2 Waking up

*Sloosh…sloosh

The sound of water rushing down the river echoed loudly through the forest, a body of a boy was carried by the water slowly floating down the river. The river's destination is a small calm lake. The body arrived at the lake, slowly but surely it floats to the shore washed by the currents.

As the body arrived at the shore, suddenly the boy's eyes opened wide.

"Couch…cough…ugh." He coughed his lungs out, vomiting a lot of water in the process.

"Wha…where am I?... How am I still alive? Haha…ha…Sigh, this is kinda creepy."

He tried to stand but he feels pain all over his body. He's convinced that he should be dead, that choke should have done the job. Just as he was processing what is happening, a head-splitting headache suddenly overwhelmed his thought and…

*Flop…thump.

He passed out, falling face-first and hitting the ground. The body laid there unmoving as the forest return to its previous calmness, disturbed only by the sound of water.

As time passed by, the sun started to set.

At first, the fingers started twitching, then his legs started moving, and at last, a groan escaped the boy's mouth as he sits up straight. The headache is still there although it's not as bad as before. The boy held his head trying to lessen the pain, he leans on the tree for support.

"ugh…I'm…Marco too, only 15 years old now, orphaned. Went out on a hunt, somehow provoked a bison-like… Machine?" Marco groaned as memories not his own started to play in his head, causing pain. The previous body's owner was named Marco too, he used to live in a tribe, but the tribe got wiped out by a group of mad cultists, he survived because he was out on a hunt. Yesterday, while hunting for small games he got spotted by a [Horned Charger] and unfortunately got rammed. The last thing he remembers before death is a very fast horned head made of steel rushing at him.

Marco started to observe his surroundings. The trees, no, not just the trees, all the flora look foreign to him. It's like a completely different world. He crawled to the edge of the lake, looked at his reflection on the water surface, he looks more handsome than in his previous life, not that handsomeness will help him survive. He's currently wearing some kind of tribal clothing made of animal leather with pieces of protective armor over the chest, that's now already destroyed, the clothing looks futuristic but…savage at the same time.

But then Marco thought about the Machine that almost killed him, well technically it did. That Machine clearly didn't know about Asimov's law as it broke the first and most important of the three.

'That bastard Holden, his plan must have failed and his AI gone haywire.' He thought as he tried to figure out where he is right now. He has to hurry back to his cave or he will need to make a campfire and sleep it out in the wilderness. He remembers that his cave was located near the river, just upstream. In the past, he stumbled into the cave when he was looking for a place to live, and luckily the previous tenants were dead, a long time ago.

As he started walking up the river, 'I don't think I could make it there before nightfall, it seems that I will have to make a campfire, I'll try to walk as far as I can before that.' he thought.

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"I really can make it huh…" Marco muttered as he starts to look for dry wood to make a campfire. After searching the forest floor and taking the dried leaves and branches. Marco then started to build a campfire using the good old friction method, he lost his lighter when his body was floating in the river.

After a tiring session of rubbing two pieces of wood together, he finally managed to light up the tinder then he put some small sticks over them to get the fire going. Now all he has to do is to find some food.

'Hopefully, I can catch some fishes here, or I'm gonna have to sleep with an empty stomach.'

Marco searched for a long stick that he can use as a makeshift spear to hunt for some fishes. He bashed the sticks with a rock trying to get it as pointy as possible, then he headed for the river. Trying to be as still as possible so the fish didn't get spooked.

After some time, Marco finally managed to spear two fishes. Two fishes are not much but it is enough for him to at least last until tomorrow. He simply grilled the fishes over the fire with no seasoning cause he doesn't have any, but the fishes still tasted good with fatty white meat and a hint of natural sweetness.

"Ahhh… so good, only if I have some spices. " Marco said while salivating. Now all Marco need is some sleep, but the campfire needs more wood for it to last until morning or until the sun rises. So after snapping enough of some bigger branches and stacking them on the campfire, Marco laid down close to the fire. Even though sleeping right on the ground is quite risky because of snakes and bugs, the smoke from the campfire will help keep them away if there are any of them left in this world. Although there's also the risk of curious Machines that might come to the source of smoke, the probability of that is small, quite small.

'I'll try to minimize the smoke, rather get some bugs on my arm than huge machine beast on my chest. Hope I don't wake up too late.' Marco thought as he laid down on the dirt and drifted into the land of dreams.

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The next day, when the sun had just appeared from the horizon.

*Yawnnn…

Marco woke up while massaging his stiff neck, understandable considering that he slept without a pillow. He poured some water to put out the fire and prevent any possibilities of a forest fire. Some basic stretches are a must after waking up, it will help loosen the muscles.

Relaxed and refreshed, Marco continues his way back to his cave. 'Thankfully, there was no machine that found me. Ahhh I just remembered the [Horned Charger] that hit me, I hope it isn't around anymore' Thought Marco as he became more alert.