Around 3 Kilometers Past The Treeline, 1 PT, Day 1, 8:55 AM?

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Devin and the mute lay on the ground for a while, their muscles screaming at them from the overextension they just gave themselves. If there was anything certain, it was the muscle pain that will linger for the next couple of days. The adrenaline had worn off by now and the true extent of their pains had just begun, with every movement becoming a laborious, herculean effort. They did not want to get up, but they knew that they must in order to survive.

With much effort, Devin turned his body so that his head was facing the ground and, with some effort, he was able to get on his hands and knees. Even this movement brings him to a state less than that of a toddler, as even a toddler could get up on their feets and wobble-walk around. Compared to the average toddler, he could barely keep himself on his hands and knees.

His leg muscles hurt like hell, as to him, it seemed like he had just run a marathon trying to escape the dire wolves. Any time he tried to move his calves, he would feel immense stinging pain, making every attempt to move excruciating. The soles of his feet weren’t doing any better as they stung in pain every time he tried to put pressure on them.

Devin’s lungs weren’t doing any better, in fact they were probably doing worse. Like a man being scalded by boiling oil, his lungs burned with an intensity that he had never thought possible before. Every breath was painful with his lungs working in overdrive to try and give him as much fresh oxygen as possible. As a result, his throat felt unnervingly cold with every breath maintaining the coldness in his throat.

Sweat is coming out of basically every pore in his body as he had never run this hard in his life before. Though it makes sense, since he has never had to run for his life before, living in one of the safer places on Earth. But that boon on Earth is now a curse in the place that he is now.

Gathering up his energy to try and find a better place to rest, Devin looked to a nearby tree that looked very alluring.

‘That tree looks like a good spot to rest.’

Even with every fiber of his lower body fighting against him, he manages to move himself so that he is sitting on the grass. Then, by carefully using his arms to drag his body over to the tree, he manages to avoid any unnecessary pain getting to the tree.

Once he does get to the tree, he positions himself so that his backing is leaning against the tree.

‘I’m gonna… rest here for a bit longer…’

Not long after getting to the tree himself, the mute followed his lead and positioned herself so that she was leaning on the same tree but with little distance between them. She did not acknowledge that Devin was even resting on the tree as well. Rather, she was focused on trying to recover.

With the mute ignoring him, Devin unconsciously decided to ignore her as well and focus on trying to recover from the escape, looking at the ground with his arms planted on the ground, making sure his body doesn’t slide off the tree.

After resting for around 3 minutes, Devin hears the mute shuffling around. Curious as to what she is doing, he looks at her.

She is seemingly doing better than him, as she is now standing up, but leaning against the tree to keep her balance. Unaware of Devin staring at her, Devin sees that she is looking around warily. Following the mute’s lead, he looks around as well, only to see that there are other people around them also still trying to catch their breath.

‘Did… did these people follow us?’

‘Why did they follow us this far? We were running for so long… wait… did they follow us because we were already running away when those wolves started to attack everyone?’

Confused and wary of the people that had followed them, he decided to closely observe the person that was closest to him and the mute.

The person who was closest to them was still on the ground, coughing and wheezing like his life depended on it. He had a dark complexion and looked like he was in good shape as his arms and legs were toned with muscle and Devin could not see any fat on the man’s body, making the man look like a bodybuilder if it weren’t for his construction attire.

‘He probably did a lot of lifting for work and not a lot of running if he looks that good in shape but is that tired.’

The man was seemingly wearing a construction uniform, as he was dressed in work boots, blue jeans, and a blue shirt with long sleeves with a bright yellow construction jacket over the shirt. There was a lot of dirt on his clothes, possibly from the work he was doing before being transported here, but the parts of his body that were showing told a different story as he was clean as a whistle.

Of course, there were other people as well and, to Devin, it seemed like the group had people that came from all over Earth.

The most notable group of people looked like they came from Eastern Asia, being from either China, Japan, or the Korean Peninsula, with a little under half the group looking like they came from that area of the world. The rest of the group, however, looked like they came from all over.

There were some that looked like they came from India, others that looked like they came from the Middle East, even more that seemed like they had European heritage and others that had African heritage. To finish up the group, there were a couple that seemed like they were from Latin America.

Aside from taking a close look at the construction worker however, Devin could not care enough to take a closer look at the other people other than the cursory glance he had just done as he was still ungodly tired from all the running. Who knew how much more time there was before another creature came to attack them.