The footsteps above the crack slowed.
AJ pressed himself against the stone, flattening until his translucent body was little more than a film across its uneven surface.
Three people were moving through the grass overhead.
He could distinguish them without seeing them. One walked heavily, putting most of their weight on the right foot. Another moved with quick, uncertain steps. The third stopped every few metres, as though checking behind them.
Their voices reached him as faint vibrations.
"Keep moving."
"We should wait for the others."
"We don't know if they're coming."
A shadow passed over the opening.
AJ remained still.
The strangers lingered for several seconds before continuing. Their footsteps gradually fading, swallowed by the strange noises of the transformed landscape.
AJ waited until he could no longer sense them.
Climbing from the crack proved more difficult than entering it had been. Fear had carried him down with little thought, but now every movement required concentration. He stretched part of himself over the edge, tried to pull the rest after it and nearly slid back into the crevice.
After several attempts, he managed to drag himself onto the grass.
Nearby lay what remained of his clothing. The dark cargo trousers and long-sleeved shirt had collapsed into torn, damp folds. Several sections were missing where his body had absorbed them during the transformation.
AJ approached one of the scraps.
The moment he touched it, the fabric softened and disappeared into him.
A faint warmth spread through his body. Alongside it came a strange awareness of what he had consumed. He could sense the weave of the fabric and the individual fibres that formed it, although he had no words for much of what he understood.
The knowledge was instinctive rather than academic.
He absorbed the remaining scraps one at a time. Each gave him a small amount of energy, enough to make his form feel slightly less unstable.
His wish was working.
That should have reassured him. Instead, it reminded him of how little he understood about what he had become.
AJ left the exposed ground and moved in the direction of the nearest set of trees. His progress was slow and awkward. His body stretched and contracted as he pulled himself forwards, catching against roots and uneven patches of earth.
As he travelled, he noticed a thin line forming behind him.
The grass he passed over had shortened. Some blades were flattened, while others had vanished where his body touched them.
He stopped and focused on the ground beneath him.
The absorption ceased.
AJ moved again. This time, the grass bent beneath his weight but remained intact.
At least he had some control over it.
A tremor passed through the earth.
AJ froze.
It came again, stronger this time, followed by the distant crack of breaking wood.
Whatever was moving through the forest was much larger than a person.
AJ flowed beneath a broad metallic leaf and pressed himself into the soil. The tremors continued for several moments, moving from one side of the forest to the other, then slowly faded.
He remained hidden long after they disappeared.
The new world was not going to give him time to understand himself before testing whether he could survive.
Lily crouched beside a disturbed strip of grass.
It was not a normal animal trail.
The plants had been shortened in a narrow, winding line, but there were no bite marks or broken stems. Their upper sections seemed to have vanished.
She touched the edge of one blade.
The cut was smooth.
Too smooth.
The trail continued between the trees.
Lily considered following it immediately, but the survival knowledge in her mind urged caution.
She found a fallen branch and placed it across the disturbed grass. If there was some kind of acid that damaged the grass it would probably damage the branch too.
Lily retreated a little and waited.
Several minutes passed.
Nothing changed.
The silence of the forest was deceptive. Leaves clicked together like pieces of glass. Water moved somewhere in the distance, and an unfamiliar creature released a short, chirping call from high in the canopy.
Lily kept watching the branch.
Still nothing.
Whatever had made the trail was gone.
She picked up a stick to use as some form of protection and followed the trail.
The path curved through dense undergrowth, occasionally disappearing across bare soil before returning in the grass. Whatever had made it was small and had not moved in a straight line. It seemed to avoid open spaces, keeping close to roots, rocks and thick vegetation.
That suggested the creature was cautious and possibly intelligent.
Lily did not find the thought comforting.
She placed each foot carefully, trying not to announce her presence. She noticed loose ground before stepping on it and shifted her weight without having to think.
The knowledge placed in her mind was becoming easier to trust.
Ahead, something rustled through the grass.
Lily immediately stepped behind a tree.
She slowly looked around the trunk.
For a moment she saw nothing. Then a small green shape moved between two roots. It was no larger than a ball, its body stretching slightly as it travelled.
The grass beneath it shortened.
Lily's grip tightened around her stick.
The creature stopped.
It had no visible eyes, yet its entire body seemed to turn towards her hiding place.
Lily held her breath.
Maria climbed the nearest ridge.
The terrain had changed enough that she could no longer rely on memory alone. Hills had risen where streets should have been, and strange trees filled what had once been residential land.
Still, the direction felt right.
Her home, or the place where it had once stood, should be several kilometres south.
Maria wanted to go there immediately. Every instinct pushed her towards it.
Instead, she forced herself to study the surrounding land before committing to a route.
The ridge overlooked a shallow valley filled with silver grass. A river cut through its centre, winding around formations of black stone. To the north, smoke rose in a thin column.
Smoke meant fire and fire could mean people.
Maria marked the direction in her mind but didn't move towards it.
Something shifted near the edge of the forest below.
A figure briefly emerged between the trees, then vanished into the undergrowth.
Maria only saw them for an instant. Their outline seemed familiar, but at that distance she could not be certain.
One of the group? Or even one of her children?
Hope urged her forwards before reason caught up.
Maria descended from the ridge, keeping the forest in sight.
Victor remained hidden behind the trunk of a spiral tree as voices approached.
There were four people.
Two men, one woman and a young boy. All wore clothing similar to what Victor had been given, although theirs was stained with mud and, in one case, blood.
The taller man carried a stick sharpened into a crude spear. The woman held a pointed rock.
"We need shelter before dark," the woman said.
"We need to find the road," replied the taller man.
"There is no road."
"There has to be."
The boy glanced repeatedly over his shoulder.
Victor watched them pass between the trees.
They appeared exhausted, frightened and poorly equipped. That did not make them harmless. Desperation could turn otherwise reasonable people into threats, particularly when food and shelter were uncertain.
Revealing himself might provide information or temporary allies.
It might also attach him to four strangers whose abilities, wishes and intentions he knew nothing about.
Victor remained still.
The group passed within twenty metres of his hiding place without noticing him. Their argument continued as they moved deeper into the forest.
Once they were gone, Victor stepped out from behind the tree.
The encounter had confirmed two things.
Other survivors were nearby, and cooperation was not guaranteed simply because everyone faced the same dangers.
He moved in the opposite direction.
AJ continued through the forest, keeping close to anything that could conceal him.
His progress remained frustratingly slow. Every root became an obstacle, and loose soil clung to his body whenever he stretched too far. His body readily gripped whatever it touched, making even a short distance feel demanding.
He moved between two exposed roots, pulling himself forwards while carefully controlling his absorption. Even so, a few blades of grass vanished beneath him before he brought it to a stop.
Then he sensed movement nearby.
AJ paused.
A human presence stood behind one of the trees ahead. They had been following his trail, their footsteps careful and measured. Whoever it was had already noticed him.
AJ turned his body towards the tree.
The presence felt strangely familiar, though he could not explain why. Perhaps his new slime body combined with Victor's wish allowed him to recognise someone just by their presence.
For several moments, neither of them moved.
Then AJ sensed another human further away who was steadily approaching their position.
His first instinct was to hide.
The person behind the tree might attack the moment he came closer. He had no face they could recognise, no voice with which to explain himself and no way to prove that there was still a human mind inside his new body.
But if the familiar presence belonged to one of his companions, remaining hidden could leave them alone with whoever else was approaching.
AJ stayed where he was, weighing the risk.
He could retreat into the undergrowth and wait for both people to pass.
Or he could trust the faint sense of recognition drawing him forwards.