Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

-`.’-

Hard Land

-`.’-

Guess it’s my turn...

This was the first thought when he was randomly chosen to partake in the ‘special training’, or so they said. He didn’t really know what to expect, but he knew whatever this was for, it was going to be better than sticking around in a cage for the rest of his life. He and his friends had all assumed something was going on when one by one they began to disappear from their prison.

Rumors of others were also being spread, experiments like them! They were all being subjected to whatever the training was for as well. He had never met one, as curious as he was. Not that he could anyways, they were always very careful about keeping his kind separated. He had hoped the training would mean he’d be able to meet one.

Unfortunately the training carried over that limitation. He was still isolated, but he did manage to find out what happened to O-586, a fairly good cage mate. By some stroke of luck, he and his friend were able to train together...for a short time anyways. No explanation or reason, just that they were gone after a session.

“I’ll wait for now, you should go,” were the last words he heard before stepping off that platform...

He did have a grim look the last time he saw him too, and now he knew why; the following weeks were genuine hell. They had his arms torn, legs shredded and broken, paws stabbed and dislocated, inflicted with infections with their machines. His own training from then on, alone, with no one else replacing, was a grueling repeat of all these strange ‘what if’ scenarios.

As if he needed to know how to handle just about anything if faced with a sudden life-threatening injury or situation. It was horrific, and they threatened if he tried anything to stop them from commencing these tests... They would euthanize via the chip installed in his head. Well he knew better than to challenge them, they had the means to do so even without it, he’s seen it with his own eyes...

F-920... TH-105...

Awful.

But as horrific as it was, surely there was a light at the end of the tunnel, right? The fact they were teaching him all these techniques, making him use restricted medicine on himself instead of some machine, teaching him how to make things out of ordinary material. It’s all got to mean something, right?

Right...?

Well, what’s done is done. Here he sat, against the cool metallic wall of his lifepod, hurling to...somewhere. It was more like being in another tube, the shape was familiar anyhow, just more spacious.

And the debrief he was given was all but a three word command:

“Retrieve experimental technology.”

That was it, nothing else attached to it. No pictures, no indication of what this tech would look like. Not even anything about where he was going. Just a cold, harsh, singular command.

“The chip is set to euthanize if you stray from your mission.”

It was...one of the first things they did when he was chosen for the training. He remembered it clearly, the sound it made... That high pitched whine... The immediate lack of awareness...

He whined and placed a paw on his forehead.

But it had proved useful for the training. He didn’t understand it at first, much less know how he could see something in his mind. It was so easy too, he just thought of a screen and it was like a clear vision in his head. Numbers and symbols that represent him, his entire being, even his name, 64117, or S-117 for short. What wasn’t easy was understanding what all those funny looking symbols meant.

But he was very much aware that if some of these numbers go down, or even up, it was a bad thing. He shivered reactively from a painful test, trailing his paw down to his curved snout. The number had clearly gone up when more pain was applied, so he knew never to see it go up at all if he could avoid it. Some symbols seem self explanatory thankfully, his thirst and hunger for example. Already they were slightly dropped just sitting here.

He huffed a quick sigh, the oranges in his eyes shimmering from the singular light source this pod had. He removed his paw, glancing at it, thinking of that screen. The numbers read 100, of course, in perfect condition. He flexed it, stretching out each digit that ended with a very sharp claw.

“You may encounter hostile lifeforms.”

The words echo in yet another memory of a test, if only briefly. He didn’t actually fight anything in the training, just stationary dummies. Still, he didn’t even think about it until just now, then promptly felt stupid. Of course there would be some dangers.

Another huff, and he let his black furred arm fall to his equally black furred side. He leaned his head against the wall, some of the protruding spikes and ears spreading, eyes trailing to a window to the outside world. At first he was mesmerized, but it had been over an hour or so at this point. It was pretty though, he had never seen such pretty lights before, it made him happy.

Still did, as he cracked a small smile at the beauty. He hoped this would be the first of many amazing sights he’ll encounter when he gets to wherever he was being sent to.

He didn’t have to wait too much longer though.

“On approach.”

His head snapped to attention, he had no idea what that meant but it came from the pod itself, something was happening. He quickly stood up, tail at attention, the fluff at the end giving out an orange luminescent glow. He quickly got to the window to see if the answer was there.

He saw something massive! He gasped and barked multiple times in surprise. Was this the place he was going to!? The pod seemed to answer this question as it shook a little. Mildly concerning, but he was much more excited to see that he was going somewhere huge!

The wondrous sights, he imagined many more beautiful lights, maybe clusters of them! Perhaps he could even touch them, get a feel for their beauty! His tail wagged excitedly at the idea, swishing around from the sheer glee.

“Entering atmospheric pressure.”

His head snapped again, twisting around to see the source of the pod’s voice, another statement he had no clue about. Suddenly the shakes got a lot worse and he was knocked to the harsh ground with a quick yelp.

What?

The pod immediately lit up, a bright orange hue had engulfed the window. He backed away, his long legs scampering from the new unknown source. This was not in his training.

“Stabilizing...”

The shaking subsided a little, but he could feel the vibrations around him. He whimpered, scared that something wrong happened, or if he did something wrong. He hugged onto himself, pulling in his legs and bracing himself for whatever terrible thing was going to happen. How typical, even away from them, they found a way to punish him for being noisy and curious. He clamped his eyes shut, not wanting to see the bad.

Stupid stupid stupid...

...

“Final approach.”

...

...He peeked, his pod was still very bright and the vibrations didn’t stop, but...nothing bad, yet. He dared not get up though, he would just trip again probably. Strangely the bright light was beginning to dim after another few long moments. His eyes were glued to it, a blue hue this time at the window, mixed with the orange that pulsed. Soon the orange dissipated and he could only see the blue hue. Some of the lights earlier too, only a lot more faded and not nearly as much.

BOOM!

With a loud shout he shut his eyes, the pod violently shook as a thunderous noise reverberated around!

...

“Success, retrieve experimental technology,” the same, harsh, hollow, monotone command echoed.

Quickly, he picked himself up and stood at attention, ready to follow the order. No thought, only a visceral instinct to comply. He waited for more commands, staring at where he thought the voice came from.

...

Nothing...

He blinked, slowly realizing this was it. He was here, wherever ‘here’ was. The window still showed the blue hue, but now there were other shapes. Structures and land as far as the eye could see. A good amount too, almost like...

“What is this...” he softly said to himself. Ears drooped as a new set of fear took over. Surely this was a dream? There’s no way that...

He went to the hatch, a beep sounded, and the pod doors parted to reveal what made his heart sink.

“No...”

He felt his legs get weak. He took a paw to his muzzle and uttered a frail whimper at the carnage. There must be hundreds of pods, all scattered around the flat, rocky terrain riddled with holes. Very deep holes at that, they may as well be black abyss’. Not only that, but around some of the pods, some looking like they’ve been there for an awful long time, were bodies.

His friends...

With another frail whimper, he slowly climbed out of the pod and examined the nearest one which had been pushed from his own pod’s landing. It was one of his own, lifeless, face down, and with obvious signs of being devoured.

Missing a leg, some of the spikes chewed off, the dry yellow blood stained the clumps of fur still stuck on. It smelled horrible. This body had been here for a while.

“Oh... Oh...”

He grabbed his stomach feeling extremely nauseous. He was going to hurl! He twisted away and heavily heaved at the cold, rocky surface.

“Calm yourself... Calm yourself...”

He walked away with tears in his eyes. Spluttering and coughing, trying his best not to vomit. His vision became dazed just as he came back to his pod to lean against. Then took heavy, shaky breaths in an attempt to get rid of this...nightmare.

“What... What happened here?”

He placed a paw back to his muzzle, groaning with his breaths. He didn’t understand, how...why were there bodies? What happened? How many did they send to this place? Why...why was...?

“O-586!” he exclaimed, much louder than he intended. A crazed thought swept through, he must be here. He must!

He gazed back and scanned the horizon for any clues for...anything. All the pods looked the same, how the hell was he supposed to know which one his friend came in!? He ran to a nearby pod, the hull was rusted out but he could see a light through a window. The hatch was closed shut. Didn’t matter, the window was there.

Nothing...

“O-586!?” he shouted as loud as he could. He reared back, twisting in all directions, trying his best to ignore death. “O-586!?”

Nothing again, just the soft breeze of the wind that whistled from the abyss. He climbed down and ran to another pod, this one sporting an amputated, white furred arm. He passed it and hopped on the window. The inside of the damaged pod was a mess and the light had long ran out. Completely void of anything.

He repeated this, tripping on rocks and desperately hoping someone, anyone would answer his call. With each check, from rusted to badly damaged, he found nothing but a broken, shattered reality. Until finally, looking at yet another empty pod, he had come to understand.

Guess it’s my turn...

His posture dropped and slowly he shifted back from where he came. His gaze... defeated... stared at the bodies again, the ones that were still whole and intact that is. He passed by a white furred creature propped against a rock, this one wasn’t too damaged besides the beginning stages of decomposition. Their black and blue glassy eyes looked at the giant hole nearby.

He stared for a good minute. This was one of the others, they definitely looked different. Not that it mattered, this wasn’t what he wanted. This wasn’t how he imagined he would meet one. He reached out a paw, twisting the head to the side in a futile hope that they would wake up.

Next to them was a syringe with a label in clear black letters.

‘Fentanyl.’

He stared at it too for a long while. He had never seen this medicine before. This was probably what killed them. Too bad the contents were empty, this poor soul had used all of it up. He took and shook it to confirm as such before tossing it away to the wind.

“What do I do?”

He sat down next to the corpse. Did he get thrown away? Was he a failed attempt before it started?

“What didn’t I do?”

He grabbed his head. Legs curled to his chest.

“What didn’t my friends do?”

The gripped hardened, his claws pricked underneath the fur.

“What do I do?”

He played out his training, there was no answer to this. They didn’t cover whatever the fuck this was. They never said they would send hundreds of his kind here. They never...

“What do I do?”

Over and over he repeated this question, each one getting wimpy and hoarse. What an idiot, thinking this was going to be a way out from this shitty life. This was the end, they sent him to die. He should just...curl up into a ball and end this. His forehead hit his knees and he let it out. His tears silently flowed through knowing he was next.

“It’s my turn...”

It was his turn.

“It’s my turn...”

He deserved this.

“It’s my turn...”

...

Quietly he got up, slowly going to the hole his new friend stared off to. Everything had gone silent, he knew what he had to do. It was so simple...

It was his turn.

This is my fate.

To the side of his eye, his mind, whatever... that screen, that stupid piece of shit in his head. It was blinking red.

“Fuck you...”

He got to the lip of the hole, paw scraping at a few pebbles to kick. He watched them fall in, bouncing and cracking before disappearing. Surprisingly it wasn’t a huge drop, only extremely dark. Jumping here wouldn’t work. A different hole that was deeper was preferable.

He was about to turn when suddenly he felt a tremor. Sort of like the vibration when he was in his pod.

“Oh what now!?” he cried out. Did he do something wrong again!? Did they know!? Was he supposed to not feel this way!?

“Fuck you!”

Answering in kind, the tremors got worse. The ground quaked, the nearby corpse shook, and it seemed like the entire place was wiggling. He couldn’t keep his balance, he fell to the side and almost slipped at the lip. He yelped in confusion as the tremors grew stronger.

Massive rock formations in the distance crumbled, one outright collapsing onto itself in a dust cloud. The ground around the hole cracked as pieces fell in large chunks. Some of the pods that were near the holes fell in with a noisy tumble.

“Shit-shit-shit!”

Seeing the destruction, his fight or flight instincts kicked in full gear. He wanted to get up and run from the danger. He couldn’t, the shaking was getting to the point his entire body was bouncing around. Then the ground around him started to crack.

“Shit-shit-SHIT!”

He raised his paw and clawed at the solid gravel beneath. A dull pain jolted, but he needed to get out of here. He began to pull himself with all his might, arms, legs, everything. The cracks grew, circling around him.

Come on, come on!

He crawled towards the corpse, they were just over the crack. He needed to get past it, next to his friend. He wasn’t ready to die actually, not like this!

“Just...a little...”

BANG!

He screamed as a loud explosion came from his immediate left followed by a terrible ringing in his ears. He had no time to see what happened, the ground beneath him gave way and he felt himself fall. He could only look up to the corpse.

Was it smirking?

His mind raced in an extreme panic. The last thing he tried to do was reach out to anything to break the fall. He was met with an audible crack, intense pain on his left arm, and then spinning out of control as his leg caught a cliff. It all ended when he landed on his left side, head smacking to the ground with a thunk!

The world was spinning around. He couldn’t move, but was still being thrown about. The entire cavern was shaking. His vision became faint with the ringing of his ears muffling everything. He couldn’t stay alert.

This was it.

He invoked the screen, he could hear his own heart rate beating like a drum despite the ringing. Some of the numbers were blinking red, he couldn’t make sense of it. He couldn’t even try, the screen was fading away too.

Guess it’s my turn...

Chapter Text

-`.’-

Better Days

-`.’-

The doors opened swiftly after a chime. He felt the cold tip of a barrel at his back. This didn’t phase him, instead he just walked right through without much thought or threat.

It was after hours, he had been relocated to a private cell once the guards came in during the designated sleep time. His friends knew he was going to be just another one. The ones paying attention anyways, the guards weren’t the quietest bunch when they snuck in, not that they tried. He had been chosen, that’s what his caregiver said.

They were the only person in a coat that cared a little bit. They asked the guards to leave even and the person gave him a pet on the head. He didn’t really feel anything though about it, but it was definitely a new thing. That was before they also told him this would be the last time they would see him.

As different of a gesture that was, it did make him feel better about being taken. Not as good when he saw another friend in the room he had been escorted to, and they were very familiar with them! He could hardly keep his tail from doing its thing when they walked him in.

He waited for the coast to clear. The guards exited with a small beep from the door and he instantly did a series of motions with his paws. First pointing to his eyes and then opening and closing his paw.

His smiling friend, sitting in the corner on the cold tiled floor, shook his head. “No cameras, no trackers.”

He beamed with an impulse to run over and give them a hug! Nono, can’t do that; that was against the code. Instead he emitted a slight whine and an uncharacteristic giggle. Goodness, how long has it been since he was this happy?

“Thank fuck.” He let out in between the giggles.

His friend’s smile grew at that and they couldn’t help it either. They joined with the giggling except theirs were more laughter than the tiny ‘heheh’s’ he was making. The chorus grew louder before he could contain it. His giggles turned to high pitch wheezing as he found his friend’s laughter just as contagious.

They shared this moment. This immaculate, wonderfully, random moment. His chest was pumping, pumping with joy at being reunited with one of his good friends! However he had to stop himself, his chest started to hurt from the amount of wheezing he was doing.

“Okay, okay, hold on, heeeheee, heee....haaa....hooooooo...”

They both eased up, taking deep breaths to calm down. When all was finished, they simply stared at one another

...

Both contorted their snouts before snorting, and almost went right back to the laughing trap!

“This is unbelievable, you’re here, with me!?” he exclaimed. His tail was wagging profusely, it was hitting against the wall with a heavy thump. Who cares, the code be damned, if they were no longer being watched, he could make his tail wag as fast as he wanted to!

Even if he couldn’t control it, but that's besides the point.

His friend, however, did not have his tail wagging. Laughing as they did, it seemed they had better control of their emotions. They always did, being one of the more calm and collected friends he knew. When they were removed from the cage, just about everyone was in an agreement that it was definitely because of that trait.

“Yeah, I’ve been here for a while now too. Don’t know what they’re trying but they’re definitely training me for something big.” His friend casually put two arms up behind his head and leaned back in their corner. “You’ll see, I’m sure.”

“How do you figure?” His brows raised, that seemed highly doubtful.

His friend shifted his eyes away before staring back with a hearty chuckle. “Got a feeling, call it intuition.”

He hummed, he realized he had been standing like an idiot. He should join his friend near the corner. “Is it painful?” he asked before sliding down right next to them. “Are these going to be like those tests?”

They took a paw and shook it. “Meh, more involved but....yeah, there’s...some...”

“Great.” He pulled his legs in, he always found it so comforting to curl like this. A natural instinct he felt. “Well that sours the mood a bit, doesn't it?”

“Could be worse, you know that.”

“...Yeah.”

And just like that, the wave of happiness that washed over him dissipated like the water he was served. Perhaps this is better though, they were ‘training’ them.

“Are there others in here?” he asked, making a sidelong glance. “Not just us, but, the ‘others’, y’know?”

“No, haven’t seen anyone else besides the...” He had extended his paw and extended each digit as he listed off, ”... guards, the people in coats, and I think a caregiver? As far as I could tell, I’m the only one doing this.”

“So FI-200 isn’t here...” he sighed. They were another good friend, and it felt like a couple months had passed with no sign of them. He had already feared the worst.

“...Yeah, sorry.”

They sat in silence, he prayed for them silently. “Sorry, didn’t mean to lower the mood further.”

“Completely understandable,” he was quick to comment. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Trying, believe me.” He let out a chuckle afterwards, his friend also did this constantly when he got down. “I’m just so glad to see you.”

His friend hummed, turning his head away as they gazed off to the opposite wall. It seemed they were troubled with something. Maybe they were also praying for FI-200.

“You should sleep, they're going to put something in your head after sleep time.”

“What!?” He cranked his neck to a hard left at that response. “Like...in my ‘HEAD’ head!?”

His friend grimaced. “Yeah, that’s what they did to me first day. I won’t lie, that broke me for a moment.”

His friend, broken!? No way, not in a million years. The calm, cool, collected O-586... Broken!? He was so shocked by that alone he, very temporarily, forgot this was going to happen to him!

His friend caught his audible gasp. He raised a paw and said, “That was me getting blindsided. I think I would’ve been more prepared if I knew what was coming.” He twisted his head and gave a smile. “So...try not to worry too much. It’s definitely the worst thing about all this, but trust me when I say nothing beats it here.” He extended his paw up and waved slowly through the air. “Smoo-ooth sailing afterwards.”

That still didn’t sound reassuring, but damn his friend for trying to ease, he still cracked a smile at the exaggerated expression. “Okay, this has to hurt a lot then.”

“Actually no,” his friend chuckled. “You’ll feel nothing.”

He didn’t feel convinced. “Promise?”

His friend hesitated before stuttering out, “I, uh, I don’t think I can. I guess I should’ve said ‘I’ didn’t feel anything, yeah.”

“...Sounds... ...promising, can’t wait.”

...His friend placed a paw on his leg. “Hey, you got me to talk through it. Everything is going to be okay.”

Everything is going to be okay.

Everything is going to be-

-`.’-

“-Okay. Everything... is going to be... okay.”

The words sounded so distant. Yet, close at the same time. He tried to move, but couldn’t. Something was pushing him down which quickly subsided. He tried again, but an aching pain stopped him in his tracks.

My arm...

“You’re... wake up...”

Who was that, it sounded so familiar. His eyes opened and he was met with a flashing bright light. He growled at it from the hurtful blind.

“Hello...?” he strained. “I’m here...”

Fuck, what was happening?

...He heard a deep sigh of relief followed by a set of airy laughter. “Haha... Thank... Thank fuck...”

Was that, yes, it was! His friend, oh it had been ages! He didn’t care what was going on or that everything felt like molasses. He struggled to sit upright with just the one arm that didn’t hurt, feeling a prickle everywhere on him.

“O-586!” he barked as loud as he could.

...

He shook his head a little in a weak attempt to clear the mind numbing sensation. It worked a little bit, he could finally see he was in some enclosed space. Was he in his pod? But...didn’t he leave and then...fall...in a...

“I’m sorry, I’m not them...” a clearer voice said to his left. He slowly twisted his body to see that it was another one of his own. He had no idea who this friend was though. Even if his kind all appeared the same, this friend’s scent was a mystery. They appeared sad. “I found you unconscious when the earthquake happened.”

An earthquake? Is that what that was? He had never experienced one. Another piece of critical information not provided in his so-called ‘training’. He tried to move his left arm again and growled harshly from the pain. “Fuck!” He placed his other arm on the tender limb.

His friend didn’t respond to the reaction, they merely stood by with the most concerning look. Frankly it made him angrier, it wasn’t who he thought it was. “You were in pretty bad shape, but it’s been forever since someone last came from the sky.”

He stopped tending to the pain upon those words. He gazed at the friend with a raised brow.

Last came...from the sky? The hell is the ‘sky’?

His friend flinched from his tense stare. “That’s right, you’re new here, sorry.”

...He didn’t understand. Those pods, the bodies? New? That white furred creature popped in his head. That was a fairly fresh body, wait...

“How long was I out?” he asked calmly.

They eased up. “Um, maybe half a day’s worth?”

He contemplated for a second. “Are you sure I’m a recent, uh... sky visitor?”

They nodded.

He didn’t think they would lie about this, why would they? With a sigh, he placed his right paw back down and looked around the pod. It wasn’t exactly pristine like the one he came in. It wasn’t run down either, just a few scratches here and there. Around the walls lay scattered tools and knickknacks. Pieces of scrap in one corner while the other corner had stacks of what appeared to be large tablets with paper.

It was also when he realized he had been sitting on some kind of soft surface. It was black and spongy, nothing like the metal flooring his pod had. Though the corner with the tomes and the hatch still had what little remained of the plating.

“How long have you been here?” he asked finally.

His friend went silent and sniffed. “I’m at six months...”

“What!?” he cried with both his voice and mind causing his friend to jump. Six months!? When did this training thing begin!?

“Y-yeah, and I know what you’re wondering. Was my mission the same?”

He nodded, that was what he was going to ask next.

They relaxed again and nodded back. “It is, everyone that I’ve met, it’s the same thing, get some kind of technology.”

“Experimental technology, yeah,” he corrected. His eyes went to the window, he couldn’t see anything out of it. Was he back up with all the other pods? Did he miss that one somehow? “...That’s all I was told.”

“With nothing to go off of?” they asked on a slight approach.

“With nothing to go off of,” he repeated, turning his head back to them. “I thought it would be obvious when I got here.”

“You, me, and everyone else.” They gently crouched down and placed a paw on his tender arm. “I was in the process of relocating this when I saw you were breathing normal.” They gripped it gently, not hard enough for him to flinch just yet. “Please allow me.”

It was then he thought of the screen and, yep, clear as day he gazed at his arm and the numbers were flashing red. “No, I can do it, I’ve...been trained to fix this.”

“Really?” they asked in slight shock.

He gave him a curious gaze at that. “Yeah, they had me train for when something like this happened.” He pushed his friend’s paw out of the way and proceeded to lift it themself. This was one of the few tricks that didn’t hurt that much thankfully. He applied pressure to a joint and slowly extended the arm. Afterwards he slid off the joint and pulled it back, making the forearm hit the upper and squeezing it gently.

With a quick move, and feeling some slight soreness, it was good as new. The screen even showcased that as well as he bent it back and forth, though some of the numbers were low. He’s sure it’ll be fine, only time will heal it now.

His friend looked at him in a slight astonishment. “That took me weeks to get down.” They smiled. “What other things did the humans train you for?”

Humans?

“A lot of things, mostly how to fix myself if something should happen.” He smiled back, it was nice to see a friend happy. Already the disappointment of them not being who they wanted them to be faded. “Are they called humans?”

“Oh, yeah, one moment.” They got up and went to the stack of tomes to slide a paw at their spines, reading each one by one.

He took this chance to look himself over. The screen said things were fine but he still wanted to check. His left arm, fixed, did have some bandages wrapped around near his elbow. The right arm was completely fine, as were his legs and torso.

“Ah, here.”

They came back with a tome with a strange image and some words on it. ‘The Decline and Fall of Humanity’, how...curious.

“This place is like a giant junkyard full of human stuff. Like these books.” He kneeled and flipped open the ‘book’ and went to a piece of paper stuck in it.

“It’s them...” The image was clear, it was one of them in a coat. Underneath the image was a series of words saying this was some kind professor, an ‘Alex’ whatever that meant. He mused over it for a moment still not understanding what this exactly meant. “They made this place then?”

They shook their head with the same smile. “No, we’re on a planet, like Earth!” ...When he gave them a confused look at that, they quickly stuttered with a nervous chuckle, “Oh, uh, I read that in this book here too, sorry.”

He hummed, finally picking himself off the spongy material. “Well thank you for saving me. I need to head off.”

His friend gasped. “What, but you just woke up!” They got up and quickly went to the hatch. “You should rest, this planet is dangerous.”

“I’m aware.” Are they trying to block me? “I need to find my friend.”

“Oh, uh, um.” They shifted around, their demeanor completely changed. They gripped at their arm with a paw. “I-I don’t think y-you’ll find them.”

Something felt off. “Why’s that?” What was with the shifty treatment suddenly?

“Um, they, uh... uh...” Their eyes trailed up to the fluorescent lightbulb.

He followed and realized the light was still working after they claimed to be here for six months. The desolate pods flashed in his mind and most of them had their lights off. He blinked in confusion as he felt a wave of unease. “Have you really been here for six months?”

“Y-yeah, that’s right, and uh... uh- heheh... ah...” they had a bit of a crazed look in their eyes before they twisted around and whimpered.

Even more unsettled, he tip-toed to the pile of scraps. He eyed them cautiously, seeing if there was anything he could use to defend himself with. “Are you...alright?” He didn’t know how to ask in a nice way.

“It’s been so long...” he heard them mumble as their ears drooped. “Please... d-don’t leave.”

Oh, so that’s what it was. He lowered his guard as he sighed. “I get it, really.”

“N-no... you haven’t a fucking clue...” they growled out snapping their neck in an angry sidelong sneer. They had been crying, the tears were angrily damping his cheeks. “Everyone that I’ve met is dead!” He twisted back around, visibly shaking. “Everyone!” he barked.

He stepped back, putting his paws up. Holy shit, he’s broken I think. “I didn’t mean to make you upset.” He backed to a tool that made him almost trip. His back slapped the wall with a slight grunt. “So...you’re saying my friend is dead too?” He didn’t mean to ask it so casually, but his intention at the moment was not to make this friend do something stupid.

Like he almost did...

They growled and heaved for a solid moment. Slowly they calmed, their expression turning to one he knew well. “No... I’ve... never met someone who told me that number...” They shifted their eyes away and put a paw back on their arm. “Honest... I... I-I’m sorry, you...” They turned to the side and walked over to the knickknacks. “...You can go. I’m just...” They twisted again and slid down the wall to sit. “So tired of being alone and seeing my friends die...”

“Hey, you got me to talk through it. Everything is going to be okay.”

Everything is going to be okay...

...The thoughts crossed his mind with such intensity that he almost gasped in surprise. They were so clear, like if they were right here with him to say this to his broken friend. They were sobbing openly, crying, defeated, just like when he got here.

...

His good friend could wait, they were calm and collected after all. If they faced the same thing he did when he arrived, they would’ve shaken it off.

The open crying echoed around the hollow pod, like a parasite.

With resolution, he approached the broken friend, ignoring the hatch that was freely there. “No, I’m sorry.” They didn’t budge, that’s fine. He got on one leg and kneeled forward. “I should’ve been aware you may have been broken.” They whimpered at the term, he knew he hit the nail. “My friend, they’re...resourceful. I’m sure they’re alright.”

“I’m s-serious... I-I haven’t met, hic, someone with that number...” they whimpered out.

The white furred creature flashed in his head again. The implication of his words and him not seeing someone new now rang in his head. Maybe they haven’t seen his good friend because they went somewhere else or... No, no more thinking about that. “I trust you, don’t worry.” He placed a paw at their shoulder, they were unfazed. “...You don’t have to be alone.”

That did it, they quickly gazed up with those sad eyes. A deep pleading set as they hiccupped again. “W-what?”

He didn’t know why, but he felt that urge to hug. It goes against the code, his body screamed at him to stop but something came over him. Without thinking too much about it, he extended forward, reached his arms out, and pulled the broken friend in. They felt warm, and they felt them trembling horribly. They seem to also be in shock as well since they were at a constant whimper now.

Then they hugged back, squeezing around his midsection in a tight embrace. They cried, hard. They didn’t hold it in like they were before. Their forehead went to his chest as they pressed against the fur with his snout. Their tail was motionless, but the ends still dimmed like his own. He could see the slight sheen off the dirty metal wall.

He and they stayed like this for a very long time. All the while, his thoughts were to his good friend, wherever they were. He also sent a prayer to the white furred friend, he understood what happened now. He couldn’t cry, not anymore. He’s going to be this broken friend’s pillar. He’ll honor the memory from this point forward.

I am... here for you... Everything is going to be okay.

Chapter Text

-`.’-

Ambiguity

-`.’-

Several hours had passed...maybe. He didn’t know, he wasn’t paying attention to the passage of time like he usually did back in the cage. Instead he had indulged himself in one of those ‘books’ his new friend had shown. Said friend was currently asleep, they had knocked out after the moment they shared. He didn’t mind, he figured they needed a rest.

He had picked something with the words ‘Animal Picture Dictionary’. It caught his eye merely due to the myriad of interesting looking images on the front. They had flipped through the papers and the book didn’t lie about the picture part. Each paper, front and back, had an image with words saying what he was looking at followed by a description.

Most notable were anything that may look like him. He came across some ‘dogs’, ‘foxes’, and ‘rats’. The rat one being one that really peaked his curiosity. There were strange ones too like ‘insect’ or ‘reptile’. Imagining seeing anything like those things made him glad they were just pictures.

As he scanned, he came across humans. They were also in this book, stating they were ‘mammal’ and ‘primate’. It was both fascinating and creepy at the same time. Humans cataloging themselves in this book seemed weird. He wondered if this book showed what he was. He had not a clue, he and his friends were never called anything besides experiments. He flipped through multiple papers for a bit in pure curiosity. ...Strangely, he got to the end and, no, nothing! His brow raised and he flipped through the book backwards. Nothing again, how strange.

Multiple times he did this. Back and forth, thinking that perhaps he was accidentally skipping a paper or two. None of the papers were too badly damaged that he could tell. He even stared at the number on the corners to make sure he wasn’t missing any. Upon the tenth time, he hummed and looked to his new sleeping friend. They must’ve looked through this too, maybe they knew something?

In any case, the distraction did him good. He placed the book down and invoked the screen again. He was feeling pretty hungry and the numbers didn’t lie. He didn’t see anything edible in this pod in his hundredth look around, or anything he could drink for that matter. He assumed they were outside the pod, but he’d rather not leave. Least not after he promised his new friend.

He didn’t want to intrude either on their friend’s sleep. A natural instinct, one he wished he didn’t have this instant. He could really go for that slop of a meal they give right about now. Drumming his digits to his lap, he decided his friend had enough rest. He got on his knees and crawled to them, taking a claw and poking gently at their side.

They immediately woke up and gasped, twisting and contorting their entire body, backing away hard against the metal wall. “Hey!” they yelped, hyperventilating.

He was so taken back by their reaction that he also skidded away against the wall, throwing the book against the pile making it almost tumble. His heart was racing as he too was breathing heavily from the scare. “Sorry!” he quickly apologized. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you that bad.”

They stared at one another for a moment before his friend relaxed and let out a cough. “I-it’s, okay...”

He huffed, grasping his chest as he felt his heart rate slow. “I wanted to ask you if you had anything to eat and drink.” He smiled softly. “If that’s not too much of a hassle that is.”

They let out a low whine as they eyed the hatch. “That’s... a bit complicated.”

He raised a brow. “Why?”

They hesitantly got up and went over to the hatch. “You’ll see...” They then pressed a button, whirring the hatch to life as it slid open to...

Where’s this?

His friend exited the pod, and he quickly followed suit in a bit of awe. Now he knew why he couldn’t see anything out of the window. They were in a massive cavern of sorts, filled with beautiful blue lights. It was also incredibly dim, with a lot of dark spots in the expanse. His eyes dilated in an attempt to see more. It was a pale comparison to the holes he had first encountered when the place was open. He could even see the ‘sky’ through the giant holes above.

“Whoa...” he whispered at the pretty sight. But he was confused, why was the food and water situation complicated? Something so beautiful should have plenty of these things, right? He stared at his friend that had gone to a large metallic container underneath what seemed to be makeshift blue lamps.

They opened it and they huffed profusely. “I... this is gonna be embarrassing, I...” They reached in and grabbed a series of containers. “...Well, um, I wasn’t expecting to see anyone else so—” They picked a canteen out and handed it over to him with a solemn gaze. “...I didn’t stock up for a bit, this is all I have...”

He took the rounded canteen and gently shook it to hear the content swish around. He frowned, he didn’t want to take his friend’s only water. “You sure?”

“Y-yeah, it’s fine...” They chuckled nervously, taking a paw to their arm, and looked away. “We can refill, there’s a watering hole nearby.”

That didn’t answer why it was still complicated. He gazed over the dim expanse with pursed lips. Images of all those bodies and pods entered his head for what seemed like the hundredth time already. Suddenly, he had a pretty good guess what the complication could be, even if he didn’t know exactly.

“What’s down there?” he asked finally after staring at the beautiful expanse once more.

“Traps, mostly,” they said simply. “There’s some grizzly things the humans threw away here. We— Uh —I cleared most of them since I’ve been here. There’s a lot of them though, many I couldn’t dismantle.”

He chuckled at that, it was kind of endearing they were already incorporating themself to his endeavors. “You can say ‘we’, I said I was sticking with you now, didn’t I?”

Once again they had glanced away, this time with a noticeable frown and slight whine. “Y-yeah, of course, sorry.”

He only stared for a moment at the odd reaction. Though he couldn’t blame them, he wouldn’t know how’d he act if he spent six months here. He grunted at the thought, making his friend stare back with a slight panic.

“S-sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

“Relax,” he growled out, annoyed at himself for causing another odd reaction. He turned back to the expanse, the lights were no longer as glamorous as they appeared. “So traps are down there, huh?”

His friend was silent for a few moments before answering back. “Yeah, some of them are in tricky spots too. We’ll need to be careful.”

He hummed, but soon smiled and turned his head back to his friend who was now sporting a curious expression. “That’s fine, we can handle it. I’m trained for this!” ...I think, he added to himself. It only made sense, these ‘traps’ may as well be what those did to him during the sessions.

Despite his own attempt at cheering up, it did little as they eyed the expanse. “I... I don’t know if I want to go down there right now.”

“You don’t have to, I’ll take care of it.”

His friend gasped and shook his head fiercely. “No, don’t you’ll... you’ll...”

...

“You trust me, right?” he asked after the silence. They knew he was trained for this, surely? He did show him he could fix himself after all! “I’ll be right back with plenty of food and water.”

His friend didn’t answer. Instead they turned to their pod and slowly shuffled back without a word. “I don’t know...” they mumbled as they clambered back in. They didn’t even close the hatch, they disappeared around the corner, presumably to their knickknacks.

This didn’t settle well with him, finding the gesture off-putting, he turned right back around and followed in. They had already gone to that same sad position they were in after that episode. He wanted to growl out at their defeatism, but he quickly reminded himself again they have been here for six months. Instead he took the canteen and placed it right in front of them.

Of course they didn’t respond. Their eyes were seemingly distant as they stared at the rubber flooring. He wanted to say something to make them feel better. Alas, he couldn’t think of anything about a promise to be back here. He could only imagine how many times they were told the same thing.

He looked back to the book he had gone through. Something to cheer them up. They liked these books, maybe...

“Hey, you’ve gone through this thing, right?” he asked, picking up the dictionary that had all the cool and strange pictures. Their defeated gaze trailed to his paw. “I was wondering about something.” He flipped open to where he found ‘rat’ at and pointed to the beady eyes of a black furred creature. “This thing.”

They lifted their head a bit to see. They stared at it motionless for a moment before shaking their head. “What about it?”

“They kind of look like us, right?” he asked. “This thing’s face anyways”

They blinked and tilted, they then eyed him curiously for a moment before going back to the image. “I don’t see it.”

“Maybe not the eyes or these funny looking furs, I don’t know, it kind of looks like us.” He sat down next to them with a bit of a bounce. “The shape of their head too.”

They continued their curious gaze, staring intently at the image. Finally after a minute, they shook their head again. “I really don’t know what you’re seeing.”

He hummed with a slight frown. Maybe it was just him, but...something about it just screamed. “That’s alright, I wanted to ask you something else about this thing anyways.”

They were still sullen, but at least they were paying attention to him now, that’s good.

He flipped to the page where it listed the human, the strange deadpan eyes glazed back through the image. It wasn’t anyone in a coat, but it still unnerved him. “Those coats have their own listed here, right?” Their friend nodded with a slowly growing confused brow. “How come we’re not in here?”

They blinked again with a dull glaze. “I would have to guess it’s because we’re experiments,” he said after a moment. “I’ve read in some others humans did all sorts of experiments on animals.”

“...So we’re ‘animals’ then?” he repeated, unsure of this new information. “Because if that’s the case, we should be in here too, right?” The thought of humans experimenting on themselves made him imagine all the horrible tests he went through.

Not that he ever saw a human being tested on back in his cage life, maybe they were kept away like the white furred creatures?

“I...guess that makes sense, yeah.” They pulled their legs in a hug. “...It’s funny.” they chuckled despite their eyes betraying the facade. “You sound like Pencil.” Before he could process what that meant, they gasped and clasped their paws around their muzzle and let out a huge whine. Their ears drooped to an extreme. “Oh f-fuck, uh — I, forget what I just said please.”

He reared a little at yet another negative reaction. Damn it, he didn’t mean to upset them again! Still, he was deeply interested in the phrasing. ‘You sound like Pencil’ made it feel as if they put a name on a group like the ‘Coats’ or the ‘Guards’. And judging from their friend’s reaction, it felt pretty obvious who a ‘Pencil’ was in this instance.

He never even considered calling anyone, or himself, something besides their number.

Just to confirm, he softly asked through their whining, “It was one of the friends you met, isn’t it?”

At this they began tearing up again and pressed their head against their legs as they sniffled.

Once again the mood was soured and it was because of him. He went back to the book. The human image disgusted him suddenly. He growled, wanting to rip it to shreds. He refrained though, because they probably cherished these books despite all the human shit in them. He slapped the paper to make it change to something random, he didn’t care.

He let them cry once more, what was he to do otherwise? What comfort could he possibly give to a grieving friend? Goodness, he probably would cry himself if he found out any of his good friends died, like O-586.

O-586...I really hope you weren’t a body I just didn’t recognize...

...In a last ditch effort, it had just crossed his mind, he wondered, “So what are you called?”

They continued to weep. He was about to drop it until they answered hesitantly with, “...R-Reader...”

He looked at the book. It had landed on something called ‘iguana’. The strange creature stared at an offscreen mystery with an uncaring stare. He didn’t know what a ‘pencil’ was exactly, was it like a pen but with a ‘cil’ on it? He knew what ‘reader’ meant, though. That...was sort of clever, he thought.

“You really like these books then, huh?” he tried saying in a lighthearted jest. When that didn’t work, he continued on. “That’s really cool, calling yourself something besides your number. Wish someone thought of that back in the cage.”

They sniffled again, turning their head to them as if he had said something weird. “Your cage never thought of it?”

He was taken back by how genuine that sounded. “No, not at all, we all said our numbers.” He then took notice they had said ‘your cage’. “Wait, what do you mean by that?”

They just stared before their eyes widened in damp realization. “So, you must be why you got trained then.”

...He clearly didn’t follow. Was there something else going on he wasn’t aware of?

“Before I got sent here, there was a rumor going around there was a special group of us even more isolated than anyone else. Like some super extreme experiments or something.”

He still didn’t follow, mostly. “I don’t feel very super or extreme.”

Reader seemed way more interested now. They twisted their body so they could face him with heavy astonishment. “Did your cage have ‘Social Time’ with others that didn’t look like us?”

His ears perked at that, the white furred creature! He shook his head immediately.

“So they’re real...” Their eyes brightened as they smiled wide. “You’re real!”

He was confused, why were they getting excited? He’s glad he was no longer down, but it did unnerve him that he was being gawked at as if he was a priceless artifact all of a sudden.

They reached out and grabbed his paw gently. Again, he had no idea what was coming over them, but he allowed the grab. “It all makes sense, you’re part of the cage that’s meant for this mission.”

Again, that did nothing to rectify the mass confusion he had. “Part of the cage?” he repeated.

They nodded in earnest, and if he didn’t know any better their tail was wagging just out of view. “Some of the other friends always said the caregivers were hinting at your cage. And if we were to ever meet one, we should trust them as they’ll lead us to freedom.”

Whoa whoa whoa, freedom!? He had never been told of anything like that, ever. What was Reader on about? He felt like he was being put under a weird psycho test or something with what he was being told. He would say they were talking nonsense, but that white furred creature again shone some truth to their words.

Freedom though? As if those coats would allow that!

“But in my training, no one ever mentioned seeing anyone else...” Or how this was a human junkyard. Or how exactly he was supposed to find this technology. Or how many of his friends were just dead here when he came...

...

What’s to say those coats purposely kept this from me too?

“Suppose I believe this, and I believe that you believe this, how am I suppose to do something like that?” He gave them a serious gaze, he truly had no clue how he would even start leading anyone to freedom.

“The training you got,” he said with the same enthusiasm. “You have a better chance getting to the technology!”

“I don’t even know what I’m looking for!” he countered in a raised bark. “I already told you that.” How the hell was that gonna help reach freedom!?

“Yes, but, oh man, I was worried for nothing!” They released their grip on his paw and hugged themselves with the happiest expression he had ever witnessed. Their eyes were closed, a big smile on their muzzle that almost barred their teeth, and their ears were perked the highest he’s ever witnessed them. “I trust you completely now, you’ll come back for me for sure, I know.” They reopened and, surprisingly, gave a hearty laugh. “I feel so stupid for thinking that was it when you said you’d come back with food and water.”

He appreciated Reader’s high enthusiasm suddenly, truly. But he was very annoyed at the same time about how he was supposed to do anything different. Or hearing from their muzzle that they didn’t actually trust him until this instant. “I made a promise, you won’t be alone, I intend to keep it.”

Despite his own annoyance, his voice clearly displeased as well, they were still pretty happy. “Right, should’ve realized when you said the humans trained you were special.”

He growled, taking a paw and slapping it at the soft cushion. Finally that made them jump as they scooted a little away with wide damp orange eyes. “I’m not special, and those coats certainly didn’t make me feel special, so stop saying that.” he sneered within his growl. He then picked himself off the rubber and huffed out a fierce breath with his eyes closed.

Calm down... Calm down...

When he reopened, Reader was stunned. He stood there for only a few seconds before turning to the hatch and approached. “Sorry, just, I’m nothing special, seriously.” He gave one last sidelong leer. “Okay?”

They still appeared stun. They did nod however, good. He began to climb out until suddenly he heard them get up as well. He twisted his body to see a new look. Determined with a fierce set of eyes. They had picked up the canteen he had almost forgotten about. They had extended a paw to them with it.

“You’ll need this,” they said clearly. “You must be thirstier than I am.”

He was going to decline again, but they were right. He did feel dehydrated and... he assumed they had taken a swig of something when he was out cold. He took the canteen gently with a nod. “You coming too or am I off alone?”

“Actually,” they started. They glanced to the wall as they made a whine but huffed it out. “If it’s okay, I’d like to leave this pod and travel with you.” Their eyes locked back to his with a type of resolution he knew all too well.

Amazing...

He smiled at that, beaming even. “You’ll be leaving behind all those books, y’know.”

“Yeah, I know, but, hold on, before we go, can we go back to the surface?”

Surface? He quickly parsed Reader probably meant wherever he started. Those pesky images again, he didn’t think he want to see it in real time so soon, but...

“Sure, but why?” he asked with a false set of calmness.

They sighed and whined again, gazing at the wall then to the knickknacks. They crouched and grabbed a piece of red cloth, or something to that effect. They wrapped it around their neck as quickly as they could, ending it where they knotted and pulled so the ends could drift off to their backside.

He was impressed, it made him remember when those coats marked them somehow. Except not as painful and doing it at their own accord.

Reader finished and turned back to him with the same set of determined, resolute eyes. “I wanna say goodbye to Pencil.”

-`.’-

This confirmed it, even before he climbed the last of the crumbled terrain. That white furred creature that kept haunting him was Reader’s good friend. He was almost certain during their meltdown. It was nice to know his intuition was still working.

It was a different hole than the one he fell from and not too far away either. The climb was thankfully easy, as if the gravel ledges were formed to make an easy ascent. With a grunt, the empty canteen wrapped around his shoulder, he pulled himself to the pale blue ‘sky’, Reader following shortly after.

It was just as catastrophic as he recalled. A few less pods scattered due to the earthquake, but the bodies remained. They had climbed out right next to a mangled corpse. He grimaced at the sight, telling himself this was only a visit and he’ll go straight back down and hopefully never see this horrible landscape ever again.

Reader however looked around slowly, taking in the scenery with the same resolute eyes. They scanned the horizon, spotting the hole that had the white furred creature. They motioned to follow, which he did in silence. When they almost reached, Reader let loose a whimper before they gripped tightly to the cloth around their neck. They called it a scarf, some kind of ‘fashion’ thing, he didn’t understand. But it was clear it was helping them keep their emotions in check as they got closer to the propped corpse.

They stopped in front, solemn eyes locking on to the glassy blue ones. They squeezed their scarf harder, he could see them almost choking at themself. “I’m...so so so SO sorry,” they said quickly.

He kept watch in silence. His cage had plenty of moments just like this, except without the body to pray to. He didn’t know if the presence of the body made it more acceptable, he couldn’t imagine doing this to a good friend in person. But...if he had a choice, he would probably want it like this, see them face to face one final time.

It felt right. Just another thing those coats took away from them.

He expected Reader to weep once more. They were trembling as they kept repeating their apologies. He wanted to know what for. But...perhaps this is something he shouldn’t know, it felt incredibly personal to them. He wouldn’t ask until they mention it, if at all.

And he was okay with that.

This kept up for a few minutes, with apologies and silent prayers. Eventually they took in a deep breath and one final tug of the scarf before letting their arms fall to the sides. “Okay, I’m...ready.”

“You sure?” He absolutely didn’t want them to break again any time soon if he could help it. “We can stay here as long as you’d like, it’s no problem.”

Despite me hating it here.

They seem to consider it briefly before shaking their head. “Yeah...yeah, we should...go.”

He nodded and motioned to them to follow back to the hole. They walked in silence with him leading. He did contemplate if they should search this area more thoroughly since he didn’t have a clear head the first time. No, he assumed all the other friends did the same thing and, most likely, scavenged all there was to get.

Didn’t even bother asking Reader. They, Pencil, and who knows how many more were here way before he was. Reader’s story and the rotted out bodies made that clear. This spot was picked clean. The only way they would gather more resources and, ultimately, this technology was in the large expansive cave.

That reminded him too. Reader, Pencil, all those names in that dictionary. He felt he should be called something, but what?

“Rat...” he mumbled to himself at the lip of the hole.

Reader went next to them and gave a curious head tilt. “Rat?”

...

“You can call me Rat,” he said finally, grinning to himself at how liberating that felt. “That okay?”

They blinked before contorting their snout into a snort and giggling like an idiot. They giggled harder than he believed he ever did back in the cage. He was bemused and charmed.

“You like that picture then, huh?” they asked finally in between giggles.

He didn’t know if he was being mocked. He didn’t care at all, he had a name. A real, genuine name. He was no longer his number, he was ‘Rat’!

With a liberating nod, he proudly stood straight and confirmed, “Yeah, I am Rat!”

Chapter Text

-`.’-

Nothing But Gravel

-`.’-

“Wow, this...has got the best thing I’ve eaten.”

Rat was in a literal happy place when Reader showed them a plant-like thing that sprouted from one of the patches of earthly ground. The taste, the texture, the juice, it melted in his muzzle with every bite! The urge to groan out in absolute bliss was hard to resist.

They had shortly returned to Reader's pod one final time to collect some of the tools and other curious items Rat glanced over. They had backpacks and a slew of empty canteens and bottles. He was kind of shocked to see all of this considering he assumed Reader had lived here all this time and hasn’t moved.

Six months is a long time, he kept telling himself that. It also made him question why Reader had barely a canteen of water left with all the storage they possess. Strange as it was, he didn’t really ask as they geared up for the unknown. Casualties had to be made for the books, but Reader did insist they carry something fun to pass time when they rested.

Personal belongings they cherished, that’s how they reasoned it out. He didn’t understand, but it seemed important. Much like that red scarf around their neck. They still tugged at it when they began their descent to whoever knows where. He wanted to ask so badly about the significance but he rather avoid another odd reaction from them.

Besides, they were on the upswing. After saying their goodbyes to Pencil, they’ve been humming along to a random series of noises with a smile on their muzzle. It actually sounded pleasant when they passed by several blue makeshift lamps that made up a trail. He presumed all of that was Reader’s doing, and Pencil of course.

But they had stopped at a site with many patches of dirt with at least a dozen of these plants growing. Right next to the grouping was a large shallow hole filled to the brim with water. It was also nicely lit, many of the holes at the ceiling seemed to beam down at the plants intentionally. If Rat wasn’t so focused on eating the delicacy currently lathering his tongue, he would be marveling at the comforting setup Reader had.

No wonder they lived here for six months, it was the perfect home away from home. Just mind the bodies...

Yes, in their short trek to this little slice of comfort, they had come across those traps Reader made mention of. None of them in the way or severely impeding their destination, but a reminder that they were in a grim and dangerous place. Reader pointed out each one as they came by. Pressure plates, landmines that were thankfully duds, spike traps where some had clear yellow stains, one that still had a body stuck on it even and horrible disfigured and long rotted, and barrels that made you sick apparently.

“Yeah, had a milky tell me those containers we should absolutely stay clear from, they... uh... well they got really sick and died a bit later after that.”

And if it wasn’t obvious by their statement, there were several bodies huddled by the container, none of them recognizable as they all seemed to have dissolved into a pulpy mess.

He had no clue what a ‘milky’ was, but it wasn’t that hard to deduce given Pencil’s fur. And he did feel a little unease on how easily they dismissed this friend, definitely wasn’t one of Reader’s good friends. Also the presentation of these bodies made him consider which was worse, here or on the surface?

Spend enough time here and the bodies probably wouldn't bother him either. Not once did Reader gag or flinch with any of the bodies they had come across. Which didn’t exactly make him feel confident that they placed such a high amount of trust just because he was trained. They seemed way more hardened and knowledgeable than he was.

Still, that thought was nowhere near him right now as he took another savory bite of this delicious piece of food. He tapped his paw in place as he took in more of that sweet sweet taste.

Reader was watching with a big smile of their own as they dug into their own piece. “Yeah, as you can see, we got extremely lucky.” They took another chunk off of the food piece with a satisfied growl. “Me and Pencil would’ve definitely been dead if not for these geofruits.”

A type of fruit, huh? That was considered a delicacy back in the cage. No wonder it tasted like a slice of savory wander. “I can see why you stayed here.”

“Yeah, we started a fun little business here too for the others.”

Business? Others?

He quickly gulped down the last of his bite and gave Reader a confused gaze. “I thought you said I was the first from the sky in a long time.”

“You are,” they quickly said after gulping a piece down themself. “But...it has been a while since we saw anyone come by our corner of the cave.” They frowned and sighed with a face of regret. They stared at their geofruit and shook their head.

Rat didn’t know what was wrong now, but he decided to take another gander at the expansive cave. He could still see the pathway to get back to the pod. There were other blue looking lamps that trailed off to multiple pathways that descended. Were all of them done by Reader, he wondered?

...Now he was really curious about Reader’s past here. He felt like he had no choice but to ask as he gazed back, “So what happened then?”

Reader clenched the fruit and reached for their scarf in another pull. “It doesn’t matter,” they growled suddenly. “They’re all dead...”

He didn’t like that. Reader knew this place way more than he did. Despite better judgement, he pushed with, “And I’m supposed to lead you to freedom when you clearly know what’s going on here?”

They growled and pulled at their scarf once more. “It’s not my fault...” they seethed.

What?

“What’s not your fault?” Genuinely he felt confused by that statement. “Please tell me what’s going on. It’ll give us a better chance to get to this technology thing.”

They whimpered and suddenly the fruit in their grip almost exploded as their claws ripped into it. They twisted away and threw the mauled fruit to the ground where it bled an almost blueish fluid. They hugged to themselves as they shivered and whimpered several more times.

Rat sighed silently. There was more to this broken problem than the death of Pencil. He looked at the discarded fruit and felt a bit of pity. “I just want to understand, please don’t get angry.”

They shook in place and nodded. “Y-yeah, I know. It’s just... really hard to talk about it.” They sniffled and gave a sidelong teary glance with a grin. “Please be patient with me, I’ll...uh— You’re right.”

They turned back around and tugged at the scarf. They closed their eyes and took a deep breath. They locked their eyes open with that resolute expression from before. “All those pods on the surface? There used to be far less.”

He already assumed as such, but he let them continue with his ears perked.

“When we got here, there were no more than maybe a dozen pods around the surface. Mine came down pretty hard and made that opening over there.” They pointed to one of the many holes lining the ceiling. Of course their paw was directed to the one closest to theirs.

“Then some others came down maybe a week or so apart. That’s when I met Pencil and well, we got pretty close as you can tell.” They smiled at that, a happy memory he hoped. “At first I was scared out of my mind. Had no direction, no goal besides the mission, I was hungry and thirsty.” They chuckled as they sniffled again. “I’m amazed I didn’t die from lack of water at first. Thank fuck it rained a lot in the beginning.”

Rain?

So this place produces rain? The only rain Rat recalled was every time those coats hosed him down with icy cold water. He reflexively cringed at the mere thought of having something like that happen here.

It didn’t seem to catch Reader’s attention as they continued. “But with Pencil, we discovered this spot right here.” They motioned to the fruits mindlessly swaying in the softest of breezes. “And we learned pretty fast that we can grow them reliably thanks to a few things I read.”

He stared again at the group of the fruits. Reader must have grown these things from the books, he concluded.

“It was dangerous at first. We had to deal with a few friends that felt jealous,” Rat immediately stared at them in surprise. “—and some of those traps. But...” They smiled again with yet another sniffle. “...We made it work and the friends that stayed by appreciated it.”

Without thinking, he blurted out, “Did those friends do anything?” But he pulled himself back and shook his head at that stupid question. “Sorry-sorry, just trying to piece together.”

Stupid-stupid-stupid, let them finish!

They answered anyway. “No, most of them left and went deeper in the tunnels.” They pointed to the multiple pathways lit up by the blue lights. “Some even came back and,” they chuckled suddenly. “traded with our geofruits because there’s not many of these fruits growing in the desert.”

The what now? He blinked in confusion at their comment but regardless...

“It’s a bit of a dangerous trek, maybe a few days.” They grabbed their scarf again and pulled. “Hope they’re okay...” Their solemn eyes trailed to a pathway that veered off to the left. After a moment they sighed and stared right back at Rat. “I’m telling you all this because a month ago so many pods landed here all of a sudden and... and...”

They were practically choking themself as tears began to form again, but they kept going. “It was a massacre. Those...things. They...” Their other paw curled into a fist, gripping as hard as it could into itself. “They were all killed by those... fucking dunes.”

Another ‘other’ he assumed. The strewn of bodies flashed again and suddenly he envisioned something horrifying. His eyes widened at what this could possibly mean.

“And,” they breathed, a bit of a whine coming out as they struggled to continue. “They seemed to be controlled by... by one of us.”

He didn’t know how many more revelations he could take. Again he was taken back by learning there was another friend like them controlling ‘other’ beings and killing their own friends? What the fuck are the coats doing?

“Was their mission also to retrieve experimental technology?” Rat asked softly in stupor.

Reader stomped on the ground and kicked a pebble which sent it flying. “Fuck if I know, I only saw a glimpse from the shadows!” he growled out. “And it wasn’t just them either, many of those pods had us and milkies in the mix. But they weren’t like them, they were getting shredded to pieces.” They quickly stopped their growls and took another huge breath. “Pencil and I hid in our pod for days. We could hear them clawing and trying to get in at first, but they couldn’t get us.”

A moment of silence. Rat was horrified at the thought of friends being murdered as soon as they got here. He looked down to his bandaged arm, the only sustained injury thus far. How trivial his own experience was. Despite the horrifying sight, all he had was a bruised up arm and the grim thought of ending it all. He felt completely foolish.

And then Pencil popped up in his head again.

He gazed at Reader who was looking over a pile of dirt lumps not too far from this cozy place. How sad, Pencil must’ve felt it was too much to bear...

Invoking the screen, he saw some of the numbers had gone up, as were the obvious hunger and thirst values. He wondered if these ‘dunes’ had chips in their head too. They sounded like monsters. Also sounded like something the coats would do too. His training didn’t cover this either, what was the purpose of leaving out so many crucial details?

But he knew what to expect finally, sort of. He didn’t know what these things looked like, but that’s why Reader was with him. He approached them and placed a paw at their shoulder which made them flinch but it got their attention. “Well then, shall we go to the desert?” He asked with an unsure smile. “Sounds like a good place to start.”

They were silent for a moment before nodding with a small smile of their own. “Y-yeah, I kind of hoped you’d agree to go there.” They turned to the hole with the water. “It’s kind of why we got these containers.” They crouched down and dipped the lip of one of the canteens to a satisfying ‘glup’ noise. “I heard it’s really hot there.”

“You’ve never been?” he asked, following suit with the task.

“Why should we? Look at all this.” They didn’t motion, but he knew what he meant. “I don’t wanna stay here anymore though, I... I think I might end up like Pencil if I did...” They stopped filling with a gloomy expression.

He felt like this was the time to share his moment of weakness as well. “I was on the verge too,” he admitted to them taking a second canteen. “I thought I was thrown away to die or something.”

“Oh, that’s common with the new ones,” they responded back also with a second. “Sorry I didn’t come sooner, I was too scared to come out of mine when I heard it.”

He understood if the dune story was true, which again, why would they lie about that? “You found me eventually, that’s all that matters, right?” He looked over and smiled brightly. “Y’know, I think I’m beginning to understand why you’re putting so much faith into me.”

“Call it crazy, but you’re one of the special experiments.” Rat was still pretty annoyed at that but he let it slide as they continued. “It may be nothing, but I’m willing to bet the humans didn’t just send another random friend here for nothing.”

“They did a terrible job then,” he mumbled, filling the last of the third. “Well I suppose if you’re ever seriously hurt I could fix you up I guess.”

“I’m counting on that,” they sniffled, placing their last canteen in their backpack. “Alright, let's grab a few of these fruits and we’ll be on our way.”

And they both did just that, snapping and stuffing their backpacks with as much of the fruit as they can. As depressing as this felt, Rat felt a bit of hope. Not for finding this technology thing, but the hope of finding answers. Answers about the others, his friends, his good friends, and anything else about this place.

He was in a strange world with a promised bond of a broken friend. The word ‘freedom’ crossed his mind, as Reader put it. He did find a name for himself which tickled that sensation. Maybe exploring and experiencing this place would give more of that feeling.

The lights began to look beautiful once more.

-`.’-

Rat didn’t know how long they'd been walking. The soft patters of their paws mixed with the whistling breeze echoed around them. Despite his initial enthusiasm, the scenery wasn’t diverse. Everything seemed to blend together in tunnels after tunnels of this expansive system.

Dull gray mixed with the hues of the blue light that shone both from the cracks and holes in the ceiling to the glowplants scattered around. Yes, these ‘glowplants’ seemed to be the source of the lamps around where Reader lived. Natural, inedible fruits that grew in droves in this dank place. Reader even suggested they carry a few to light the way since the ‘markers’ only went so far.

True enough, they had reached the end of the deliberate placement of the fruits. Reader suggested more may be placed to showcase traps and such by the others, albeit with a fearful undertone under their breath. They had been on edge ever since they passed the threshold. No doubt due to their paranoia of these dune creatures.

Besides more easily avoided traps, there seemed to be no one here besides some weird skittering creatures. Reader called them ‘shadecrawlers,’ relatively harmless if you leave them alone. Though one did rush them where Reader was quick to swat it away and it skittered into a small crevice.

They reminded him of some of those ‘insects’ he saw. The creepy six legged things labeled as ‘spider’, though he recalled seeing many variations of them in the dictionary.

Now that they were in the dark, the only light being their fruits and their dim natural light at the ends of their tails, Rat wondered if those things would make another move. The multiple shadows being casted on the rocky gravel did not help as he grew tense the longer they went.

He wished he had something to defend himself with, something Reader had lacked when they packed up.

“Hey,” Rat whispered. “Why didn’t we just climb back up the surface?” It was a thought that didn’t cross his mind until now. He hated being exposed like this, his instincts screamed to go somewhere safe.

Reader appeared tense as well, but they answered back with hushed haste, “It’s a lot more dangerous believe it or not.”

He didn’t believe it. But it was clear Reader didn’t want to talk. He also instinctively stopped his questions, the habit of keeping silent after being told off coursed through his muscle memory. Whenever the guards told them to shut up back in the cage, they usually meant it.

He continued to ponder, however. Until Reader stopped and let out a startling yelp!

Rat quickly ran next, thinking it was another one of those shadowcrawlers. But he was quick to join in the yelp as they halted right at a pool of orange blood, paws almost stepping in the foul substance. His eyes quickly went to where it came from and it was a hideous looking thing.

Black beady eyes gazed back attached to a grizzly wide smile that was frozen in place. The brown scales covered their wounded body, each wound had oozed this thing’s life blood. It seemed pretty fresh too.

“Is that?” Rat whispered.

Reader shushed them with a nod as they scanned around the darkness. This stretch of cave didn’t have any holes. And it only had one sad glowfruit pressed to a jagged wall.

Rat looked the other way, holding out his fruit as far as he could. He saw absolutely nothing. He then realized he had held his breath and shakily let it out slowly. Now he really wished he had something to defend himself with.

Then he heard something skittering. Reader heard too as they swung their fruit around with a shaky paw. Another shadecrawler, perhaps? He readied himself but then another skitter sounded mixed with the other.

And another...

And a dozen more...

Rat was confused, but he had a quick sinking feeling that this was very bad. He turned to Reader once more who confirmed it with wide eyes.

“We need to run...” he quivered before he clenched his teeth and did exactly that. “RUN!”

They bolted down the darkness, almost tripping over the body of the dune. Rat followed suit, adrenaline pumping as he became high alert. Suddenly the dark walls bursted with tiny red lights that slid out of nothing. Those shadecrawlers didn’t glow, so what the fuck were these things now!?

Didn’t matter, his eyes were glued to the fleeting friend as he sprinted through the unknown. He had no time to think, just run to...somewhere! Reader slammed to a cave wall with a quick yelp but quickly went to the right. Rat followed and tripped over something wet but caught himself.

The skittering was deafening, he could hardly hear his own stomps. Reader turned another corner and-

“AA-A-AH!”

Rat turned and didn’t see their friend at first. That’s when he saw the blinking yellow lights of a metallic pad. A pressure plate! He snapped his head up and his friend was careening up shrieking. He didn’t know what to do as he stopped and watched them fall in slow motion. They hit the ground hard with a crunch. Their glowfruit had been thrown to a far off wall with a sickening wet crunch before the light went out.

“SH-SHIT!”

They quickly got up and continued to run with a significant limp.

“Reader!” Rat barked. They chased after following their tail glow, leaping over the metallic contraption. “Reader!”

Another slam was heard and a yelp. He ran to the source and saw Reader had collided with another jagged wall. This time it seemed they ran to it head first, a faint orange mark was left and they had immediately collapsed with orange blood flowing freely down their head fur.

“READER!” Rat barked with fear almost taking hold of him.

He quickly turned around to face the red swarm. It was like a wave that conformed to the walls as the horde twisted towards them. He didn’t know what the fuck he was about to fight, but he put his guard up regardless. He dropped the fruit to the side so he could make use of both claws.

But something strange happened, as soon as they turned he saw a bunch of flashes of light sending the red wave soaring about. It was so bright that he squinted briefly with a grunt. He had no time to process what just happened as he swung his paw to a trio that had gotten past it.

The things exploded instantly in a gushy juice. One got past and latched on to his right arm. He felt instant pain and yelped. He swatted and killed it with his other claw. Then another trio came, and another, and another.

Each one that got past his shaky swipes chomped hard at his skin. He couldn’t stop, not now. His paws, legs, heck his horns even were being bitten in piercing agony. He was beginning to lose himself in this chaos of swings and insect juices.

He barked, screamed, and whimpered at the same time until eventually he was swinging nothing but air. He didn’t even realize the swarm had backed off and started their retreat with many more flashes of light. He watched with shaky paws, blood pouring out of everywhere on him.

He stood there in shock for a few moments before snapping back to reality that he was bleeding pretty bad. Invoking his screen, he saw clearly the flashing red at multiple parts of his body. He threw off his backpack and took a fresh glowfruit to scan the other contents. Thank fuck Reader packed him with bandages and gauze. It was in a small container that had a weird green symbol on it that matched a symbol on his screen.

He needed to do this quick. He needed to calm down. He gazed over to Reader with his head wound still openly bleeding. Fuck it, he needs to help Reader first, his numbers still were okay despite the alarming red blinks. He went on his knees and gripped their head to press hard at the wound with a piece of gauze. He grunted and pulled the bandage with his free paw and ripped it with his teeth and proceeded to tape it against their damp fur. Thankfully that was their only injury, miraculously those fuckers didn’t touch them.

He didn’t need any more of the gauze he thought, there wasn't that much in the container. He used some of the bandage to cover up most of the bigger bites while he left the smaller ones open, he was sure that was fine. The screen wasn’t flashing anymore in any case, but still showed some numbers. He put back the supplies in his back which he noticed was also bitten a little.

He needed to get out of here, get to somewhere safe with Reader. They turned them to the side and took their backpack. He grunted with barred canines. The weight was immediately apparent. This wouldn’t work...

He made an easy decision, leave it. Instead he picked Reader up and tried to sling him over his shoulder. No, that was definitely not going to work either as he grunted and felt his left arm tense. It was still healing from his own fall that felt like ages ago.

Shit, what do I do?

Drag them, it was another easy solution. He bent over and slid his arms around their arm pits and hoisted them up. Then, with whimpering pants, he began his struggle to pull them with slow, hard, grazing steps. He tried to see through the blackness but there was still no sign of any light. Did they make a wrong turn in their sprint?

He continued for several minutes. Heaving and following along the wall until another miracle happened. He saw a tiny crevice just enough to fit through and it even had a glowfruit shining against the back wall. He dragged his friend in with some effort until he found himself not just in a small enclosure but it appeared as if the space was intended to hide in.

He assumed because right next to the glowfruit was a paper and something scrawled in big, messy handwriting.

‘Ticker Lane’

Underneath it was a note also written in the same fashion.

‘Watch for traps, lure them, hide here, then the path is clear.’

This was written for someone going the opposite direction. A hint that his friends were there. Whether they were still there remained to be seen.

He grunted along and propped Reader next to the fruit. They were out cold, but alive. He looked down to their right leg with a frown. There was no indication there was any damage but that limp told it all. He wished he could see their menu.

He hated this. He was no stranger to helping back in the cage but at least he had other company. He was alone now, if only temporarily. Nothing he could do but join his friend as they leaned against the smooth cave wall.

Smooth... How odd, this was the first time he felt smooth rock before. Most likely a deliberate happenstance with whoever wrote that note. He was grateful despite feeling the effects of his adrenaline wearing off. The sting was strong and he whimpered softly at the unpleasant sensations spreading around his body.

He also felt tired too. He wasn’t about to fall asleep. Not that he thought he could with this newfound pain. He gripped his right bandaged arm and lowered his head. He needed to be strong, he needed to protect. He would tough out this pain to make sure his friend was okay.

He owed him that much.

Chapter Text

-`.’-

An Encounter

-`.’-

“Fuck that stings...”

His good friend, O-586, had just pressed on a nasty scratch on his forearm. He grimaced and growled but he let them do it. He was bleeding pretty badly after being tossed back in the cell. One of the meaner guards decided to give him a parting gift after bad mouthing to them about the test he just did.

Information was fed in his recently installed chip as he concentrated on controlling the visceral pain. He wasn’t used to it yet, he found the presence alarming and stress inducing. Not to mention constant headaches. He hadn’t had a good sleep for a few days because of it. It was currently blinking in his peripheral and he saw troubling red flashing numbers.

“You really should be more careful with your emotions,” his friend said softly. “But I understand, you’re still adjusting.” They gave him a sidelong glance along with a grin. “Missed doing this.”

He growled again with a shake of his head. He wished this damn thing would go away. “How do you deal with it?” He flexed his paws in and out to try to rid the pain faster to little effect.

“It took me a bit.” Some of the blood oozed through their grip. They quickly noticed and applied even more pressure making him grunt. “They really cut you up.”

“It was that stupid fucking guard,” he seethed. “The fat one.”

“That one isn’t too fond of me either,” he chuckled, but still concentrated on keeping pressure. “Guess it slipped their minds to use those tasers.”

“No shit,” he grimaced again. “All I said was ‘if you think it’s so easy, go in there yourself’, that’s it!”

“Well it was the fat one. Probably took offense.”

“Fucker can chew on it next time then.”

They snickered at that.

Goodness, that laugh of theirs was still contagious. Despite the pain, he splurted out a silly chuckle himself. “Whaa-aat?” he asked with a grin forming around his muzzle.

“I can see it in my head,” they said with another snicker. “It would make a mess, I’m sure.”

He hadn’t considered the implications and he couldn’t hold it in. He bursted out in a high pitch giggle at the mental image. Highly disgusting, but highly amusing. The pain on his arm even subsided a little!

“Hey hey, stay still,” they joined in the sudden laughter. “You wanna keep this in, not out!”

He giggled harder. He was so glad his good friend was here. He didn’t know what he would do without them.

... ... ... ... ... ...

-`.’-

... ... ... ... ... ...

He stared off to a distant corner in his cell. It had been so many days, weeks even, since he last saw his good friend. Dry yellow stains coated his surroundings as he once again held on to his arm that was freshly cut deep. That fucker decided to be funny again, despite him saying nothing.

No whimpers, no grunts, no growls, he was silently pressing at the painful wound with nothing but a slight grimace. His ears were lowered, tail tucked behind him, nothing but pure concentration in his bright yet dull orange eyes as he tried to apply what he had learned from his good friend and the training thus far.

...

The silence was deafening...

...

...The hum of the unseen vents were all that accompanied him. He missed his friends, he missed O-586, he missed his cage.

They lied...

This was way worse than having this chip in his head. His heart rate echoed in this bizarre menu as he watched the numbers flash red, the thumps slow and steady.

I hope they’re okay.

-`.’-

He gasped, waking himself up from falling asleep for the third time. The dimly lit enclosure was just as dull as he recalled that damn cell. His body shivered, he was getting colder. He checked Reader, still knocked out of course. He had unconsciously scooted closer to them in an attempt to get warm. He hoped they didn’t mind when they woke up, his fur was stained with his blood and weird insect fluids after all.

He had laid his backpack to the side some time ago and had the container open. He was surprised to learn that it held medicine like the ones back in his training. He applied one of them to most of his painful wounds as best he could, being careful not to remove the sloppily placed bandages. It was some kind of disinfectant. Definitely a necessity of being covered in whatever substance those ‘ticks’ spilled. He didn’t bother trying to apply it to Reader, fearing that deep gash had not stopped bleeding.

They seemed so peaceful despite the circumstances. Their chest rose and fell at a steady rate. Soft noises sometimes escaped their muzzle due to a slight shaky breath. The red scarf lazily dangled to the cold, stone floor. Their arms rested on their lap, placed by him.

He had no idea how many minutes had passed. He wished they woke up, if only to rid of this loneliness he found himself in. He thought he got past this problem! He thought he had a good grasp of being alone once he was placed in that pod willingly.

Damn it, calm down, stay strong, stay alert!

His tired eyes trailed to the dim outline of the exit. He hadn’t seen any red lights or heard any noises since. Everything appeared to be at a standstill with only his friend’s shaky breaths. He almost wished there was another noise besides that. He’d take the sad, hum of the vents back home at this point.

That’s when he remembered the backpack he left behind in his haste. He had almost forgotten about it. Should he dare go out alone to retrieve it? He didn’t go too far when he dragged Reader here. His head tilted back to them in momentary ponderance. He didn’t really want to leave them as they were. However, in the back of his mind, they did bring some of their books and they would surely be sad if they learned he left them behind.

He knew what he had to do. Quietly as he could, he picked himself off the ground. The pains in his wounds making themselves known as he whimpered out a surge that washed over him. He huffed it out and checked on Reader one last time before he scurried into the small exit with a glowfruit in paw.

He turned to his immediate left and followed along the rocky wall at a slow pace. Still pitch black, he couldn’t see more than a dozen inches in front. That’s fine, as long as he didn’t see any red dots any time soon. His ears tensed for any noises besides the soft padding of his paws.

Slowly... slowly... Come on, how far did he go?

There!

Reader’s backpack had remained thrown off, unharmed. A wave of relief washed over him as he picked it up and slid it on over his back. That was way easier than he’d thought!

“H-hell-llo-o?”

He gasped and instantly directed his light to the source of that alarmingly scratchy voice. His eyes widened in horror as the black voids of an eye shone back. Followed by the brown scaled beast recoiling backwards with a growl.

“N-nO-o!”

Rat felt his fur stand on end as another horrible scratchy voice came from the creature’s maw. He was frozen in fear, his mind raced to what to do but he hadn’t a clue. This was the thing that supposedly killed Reader’s friends. Or one of them anyways, how many were there? He felt his ears get warm, his breaths getting shaky and heavy. He clutched his chest with his free paw and backed away from this...monster!

Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck OH FUCK!

The creature did nothing though, they too kept their distance with a heavy frown.

A frown.

He felt himself wheezing, he had to control it. His mind was racing. His only solace was that this thing was also frightened, they had to be.

The creature went out of range of the blue light. Their beady eyes reflected the fruit in the dark. How did he miss this!?

Careless mistake!

“...F-frie-end?”

The scratchy voice assaulted his ears once more. Was...was this thing friendly? But Reader said... Was this a trick? No, it couldn’t be, he had his guard down when he picked up the backpack. This creature, a dune he remembered, had all the chance to attack. So then... Why didn’t it?

He felt tired, the second wave of adrenaline had already started to ease off. He took in a soft breath and took one step forward slowly. The dune didn’t back up, they now sported a curious gaze. Now that Rat knew he wasn’t in immediate danger he made note this creature had many cuts and bite marks of their own. Some appearing like his own wounds and others looking as if someone or something took a chunk off of them. They must be in immense pain, yet this dune didn’t show any hint of discomfort. They even gave him a head tilt as if that would give them a better view or something.

Hesitantly he responded back with a shaky, “Hello?”

The dune tilted the other way and approached slowly as well. They then sniffed, or he assumed anyways, by leaning forward and making a curious noise. “...F-frie-end?” it repeated as their beady eyes locked on to his. It was then he noticed the creature’s long antennas as it rose from the darkness.

An insect then? What an interesting thing.

He didn’t know what to make of the situation. His impulse was to get to know this thing, a deep intrigue for wanting to meet another ‘other’. For a few silent moments, both did nothing. Eventually Rat took another step and extended an arm out to the dune. They looked at it, confusion spread upon their features as they sniffed at it. They then recoiled back after their nose got close to one of his many bandages.

“Eeeck!” the creature hissed. “No! Bad!”

This caused Rat to pull his arm back with another gasp. Again the two did nothing...until... “Do you, uh, understand me?” he asked softly. The scratchy language made him think there was a barrier of some kind.

The dune blinked, or whatever the hell its eyes just did. “F-f-fri-e-end?” they repeated.

Oh goodness...

Rat rested his arms to the side and let out a sigh of relief. This dune was harmless, he was certain now. “Yes, friend.” He felt a little guilty knowing these were supposed to be the scary killers his new friend mentioned. That also reminded him they said someone was controlling these creatures. So...this one either escaped, or was completely different. Maybe thrown away like the other friends? But Reader didn’t make mention of any dunes before the attack, did they?

The dune carefully approached, like a scared friend back in the cage. Rat didn’t back down this time, he stood at ease with a small grin forming.

“I. H-hur-r-t!” it screeched. “H-help. Pl-le-eas-se?”

And he immediately frowned. So they did feel those wounds. Worst yet, he didn’t have the medical supplies on him. That was back in the enclosure. “Sure, uh...” How was he going to explain Reader about this? They would be incredibly upset, no doubt. “Follow me.”

He motioned the dune to follow as he twisted back around. A sense of foreboding washed over him, just like that time he tried to hide a snack when he was younger. Maybe Reader would understand if they saw this creature themself. But what if this is what the creature was waiting for? Following him to the closed off space with nowhere to run?

No, that’s crazy.

The glow of the fruit wasn’t invisible to any potential passerbys. This creature must’ve seen them at some point. That begs the question, were they there the entire time? He was so focused on surviving that he didn’t recall checking his surroundings, not that he could anyways during the chaos. And he was certain he was keeping a heavy lookout when the events had calmed down.

Times up, he was back at the opening. He twisted his head and motioned the dune to stop and be quiet. They only tilted their head. “Wait here,” he whispered. He slid back in, Reader still unconscious, and grabbed the container. He heard shuffling behind and he snapped back to see the dune had followed him in sniffing about with a curious set of black eyes.

“N-” He stopped himself, his head twisted to Reader. He quickly placed the container back down and shook his arms and head wildly. No, get out of here!

Was this thing stupid!?

The dune recoiled only a little before snarling and, to Rat’s dismay, screeched, “I. HuUrt! PleeEAse h-help!”

Reader stirred with a short whimper. Their legs kicked at the air as their eyes lazily opened with a look of pure terror. Then violently their body shook as they tried to scramble up but fell over in quick succession when their back met the smooth rock wall behind.

“GET AWAY!”

Rat cringed at the high end pitch of his friend’s cry. He was more horrified by this spiraling situation than their reaction because in that moment the dune had also screeched out a scream of their own! They haphazardly smacked on the walls before crawling out of the space backwards with noises that made Rat’s fur stand on edge.

“GET AWAY! PENCIL, HELP!” Reader continued to back against the wall kicking up gravel and rock with their footpaws. Their eyes were wide and crazed, muzzle agape as their tail twitched uncontrollably behind them. “PENCIL, WHERE ARE YOU!?”

Rat went to them and quickly pressed their shoulders against the rock. They stared at him with the same crazed eyes, heaving heavily with loud whimpers. “Calm down, shh shh shh, calm down.” He didn’t think again, he just acted out of instinct as he went further and wrapped an arm around their quivering body. “Shh shh shh...”

This did little to stop Reader’s dismay. Their eyes trailed past him and went even wider, if that was even possible. Their heaves got quicker and he felt them violently trying to shake him off. “GET OFF, HELP, PENCIL!”

He held on tighter, until he heard the growls behind. He snapped back to have a quick glimpse of the dune who had what looked to be their tail raised and antenna at attention. He couldn’t see anything else though as he was thrown off with a heavy grunt. He fell back to the other corner to witness Reader get up with the craziest look yet, claws at the ready.

“GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” they screeched through a massive bark and growl, and lunged at the dune. Rat didn’t realize how colossal in size the creature was in comparison as Reader pushed them down against the far wall and started to claw at them.

The creature screamed back and attacked with the same intensity. A flurry of claw swipes ensued, pockets of yellow were flung around carelessly in the chaotic spree. Rat was helpless, he could only sit and watch in terror as the two went at each other’s throats, literally. Soon after, the dune with incredible strength pushed Reader off and scampered out as fast as he saw it could with a clear trail in its wake.

Rat was still stunned with his eyes glued to the opening where he could hear the creature screaming and snarling. “HeEelp!” it screeched with a voice that caused him to cringe again. “HeEelp! HeEelp!” they repeated over and over.

As they continued to cry out, Rat crawled over to Reader who was clutching at a nasty gash they had gotten on their arm. “Let me see,” he said as quickly and calmly as he could.

“KILL IT!” Reader barked, yanking away from Rat’s paw. “KILL IT!”

His head went back to the opening, the dune was still crying out. It sounded like they were directly outside just out of view. He eyed the container next and, without thinking once more, he took it by the handle and rushed out of the cave not knowing what the hell he was doing.

What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?

He didn’t think to bring a fruit with him, having completely dropped it some time during the scuffle. Instead when he whisked out, he could only see what his tail allowed. The dune had collapsed and it seemed Reader had gotten a good chunk of flesh from its neck. It was openly bleeding, and freely, making it seem like an orange highlight from the dim glow that flowed like running water.

What do I do?

He didn’t know, not like this. He dropped the container with a harsh clack.

Do I end it?

Reader said they were dangerous, yet...

Do I leave it?

Reader wants it dead, he can’t just ignore it.

Do I-

The creature gripped their claw on his ankle. He gasped and tried to pull away. Instead he realized just how strong this creature was as he tried to get free. Again and again he tried thinking he was about to get clawed as well!

“Sa-aAv-iour!” it gurgled out. “Sa-aAv-iour!”

Sa-aAv-iour.

Sa-aviour.

A-a-vi...

...

Their grip finally loosened and he stumbled back with a yelp. He regained balance and blinked at the odd situation. The creature kept muttering, trying to repeat the same word ‘saviour’ unsuccessfully. Their eyes stayed open in a deep stare until before long.

It no longer moved.

He...what? What just happened? He...

He dropped to his knees, the third wave of adrenaline hitting just as hard. He took his paws to his face in disbelief. Why was this creature calling them ‘saviour’? He didn’t save them, he watched them die right in front of him! He didn’t understand any of what just occurred.

“Why did you follow me in?” he asked in a harsh whisper. He crawled forward, reaching a paw to the dune’s cheek. He pressed at it with no reaction from them. “Why did you call me saviour?”

Silence...except for Reader’s whimpers. That snapped him out of it as he quickly shook his head and rushed back in the compartment with the container in hand. No thoughts again for now, he had to help his new friend again! They were still at the furthest corner from the exit with a paw clutching at the same wound.

“It’s dead,” he said quickly, opening the container, pulling more bandage wraps and disinfectant. “Let me see.”

They complied this time and lifted their paw which started to ooze blood. He took their forearm and immediately sprayed some of the contents, making them grimace and whimper out, “Ah-ouch!” He didn’t stop his momentum as he quickly wrapped around the wound.

With that done, he scanned for anything else that looked bad. A few minor scratches on their chest and left shoulder. Otherwise completely fine besides their frozen shocked expression and the heavily bandaged forehead. He sighed and sat himself in front of them feeling the weight of the backpack. It rested easily behind to support his weary self at the moment.

Both sat in silence for a good minute. Reader’s fearful gaze were glued behind Rat with tears swelling. He wanted to so badly ask them about any future dune encounters they may have had. Judging how they reacted, he didn’t think to prod. Instead, he asked, “You good?”

Their eyes darted back to his with a gasp. “O-oh? Yeah, I’m... I’m fine.”

Rat glanced behind to make sure there weren't any other surprises before twisting back around with an aggressive huff. “I’m glad, I was...scared.” He picked his words carefully feeling even more at fault for feeling bad about that creature. “You were out for a while.”

Reader blinked and placed a paw on their bandaged head. They growled a bit with a grimace after applying some pressure. “Ah-fu... what happened?”

“Managed to scare off the ticks,” he said softly, still unsure himself. “Pulled you here and patched up pretty much.”

“No more of those fucking monsters?” he asked with a deep growl.

Rat flinched and shook his head. “I’m not sure, that one came out of nowhere.” He felt his heart drop having to lie like that. “Been waiting for you to wake up until it showed up.”

Reader stared at the exit with an intensity that Rat couldn’t describe in one word. It was crazed, fear, and anger all in one. Several seconds passed before they stared back at him with that same intensity. “If there was a pack, we’d be dead right now.”

He nodded feeling he didn’t need to add anything else. He hummed and pulled his legs to himself. He silently whimpered at the harsh tiny stings his wounds made doing such a simple action. “We can stay here longer.”

Reader clutched their bandaged forearm and nodded in agreement. “You get some rest then.” They caught the scrawled out note that was now a bit crumbled. That was when their harsh gaze softened as they blinked at the note. “Would’ve been nice to been told about this from friends.”

He would tease back, but he didn’t feel like Reader would take it well. Instead he sighed and groaned from exhaustion. He was pretty confident nothing else would happen. Not unless another one of those dunes were watching in silence bearing witness to one of their friend’s death. “Yeah, I could really go for a nap.”

“I’ll wake you if...” Reader shuddered and grunted. “...If more of them show up.”

“Sounds good.” He didn’t mean to say it so dejectedly. Couldn’t be helped as he slid Reader’s backpack off and twisted himself to the smooth cave wall. “And don’t worry, it’s dead.”

“I know, I heard you whack it.”

He felt his heart drop again at his friend’s violent assumption. “Yeah.”

They nodded and propped themselves next to him. They gazed around the small cave silently with pursed lips. They hummed softly and looked at the lone growing glow fruit. “This is a nice spot.”

“Mhm...” Rat stared off at nothing in particular. “We sure got lucky...” A heavy silence filled the air for him. The tension was strong.

“...Sorry about running off,” Reader apologized.

He didn’t answer right away. He blinked, staring off but now to a piece of rock that stuck out from the wall. “You’re fine.”

“I was just so scared, you know?”

“I get it...”

“And then I got flung up and-”

Rat’s eyes widen in realization. They were limping pretty bad, he remembered. He twisted quickly to them who didn’t catch his sudden attention.

“...Well, I thought I was a goner so I panicked and I guess I ran into a wall.” Their ears drooped a little at that. “But I’m glad you scared them off, I would’ve loved to see that.”

“How’s your leg?” he asked.

“Oh?” They looked and tried to move both. They flinched when moving their right leg though with a sudden intake of breath. “Ah, yeah, I fell on it too, didn’t I?”

“Not broken or anything?”

They moved it some more with held breath, flexing and kicking it out. “No,” they growled out. “I don’t think so.”

“Check your menu, just to make sure.”

Reader gave him a raised brow. “Check my menu?”

...Wait a minute. “You do have something installed in your head, right?” Somehow he feels he knows the answer as Reader continues to raise their brow.

“No? Why would I?”

So there’s friends here that don’t have it? He didn’t know how to explain then. With a slow intake of breath, he tried. “When I was selected, that was one of the first things the coats did.” It might make sense if Reader didn’t have it, six months and all. “I can see numbers and symbols, but only for me.” Reader gave a comically confused gaze and rightly so, he thinks his own words sounded insane.

“What?” was all they said in a tone that matched their expression.

“If I think about it, it just kind of appears.” He pulled it up and tried to trace a box that hovered in front of him to the left. He must look completely crazy. “I don’t know how to explain it, I just know it’s me and I can see if I’ve broken anything.” He placed his arm down with a sigh. “They taught me that during training, anyways.”

Reader blinked before staring back at his legs. “That sounds useful right about now.”

“So you really don’t have anything like that?” He wanted to make sure.

They shook their head and gave a sad grin. “That would’ve probably helped when I landed here.”

The tension had subsided substantially, Rat grinned back. “You want it? I’d happily trade.”

“You think you could?”

“Nah, it’s stuck in pretty good,” Rat chuckled.

“In the brain?”

“Wouldn’t surprise me. I’ve gotten some bad headaches at first.”

Reader chuckled back and returned his gaze to the exit. Their grin slowly turned to a frown. “Sorry for pushing you off like that.”

“What?” Oh, back to the dune thing. He mentally sighed. “That’s fine, you were scared. I would be too if I saw that after waking up.”

“I’m glad you were here to protect me.” They turned their head to him and he just felt like shriveling up from the horrible assumption again.

“Don’t mention it...” Seriously. Again he stared off to that same rock that was sticking out. “I’m gonna try sleeping.”

Reader raised their brow again. Thankfully they said nothing else. Only hummed as they returned their attention to the exit.

The heavy silence returned. He didn’t know how long he was staring off. Eventually he did find himself asleep, albeit extremely restless. His thoughts kept on repeating the ticks, the dune, O-586...

He wished he could’ve saved that dune.

He wished he could see his friends again.

He misses his home so much.