The Eden Projects (EDITING)

Chapter 43. Fledge.

- Zak - 

Zak awoke.

It was cold, and dark, and nothing about it felt like waking up. It was all a wild dream and when he blinked again, he would be back home on his couch with a bottle at his side and someone he didn't know in his bed. He blinked and moved slowly. When he did, his entire body craned. Cold water sloshed at his back and his bones burned. He wanted so badly to fall back into sleep, but he couldn't.

He was awake.

Zak muscled up onto his side, his skin ached with a rawness that he had never felt before. As his eyes adjusted, he tried to sit up. Hitting his head on the roof of whatever he was in, grimacing when his hair snagged on the concrete's grippy texture. "Hello?" He called to the dark. Pulling at his shirt that had been hiked up past his belly button. "Hello??-" his hand nudged at a soft plume near his side. He had been darted. "Kasper???" He didn't know how long he had been lying there in the cold, muddy, water, but if the lack of feeling in his fingers were any tell. He'd been there a while. "Helloooo-" His voice returned to him and he began a slow shuffling crawl forward. 

His vision adjusted quickly. He was in a storm drainage tunnel. Not that he had ever been in one before, but from wherever it fed, gasoline had been introduced somehow which left the tunnel burning with a chemical fume. Either a storm drain, or a catacomb. "Kas?" The mouth of the tunnel yawned. Opening up ahead into a large hub. Slowly, he got to his feet, finding them took a few seconds.

"Hey- are you alright?" He grimaced at the sensation of water permeating his boots. "Ah-shit." 

Curled against the far wall, huddling in the corner with his head to his knees like a frightened child was Kasper. Light streamed through an overhead grate, casting barred shadows on the water that had settled there. Something floated with a silvering shimmer at the rooms side. "Hey-" Zak wobbled over. Wiggling his toes in his sloshy socks. "Oh man-" He lowered and with the motion his back throbbed. "Oww." 

Kasper, was stuck. His eyes were defocused, staring at the ground and he shook uncontrollably. "Go away." A long row of spines ran down his back, slicing holes in his shirt. His horns were much longer than they ever had been, tapering off dramatically three to four inches above him. "Go away go away go away-" 

Zak gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "What happened? Where are we?" He whispered, placing his hand on his shoulder. "You're burning up. Hey- hey- can you hear me?" He shook him gently and with the introduction of movement his already dissociated friend jolted.

"-no no no NO NO!" Kasper fell backwards, clawing to get away. 

Zak jumped and stumbled, unsure of what to do as Kasper scrambled, falling into the water and inhaling a lung full. He coughed and hacked as he backed up against the opposite wall. "Go away!" He covered his head. "Stop!"

Zak's brow furrowed and he looked around. He's crying? They were sealed in. Is he hallucinating? Zak moved forward cautiously, slowly grabbing up the glinting thing. "C.D.E? Is this gas?" He sniffed it pointlessly. "Oh boy." He sighed. "Kas... it's not real." In part reassuring himself. "It's not real." He had never seen someone lose it like this. What do I do? He sloshed forward. Gently placing his hands on Kasper's shoulders. Lowering down to his level. "There's nothing there-" If it was one thing Zak understood, drug reactions, were his unique specialty. "You're trippin' brother." This couldn't have been much different. Was he darted too? He needed sobering. "Kas its not real, your hallucina-"

"GET AWAY!" He popped up and fell against the wall. Zak followed him, grabbing his arms.

He's gonna hurt himself-