The Eden Projects (EDITING)

Chapter 43. Fledge.

- Zak - 

When Zak awoke, it was cold, damp, 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??-" Something tight was wrapped around his leg. "Kasper?" Zak undid the terribly tied knot that kept the garment tight against him. 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 tunnel. Maybe a drain. 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. A flicker of movement caught his attention. 

"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. His thin frame seemed even more fragile in the dim light that streamed through an overhead grate, casting barred shadows on the still water that had settled there, creating a jail bar pattern on the ground. Something floated with a silvering shimmer at the room's side. "Hey-" Zak wobbled over, his unsteady steps echoing softly in the stillness of the space, wiggling his toes in his sloshy socks, feeling the cold, damp fabric cling to his skin. "Oh man-" He lowered himself carefully, trying to ease the tension in his back, but with the motion, a sharp throb shot through him, making him wince. "Oww." 

Kasper was stuck, completely immobilized by whatever bound up his mind. His eyes were defocused, staring blankly at the ground, and he shook uncontrollably, as if trying to escape an invisible grip. "Go away," he muttered, though the words felt hollow. A long row of spines ran down his back, slicing jagged holes in his shirt. His horns were much longer than they ever had been, tapering off dramatically three to four inches above him, casting ominous shadows against the leaf caked lower walls. "Go away, go away, go away-"

Zak gently placed a hand on his shoulder, feeling the heat radiating from his friend's skin. "What happened? Where are we?" he whispered, his voice low and filled with concern as he leaned in closer. "Dude- you're burning up. Hey—hey—can you hear me?" He shook him gently, trying to gauge his awareness, and with the introduction of movement, his already dissociated friend jolted, eyes wide as if suddenly pulled from a distant dream, confusion etched across his face as he struggled to comprehend his surroundings.

"-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 shifted his attention and moved away cautiously; slowly, he made his way to the opposite end of the room, grabbing up the glinting thing that floated half-submerged there. "C.D.E? Is this gas?" He sniffed it pointlessly. "Oh boy." He sighed. "Kas... it's not real," partly 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 and 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. He needed sobering. "Kas, it's not real, your hallucina-"