“What?” The old man answers first and spits on the ground.

  “Harald, are you okay?” I ask him right away as I notice besides his hole in the cheek, half of his face is covered in blood.

  “What happened? Were there more apes involved? Maybe they even took my hammer.” I am concerned.

  “No, I tripped.” He answers with a smirk.

  “Seriously Harald.” I answer.

  “It was her Mark.” Astrid's voice answers me from behind Mike.

  “What happened here? Can someone just explain? I heard shooting.” I continue, a bit agitated as the dream of duplication shatters.

  “No, nothing happened. We finished off the last of the beasts crawling, but that stubborn lady over here kept attacking me.” He answers calmly. “She just could not wrap her head around the fact that I killed you.”

  “Then how are you still alive? I’ve seen what she was capable of. And I see she’s untouched.” I ask him, my eyebrows raised.

  “That’s where the gunshots helped.” He answers.

  “And that makeup, it’s hers work right?” I ask while gesticulating a circle over my face.

  “Mhmm.” He smirks again, one of his eyebrows up.

  “The old man was too polite, right? She wrecked you so hard.” Mike finally steps into a conversation with me and looks Harald in the eye.

  “If it was for me I would not hold myself and wreck her.” He adds proudly.

  “I’m right here Mike.” Astrid mutters from behind him again.

  “She saved you from inevitable death so shut it eM.” She adds.

  “Not me but both of us. And I would not need saving if..” Adds Mike.

  “If what!” She raises her voice.

  I roll my eyes while turning away from them and decide to investigate more with the probably native woman. Of course, after I thoroughly search the area and store my stuff; at least the one which was duplicated.

  “Old man, help me with this.” Mike asks Harald to untie Astrid from him.

  “This?! You’re not helping my mental state much, you know.” She shakes her head.

  “You know how I meant it.” He continues, struggling to untie the dirty seat belts.

  The old man keeps nodding at him, awaiting reports by his eye power.

  “Yes, we are alone.” Mike confirms, his eye reflecting the moonlight, looks glowing.

  The old man cancels his trip towards resting Nathalie and helps the couple.

  I grunt in the meanwhile, kneeling down to pick up the torn off velcro straps and the bulletproof vest.

  While pounding on the dark fabric I dust off the bulletproof vest and store it securely in the inventory, at the same slot the previous, which I’m wearing right now was stored.

  “You know, maybe if the Harald refuses to shoot me, I’ll ask Mark to carry me instead of you. Just say it!” I can hear the girl complaining in the meantime.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Say what?” Mike wonders incomprehensibly.

  “That I am the burden! Just say it!” She raises her voice.

  Mike remains silent.

  “Fine, I’ll ask Mark if he will help. My shield might benefit him, not just slow him down like you.”

  She keeps fishing but it’s not working.

  I gulp and dust the bulletproof vest which does not need the dusting anymore with a poker face. Are they aware I might hear all that? I ask myself.

  She might slow me down, because I would be afraid to not hurt her so I might be extra careful. But carrying her around all day would not deplete my stamina or even bother me, as when I lifted her my Focus did the rest.

  On the other hand, it might even benefit as I would constantly be forced to use my power and train them.

  “It won’t get any cleaner Mark.” The old man interrupts my stream of useless thoughts.

  “Err, of course. Is it only me or do I he..”

  “I don’t remember seeing anyone taking the hammer Mark, it must be somewhere around, maybe ask her. Don’t be scared, she only rampaged me.”

  Before I ask anything else he interrupts.

  With my head bent down and my eyes glued on the ground I sweep it with my sneakers.

  “I was about to ask if I’m the only one hearing water.” I add while sweeping.

  “Yes, there must be another stream close by. That means we can finally stop revisiting all these old locations just because of the water.” The old man speculates.

  “This is not a stream, old man, this must be a fine river.” Mike interrupts.

  “How do you know? Did you take the bracelet off of a monkey after cutting its ear off too?”

  I try to brighten the mood of Astrid by joking a bit and teasing Mike, after how he acted.

  *Astrid chuckles*

  Good. What was intended is accomplished. I think to myself.

  “Nah, the spot over there has better acoustics.” He points his finger towards the thinner area.

  “Listen kids, we either go to the village or make a camp here or near that river. But we have no time to waste anymore.” The old man implies.

  “What about her?” I ask, nodding in the direction where Nathalie is sitting in a meditating pose.

  “I’ll deal with her.” Mike steps in suddenly.

  “Why? Do you know Spanish or what?” Astrid frowns.

  “A bit, yes!” He answers and starts walking towards Narhalie.

  Astrid frowns even more while shaking her head in disbelief.

  “It’s okay my girl, it’ll all solve itself and end up the best it could. Let me lift you up, here, here.”

  The old man steps in and offers her care after a bit of a heated argument with her boyfriend.

  I bite my tongue as I was about to offer my muscle to carry her, but I decide to back away.

  *Thud*

  “Hey!” I frown upon my foot colliding with a heavy object after sweeping the ground.

  Heavy metal cube rolls in the dirt, sparkling a few reflections while moving.

  “The hammer head?” I whisper to myself.

  Quickly bending down I grab it with my right hand. Focus is released right away as I have to lift it up clenching it with only my fingers.

  “Is this even mine? Where’s the handle and why is it suddenly so heavy?”

  I take out my hammer from the inventory and compare it right away.

  “It is definitely mine! Even with the handle this feels a bit lighter!” I whisper thinking quickly about what's just going on. Biting my lip, worried expression, my eyes moving quickly.

  I release Focus manually for my left and a bit more to my right.

  “Now I see.”

  It appears that the enchantment casted on my weapon is not present on both of them, but only the one intact which was sitting in my inventory after I died.

  Another mystery partially solved; duplication works, but the enchantment does not carry and somehow not even the organic handle. Maybe after all, that bug horn got affected by the fusing spell or whatever and that's why it is not present.

  I hide it in my inventory after briefly cleaning it over a handful of leaves.

  Not for long and I find the last remains–my torn off hand with the modern combat knife.

  “Great, great, great!” I smile upon my finding, but my grin is replaced by disgust and a bit of fear. I stop for a moment, looking around, assuring myself that I can hear the old man talking to Astrid and some mumbling of Mike and Nathalie.

  Feeling of being all alone in a dark forest looking at the mutilated hand on the ground sends shivers down my spine despite all the gore I was facing lately.

  Separating the knife from the hand with the help of my feet I quickly pick up the dagger and store it in.

  “Good, now the last two items.” I talk to myself while pointing towards the hopefully new party member.

  March towards my corpse nearby I’m greeted by Nathalie.

  “Mark!” She says my name.

  “So what did you two come up with?” I ask while looking at Mike.

  “Bear in mind that I’m not good at this, but she claims she lives up in the trees since she can remember.” He answers.

  “That’s it?” I wonder.

  “Hey! It’s going slow, I’m glad I could catch at least something at all.” He replies while she keeps talking and poking him.

  “Ehm, okay. Could you also teach her some english? And don’t forget to inform the rest. Erm.. and..”

  I stop myself right away as I’m close to pester him about Astrid.

  If I don’t want some shady actions and risk a conflict I need to be walking on eggshells here.

  “Nathalie.” I nod at her, she smiles wide. “Mark!”

  Great, now we have two group members with a Hollywood smile.

  Kneeling down I try to not focus on my corpse and rather quickly take off the sneakers.

  A shiver runs down my spine again as I touch the chest trying to reach for the amulet.

  “Mike?” I look at him.

  He looks back, frightened.