2 Finding the truth

Marcus wanted to know why he was a survivor. Who was he in his previous life and why did that make him worth saving? After a while, he finally managed to continue reading the handbook.

'This might be a lot to take in all at once but you need to stay calm.'

Marcus rolled his eyes, 'so now you tell me!'

'You're not alone. You may have already met fellow survivors who woke up next to you.' Marcus got up and scanned the horizon for any signs of people before declaring the handbook was full of crap.

'Although this may be embarrassing to hear, you might end up procreating with these people- ' The only life form Marcus could see nearby was a monk jack deer.

"Yeah sorry but no thanks. I'm not into that kind of thing..." He scratched his chin before continuing to read on.

'To have made it into this program, you might have been wealthy, incredibly skilled or part of our random selection process.' Marcus buried his face in his hands for a second to let out a sigh. He knew for sure he hadn't been rich. It was a gut feeling and the only skill he'd known to have previous experience in was climbing trees so he was just lucky to be chosen... or really unlucky...

'Either way, you should strive to survive, cooperate with your guide and procreate to save humanity! If you have any questions then please ask your guide.'

Marcus through the handbook at the ground and stopped again. "Guide?! What is this Bullsh*t?! I never asked to be a part of this and now you're telling me I'm missing a guide as well as a group of friends PLUS potentially hot babes! Screw you system!"

The only sound came from the wind. Even the animals went quiet. Not a single reply came from the system or a guide or anyone. Marcus was truly alone in a world without his memories.

After getting it out of his system, Marcus sank to his knees for the second time and finally cried. Expressing all the pent up stress that overflowed with every sarcastic remark and joke he'd tried in vain to laugh off the words of the handbook. In truth, every fact had hit him like a punch to the gut.

Later when he'd eventually decided to walk the rest of the way to the forest, Marcus crawled into a pile of leaves to sleep. He'd been hungry before but after that, food was the last thing on his mind. Sleep came swiftly. After all the trauma his body just switched off.

The next day was like waking from a dream. His body was warming up from the heat of a summer sun but last night he'd been incredibly cold since he only slept in leaves. Marcus' memories of yesterday felt ephemeral. At first he was confused but once he realised yesterday actually happened, it all came flooding back. His first instinctive reaction was to sink back into his leaf bed and sleep more but the dampness had sunk in. It was summer but wet clothes still sapped the heat from your body.

The feeling was so uncomfortable, Marcus had to get up and do something. He removed them all wishing he hadn't done something as stupid as sleep in such an unprotected place. He wasn't scared of predators but the elements could be dangerous. What if a storm had blown a tree over and crushed him? If heavy enough, rain could have really froze him and then he'd wake up with a cold. 'And you'd damn right deserve it!' He thought to himself. Losing precious body heat had burned some of his fat reserves so now he was ravenously hungry.

Marcus would have slunk into a state of depression if it hadn't been for his damp clothes. After hanging up his wet clothes on a branch, other decisions like putting on the new clothes grew easier until surely the will to live had fully returned to him.

Deciding to explore using his Botanist skill a bit more, Marcus discovered plants that grew near forest clearings. Some of these grew deeper into the woods as well. This included brambles, nettles and birch trees. All things he'd seen before that were now more valuable to him than ever.

His botanist skill was now level 2 which allowed him to see a plant's status and remembering his quest from yesterday, Marcus got out his fire steel as he learnt it was called from the handbook. Following the instructions carefully, he shaved away some papery birch bark for tinder, found twigs and small sticks for kindling and eventually worked his way up to some logs.

It took him about fifteen minutes to get it right. The first time he wasn't used to creating sparks, on the second attempt he smothered the flames too much but in the end he got it right purely by luck. A window greeted him almost immediately.

'Quest complete - Start a fire. Distributing reward random ingredient.'

'New skill unlocked - ignite.'

Marcus couldn't wait to see what it was and eventually spotted a crate falling from the sky. He was disappointed to see no plane fly over. Maybe someone was controlling the crates arrival but it was highly unlikely since technology was definitely advanced enough to have AI working this and surely tech support would have landed to help him out since nearly everything the handbook said in the introduction was a lie.

After opening the crate, Marcus took out a transparent plastic bag full of powdered milk. It had been dehydrated to keep it from spoiling. Instructions on a white label said to add water on a ratio of 4 parts water for every part powder.

Marcus used the lid of his flask to measure out the ingredients and mixed them in the cooking pot. Now that the flames had died down leaving the hot coals and embers, Marcus heated the cooking pot over the fire and crushed one of the cereal bars into the sauce pan. The cereal bar was mostly oats with a few raisins so the mixture formed a delicious raisin porridge. It was slightly gritty since the oats had already been baked but hot food was better than plain cold food.

As the warm sensation spread throughout Marcus' body, the thoughts of giving up and depression were soon purged from his mind. He was ready to continue living. 'Maybe there are others out there. I can't just give up and assume everyone's dead because my guide and group are missing,' Marcus decided with a new determination. He tipped back his flask for a sip bringing it to about half full. He'd need to find more soon.

Getting up, Marcus stomped his fire out and skipped over to where the brambles were. From the system, Marcus learnt that brambles grew black berries. They were sweet and juicy plus incredibly easy to find. Although some were hard to get as he reached deeper towards the back. After scrubbing the cooking pot clean with a handful of moss (promising to clean it properly when he found a sufficient supply of water) Marcus filled it to the brim with berries before putting the lid back on to contain them in his bag.

After packing the rest of his stuff, Marcus followed a trail created from animals passing through. 'Surely if animals went this way there must be water.' It only took him five minutes of walking to come accross a river. Marcus was concerned to whether it was safe to drink though.

Consulting the survivor's handbook, he found a page on obtaining water:

'Method one(Filtration) - Using a hollow stick or a plastic bottle, first stuff cloth, moss or wrap a part of your shirt around the bottom. Next, add some stones getting smaller as you go. Pour in gravel too or eventually sand. You can also incorporate a layer of charcoal somewhere as it kills some types of bacteria and microorganisms. If done right, water should drip through slowly. Boiling for at least a minute afterwards can kill any surviving bacteria.

(Difficulty medium)

Method two(Distillation) - Put simply this process involves water being evaporated and cooled rapidly. You can boil it and pass the vapour through a cooling tube but this water isn't exactly drinkable as it can cause your cells to swell and burst. Instead, place a container inside a larger one with a piece of cloth weighed down over the top. Water in the main container outside the smaller one should evaporate and drip as condensation into the smaller container if left in the sun for some time.

(Difficulty easy)

Method three(purification) - You may find purification tablets in supply drops but there are also wild plants that can purify water too. The Oregon grape for example. Please turn to the section on advanced botany.

(Difficulty easy to hard)

Marcus decided to try the filtration method and maybe the distillation one in the future if he had the time. His journey of survival had begun.