Chapter 6: Rescue
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 it was the same rhododendron, and a few minutes later he crawled up onto the trail, then rolled onto his back, breath labored. He'd made it.
With the appearance of the white room, he had mostly concluded that he was not suffering from head trauma. That left the question, what was Genesis Heart? Was it a system, or something else? If it was a system, was he the only one, or was this some kind of system apocalypse? If this was a system apocalypse, the kind that spawned monsters or caused animals to rapidly grew stronger, then he was probably screwed.
He rolled over and laboriously clambered to his feet. 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.
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?"