The Messengers of Sanctuary

41 - River

River frowned as he sat beside Chicory, trying to understand why she was now negotiating with the pyros. Once the sun had risen, they were no longer scared of River for some reason. They still looked at him warily every so often, but they didn't do much besides that.

Mostly they focused on Chicory, who was enthusiastically explaining that if they allied themselves with Sanctuary then the idiots who were trying to kick them out of this place would be dealt with.

"...How would Sanctuary help us? They're all the way in Canada, right?"

Chicory nodded, "we're expanding our influence, so having allies down here would be wonderful. In fact, we can help you build a real lasting base to cement your claim on this land!"

One of the pyros gave her a funny look. "And ah, how would we do that? If we break ground it'll aggravate the tunnelers and we'll just get attacked."

River frowned at the response, not even surprised anymore at this point that there was apparently something new. "Tunnelers?" Chicory echoed, tilting her head with confusion.

She seemed to have somehow gotten over the whole mental breakdown thing, but River had decided he would try to bug her about it every so often just in case it built up again. It seemed to be because she had been bottling stuff up.

"Yeah, the tunnelers. You don't get them in the north? That's strange, they're everywhere here."

"What are they?" River clarified, "a type of zombie?"

The pyro nodded, "yeah, they're kinda like pyros except they're murder-y by default. They sort of just...dig though. They attack people sometimes but mostly only if they get interrupted. They mostly just like digging."

Chicory frowned, "and how common are they?"

"No one's bothered to find out, it's easier to just not bother them."

River contemplated this for a moment. "Are they the type of thing your instincts want you to eliminate?"

The pyros blanched at that, "how'd you-"

"You're all clearly trying to keep yourselves from attacking me, and feral pyros only attack zombies."

There was a moment of silence. One of the pyros cleared his throat, "well no, the lost ones also attack anything if it has light." The other pyros glared at him and he shrugged, "what, it's not a secret that we lose it in the darkness."

River frowned, filing away that tidbit as Chicory redirected the conversation, "are tunnelers stronger than you?"

"Yes, and they're also fire resistant, which makes dealing with them a pain."

River folded his arms, "well you guys aren't very much faster than a runner, how does your strength compare to human strength?"

They all blinked at River, "What?"

Chicory shook her head, "River, when we got attacked they didn't seem much better than human, they probably didn't even notice an increase if it exists."

River frowned, "So we have no means of measuring the strength of a tunneler, fantastic. I'm going to have to wrestle one aren't I? How's their sense of smell? Do they attack zombies like you guys?"

They shifted nervously, perhaps because of River's casual mention of wrestling one of these things. "I don't think their sense of smell is great, they have amazing night vision though. I've never seen one attack a zombie, but I think it would be classified as a zombie itself. Our uh...instincts? Are to attack them on sight, but they're clearly stronger."

River nodded and glanced at Chicory, "so what's your idea?"

Chicory seemed surprised that he was asking, was he really that bad? Okay yes he probably was. "Well we should definitely find one of these things, figure out how it scales in the ranks? We should really make some type of formal classification system for this type of thing..."

River nodded, "Alright, what's the best way to attract a tunneler's attention?"

The pyros were looking at them as if they were insane, which perhaps they were.

---

River looked down at the list as he sat in the forest. He still wasn't sure how much he trusted the pyros, so he'd been sleeping out here lately, after several days they were starting to warm up to him, but he didn't trust them much. He was better at understanding their limits as the days ticked by, but anything with a human mind had the potential to turn traitor.

The preparations for 'summoning' a tunneler were progressing, but they wanted to be absolutely certain that it was the best course of action first.

Meanwhile, River was succumbing to his own weakness at long last. He held the vial of cure in one hand, and he kept glancing back at it. After Chicory gave it to him, River hadn't let it out of his sight.

He wasn't going to take it. At least...not yet. Being human at this point in the plan would throw everything off, he wouldn't be able to keep up with Chicory anymore, he'd once more be zombie bait, and in general, he just wouldn't last long at all.

River growled in frustration, tucking away the vial of cure and looking once more back at his list.

Advantages to being human:

- Emotional stability

- The ability to have a future in which happiness is a possibility

- Nostalgia

- Can't lose sanity if my control slips up

- can see white again?

Advantages to being a Nightstalker:

- Night vision/sense of smell/strength/speed

- Can't die of random diseases

- Instincts that can calculate things for me

- ...I don't need to brush my teeth?

- the ability to sneak up on enemies/stalker skills

River closed his notebook and shoved it back in his pocket with a sigh, even with this, his brain refused to shut off. Part of him really wanted to just take the cure and be done with it, but again, he couldn't do that until he didn't need the virus anymore.

It was a tool. An absurdly useful tool. And River would be an idiot to give that up until it was no longer necessary. Just like dying really, "I'm not dying until I've finished all I need to get done and find a suitably dramatic way to do it."

River just had to view taking the cure as dying. Simple.

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