Symbiosis: At World's End

A Much Needed Reprieve

Merrick took a deep long breath of fresh air. Him and his fellow hosts had been on the move for several hours now, with Brianna filling him in on her new friend. He was still having some difficulty wrapping his mind around it, but he rolled with it. In turn, he explained where their new friends had come from.

"So, that scientist was trying to create artificial symbiotes to use as weapons against the normal ones? That's a lot to take in."

Merrick nodded.

"Yeah. I was talking to my own symbiote about the experience and it's rather horrifying to listen to."

Terry and Paula seemed a little uncomfortable when he finished talking. Their symbiotes had been made from tissue that had been harvested from Merrick's symbiote, so it made them feel a little guilty for the suffering it had gone through. However, there were more important questions on their mind. Paula decided to voice their concerns.

"Medusa went all nuts after being bonded to that thing. Do you think that'll happen to us?"

Merrick shrugged.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much. She was already a murderous lunatic before she was bonded to that one. I'd say that having that much power at her disposal finally made her snap and ditch her 'military discipline'."

Terry and Paula visibly relaxed as they all kept running south. It was noticeably harder now. Snow had been falling for a few weeks now and the horizon was completely white.

After about an hour of plowing through the snow, they stopped near a frozen lake for a break. Brianna flopped down in a large snowbank and sighed, letting the symbiote pull away from her face. She looked up and saw snow was beginning to fall. Terry, Paula, and Merrick all climbed up trees and sat on branches, looking back in the direction they had come from.

Well, Terry tried. Due to his new bulk, the branch snapped, and he fell flat on his back in a pile of fresh snow, sinking almost a foot in. Brianna couldn't help but snicker a few times. Terry grumbled a little and shook the snow from his head and shoulders. Paula started giggling as well. Merrick had enough self-control to refrain from audible laughter, but he did grin a little under the mask.

"Oh, you think it's funny, do you?"

Terry grabbed a handful of snow and chucked it straight at Paula, knocking her off her branch and into the snow. Everyone cracked up a little as Paula struggled to dig herself out. She looked up at Merrick, who was trying his hardest to not look like he was laughing and narrowed her eyes. She gathered a small bioelectrical charge in her finger and fired it straight into a small part of his back, sending him plummeting off of his own branch and landing headfirst in a snowbank. Everyone started howling with laughter. Brianna couldn't resist rubbing salt into the wound.

"Oooh, that's a face wash if I've ever seen one!"

Merrick pulled his head out of the snow and grumbled a little before shooting a web-line onto Brianna's shoulder and swinging her up and down into a snowbank. She hadn't had time to reform her mask and ended up getting a proper face wash. She clawed her way out of the pile with snow everywhere. She shook her head to get the snow off and let the symbiote reform the mask, drying her off in the process.

"Okay, that was fair."

They all laughed about it for a little while before they sat down and admired the scenery around them, having the symbiotes pulled away from their faces. Then Brianna realized something.

"It's almost Christmas, isn't it? It feels strange, not celebrating it this year."

She looked around at everyone, who was looking at her with confused expressions.