Using her fore-knowledge of the future events to entice the future leader and keep him on the hook using her "prophetic abilities". She was able to have a family play from time to time.
It even seemed that the man named Sura was falling for her. There would be a day where she will obtain her happily ever after.
And everything would have been fine if not for the impact these words had on Sura. His obsession with the players, his desire to explore the world's wonders, his will to lead his village to prosperity, and the pride that will never let him back down caused him to slowly turn into an outcast of the village. Her desired future was in danger.
'Should I just tell him the truth… about me?'
No! The young witch knew that there is something she can never say. There is a huge chance she may instead be sacrificed to the beast to 'appease' nature.
'What about… finding someone else to distract him and others with.' The young witch thought. She doesn't want her beloved to turn into an outcast like her or worse, get killed. She has long learned the true nature of this world long ago and she had already done stuff that she wasn't so proud about.
So she knew what may happen if she didn't stop her beloved or find a better scapegoat.
"Sitara… she already hates him…" She cried as a light bulb lit up in her head.
Sitara had always been a brash young brat and someone easy to sway by mere words alone. She may act high and might but she had trouble using her brain.
And even if she once helped the young witch settle into the Pilua village, doesn't mean she won't use her to save her beloved.
"I need to talk to Sitara… give her a 'prophecy' too."
*****
There he was, rushing through the jungle at his top speed.
Tarkov was having a very ominous feeling at the moment as there were no beasts of any signs of life in his path. None of them existed as if they had been evacuated knowing he will go through this path.
'This is not right.' Due to all the strangeness, Tarkov changed his path and took a longer route. He didn't desire to walk on the path that someone had cleared for him. Tarkov was not sure what kind of trap he may find himself in, at the end but he knew that whatever it was, it wouldn't be good.
"Still the same…"Tarkov was experiencing a similar deja vu when he was going toward the compound of Hermat pharmaceuticals. The road he took always remained empty no matter how many times he changed it.
"What is the cause of this?... Is it the canister in my hand or something else?" Tarkov couldn't' notice any lean on the canister, so the only conclusion he was left with was the first one.
Knowing he could do nothing, Tarkov just picked his pace, intent on leaving this place as early as possible.
And the closer he got to leave the forest, the higher his heart rate became out of nervousness, his body was already releasing some radiation enhancing his physique and leaving harmful radiation in its wake.
Tarkov didn't mind whether his body would weaken more due to lack of resources. He knew something was waiting for him at the end and he wanted to be at his peak to fight this thing.
'Yes… I don't mind if you wait for me at the end.' The signal amplifiers still existed in the forest and his jeep was only 2 kilometers away from the forest, if the need arises, he knew that he would be able to call for reinforcements pretty fast.
Now all he needed to do was hurry. The lack of water, nutrients, and carbs can't stop him as his mind was doped on adrenaline and his senses were focused entirely on leaving this forest.
'This trip is too easy… too safe… there must be a reason.' Hermat forest was infamous for a reason and besides his first meeting with a psychic mutant that tried to hunt him early on, the rest of the trip was too easy. And the safer it was, the more his mind started to make things up.
The word was not a kind place, more so for the Hermat forest.
"Around 2 kilometers left." He called out as his body started morphing back to its human form the closer he got, he may have sent out his previous exo-armor to act as a decoy, but he still had a spare left in his jeep. And that spare can only house a human body in it.
So he slowly turned back into a human and landed on the ground, his flexibility went away with his true form. Now in the human body, he could only rush on the ground. And he had already sent a request to his jeep.
His spare and some remaining drones were already moving in his direction.
"What… nothing?" Tarkov met with his drone friends and his pretty Exo armor easily.
There was nothing around here, Tarkov sent out flying drones to survey the area and he still didn't find any signs of life nor any monster eyeing for his life.
It seems the forest was not interested in him.
"It all started the moment I morphed into my true self." Tarkov came to a conclusion, maybe the forest hadn't forgotten his kind even if he had forgotten much about this forest that once used to house his village.
Or maybe some old friend had shown him pity.
"No matter what, I need to hurry." Though he said this, the first thing Tarkov did was drink a bottle of water, satiating this thirst.
And while he was drinking the water, Tarkov noticed a fresh scratch on his jeep.
Scratch that made out a sentence in a now-extinct language.
A scratch that spelled out.
"She is watching you."