Darkness surrounds everything. Only the liquid floor reflects a dull black shine. The gaze moves through the empty space, then lowers to the hands. The palms. Slowly the hands turn, and the gaze studies them from above. The hands come together. Warmth between the palms. They rub slowly, then rise to the face and wipe it, as if trying to wake up.

The gaze lowers again. The right foot lifts and slowly moves forward. As soon as the sole touches the surface, waves spread outward like on water. Everything moves slowly, as if the liquid that forms the floor is very dense. The gaze follows the first wave as it travels away. Then something strange happens. The first wave collides with another wave coming from far away.

At the moment of collision a sound appears – first a scraping, then a crash. The sound grows louder. The waves become larger and more frequent, as if something is moving toward the figure. Far away a silhouette begins to appear. It is unclear what it is – a tree or a human figure. As the sound grows and the waves rise, the silhouette becomes larger.

Fear appears. The figure turns and tries to run, but the body suddenly freezes. It begins with the legs, then the body, the arms, and finally the neck. Black roots bind it. When the roots reach the throat, breathing stops.

Gobby suddenly wakes from the nightmare and opens his eyes, but the feeling of suffocation does not pass. His mouth is painfully dry. Turning his head to the right, he sees a glass of water, reaches out and takes it. The glass trembles in his hands. Gobby lifts his head and greedily drains it, sets the glass back and lets his head fall onto the pillow.

He looks at the ceiling and feels the water spreading through his body. His mind begins to work. Flashes appear – German, the fight, Drogo, glass, the heart. Gobby throws off the blanket, pulls open the hospital gown with one hand and with the other tries to feel the hole. Where the hole had been, it is gone. In its place there is now a scar and a deep hollow the size of the wound. Rubbing the place with his hand, he tries to understand what sealed it. The surface is dark red, a crust made of fused skin and crushed bone. Gobby presses his hand against it and feels the heart beating.

The heartbeat means he is alive and that calms him, but at the same time anxiety appears and only one question turns in his head. Maybe this is only a dream?

Without receiving an answer, Gobby slowly raises himself, swings his legs off the bed, stands and walks with slow steps, dragging his feet across the floor toward the bathroom in the same room. As soon as he slightly opens the door, the light turns on. He steps inside, turns toward the mirror, becomes frightened, then realizes it is him.

Gobby has become emaciated – not a drop of fat, only bones and skin. His eyes protrude, the skin is dry and cracks with every movement, and where the hole once was there is a dark red scar. He begins to touch his body, as if still not fully understanding that this is not a dream, and when the realization finally comes, a tear rolls from one eye down his face.

The door suddenly opens slightly and Ulrich enters the room. He sees that the bed is empty, rushes into the bathroom and sees Gobby. Their eyes meet and Gobby becomes frightened. In any other moment the defensive mechanism would have activated, but now compensation occurs. Adrenaline increases the speed of blood flow and, from the sudden acceleration, the brain begins to shut down. Gobby starts losing consciousness.

Ulrich catches him under the arm and says, You must not stand or move, it’s dangerous. Back to bed, quickly. He drags him to the bed while Gobby cannot say anything. As soon as Gobby sits down, he slowly raises his eyes to Ulrich and asks, Who are you? What happened to me? Where am I?

Ulrich pauses before answering. Kid, I understand you have many questions and I probably cannot answer all of them now. The most important thing you need to know is that you and your friend are alive and both of you are safe. When you recover, we will sort everything out and talk. I will bring you some broth, and you should rest for now.

Hearing about food, Gobby’s brain switches instinctively like an animal and saliva fills his mouth. Ulrich leaves the room. The house turns out to be a wooden hunting cabin. Walking down the corridor, Ulrich looks into one of the neighboring rooms and says, He woke up. Don’t go to him yet, let him eat first.

The room is covered in notes, marks, and algorithms. Among all of this sits German. When he hears that Gobby has woken up, he almost throws everything aside to run to him, but after the warning he stays where he is and continues writing in his notebook.

Ulrich brings broth for Gobby and asks him not to rush, but Gobby drinks it greedily and says, More.

Ulrich replies, When someone comes out of starvation, for three days they must eat little by little and only soups, otherwise the stomach can fail. Saliva still runs from Gobby’s mouth. Adrenaline begins to surge in his body and his skin turns red. I said more.

Ulrich notices the change and smirks. Yes, that applies to people, not to you. I’ll bring more. Ulrich brings a small pot and Gobby eats everything in it. Gobby asks for something more filling, but Ulrich refuses firmly and tells him to wait until evening.

Ulrich watches him. Gobby’s body changes before his eyes. With every spoonful it seems that Gobby becomes different – the skin gains a more yellow tone, fills with blood and stops looking dry. Before he looked like a zombie, but now he looks like a boy simply suffering from severe starvation.

After refusing him more food, Ulrich says, Come in. German rushes into the room. He wants to jump on Gobby and hug him, but Ulrich stops him with a movement of his hand. No, you could make it worse.

Because of his weakness, Gobby does not hear Ulrich mention that German is safe, but now he is unbelievably happy to see him, even though because of his own condition he had completely forgotten about him. German is upset that he cannot hug Gobby. He sits beside the bed in a chair and bursts into tears of happiness, crying so hard that even mucus runs to his lips.

Ulrich does not want to take part in this at all. I see you have a lot to talk about. I’ll leave you.