Emerge from Isolation (Whumptober 2019)

Recovery (Part Two)

Lorna was sick of eating deer meat, so when Alex had offered her some of his fresh vegetables for her to dump into a stew, she immediately went out with her rifle to procure fresh rabbit meat, which was the best thing she would be able to get with all of the snow around.

As soon as she left the house, Alex went to the bathroom with his only spare pair of pants. He took a peek at the injuries beneath his bandages. His chest was covered in long gouges that had been sewn up, but his arm looked nasty—like he had stuck it through a blender. It was disturbing to look at, and he rewrapped the bandage around it.

By the time Lorna returned to the house, carrying a bundle of two rabbits with clean shots through their eyes, Alex was staggering out of the tiny bathroom. His hair was sopping wet from him rinsing it out.

Lorna’s face turned pink. She ducked her head, and she took her hunt to the tiny kitchen. She set them down, and she wiped a lap table clean before she took a knife and one of the rabbits to skin it. 

“You shouldn’t be walking around yet,” she scolded. “I didn’t have enough blood to get you back to a healthy amount, and you shouldn’t get your stitches wet..”

Alex shrugged. He did feel weaker than usual, but it was true that he was walking around faster than most people who had almost bled to death should be doing.

“I didn’t get the stitches wet,” he said, “and don’t worry about me walking around. I’m not a normal person.”

Lorna paused in skinning the second rabbit to frown at him.

“I’m a Merger,” he explained.

Alex had no idea what he had expected her reaction to be, but the way her face lit up with excitement had been the last thing on the list.

When the Merge happened, there had been people who had moved the magical world into the other, but as soon as it had happened, those people had forgotten about everything—all of their memories wiped clean—except for one thing: their first names. These people were called “Mergers” as word got out about them. There were no more than a couple dozen of them known throughout the world.

“That explains your dog tag!” Lorna exclaimed, and she pointed at him with a bloody knife. “You don't have a last name!”

“Yeah, I woke up in the middle of the woods. I had no idea who I was or what was happening.”

“Do you have special powers like Eun-Jeong?”

Alex set down on the floor, ignoring the warm water flowing down his back. He tilted his head at her.

“I don’t know an Eun-Jeong.”

“Ah, she’s—I have comics under my bed. She’s the main character! She’s a Merger, and she’s super strong!”

Alex pointed at the boxes he knew were under her bed.

“May I?” he asked before he stuck his hands in her things and got a bloodied knife to the face.

Lorna gave him an enthusiastic nod, and there was a grin on her face. He felt under the bed, and he pulled out the box labeled “books.” Right on top was an image of an Asian girl with blue eyes and snow-white hair. She was brandishing a dagger in front of a pack of Merged wolves that stood upright, like a werewolf from pre-Merge lore. “The Adventures of Eun-Jeong Issue #9” were in bright colors on the top.

Alex was certain he had met the girl who had been the inspiration for the comic. She had been a girl described as having “albinism,” and she was the rare few of the Merged who had no recollection of her name at all. When someone had told her her name, she had displayed an unusual amount of strength as she had blacked-out and torn up half the forest for a reason unknown to everyone.

“I can’t speak for all of us,” Alex said, “but some of us do. I met that girl on the day of the Merge. That wasn’t her name, but she was weirdly strong.”

“Really? My uncle said it was nonsense.”

Alex chuckled, but he said nothing. It was typical of Ean to say something like that about him. He grabbed the comic from the box, and he flipped through it, admiring the full-color art.

“What can you do?”

“It’s not so flashy as super-strength. I just don’t die.”

“You don’t die?”

“Yeah, I’ve never been dismembered or anything, but I’ve suffered some fatal wounds. I should have died, but my heart just kept beating. The Merge magic has never infected me either, despite Merged creatures burrowing themselves inside me more than once. That's probably what happened to me. When you found me? A Merged creature might have chewed me up. I always forget everything that happened whenever I fight a Merged.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, but it’s not as good as it used to be, though. Ten years ago, I used to heal instantly. Now I just live long enough for someone to patch me up. I do seem to recover faster once I get food in me”

Alex watched the girl’s face turn from excitement to worry again. Lorna focused on removing the thin flesh from the rabbit’s bones, staring into the task like it held all the hope for humanity.

“Got something on your mind?” Alex asked.

Lorna paused in cutting up the meat, and she shook her head.

“My uncle would be upset with me if I asked you.”

“He’s not here. You can ask me.”

“Well, I—I kind of—” Lorna sighed. “—want to go with you. To wherever you’re going.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m supposed to wait for my uncle, but I don’t like being here when he’s gone. But he doesn’t like it when I go too far from the cabin without him.”

Alex plopped the comic back into the box, and he shoved the box back into place with his foot.

“How old are you, Lorna?”

“Fifteen.”

“That’s a little younger than I expected, but I think you could handle a little adventure under some supervision.”

Lorna went back to cutting up the rabbit meat. Alex noticed the tears pooling in her eyes.

“I shouldn’t. He might show up here and need me to help him.”

“You said it’s been a month, didn’t you? That’s too long to expect someone to wait around for you, don’t you think? If you want to come with me to look for him, I’m more than willing to take you. Searching for him might be the only way he’ll get the help he needs.”

Lorna shook her head, and tears spilled down her cheeks.

“But I—I’ve never left—I mean, I’ve never been more than a couple of miles away from the cabin, so I just—I probably shouldn’t go.”

“That’s not for me to decide for you, Lorna. I can stay here for the night, if you’ll let me, and if you decide in the morning to go with me, then I’ll take you with me to the next town. I’m a Merger, so I promise I can protect while we’re out there. Does that sound like a plan?”

Lorna gave him a slow nod.

“Yeah, I can—I’ll think about it.”

“Good. Now let me help with the vegetables for the stew.”