After the smallest of the three men finished bandaging up Janie's leg, he just left her unconscious body lying in the grass and grouped up with the other two men.

Nate held his breath as the men looked around the facility. The men had a rather short discussion and pointed at a few of the buildings. Then, one of the Outsiders pointed at something on the ground. He crouched down and dabbed his hand in something. Then he brought his fingers to his lips. He seemed to get excited and spoke a few words slightly louder to the other two.

"...blood..."

Nate could only make out one word from the conversation at that distance but that one word made his stomach turn. He knew the blood was his based on the location. His slightly bleeding shoulder must have transferred some to the grasses when he dove out of the way.

The man moved forward a bit then looked toward the ground again. The same action was repeated several times and it made Nate's skin go cold.

He knew what the man was doing. Nate had done the same on animals he had wounded while hunting. The man was tracking Nate using the trail of blood left behind from the wound on his shoulder. It was a shallow wound that didn't produce much blood at all, but this guy seemed to be able to pinpoint the smallest droplets.

He glanced at this shoulder. The blood had already clotted and was starting to get flakey. He wouldn’t be leaving behind any more droplets, but if this guy could follow that little bit he probably had a few skills to help him track his prey.

Nate knew that he needed to get some distance from the three me. He glanced at the woods in the front of the facility again. Another outsider was out there too. He needed to be cautious.

Nate took one last glance at the surroundings and plotted his escape path. His best option was to flee on the opposite side of the facility. That way, his chance of running into the guy in the woods would be less and he would gain some space to leave.

He started to slowly back down the slope of the room. With his [Silent Presence] skill, he made almost no sound as he moved off of the roof and down the pile of debris.

Just as he was about to step on the ground, a clattering of metal on metal sounded as some debris cascaded down from the pile.

"Fuck"

Nate took off running along the path he had planned. He stole glances behind him for any danger but did not see a thing. He cleared the open area between the facility and the woods quickly. As he was about to step into the cover of the woods, a familiar rushing sound of wind caused him to jump behind a tree. A loud thud sounded as a spear struck the tree behind him.

Nate looked back to see one of the men pursuing him. The one that tasted my blood.

Seeing the man coming after him, Nate continued running off into the woods. His heart was racing.

[‘Calm Survivor’ class effects are active. All Stats are doubled. All experience earned is doubled.]

He looked over his shoulder as he ran. Why the hell was his class effect just starting now? If the class bonus was in effect that must mean that he was really in trouble. Was I not in trouble before? The man must have plucked the spear out of the tree without missing a step because he had it in his hand again. At least it is only one of them following me.

Nate bobbed and weaved through the underbrush on the forest floor trying to put distance between him and the Outsider. This wasn't the first time Nate had fled from danger in this manner. He had numerous experiences running from beasts. Nate looked behind again. The guy was getting closer.

[‘Survivor’s Awareness’ has increased to Level 19]

Damn. Nate could usually maneuver away from a dangerous beast by using his ability to outwit the animal. But he doubted the same would work on another person. If he couldn't escape, his next option was to do something to slow down his pursuer.

[Wisdom Stat has increased by 1]

Nate reached behind his back to access a side pocket of his backpack. Still there. He grabbed out two of the extra packets he had put together for protection for the trip. He tucked both packets under his belt.

Fumbling around in his pack had cost him some speed, but he had gotten what he wanted. He looked behind again. The man was about eighty feet away. He had two different options, but the poison berry mash was usually what he used to slow down a beast.

When he used the tactic with a beast, he would smear a bit of poison berry on a piece of meat and toss it back to poison the beast chasing him. It had worked the few times he had tried it with beasts, but in this case, he didn't have anything that would gain the man's interest. Maybe I could put poison on one of my things and drop it.

The other protective items had to be set up ahead of time or used in the middle of a fight. He definitely wasn’t going to wait until the man got close and blind him with metal and bone dust

He glanced back again only to see the man in the middle of a spear throw. There wasn't any tree to hide right next to him. Nate abruptly stopped and dodged to the side. A few system alerts sounded, but Nate didn’t have time to look at them. The spear flew past him and stabbed into the ground about 15 feet ahead.

A shiver went through Nate's spine as he realized if he didn't look back in time, then he would have probably just died. Nate looked back again. The Outsider was only about 45 feet away now.

Spear. The thought hit Nate as he started to move again. He snatched the man's spear off the ground in front of him. It was almost twice the size as Nate’s own spear.

You lost your weapon now. Nate tried his best to get some distance from the man, but he was slower now. He could hear curses being thrown out by the man behind him.

He looked at the spear as he ran. The [Duality] skill was really benefiting him in this situation. He could focus on running while simultaneously thinking about how to get out of this mess.

The spear tip was fastened to the shaft with what looked like beast tendon. Maybe he could break it. Then, an idea hit Nate. He knew he couldn't outrun this guy while holding two spears and a pack full of stuff. A grin crossed Nate’s face.

He used his speed to the fullest as he tried to put some more distance between him and the other guy.

Nate looked back. The Outsider was still getting closer. Nate stopped, stabbed his spear into the ground, and spun around. His hand went to his belt and removed the packet of berry mash. He smeared it on the man's spear then heaved up the heavier spear.

Nate felt the drain on his energy as he used his [Forceful Throw] skill to hurl the man’s spear back at him. The spear sailed toward the other man but Nate knew his pause had already alerted the guy that something was going to happen. He didn't even wait to see if the spear hit. He grabbed his spear out of the ground and turned to run.

A half step into his run, he heard a yell. Thinking he may have actually hit the guy, he turned around to see what had happened. To Nate's surprise, the man was already holding his spear in his hands. He caught it. Although the man apparently had the skill to catch a spear, he was still was stumbling around and using the spear to support himself.

Damn berries. Nate chuckled as he remembered his own experience of blindly stumbling around under the poison's effects.

Nate took a moment to collect himself. If it was a beast, this moment would be his chance to kill it. But this was a person. He had wanted to meet people, but he had never planned on killing one. Nate understood that the man had tried to kill him, but he didn’t really consider killing him at first. He could get away without any much worry now, but would the Outsiders keep chasing him? He was torn on what to do.

Nate suddenly began to feel uneasy. He looked back at the blinded Outsider. He was still flailing about. Was there another one out here? Where is the danger?

[‘Survivor’s Awareness’ has increased to Level 20]

With the ding of the notification, Nate decided it was time to leave and turned to run. Just as he took his first step, he heard a noise off to the side. He immediately glanced over to see another man standing with a bow and arrow in hand.

Shit, another Outsider. Nate thought as he ducked down behind a tree.

Nate peeked out from behind the tree.

The man stepped from under the cover of trees about thirty feet to the side of the blinded Outsider. He didn't know where this guy came from but if he had a bow, Nate knew he couldn't just run away.

But he also knew had a bow of his own. He could even things up a bit.

He quickly unstrapped his bow from his pack and readied an arrow. He looked up from cover expecting to see the blinded outsider getting some help. But what he saw instead completely caught him off guard. The bow wielder was standing over the dead body on the blinded Outsider. Two arrows sticking up out of the body on the ground.

What the hell is going on?

"Hey now, don't go shooting at me. Well, not unless you from the Purpleheart tribe like this guy. Then you better shoot so at least you died tryin," the man said waving at Nate, "which tribe you with kid?"

Nate didn't respond. He just stared at this guy slack-jawed. What the hell is going on?

"Can't talk, huh?" the grey-haired man asked, "you ain't from them tongueless ones, huh? Can't remember their name."

Holding his bow at the ready, Nate was still puzzled. This man gave Nate the same feeling that he would get from one on the old senior factory workers was casually talking to him.

"Um...No, sir. I'm not from a tribe. I just survived a wreck out here," Nate said as he started to lower his bow.

"Oh," the old man said, " you from that outpost over there? Any more of those Purpleheart tribe around?"

"Two...no, three. Not from the outpost," Nate said as he spaced out a bit. The old man didn't seem to have any concern for him at all. It was like he knew that Nate couldn't hurt him with the bow and arrow.

"You got hit in the head, kid?" The old man asked from a few feet to the side of Nate. Nate hadn’t seen him move.

Nate startled and tripped back over a stone on the ground. His bow fell from his grip with his arrow flying off into the woods. Before he could even react, the old man was right in standing right in front of him with an outstretched hand to help him up.

Nate must have had a dumbfounded look on his face, because the old man just asked, “You sure you ain't hurt in the head, kid?"

Nate was so disturbed by everything that had happened to him. He just didn't have the depth of experience to know how to deal with everything that was coming his way. He had just wanted to meet some people. Then he was shot, held against his will, shot again, hunted, then he meets an old man who seems as friendly as any old man he had ever met.

What the hell.

Nate looked up at the clear eyes of the old man. The grey-haired man could have killed him several times if he really wanted to. But he hadn’t. Nate didn’t know why but he just had a feeling that he wasn't in danger anymore. Nate reached out his hand.

[‘Calm Survivor’ class effects are inactive.]

The second he thought that everything was okay, a system alert sounded in his head that the effects of Calm survivor have ceased. Got to love those confirmations from the system.

Nate shook the man's hand when he was back on his feet. "Nice to meet you, sir. My name is Nate."

"Oh...Nate. Don't be callin’ me sir. Call me Rod" the man said as he picked up Nate's bow off the ground and handed it to him.

"You know how to use that bow, boy?" Rod asked looking everywhere around the woods. He seemed to completely disregard Nate.

"Yes," Nate said proudly, "I'm pretty good at hunting beasts."

"Good. Take me over to where them other Purpleheart fools are at," the old man said with a grin full of perfect white teeth, "I'm in the mood for some more killin’. I'm pretty good at killin’."