:Chemistry:

-6- Epsom Salt

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-6-
EPSOM SALT

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Darryl released his grip on his new friend's waist, not noticing the needy sigh of Zak, as the trio rode closer to the Hypixel base. Darryls eyes widened in surprise, realizing very quickly that the two strangers, one his new friend and the other, nothing of the sort, were from the glamourous and mysterious Hypixel.

He had heard rumors of Hypixel being a great place for survivors of the outbreak, but seeing as there were very few to no cases of people actually coming out and proving it to be true, he'd always thought they were lying.

There weren't any signs that exclaimed the name, but it was pretty obvious where he was.

They stopped at the tall metal gate, people above standing on a plate form overlooking below. Zak gave a handle signal and they slid the gate open, allowing them entry.

Entering the base, immediately there were horse stables to the left, and two of the three got off the horses.

Darryl, being a little worried to fall on his face, got assistance from Zak. The offer of a single hand to his own was enough reassurance for Darryl as he jumped off. Stumbling from the high fall, he leaned half his weight onto Zak who delicately repositioned his friend with a warm feeling growing in his ears. "Thank you." Zak grinned back sweetly as a silent 'your welcome', leading the horse to an empty stall.

Vincent and Rocco had already started walking ahead of them and the two ran to catch up. Unknowingly Interlocking their fingers together, they jogged.

Keeping an unconsciously tight hold of Zak's hand, Darryl stared around with big doe eyes, letting all of the new sights sink deep into his memory.

The homes inside the base were considered fairly beautiful compared to the outside world. It was like this whole community was it's own little universe, sheltered away from the chaotic beyond it.

Well clothed children ran around playing a game of tag or drawing with chalk on the sidewalk, creating rainbows and peace signs. Cats and dogs chased each other playfully in the overgrown and grassy front yards while various types of birds were watching humorously, enjoying the seed being given to them by the little old ladies.

It was almost like a dream.

So much purity and happiness in one place for this long was rare nowadays.

Darryl, Zak, and A6d reached the front of the house where Darryl assumed their injured friend stayed. It looked normal; a plain wooden fence surrounded the little grey house and stopped at the sidewalk. The front yard was wide open, dandelions littered the edges near the fencing and the grass was a little overgrown but not to a ugly extent. A small grey and white cat was perched on the windowsill from inside, it's huge green eyes staring back into Darryl's.

Rocco had gone off the moment he had seen the cat and went to a house Darryl wasn't yet familiar with down the street.

As they went up the creaking wooden steps, Darryl opened his mouth. "Cute cat. Is it yours...?" Darryl trailed off with his speech, trying to coax Vincent into sharing his name with him. Vincent turned the handle and layed a quick and uneasy glance at Darryl, who fired back with a sweet smile. "Yes, his name's Ian... my name's Vincent or A6d. Whichever you prefer."  Satisfied with getting the response he had wanted, Darryl nodded and the three went inside of the house.

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The air grew still when they stepped into the room. Darryl looked at the person on the bed and cringed at how ill they looked. He could tell the wound would be nasty without even looking at the cut. Rose sat up in her bed in confusion and A6d ran over to her, reassuring her she was okay. "W-what's going on?" She asked Vincent, then looked at Darryl.

Darryl was taken by surprise at how deep of a voice the women had, but brushed it off. "He's here to help you, Rose." Zak smiled softly to her, lightly punching Darryl's shoulder playfully.

Darryl gave a small smile, rolling his eyes, and walked to the left side of Rose's bed. A6D was on the right and Zak stood in the doorway, leaning on the wooden frame with a foot up. 

Everyone watched as Darryl lifted her infected leg up, and gave it a look. No pain arose until Darryl put pressure on it. "OUCH!" She gasped in discomfort, pus starting to trickle from the wound and Darryl looked up to her. "Did that hurt?"

"YES!? YES IT FUCKING DID!"

"Hey! Language. I barely put any pressure on it. This is really bad." Vincent, Rose, and Zak collectively got nervous from the news. They knew it was bad, but when a professional, like google for example, tells you that it's bad, it raises even more concern.

Darryl, with little disgust in his eyes — as he was used to seeing worse things during practice experiments with his classmates —, looked up from inspecting how the pus spilled out. "Do any of you have doxycycline with you?"

The room went silent; Darryl looking to Vincent, Vincent looking to Zak, Zak looking to Darryl, and Rose looking everywhere her eyes would take her.

Rose was the first to speak up about the confusion. "Doxy what now?"

More silence followed in the room as Darryl waited to see if anyone else knew. When there was no response, he sighed. "I'll take that as a no. Alright, I'll just use..." Darryl rummaged in his bag, looking for something in particular. "No... not this either... Ah HA!" He took out a little bag of something crystalline, and zipped up his bag. "What's that? Meth?" Zak jokingly questioned, intrigued by what was so special about the contents.

Darryl choked on air and shot Zak a look. "What? N-No. It's epsom salt." Darryl rolled his eyes in amusement and took a small bottle of water and a clean rag from his bag as well. He opened the screw of the lukewarm water bottle and sprinkled what he presumed to be two tablespoons of salt inside. Shaking it till dissolved, Darryl grabbed the rag and soaked it in the solution created.

"Salt? What's salt gonna do?" Zak asks and Vincent joins in on the questioning "Have you never heard the saying 'don't rub salt in the wound'?"

Darryl determines whether he should explain the compound structures and how the salt isn't actual salt, but decides there's no point, and looks off to the side in defeat. "You'll figure it out eventually." The three shrug the suspension off, allowing the scientist to take a breath of fresh air. He continues with his work, obtaining a few grunt of pain, soon turning to relief from his patient after covering the wound with the damp rag.

Zak becomes bored just standing in one spot and watching, and grows eager with the idea of getting some action. He'd always had a problem with staying still for more than a select few minutes. It was a good trait in some cases, but in others, almost cost him his life multiple times. He never learned though.

"I'm gonna go, maybe outside the gates for a stroll or whatever." He was already halfway out the door when his French friend, A6d, questioned his whereabouts. "Where? Didn't you just go with me outside?"

Zak pushed up his lips and narrowed his eyes at his friend, questioning him of his own. "I know I did, but that walk was cut short..." Zak trailed off, giving a quick glance to his new friend's direction, who was currently looking down, too busy tending to Rose's wounds to notice the gaze on top of him. "Plus, that was for you! I'm going for me this time."

Vincent gave Zak a look full of skepticism, his right eyebrow was prominently raised high above the left, and his eyes squinted. Zak groaned at his friend's unneeded worrying and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just bored." Vincent nodded, finally letting him free and Zak sped out of the room to avoid another interrogation.

Rose had witnessed the entire interaction and chuckled to herself, amused at how weird the two were. That amusement quickly changed to discomfort when another jolt of pain coursed through her leg.
"Ouch! Shit!"

"Language..." Darryl said, rolling his eyes in annoyance. In that time he had stopped focusing on his patient, and got to notice the disappearance of Zak. His heart ached for a split second but just as swiftly he shook the feeling off.

To Darryl, there was no reason in the world to feel so disappointed. They'd only just met after all.

But why did he miss him already?

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End of ch. 6