1 1. What the heck ?

Adam loved his bed. Warm, soft, cozy and adaptable to it. Adam liked to lie on it for hours, staring at the ceiling and chatting on the phone. He liked the comfort she gave him. After all, there is nothing better than a soft bed, a mug of warm coffee and flipping through the feed in search of news.

And when Adam's brain woke up and did not feel the usual softness for him, he began to sound the alarm. Adam's body felt firm, loose, damp... a lot of dampness. It was like he was swimming in a small pool. The water surrounded his body, causing his pajamas to get wet.

Opening his eyes, Adam confirmed his theory that he was no longer in his bed. Brown, such was the color of the dirt that stained his pajamas. Dirt was everywhere, it was on the floor, in his hair, in his mouth and, to his surprise, in his nostrils.

Getting up from the ground, Adam began to warm up, looking around the neighborhood. His eyes immediately caught huge trees that he had never seen. No, he saw trees, but not so much big ones. Even the Sequoia has become tiny next to such giants.

After finishing the warm-up, Adam found a small puddle of clean water and looked at his reflection.

"….it has battered me considerably. " – he said, removing from his hair a lot of leaves of the same trees

His appearance was average, but not too much. Dark hair, brown eyes, slightly tanned skin. Nothing unusual, just another average man. There were millions of people like him, but why exactly did he find himself in such a situation?

After removing most of the leaves and sticks from his head, as well as washing himself, Adam shivered from the cold. He was not wearing shoes and socks. What kind of person goes to bed in shoes and socks ? It's super uncomfortable and they make it hot at night.

But right now, Adam needed socks or shoes the most. Also, new clothes did not hurt, he does not want to walk through the woods in wet pajamas, the risk of getting sick is high.

"...we need to come up with something. Come on brain, find a solution to this problem, Dad needs new shoes. "

Closing his eyes and thinking a little, Adam was still able to come up with a way out of this situation. He went to a huge tree, plucked a couple of vines and twisted them into a rope. Then he tore off two leaves from the same tree. These sheets were the size of his hand, the very thing to turn into flip-flops.

With a sharp snag, he made several holes, after which he cut the sheets and began to tie knots. He made a thread from a vine several times, after which he tied it into a complicated knot and began to look at his new creation. It was the height of fashion, clean ecological shoes.

"I'll call you... larches. " – she happily put on new shoes, after which he could finally start walking.

As he walked, he peered into the thicket listening to every rustle. After all, if you want to survive, it would be better for you not to meet a predator, Adam learned this life lesson the hard way. Along the way, he met various creatures, mostly insects.

He had never seen so many bugs per square meter. And from that, he finally had a question.

" Where am I ? " – he sat down on a small stump and began to think

The climate was very humid with large trees. Most likely he is in the tropics, but in which ones? Amazon ? The Congo River ? Bolavia ? Madagascar ? There were many questions, but no answers. It remains only to go and hope to find the locals ... hoping that they are not aborigines. Adam doesn't really want to do business with cannibals.

Adam was sitting on a stump and chewing a small beetle that tasted like chicken, but he wasn't exactly sure. The hunger was quite strong, so I didn't have to choose. He just looked under the stump and found himself a whole breakfast. Lots of protein, few carbohydrates.

When he finished eating the beetle, he dusted himself off and continued on his way. There was nothing to be seen for an hour on the way. The sun was very hot, plus the humidity in the air, so Adam took a break every twenty minutes. From intensive walking, the new flip-flops also began to die. Adam could have made another one, of course, but it was too steamy. It's faster to find a city or village and get normal shoes there.

When he finished the next halt and decided to send on, the bushes next to him crackled. Adam immediately moved to a safe distance and broke off a branch from a tree, holding it like an improvised sword. At first, the rustling subsided, and then something came out to him in the clearing, more precisely, Adam knew what it was but did not fully understand.

It was a huge mantis and by huge means at least two adults. For a while there was silence in the clearing. The mantis's black eyes studied a new creature that had never set foot on this earth before. His triangular head tilted to the side, as if he was making an important decision....and he didn't have to think much.

" AAAARGRAAAAHH " - the mantis screamed and started hitting each other with its blades, creating a metallic noise

The mantis lunged at Adam, swinging its blades. Adam did a somersault to the side and tried to pierce the mantis with a branch, but it broke leaving only a small scratch.

( His chitin is strong, you can't kill him with an ordinary stick. The forces are not equal, I am tired and he is in full combat readiness. My strength is not enough to kill him, you need to use the environment. )

Adam dodged another attack and rolled between the legs of the mantis and began to run away while he ran after him with a frenzied cry. Adam led the mantis along a path where vines enveloped the trees, creating a whole network. But the mantis only waved his claw and cut off all the vines at the moment.

But the more he cut them off, the more they enveloped him. And gradually, going further and further, the vines completely enveloped the mantis, preventing it from swinging its blades. All he had to do was scream and look at Adam.

Adam walked around the mantis and examined it carefully.

" There are more and more questions every minute. I don't think humanity has ever recorded such large beetles. " – he poked the belly of the mantis

- Two options. Or I'm on one of those previously unexplored islands, which is most likely. Or I am in another dimension, where everything obeys a different law, and the world is populated by overgrown beetles."

Adam moved away from the mantis and began to break branches on nearby trees and put them one by one to the side.

"At the moment I will stick to the idea of another world, because the craziest theories in most cases turn out to be true. But then, what do we have?"

Adam folded the branches next to the mantis and sat down, looking him straight in the eyes.

"I am in an unknown world, with unknown rules and laws, with a completely new flora and fauna. " – Adam took a stone and started sharpening sticks

"I am alone, there is a forest around and there are many creatures like this. Are there other people here? Is unknown. Another life form? It's possible, but you need to investigate everything. " – he put the sharpened sticks aside, taking up others

"There are many creatures hiding in this forest. All I have is my savvy, past experience and intelligence. With these three things, I'm going to survive, but for now. " – having finished with the last stick , Adam stood up and looked at the mantis

"I should get equipment and weapons. And since heaven itself has sent you to me, who am I to refuse such a gift ? "

He began to slowly approach the mantis as it desperately struggled out of the vines

" So don't judge me harshly..." – Adam swung his spear

"...the strongest survives. "