Nate woke up strapped to a metal chair. Pain from his shoulder radiated out through his body as he tried to wiggle himself free of the restraints.

[‘Pain Resistance’ has increased to Level 24]

[‘Bleeding Resistance’ has increased to Level 16]

[Health: 52/130]

"Ughh," a grunt came out of Nate's mouth as he tried to yank one of his hands lose.

"Don't struggle or he will shoot," came a voice from behind Nate. It sounded like either a woman or a young boy. Nate couldn't differentiate with the pain ringing in his head.

"What do you want?" Nate managed to croak out of his mouth. He didn't like being tied up.

"How many Outsiders are with you?" another voice asked from behind. Nate was certain this one sounded like a man.

"What?" Nate asked not understanding the question.

He felt a tug from behind and pain shot through his shoulder again. Arrow is still in there.

"Uhhh...a whole army. You better let me go now," Nate yelled through the pain as more system alerts sounded. It was worth a shot. Maybe they would let him go if they thought he was part of an army.

The arrow was tugged again from behind.

Nate screamed at the pain. It hurt. As his screams died off, Nate heard a woman's voice for the first time. There are three of them.

[Health: 48/130]

"Damn it. You made him bleed more. If he's dead, we can't get any information," the woman cursed to someone else.

"How many outsiders are with you?" the man’s voice sounded in the room again.

Nate didn't know what to say, so all he could do was tell the truth.

“I don't know what you’re talking about. What the hell is an outsider?" Nate asked in a questioning tone.

His response seemed to take his captors off guard. He heard a few hushed words from behind him but he couldn't make out the discussion.

"What do you.....Who are you and where are you from?" the man's voice screamed at Nate.

Nate was in a lot of pain. But, he yelled back, "I was stranded in the wilderness. I saw smoke and came in hopes of finding people. Then, you fucking attacked me."

Nate's effort at yelling brought him a good bit of pain and he felt his consciousness slipping. He could make out some arguing behind him as he passed into darkness.

***************

Nate awoke again but this time he was laying in a bed. His shirt and pants were missing and he could see bandages on his shoulder. Arrow is gone.

Despite being in a slightly better condition, his wrists and ankles were still bound to the bed. He looked around. The room he was in was empty but seemed to be set up as a medical treatment room. Nate didn't know where he was at, but he knew he wasn’t in one of the buildings he had been through. Being strapped to a bed set off all of Nate's mental alarms. He did not like feeling helpless.

After trying to free himself for a few minutes, Nate realized it was a lost cause. The bandages on his shoulder had even started to show a bit of blood seeping through.

[‘Bleeding Resistance’ has increased to Level 25]

The system alert surprised Nate. He had gained almost 10 levels of bleeding resistance while he was unconscious. Wondering what else had changed, he pulled up his user interface.

______________________________________

Name: Nathaniel Redsun

Level: 19 (Exp. 122/1900)

Health: 42/130

Energy: 126/120

Primary Class: Calm Survivor (Level 20)

Class Skills:

Survivor’s Need (Passive) (Level 19)

Survivor’s Awareness (Passive) (Level 18)

Survivor’s Resistance (Passive) (Level 21)

Secondary Class: None

Stats:

Speed: 31 Agility: 32

Stamina: 36 Strength: 31

Intelligence: 24 Perception: 27

Wisdom: 22 Will: 25

Stat Points Available: 5

General Skills:

Silent Presence (Passive) (Level 17)

Dark Vision (Passive)(Level 20)

Pain Resistance (Passive)(Level 28)

Bleeding Resistance (Passive)(Level 25)

Infection Resistance (Passive)(Level 22)

Poison Immunity (Passive)(Level 3)

Burn Resistance (Passive)(Level 8)

Fear Resistance (Passive)(Level 16)

Archer’s Sight (Passive)(Level 25)

Duality (Passive)(Level 10)

Identify (Active)(Level 13)

Forceful Throw (Active)(Level 10)

__________________________

Nate is thankful for the increases in levels but it didn’t really help him in this situation. His only option at the moment was to use his available stat points in an attempt to get an advantage. He quickly assigned all the stat points to strength and tried to break free. His shoulder throbbed with pain, but it wasn’t anywhere near the previous level. The straps that held his arms started to make popping noises but there was no give. They wouldn’t break.

A sound brought Nate's attention to the door and closed his eyes. He didn’t want them to know that he was awake. Nate did his best to calm his racing heart as the door opened and footsteps moved toward the bed. The person is either small or walks very lightly by the sound of the steps.

The steps stopped at the bedside and a woman's voice sounded, "Shit."

He then heard some hurried footsteps scrambling about the room. Something small landed on his chest causing him to jump and open his eyes. He could see the woman back away when she saw he was awake, but she quickly moved back

"Quit moving or you'll bleed out," the woman fussed as she ripped the bandage off of Nate's shoulder. Nate glanced at his shoulder. He must have caused it to bleed again while trying to break free. There was no system alert for the bleeding though.

Listening to the woman, Nate settled down and watched her work on his wound. She was about the same height as Nate and had dark black hair. By his best guess, she should be around thirty years old. Watching the woman focus on his injury, Nate thought she was quite professional looking. He had never seen a woman that looked that well maintained. The women in the Grey Sector were workers and didn’t always have the most pleasant appearances. From the looks of this woman, she wasn’t a laborer in any way.

"Damn, you popped your stitches. Stop with all the moving,” she reprimanded and went to work repairing the busted area. Nate watched with interest as she stitched up the slightly bleeding hole in his shoulder.

Caught off guard by the woman’s reprimand, Nate did the only thing he could think of.

"I'm sorry," he said as his body went completely still.

The woman looked at him for a second than when back to stitching up his shoulder. Without taking her eyes off what she was doing, she asked, "How old are you, kid?"

"Seventeen," Nate responded without a second thought.

"Oh, you're the same age as that little girl, Janie," the woman said with a smile while continuing to stitch, "What's your name?"

"Nate, what's your's?" Nate responded.

"Claire," she responded.

"What city you from?" she asked as she started to finish up closing the hole in Nate's shoulder.

"Newcomb City," Nate responded only to see the woman's pleasant look instantly change.

He felt a prick of a needle then turned to see the woman quickly tie a knot in the stitches that closed his wound. The smile was completely absent from her face as she turned around and left the room. She hadn’t even bothered with putting the bandages back over his shoulder.

Nate understood immediately that there must be some problem with Newcomb City. By giving out too much information, he may have put himself in danger. The look on the woman's face made it obvious.

Sure enough, a tall well-kept man burst through the door a few seconds later. The man looked like he was about to strike Nate. Seeing the man coming at him, Nate tried to move to protect himself on instinct, but the straps prevented him from moving. He instantly flinched as he felt a pop and pain in his shoulder. Before the pain from the shoulder even had time to set in, Nate felt a slap to his face and pain radiate from his eye socket.

"What did you do with them you bastard? Tell me where you took them," the man yelled in a rage as he hit Nate again.

What is going on? Nate didn't even have time to respond before a fist hit him this time. At least it's not the face this time. Nate felt pain ripple through his stomach. He felt like he was going to vomit.

[‘Pain Resistance’ has increased to Level 29]

Nate tried to stay keep from passing out from the pain, but could feel himself losing consciousness again. Maybe it is the blood loss. Nate could feel something warm pooling underneath his shoulder.

[A skill, ‘Sleep Resistance’, has been created]

Nate mentally stumbled as the system alert sounded in his head amongst the throbbing pain. Then, he passed out again.

************

Nate woke up on the bed again and could barely even move his body. A few more straps to hold me down, but at least they fixed up my shoulder again.

[Health: 39/130]

His health was down low, but it wasn't as bad as he expected. How long was I out? His body felt like he had been through a battle. Or a beating. At least the bleeding effect has been removed.

Nate was lost on what to do to get free of this situation. He had nothing at his disposal to get free of the damn bed. He didn’t know where his pack was. Hell, he didn’t even know where his clothes were at.

Nate felt pain from his face when he tried to move his head to look around the room. Nothing. He could do nothing. So weak. The thought sobered him up to the reality of the situation. He had a feeling that he would die here if he couldn’t convince them to let him go. But he didn't know how he would do that.

He stewed on his thoughts until the door opened revealing a cute girl bringing a tray full of supplies into the room. This must be Janie.

Seeing Nate staring at her, she startled for a second dropping the medical supplies all over the floor. A few seconds later, Claire and the man had come running into the room. The man was holding a crossbow and the woman appeared to be holding some type of dagger.

"Are you okay? Did anything happen?" Claire asked as she moved the girl behind her.

"What did you do to my daughter, you scum?" The man shouted pushing Claire out of the way and pointing the crossbow straight at Nate's head.

The girl stepped forward to her dad with a blush on her face.

"Nothing happened, dad. I just got scared that he was awake and dropped the stuff," the girl responded before Nate had a chance to.

Not only was he physically tired, Nate was growing tired of the whole ordeal. The wilderness was so much simpler. Beast either killed you or you killed them. This being tied to a bed, cursed and beaten was ridiculous. He was pissed off at the whole situation, but he couldn’t do anything.

"Are you gonna shot me or not old man? All I was trying to do was get some supplies to survive. You fucking shoot me, beat me and curse at me for no damn reason. Just do it already or let me go," Nate lost his cool at the bullshit going on in front of him. He was tired.

The room went quiet with the three people staring at Nate. The man looked like he really was going to shoot Nate.

The woman stepped in front of the man and his daughter and said, "First, tell us who you are first. Then we can talk."

Nate's anger was still at its peak but seeing the man start to lower the crossbow, Nate decided to play along.

"Speak you bastard," the man responded while taking a step away from his daughter and towards Nate again.

“Damn it, John. Let him at least speak this time. Fucking jackass. You almost killed him the last time,” the woman said as she moved to stop the man. She didn’t look like she got along with the man very well as she pointed the dagger at him.

Nate could see an opportunity now.

"I’ll talk. But under one condition," Nate said while looking at the woman.

“What is it?” the woman replied.

"Only if you tell me who you are first? I honestly have no idea what the hell is going on right now. I have been lost in the wilderness by myself for months," Nate said with a bit of defeat in his voice. He was strapped to a fucking bed. Maybe this talk could be his chance. This woman seemed reasonable.

The woman looked over to the man who simply sat in a chair and said, "Go ahead." His crossbow was still pointed at Nate's head.