Emerge from Isolation (Whumptober 2019)

Laced Drink

When Ean next stepped out of the bathroom, he could feel his toes again, and he felt better. A towel was wrapped around his waist. He dragged his backpack, which was now soggy after the ice melted in it, with him to the heaters. The man was sitting on a bottom bunk bed, and he nodded at Ean.

"I boiled you some tea," he said. "I left it on the counter for you if you want it."

Ean grunted to acknowledge him, but he had things in his backpack he needed to make sure got dried out as well. He pulled out his spare clothes, and he left then to dry next to his other things. Without pulling them out of his backpack, he checked on the comics that he had gotten for Lorna. They were in a plastic bag, and it looked like they had been protected from the water, luckily. The vegetables would be okay, but they were going to need to be washed extra thoroughly.

Ean set his backpack near the heater as well to help it dry. Then, he sat on the floor, untrusting of the tea that the man had made.

"So what happened out there?" the man asked. "Why were you wet?"

"I fell," Ean said, and he was digging into his backpack to find himself something he could eat. "Into a lake."

"Oh, man, I bet I know where you fell. That land is perfectly designed to hide that lake from you, and it's easy to miss if you aren't paying attention."

The man leaned forward on his bed, and he stuck out his hand for Ean to shake.

"Name's Scott, by the way," the man said, "and don't worry. I already know who you are. You're Ean, right? The guy who built most of these cabins?"

"Yeah, that would be me," Ean said, nodding, and he made no effort to return the handshake.

"It must be weird, huh? Being famous around here, I mean. But what you do is important. We're grateful to you for helping keep us safe out here."

Ean leaned his back against a wall, and he crossed his arms over his chest. 

"They help me, too, so I had selfish motivations."

Scott laughed. He let his hand fall back to his side.

"Well, we all are selfish, aren't we? Even the most generous of people do it for selfish reasons, right? Doesn't make it any less valuable to the rest of us."

Ean only nodded.

"Say, you want that tea, sir? I can drink some of it first if you don't trust me. Perfectly understandable if you don't."

Scott smirked at Ean, who snorted.

"I don't like tea," Ean sighed.

It was a lie, but this guy probably knew that.

"I've got coffee, too. It's an unopened bag from a couple of towns from here if you want to see for yourself."

Ean frowned, but he nodded.

"Yeah, let's see it."

Scott seemed excited as he rushed to his backpack in the corner of the cabin. He dug around in his bag.

"I like traveling around," he said. "It's plenty dangerous out here, so I usually don't like traveling alone. Had to this time, though. My friend got sick, and I'm trying to find some medicine for him."

"What kind you need?" Ean asked.

"Antibiotics. He got a nasty cut, and we didn't get it cleaned enough, I guess."

"There's a place that makes that. Freefalls. It's Northwest of here."

And nowhere near his niece.

"Ah, great, great! Thanks, good to know! Thank you for telling me, man! I appreciate it."

Scott pulled out a bag of coffee, and he handed it to Ean. It was like the bags he used to get at the grocery store. He looked it over, and he found that it was untampered with, just like this guy said. The top was glued and intact.

"Don't see don’t see coffee much anymore," Ean said.

"Yeah, apparently it came from a shipment overseas."

"Overseas?"

"Yeah, like in South America. The Merged have pretty much died out in the ocean, so it's a lot safer than it used to be to travel back and forth."

"That's good to hear, and I missed coffee."

"Yeah, it's whole bean, so you'll have to use a grinder or something."

Ean nodded. He dug in his backpack to find his knife, and there was a cutting board in the cabinets of the cabin.

Ean tore open the bag, and he took in the smell of the coffee beans. It was one he was well familiar with. He poured what he hoped was about a tablespoon of beans onto the cutting board, and he used the side of his knife to crush the beans.

Ean took water from his bag, and after he took the time to wash the teapot, he set some water onto the small camping stove to boil. He wished he had the tools for pour-over tea, but he was going to have to live with cowboy coffee for now.

Ean held out the remaining coffee beans to Scott, but he shook his head.

"Nah, you keep it, I have a couple more. Besides, consider it a gift from me for all of the hard work you've done out here."

Ean never trusted people who gave "gifts" in this day and age. No one could afford to do that.

"No, I couldn't do that. I have some food in my backpack that you can have as payment."

"Please, I insist. My friend and I would be dead if not for you."

Yeah, Ean was going to let himself fall asleep around this guy.

He dug into his backpack again, and he stuck the coffee beans into a waterproof bag. There was not much, but he could at the very least introduce his niece to the wonders of coffee.

Scott was a chatter-box, and Ean found himself feeling his clothes to make sure they were drying. He wanted to leave this weirdo behind and never speak to him again.

The teapot whistled, and he poured the water and the coffee into his durable tin cup.

It was not the best coffee in the world that he had ever had, but it was still so much better than having no coffee at all.

"You like it?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, it's great"

"Awesome."

Scott continued to chat at him while Ean enjoyed his coffee. About ten minutes in, he felt his brain get foggy, and he grew tired.

Oh, so tired.