When Jack left his soul space white room, his senses were again flooded with thirst, hunger, aches, and pains. He was still tired, and he didn't feel like he'd recovered much energy. He was worried that he would only get more tired over time, and would lose any chance of finding water, so he rolled over and resumed his climb.
From tree to bush to boulder, he crawled up the slope. Each time he thought about resting, he reminded himself that he might not wake if he fell asleep, so he pressed on. He had just passed around a large cluster of bushes and was plotting his path upward when he spotted an oddly shaped rhododendron. The rhododendron's branches were closer to the ground than was normal, and he wondered if it was the same one he'd been trying to traverse before blacking out.
Having some hope that the trail was near, he felt revitalized and climbed faster. Soon he was certain that was the same rhododendron, and a few minutes later he laboriously clambered to his feet, once again standing on the trail.
He was equal parts disappointed, elated, and worried. All along, part of him had hoped he was transported to another world and the Genesis Heart would play some pivotal role in his new, wonderful, or challenging life. The rest of him was elated that he was still on terra and his life had not been upended yet again. So now he was worried that the arrival of the Genesis Heart was part of some larger system apocalypse.
If this was a system apocalypse, the kind that spawned monsters or caused animals to rapidly grew stronger, then he was screwed. He could barely walk, let alone fight for his life. So with some trepidation, he stumbled down the trail, trying not to make too much noise. His progress was slow, and he hoped his strength would hold out long enough to make it back to his car, hopefully before it got dark.
He was approaching the fork in the trail that lead to either Lake Janus or the trailhead when he heard voices. They sounded human and were speaking his language!
Without even thinking, he yelled, "Help!" Or tried, but it came out more a gasp than anything. He swallowed a few times and tried again. "Help!"
This time, he succeeded. The voices stopped.
He yelled again, "Help!" louder this time.
The voices drew closer and soon a couple came into view, headed towards him from the trail that lead to Lake Janus.
"Oh, my god," cried the woman. "Are you alright?"
"Damn," said the man, "What happened to you? You look like a zombie."
Shit, is this a zombie apocalypse?
"He does not look like a zombie," said the woman. Then she scolded him. "You and your fascination with zombies."
She approached Jack and took his face in her hands.
"You are incredibly pale. What happened? Did you lose your supplies? Are you starving?"
Her questions were not reassuring to him. Was she asking him as one hiker to another, or as one survivor to another?
"Can you spar some water? Salt? Food bar? I haven't had anything for two days."
"Oh, shit," exclaimed the man. He pulled out a bottle and shook out several tablets, then handed them to Jack.
"Here," the man said, "These are electrolyte tablets."
Then, after Jack tossed them in his mouth, the man handed Jack his drinking tube. Jack grabbed it and pulled some water in his mouth before crunching on the tablets. He didn't wait for them to completely dissolve before swallowing them and sucking greedily on the drink tube. The water was heavenly, and he just kept drinking.
Eventually the man grabbed the tube and yanked it out of Jack's clutching hand, saying, "Whoa, there. Don't want to guzzle too much all at once, or you'll just puke it back up."
Jack nodded, wordlessly.
The woman had pulled off her pack and pulled out something. When she handed it to Jack, he found it was a food bar. He tore it open and took a bite. It was mint chocolate flavored. Normally, he disliked that flavor, but right then, it was the best thing he'd ever tasted. He resisted the urge to wolf it down and instead chewed each bite thoroughly before swallowing; the couple watching him in silent concern.
After several bites he said, "Thanks you so much. I've been dreading heading down to my car, worried I wouldn't have the energy to make the trip."
"I can imagine," said the man.
"What happened?" asked the woman.
Jack pointed back down the trail towards Lake Valhalla. "You know that section of trail that eroded and is now blocked by a rhododendron?" he asked.
"No," said the man.
"Yes," said the woman. "I read about it in a comment on my All Trails app."
"Well, I was passing through it when the branch I was holding onto broke."
"No!" the couple said in unison.
"Yes. Almost died on the way down. If it wasn't for a rhododendron, I would've fallen off a cliff and died. Lost my pack somehow during the fall. It took me two days to climb back up, and I finally reached the trail about an hour ago."
"That must have been rough. I'm glad you made back up t the trail," said the woman.
"I'm glad we heard you," said the man. "Are you parked at the trailhead?"
"Yes, that's where I was headed when I heard your voices."
"Well, I'm glad we heard you," said the man. "If you'd tried making your way down to the trailhead in your condition, you could take a second tumble and crack your head open."
When Jack finished the food bar he was holding, the man handed him an energy jell packet.
"Here," he said. "This'll give you more energy."
Jack tore it open and sucked out the sweet jell inside. As soon as he'd squeezed out the last bit of jell, the man handed him a second packet. Four packets later, Jack was feeling closer to normal, if still thirsty.
The man looked at the woman and said, "I think we should escort him down."
"Here. These should help keep you from falling." The man handed Jack his hiking poles. They were like walking sticks but more ergonomic, with easy grip handles, wrist straps, and a spikes on the tips.
Much of the trail down was too narrow for people to walk side by side, so the man went first, followed by Jack, with the woman at the end. They figured if Jack stumbled, the man would might catch him before he cracked his head open.
As they hiked, Jack tried to think of a way of asking if everything was alright without sounding like a lunatic.
"So, where were you headed? Lake Janus?" he asked, trying to sound casual.
"Yes, we were planning to go up to Heather lake, but got a late start and decided to spend the night at Lake Janus, then continue on in the morning. We even thought about going all the way to Pear Lake but, with the late start, there's no way we could make it that far and still get back in time for work."
It was Friday, so if they were just planning a weekend getaway and were worried about returning to work on time, then an apocalypse seemed unlikely.
"Ah, well, sorry for making your late start even later. I'm just glad I ran into you," he said.
"So are we," said the woman. "It would have been horrible if you didn't make it and we found out we missed you by minutes. Besides, we have head lamps. It should be no problem to make it to the lake this evening."
Just to be sure, Jack asked, "So, anything interesting happen in the last two days? Any world-shaking events I should be worried about?"
"Well, the seagulls just took a crap all over their chances of making it to the world series. So I guess that could be world shaking if you're a fan." The way the man said it sounded like he really didn't care.
"I was never a baseball fan, anyway. Or sports in general." said Jack.
He was about to continue when his foot slipped and he barely caught himself with the hiking poles.
The woman said, "Focus on where you're putting your feet. You can worry about chatting when we get to the bottom."
Jack just nodded. He'd accomplished his goal, anyway. It sounded like nothing unusual had happened. No system apocalypse, not zombie apocalypse, no magic anything. It didn't mean he was the only one to get something like Genesis Heart, but at least he didn't need to worry about world ending events.
When they finally reached the parking lot, the man asked, "Do you want us to try and call you an ambulance?"
"No. Thank you, but I can't afford to pay the hospital to tell me what I already know. Drink electrolytes, get rest."
"Are you sure?" asked the woman.
"Yes. Thank you so much for your help. The trip down would have been hell without your help," he said.
"We wouldn't be able to live with ourselves if we'd let you hike down by yourself and found out later that you'd died," said the man.
The woman nodded, then looked at the man. "It's kind of late now. Maybe we should follow behind him and make sure he gets home safe?"
"That's not necessary, really," he said. "I'm already feeling better, thanks to the food and water you gave me. I should be fine driving home."
"Are you sure?" asked the woman again.
"Yes, I'm sure. Really."
"Okay."
As Jack climbed into the driver's seat of his old Nissan Sentra he groaned in pain and pleasure. His hips still ached, but it felt so good to get off his feet. He started his car and pulled away; the couple watching as he drove down the gravel road.
Still tired, hungry, and a little thirsty, he felt he'd make it home in one piece. He was still worried that he wasn't the only one who had received something like the Genesis Heart. For that matter, he still didn't know what Genesis Heart was. It seemed like a system, with its achievements, Genesis Points that mimicked experience, and Energy Points that mimicked mana, but that wasn't conclusive proof it was a system. System or not, if it knocked out other people like it did him, then there might be news of in accidents or something.
He hoped he was the only one, not just because it made him special, but because he didn't want any competition. If everyone had systems, some of them would have ridiculously over powered systems, and he had no interest in fighting monsters. Neither the system spawned variety, nor the human variety.