18 Code:Pain

***

Varin and Dagen took a short break from walking every hour or so. They would take a gulp of water with a small sliver of jerky every other hour. Trying to keep up their strength while not using up their supplies.

After walking for hours, it was around noon. Varin slowed down and seemed like he was having some trouble.

"Are you okay?"

Varin was squinting really hard.

"Apparently there's a downside to being able to see in the dark now. It's painfully harder to see when it's bright out. I should be fine but if it gets any brighter I might start tripping on shit. I'm definitely going to have to invest in some sunglasses."

Looking around the mountain woods, Dagen didn't think it was too bright with the shade covering most of the ground.

'So… he can't see too well in the daylight anymore?'

"Just let me know if you need help. You can hold onto my shoulder if you want to rest your eyes."

Varin chuckled as he said:

"Thanks. I'll keep my eyes down but If we hit a spot with no shade you might have to become my seeing-eye person"

***

It was around 5:00pm when they decided to take a longer break from wandering down. There still weren't any signs of other humans around and their legs were about to give out. Varin sat against a tree and covered his eyes while Dagen sat on a boulder and felt his forehead.

"Hey Varin, I think I'm developing a fever. My muscles and head ache and my temperature feels like it's still going up. It's hard to tell what's causing it, considering that everything we've been through can be the reason."

Varin cracked one of his eyes open to look at Dagen. He looked a little red, sweating, and his posture seemed weaker. Getting up with a tired groan, he held his hand on his forehead as he walked over to Dagen. He then moved his hand over to Dagens forehead, comparing temperatures.

"Yeah, you are warmer than you should be. Then again, I'm colder than I should be. But with the headache as well… we'll just proceed under the assumption that you have a fever and that it'll probably get worse."

Looking around, Varin didn't see any good spots to make camp.

"We should get moving while you still can. We'll stop for today once we find an okay camping spot."

Dagen stood up and followed Varin.

***

A few hours later Varin suddenly stopped and looked around. Dagen looked around and said with a huff:

"Why'd we stop? Do you see som- ?"

Varins eyes were searching for something as he pointed in the same direction.

"Shhh!

…

Do you hear that?"

Dagen was having trouble focusing on anything, so he stood still and closed his eyes. After a moment, his ears finally caught a faint trickle noise.

"Huh? Is that water?"

Varin smiled as he began heading towards the faint noise.

"Let's see if we can find it. It would be great if we can refill our water and I would KILL someone to be able to wash myself right about now."

Dagen let out a nervous chuckle as he followed.

'He probably would kill someone to be able to take a shower right now, wouldn't he?'

*Sigh*

As the sound became louder, they finally came upon a mini waterfall. There was a small flow of water running over a rock ledge that was about 2 ft taller than they were. The water smacked the rocks at the bottom with a splat before running off into a tiny stream.

Varin walked up and began filling an empty water bottle.

"Hello beautiful! Please be drinkable."

The water was clearer than a crystal and didn't smell of anything, so Varin took a little sip and prayed. It didn't taste of anything it shouldn't have, so they declared it drinkable; if it ended up killing them, oh well.

Varin glanced at Dagen, he looked a little shaky and sweaty, neither of which were good signs.

"You should clean up a bit first. You need to try to get your temperature down, but don't stand under the water too long. I'll see if there is a good spot to put up the tarp."

Dagen gave the duffle to Varin as he walked by and began removing his shirt as he walked up to the waterfall. He started trembling uncontrollably not too long ago and was positive he had a fever, so getting a layer of dirt off would hopefully help lower his temperature quicker. While dipping under the cold water he took the chance to rub his face, hair, and pits to try and remove some of the filth he had accumulated over the past week. Stealing some gulps of water in the process.

Meanwhile, Varin found a space between a set of trees not too far from the water and began setting up camp.

'This'll do. I'll just have to move a few dead branches.'

After tying the rope, Varin started scratching his arms and shins.

'Why are my forearms and shins so itchy?'

'I REALLY need a shower.'

'And… now my mouth feels sore. What the hell?'

After setting up the tarp and camo sheet, Varin went to kick Dagen out of the waterfall and tell him to rest for a bit. When he arrived however, Dagen was already dressed and sitting hunched on a rock.

"I've set up the tarp a few skips that way. Go rest. I need to get some of this filth and dried blood off me."

Standing up with visible effort, Dagen started sauntering toward the tarp tent.

Without wasting a single moment, Varin removed the files and journal from his vest and put his tranq gun down on a rock. He stepped straight under the waterfall, clothes and all. He needed to try and get some of the blood out of his clothes anyway. He scrubbed himself all over and as he moved to his arms and legs, he noticed little bumps sprinkled around his forearms and shins.

'Those aren't goose bumps. Is this what was causing the itching?'

Honing in one one of the more noticeable ones on his left forearm, Varin slightly squeezed and pushed down on it. His eyes widened as something pierced his skin and poked his finger.

"Ah! What the fuck…?"

'Is that… some kind of barb!? Am I going to grow barbs out of all these bumps!?'

"Shit."

Varin picked up his things and went to update Dagen.

***

Ducking into the tent, Varin saw Dagen laying on his blanket out cold. He put his hand on his forehead; Dagen was burning up. Varin gave Dagen a gentle shake, but Dagen didn't respond.

"Dagen?"

"Hey man?"

…

"Crap."

Varin grabbed his blanket and cut a square from the corner, soaked it in water, and laid it on Dagens forehead.

"Damnit Dagen… you better not check out first."

***

As the sun set, all Varin could do was keep Dagens forehead rag wet and try to get him to drink something if he became lucid enough to not choke on it.

As he tended to Dagen, he would occasionally cover his mouth and groan as the soreness around his gums continued to increase.

'What the hell is up with my mouth?'

He didn't even want to check the state of his arms and legs, but the itchiness was driving him insane. He would tremble as he forced himself to pull his pant legs and sleeves up every couple hours to see the tip of small light gray barbs beginning to pierce his skin. They were starting to scratch against his clothing as he moved.

'This is going to suck. Ugh, why couldn't it be scales or something less annoying? Am I going to look like a hedgehog?'

***

A few hours after dark, Dagen was still phasing in and out of it. Varin continued to try and cool him. But then, something changed. Varin paused and looked outside the tent as he heard something, caution and alertness painted his face. Grabbing his gun as he crept over to the tents small entrance, he barely poked his head out as he looked and listened to the night. He could no longer hear the whirring buzzing sound that grabbed his attention.

'Am I hearing shit now?'

Right as he was about to write it off as a hearing problem, he caught the sound once again. It was faint and gradually growing louder, closer.

Varin reached for one of the bigger dead branches that he had moved off to the side and dragged it over to the tent, letting the branches cover the entrance. As the sound got louder, Varin scanned the forest through the branches, seeing through the night with perfect clarity.

Soon, he could see a little red blinking light flying through the trees. Then, he finally saw what was making that noise, a small drone whizzing around the forest.

'Shit! I bet it's looking for us. Or for anyone that may have made it out at least.'

'Why else would a drone be flying around nowhere in the middle of the night, right around where we happen to be?'

As his eyes remained locked on the drone, Dagen woke up a little bit and strained to look around. He couldn't see much of anything now that it was night, but he could make out Varins shape crouching at the entrance. With some effort, he whispered:

"Varin?"

Keeping his eyes on the drone as it sweeped back and forth through the woods, Varin whispered back:

"Shhh. There's a drone sweeping this area, probably looking for us. Pray it's only using night vision.'

Dagen struggled to sit up as he stared at the entrance, the rag on his forehead fell into his lap.

Feeling something drop into his lap made Dagen jumped a little. He grabbed it, trying to figure out what it was.

'Has he been tending to me? Where did he get a rag from?'

Snapping his attention back to the more pressing issue, Dagen heard the drone slowly fly right over them. He could practically sense Varin tense up from where he sat. For a moment, they didn't even breathe. Then, to their relief, the drone continued on through the forest. It didn't seem like it noticed them, hopefully.

Varin kept his ears alert and relaxed a little bit as he looked at Dagen. He grabbed a bottle of water and handed it to him.

"Now that you're awake, drink some more water."

Dagen began chugging until most of it was gone. He then ate a piece of jerky that Varin offered him.

Varin nibbled on a section of the crumbly food rations because of how sore his mouth felt.

"Hey Dagen, I think something is happening to my mou-"

Dagen had already fell over and passed out again. With a sigh, Varin reapplied the rag to his forehead.

'I guess the energy from being startled wore off. I don't know if I'll be able to stay up all night. My eyes feel like a ton.'

Sure enough, after about 2 more hours, Varin could no longer keep his eyes open as he faded into sleep.

***

Dagen had awoken feeling pretty good. He was still really warm but he could think clearly and was no longer shaking. He sat up with no problem and looked around. Sensing that something was wrong, he paused, wondering what it was.

'Wait, why is it so bright out? How long was I asleep? Did Varin fall asleep?'

Dagen heard a pained moan come from next to him. Varin was laying on his side with his back to him, he was shaking a little and in pain. Dagen leaned over to check on him, his eyes widened as he saw blood coming from Varins mouth.

"Varin? Hey Varin!?"

Suddenly, Varin shot up and started coughing, blood splattered on his hand as he tried to cover his mouth. He almost choked on his own blood from being startled and now he could hear snapping and popping sounds as something was forcing his teeth out of their sockets. He couldn't help but scream in pain.

"Aaahhh!"

"Varin!"

With all the blood rushing into his mouth he choked as he tried to breathe, causing him to cough more. Only this time, a few teeth flew out as well. He hunched over trying not to flood his airway with blood.

Seeing Varin cough up blood and teeth made Dagen panic a little. He patted Varins back trying to help him keep the blood coming out instead of back.

"Oh my gods."

A few more teeth fell out.

"Aaahhh!"

Varin could feel something pushing some of his teeth out and growing in their place, far faster than what should be possible. A couple long minutes later, it seemed to be over. Varin was breathing pretty heavily and spitting out remnants of blood as he took a moment to let the pain subside.

"Fuck that hurt!"

Dagen sighed with relief as it seemed to be over. He then looked down and counted the teeth Varin had spit out.

'10 teeth total, he just spit out 10 teeth!'

He took a deep breath and patted Varin on the shoulder.

"Let me take a look at the damage."

Varin spit one more time and opened wide. The way Dagens eyes widened told him it wasn't good.

"Holy shit! Uh… all four of your canines have elongated and sharpened, your top ones are longer than the bottom ones. The 2 teeth right next to your top canines are sharpened as well. Only the tooth directly behind your bottom canines have sharpened. Yup, that would explain the 10 teeth that are on the ground now."

Varin felt around his new teeth with his tongue and made a few biting motions.

"So… I have fangs now? Well I suppose it could be worse."

Dagen was amazed at Varins attitude towards this alarming change and was curious of what he meant.

"Worse, how so?"

Varin looked at him and smiled, which made Dagen a bit uncomfortable due to not being used to the new look.

"I could have grown tusks or some shit. Or had all my teeth fall out with nothing to replace them. All in all, pointy teeth I can handle. Although, almost choking on my own blood wasn't fun and I definitely wouldn't want to do that again." *He he*

Finally noticing how Dagen was up and lucid, Varin asked:

"So how are you feeling? You're up so that's a good start, but there's no way you're already over that fever."

Dagen felt his own forehead and said:

"I shouldn't be over that fever right? But somehow, I feel fine. A little warm and sore but fine. I kinda remember parts of what happened last night, like the drone, but I was pretty out of it the rest of the time. Until I woke up today."

Varin looked Dagen up and down. Dagen was sitting comfortably across from him, leaning back on his hands.

'He does look like he's fine. Too fine, in fact. Wait, has his wrist healed too? What the…?'

"Huh, that's odd. Then again everything happening to us is odd at the moment. Say, how does your right wrist feel?"

Dagen leaned forward and pulled up his sleeve to unwraped his beaten wrist. Only when he looked, it wasn't nearly as beaten anymore.

"My wrist? Oh! What the…"

'It was all the shades of blue, black, and purple. It was even bleeding, now it's barely yellow with not a scab in sight!'

"Woah, amazing."

Varin was surprised by the sight as well.

"I guess you heal faster now. Lucky."

Varin grabbed the empty water bottles and stood up to go fill them and clean himself back up in the process.

"We should get going if you're feeling fine. I'll go fill these up again, you should start packing up the tarp. Remember to keep your ears open for the drone, it could still be searching the woods."

As Varin approached the entrance of the tent he grumbled to himself as he squinted.

"Ah, I really need some damn sunglasses."