《Tabula Rasa》Chapter 3: A Clean Slate Pt.3

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Five days later.

A 13-year-old girl with short white hair and dark brown eyes, wearing a frayed medical gown heavily stained with blood kneeled at a stream. She cleaned her hands in the water before scooping some up and drinking it.

A nearby branch snapped and she instantly turned her head in the direction the sound came from. The girl was S-767, and for the past few days, she's been surviving in the wilderness. Her abilities made it very easy to catch and kill animals, allowing her to gain a very healthy amount of weight. Though she still retained her fragile appearance.

Focusing on the snapped branch, S-767 slowly raised her arm toward the sound and sent a light pulse of formless energy. After hearing nothing else move she went back to drinking from the stream. Usually, the watch would warn her of life forms in close proximity, but she put it on low activity mode to save power. It showed her the compass, but other high energy consuming functions were halted except in emergency situations.

Suddenly, a cougar charged out of the brush and lunged toward S-767. She spun around and raised her hand, catching the ferocious animal in mid-air with her psionics. Before it could cry out, she raised it high and slammed it onto the ground three times, the sound of bones cracking signified the end of its life as she dropped it.

S-767 took one more sip of water and then walked over to the dead cougar. A glossy blue light covered her index finger as she reached toward the cougar. After using her abilities for some time, S-767 realized Psionic energy had various states, if it was unstable it produced visible blue particles. If it was stable and condensed it took on a glossy appearance. If she used it to move objects it would remain unable to be seen. In simpler terms, S-767 could create Psionic energy fields and manipulate the fields themselves of things inside of the fields.

S-767 firmly pressed her Psionic clad finger onto the fur and dragged it downwards, splitting open its skin. She then reached into its body and tore off a chunk of meat before eating it. After taking large bites she walked over to the creek and washed her hands. S-767 had long since grown accustomed to the bitter taste of blood and raw meat.

The good news was that she grew more adept with her abilities after repeated use. The reason why the cougar failed to ambush her was the result of a new ability she gained. Channeling psionic energy to send out a short-distance pulse. It worked very well in close proximity, but it had its downsides. It couldn't distinguish what life form she detected. Using it in all directions caused a lot of mental fatigue, the same with trying to extend it. For now, she could get up to 50 feet in range and could only use it twice. Another ability she developed was her psionic enhancement, she could now make the particles into a more solid state allowing for increased effectiveness. The last of her current abilities was Psionic control, she could lift, pull, and throw things that didn't exceed a certain weight. When she tried to lift a boulder a few days back she almost passed out. She came to the conclusion that her abilities were best when used in quick bursts, and repeated use would help her build a resistance to mental exhaustion.

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S-767 was learning by experience and when she needed something she would use her powers to accommodate her as best she could. Her biggest flaw was her lack of imagination, even with the artificial memories, she wasn't very good at it. For example, she never thought about or attempted to use her abilities to fly. Though she wouldn't be able to, due to some details concerning her Psionic Energy Consumption and field creation, but that wasn't the point.

She stood up and followed the creek with hopes of reaching some sort of civilized area. "Life can almost always be found near a source of water," she said to herself as followed the creek upstream.

A few hours later S-767 came upon a river that split into two paths. A small man-made dam diverted most of the water on a different path while the remainder became the creek that led her here. As she looked closer it appeared to be made of concrete and metal, clearly showing whoever built it made some sort of modern technological advancements. S-767 wanted to cross the river, but couldn't swim, well she knew how to. As she walked along the river she looked for a fallen tree or a way to cross. As she walked further and further upstream she noticed the river widening, she decided to double back and find a better route. On the way back she saw three brown bear cubs blocking the way as they drank from the river.

"Warning: Adolescent life forms are usually protected by a parent. Caution advised." The A.I spoke which was becoming a rare occurrence over the past few days. It was only supposed to give out advice during emergencies. The bear cubs looked startled and curious at the appearance of S-767, they hurriedly retreated into the woods. S-767 waited for a few moments then continued walking, the sound of footsteps made her stop and turn around. She didn't need to kill the brown bear cubs since she already ate, but she wouldn't let her guard down. The three cubs stepped out of the bushes one by one. Things became problematic when a huge brown bear followed them out, it growled at S-767 and stood up on its hind legs, showing its aggression. S-767 raised her arm and stood still, she learned predatory animals tend to give chase to retreating prey. In an attempt to size up the threat in front of it, the huge brown bear cautiously sauntered over to S-767 while giving warning growls.

S-767 attempted to pick up the brown bear but was met with incredible mental strain. The bear was just as heavy as it looked, nothing like the cougar she lifted earlier. The bear grew agitated as it clearly felt that S-767 did something, its instincts kicked into gear and it moved forward to attack. With her back against a river and her escape blocked, she enhanced her forearms with psionic energy. A glossy and reflective dark blue layer formed around her skin all the way to her elbows.

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The Brown Bear roared as it stood up and swiped its claw toward S-767, who used both of her hands to grip its claw, she showed a surprising amount of strength but was still pushed back when faced with the full weight of the bear. It turned its head and gnawed on S-767's right arm. The massive bite force broke the enhancement on her right arm and its teeth dug into her arm drawing blood. S-767 winced in pain and used her left arm to punch the bear in the face. Under the assault of punches, the bear responded with stubbornness and continued to tear into S-767's arm and even began pulling her towards it.

"Ah!" S-767 struggled to get free as the bear dragged her along, it raised its paw and swiped at her, cutting deeply into her shoulder.

Seeing her original punches were getting nowhere she aimed at the bear's nose and threw the hardest punch she could muster, causing the bear to recoil in pain. Without thinking S-767 enhanced her legs with Psionic energy and jumped backward without paying any mind to her surroundings. When she realized what she did it was too late, she fell into the cold river and was dragged by the current. She struggled for air as her head appeared above water just in time to see the diversion dam, she slammed into it head first. Without being able to react to the pain she was dragged downstream, slamming into sharp rocks and logs. All she could do was enhance her vital areas with psionic energy and allow herself to get dragged with the current.

She didn't even know how much time had passed before a massive headache knocked away her last vestiges of consciousness.

At the edge of a town, a girl and her mother were fishing in a river. Strangely there was a loaded double-barrel shotgun next to the mother, it may have been for the dangerous wildlife, but there was a belt full of shells tied around the mother. It would be overkill for a pack of animals that would probably be scared off after the first shot. The woman appeared to be 28 years of age. She had long blonde hair along with a pair of green eyes. She wore an outfit consisting of a flannel, fishing waders, and rubber boots.

"Mom! Look!" A girl who looked around 12 years old, with a similar outfit and appearance to the woman she called her mother pulled back the fishing line. On the end was a black rubber sandal. The girl's mother walked over and pulled the sandal off the hook. She immediately looked around with vigilance as she unconsciously put her free hand on the double barrel.

"Charlie, come here." The woman placed her hand on the girl's shoulder and pulled her closer. She looked through around the woods with a worried expression. "It can't be those things, it can't be." She said attempting to reassure herself. Her body was tense as she scanned her surroundings. Whatever "things" she revered to must have been threatening to make her feel unsafe while she had a shotgun.

"Mom! It's a boy with white hair!" Charlie called woke her mother from her stupor as she pointed. A very delicate looking "boy" with very short white hair floated downstream, wearing a bloodied medical gown and covered in wounds. Blood slowly spilled out of the wounds and colored the water red.

The Mother gripped her shotgun and walked toward the "boy". After she got close enough she could see that he was genuinely unconscious and let her guard down. She looked at his doll-like face and thought he was a bit too feminine to be a boy. Putting those thoughts in the back of her mind, she grabbed him and pulled him out of the river.

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