(in)Human

“There we go. Hey...you hungry?”

Crouching down and reaching into one of the bags he’d placed down, Mercer pulled out several packages of raw meat that he’d been planning on cooking that night for Schu and himself...but the way he saw it, this guy probably needed them more. Tearing open one of the packages, he extended the bloody steak towards the towering creature with a soft smile.

“Woah there big guy. I’m not looking for a fight. Just passin’ by and noticed you there. New here, huh? I know how you feel.”

Setting down the bags of groceries he’d been carrying, Mercer turned his eyes back to the gigantic...lizard? Dinosaur? Honestly, he couldn’t tell.

                Still, even as she gets citizens as much to safety as she can (with barely any success– the buildings were no longer salvageable) she still kept looking for him. She could sense him, and that alone put jittery nerves to rest as she moves forward. Legs were wobbly, fresh air was hard to come by, and the further she presses on, the more she wonders if she just imagined his presence. Was he really here? Even if he was here, this was dangerous for him; fire was an element that could take him down even in a form as strong as his.

                    But, he was out there. She just knew it.

                  Then, among the smoke and dust particles, a flash of black as it came towards her in response to her call for help. Those who sought out shelter moved behind the blurry figure in a frenzy, the evidence that a path had been created. What was coming towards her..? Who was it–

                     By the time he’s in front of her it sinks in that it was Alex– that he was here, in the flesh, and he was okay. Strong hands scoop her up, and he was warm, the familiarity of those nights in his arms floods back to her, even as he’s running them both out to safety, her coughing up the smoke that threatens to settle in weak lungs and burying her face to his chest, as if to keep her to him as close to her in fear of losing him once again.

But at his back, there was something he needed to protect. He had something more important than his own body to look after. Even if it took every last scrap of his mass, he would keep her safe.

On and on he pressed through the inferno. He could see the place he’d entered into the sector ahead. Just a little further. He just had to get a little further.

One arm was gone. His vision was blurring. But he still pressed on. The air was finally starting to clear. The smoke was thinning out and the oppressive feeling of heat was beginning to be left behind him. Finally, he let his agonized body drop, still supporting her weight.

He had done it. He had saved her.

                FIRE. it’s the first thing that Schuyler’s brought to attention as she enters sector six. If she remembers her last time in the city, it’s not the first time that the sector’s been set on fire. This time, though, it’s different– it wasn’t just a result of a crazy pyromaniac set on rebelling against the scientists, but a result of something inhuman.  A chill shivers down her spine as roars fill her ears, people are screaming, and the air is thick with smoke, the area around her too warm to move comfortably.  For a sector that thrived on oxygen and life, none of that existed anymore. 

                               And oh, she felt so alone. 

                  Coughing, she moves forward, looking for a safe haven away from danger. Was there even anyone around at this point? Was Alex here? Were any of her friends here? Whatever the case was, she finally cupped her hands, hoping to amplify her now weak voice. 

                        ❝ Help! ❞

                  Perhaps this wasn’t the smartest move she’s made, but it was better than being a sitting duck. Someone still had to be around. 

It always had to come down to fire, didn’t it?

How many times had parts of the city been burned down? How many times had he watched the inferno rage and destroy everything in its path? He was starting to lose count, to be perfectly honest. In any other circumstance, he would have ignored the conflagration and moved on. In any other time, he would have focused on the parts of the city that could still be salvaged.

But she was in there. 

He could see her, he could smell her. Every sense he had was screaming at him about the danger. He was low on biomass, fire was one of the few things that could actually stop his regeneration for any length of time, and those ‘beasts’ were still roaming around.

But she was in there.

All sense was thrown to the wind. All self-preservation was ignored. Hurling himself into the flames, gathering what meager biomass remained to him around him in a thin layer of armoring, he clawed through the debris in his way, clearing a path both into and out of the sector. The heat gnawed at him, chewing through his armoring within minutes. He could feel parts of himself dying off, falling to the ground in charred clumps.

But she was in there.

He pressed onwards, through the smoke and the flames and the heat, watching as others who had been trapped used the path he had cleared behind him to escape the sector. Their thanks fell on deaf ears. Only one life in this place mattered to him.

And as she came into view through the smoke, weakly calling out for help, everything else faded away like dust in a storm.

He didn’t speak a word as he approached her. He didn’t say anything as he scooped her up into his battered arms. He simply turned on his heel and began to follow his own path back. There would be time to talk, time for happy reunions, after she was somewhere safe.

“Alex..” she whispers, pressing gentle lips to his cheek as she kisses his tears away. She was good, too good, for her own good, but she couldn’t be angry with him. He was everything and more to her, and it didn’t matter if he was different from her. It didn’t matter if he thought himself a monster, if others thought of him the same. He was hers, and she was his, and there was no way she was going to let him forget that. 

So he forsook words entirely and simply pressed his lips to her own. He knew that she would understand, that she would feel through that gesture better than words could ever convey how he felt. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly against him, his cool body warming to match her own. If he was going to be human...he would be completely human for her. Flowing blood, a beating heart, the whole nine yards. This was something he had committed himself to, something that he couldn’t go back on.