Symbiosis: At World's End

Up To Speed

Jason and Kelly were both exhausted. They had completed their daily exercises and were resting while Merrick examined the wounds on the girl he had brought to the shelter yesterday. He didn't seem very happy when he finished wrapping her wounds in fresh gauze. He tossed the old gauze into the fire while he began drilling them on knowledge they would need to survive. By this point, they were able to point out the places that a stash of goods would most likely be found without fail, and they could keep up a steady run for forty-five minutes.

Now, he was teaching them tactics for escaping from Rippers. He had covered the basic stuff and was teaching them more advanced techniques now. Once he was done, he quizzed them about the basics again.

"What is the one thing that all these techniques, basic or otherwise, have in common?"

"They are all meant to make one more trouble than you are worth to catch." They answered together.

"What should you never do if you can avoid it?"

"Go into buildings while being chased."

"And why do we avoid buildings when being pursued?"

"Because there is no guarantee that there will be an escape exit available."

"What are the exceptions to this rule?"

"At nighttime, you can duck into buildings if there is an obvious method by which you can climb to a higher floor."

He nodded and tossed them a water bottle. They had earned it. He walked over to his 'perch' as Jason and Kelly called it, and settled down to keep watch. The siblings went to gather more dead branches to keep the fire going. Then they heard a gasping noise followed by a grunt of pain. They all turned to see the girl was awake and trying to sit up, only to aggravate her injuries. Merrick swiftly hopped from his perch and jogged over to her before gingerly grabbing her unwounded shoulder and helping her sit up.

"Easy there. I worked hard on those stitches, and I won't have you tearing them."

Brianna grimaced as she felt her shoulder flare up in pain. Merrick slowly moved the sweater aside to check and make sure the stitches were still intact. They were fine, but the wound was still rather worrisome. He turned to siblings, who were watching.

"Bring me that bag over there and hand me the water bottle."

The siblings immediately responded and grabbed what he had asked for. He opened the bag and began sifting through the contents.

"I know it's in here...Come on...Ah, there we are!"

He pulled out a bottle marked as pain killers and shook two tablets into his hand. He opened the water bottle and turned to the girl.

"These'll help, but you aren't getting anymore. These are hard enough to find as it is."

She took the tablets and water gratefully and tried to stand up, only to be gently forced back down by Merrick.

"Don't even think about it. You aren't moving until those cuts show some improvement. You were lucky I was passing by."

The girl tried to sit up again, but gave up when her shoulder flared again.

"Thanks for helping me. I don't know what would have happened if you didn't."

Merrick let out a bark of forced laughter.

"I'll tell you exactly what would have happened. You would have been killed and eaten."

The look of shock, followed by disgust passed over her face.

"Eaten me? How could a human eat another human?"

Merrick shook his head.

"Simply put, they're not. Not in their heads anyway. Living out here, if you aren't careful, it'll get to you. That's if the Rippers or symbiotes don't get you first."