Chapter 12: 15. Adaptation Part 1

Ajax and Shaula look at the sun high above their heads. From its position, the time is probably between 12pm and 3pm. Of course, this is Ajax assuming that the day and night cycle here works the same as it does on Earth. For all he knows, the day might be forty, eighty or even hundreds of hours long.

Shaula can tell that the gravity here is not too different from Earth. She already picked up loose rocks from the forest floor to test how fast they fall. It seems about the same to her.

These considerations are minor right now. After all, a group of pack animals seems to be moving nearby and getting closer. They are currently within a kilometer. Although Ajax and Shaula cannot see them, they can guess their massive weight by the sound of their footsteps. They can also roughly tell their number by how many footsteps they hear. There are a lot.

Either way, it is time to leave this area. The two of them quickly look in the direction of the rumbling footsteps. There are plenty of gigantic tree trunks in the way. The pack cannot tell they are there just yet.

Ajax and Shaula start quickly walking away from the pack. They keep their eyes and ears open to the directions ahead of them. The animals behind them do not seem to be pursuing. The footsteps only get quieter. However, Shaula starts jogging.

Ajax, a poor runner back on Earth, can only try as hard as he can to keep up. Luckily, his body seems to be filled with boundless energy. Their pace grows from a slow jog to a slow run. They run faster and faster. Neither of them need to stop to catch their breath. From their slow run, they start running faster. Then, they start sprinting.

Shaula is setting an easy pace. She has to make sure her reflexes can keep up. Ajax stumbles once or twice and so does she. However, he notices that the moment he trips, his reflexes become briefly supercharged. He has not fallen yet even while sprinting faster than he has ever run in his life. Shaula, a confident sprinter, is able to match her reflexes to her pace while not missing anything ahead.

Shaula already feels confident enough to run faster.

“Shaula? Are you sure about this?” Ajax starts to worry about their current momentum. He knows he can run faster than this. He is far from his limit. But, the two of them are already running as fast as olympian sprinters. Shaula smiles. She loved testing her limits even while on Earth. She has never felt such a good opportunity to find out what her body can do.

“Sometimes, we should try and run before we walk.” 

Ajax sighs. Though his teeth are gritted, he smiles. “Well… fuck, even I’m getting interested in this.”

The two of them start running faster. Faster. Faster. When they reach about sixty kilometers per hour, they decide to hold this pace. Shaula feels no soreness, tearing muscles or friction burn. Her heart is not even over a hundred beats per minute. These new bodies are monstrously efficient. Furthermore, the forest ground is infested with roots that they have been successfully avoiding. Yet she hasn’t fallen even once, neither did Ajax. Their reflexes are much better now. Until–

Crack.

An oddly protruding root catches Ajax’s left leg. He was about to leap over it, but his form was poor. He did not get an upgrade to years of inadequate running technique. He trips and crudely somersaults forward. As he flips multiple times, his shoulder, back and neck muscles twist and tear.

Thud!

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He lands hard against one of the gargantuan white tree trunks. He hits it like an iron wall. For a brief moment, the forest goes quiet. Shaula cannot believe what she has seen. She had turned around and saw the tail end of his terrible fall.

“...Ajax?”

Shaula walks slowly, in shock towards Ajax, whose eyes are open and unmoving. “Ajax. Ajax! Ajax!!”

She runs in panic, reaching a hundred kilometers per hour instantly. Neither of them really considered what would happen to a human body running at a pace reserved for cars and birds. This forest had just been too much fun in their new bodies. They have enhanced senses to go with their speed, but he was careless. She quickly reaches him and pulls him up, so he can sit with his back against the tree. His nose is bleeding profusely.

But, he isn’t unconscious.

“A-Ajax.”

“Shaula. I’m alright.”

“...How the fuck can you be alright? Do you see the bruises on your neck? You could have died! Wait, holy shit, you’re cut!” She looks past the dark, purple spots slowly forming on his neck. Blood is flowing down his back from a cut to a blood vessel on his shoulder. However, soon the bleeding stops. He touches the cut on his shoulder a few times.

Shaula tries to get a better look at the wound but sees his odd expression. He stops touching his shoulder and looks up at Shaula. “I-I can’t feel the cut anymore, can you look?”

Shaula carefully tries to examine it. “Wh… holy shit. That’s impossible…”

She carefully wipes the remaining blood away with her hand to better see the cut. But, she does not see any wounds. His shoulder is completely fine. She looks back at the bruises on his neck but those are gone too. Meanwhile, Ajax looks over his entire body to check if he has any wounds anywhere else. Not even a bruise remains.

Ajax’s body has no pain, no stiffness, no open wounds, and no scars. He stands up and checks his legs. There is nothing wrong at all. He tries to jog and feels no discomfort.

Meanwhile, Shaula only considers his lack of injury through rational terms. From what she sees, his body healed itself all the way when he should have died from the crash. Normal humans cannot heal wounds within seconds. However, he had a deep cut, at least two centimeters wide, on his shoulder where a blood vessel was torn open.

Out here with no way to reach a hospital, Ajax should have died. For one or two seconds, Shaula was having some dark, dark thoughts. Now however, she has gained information about their ultimate tool for survival. A little testing is needed.

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