Previous | Next

Sam

Sam had always assumed no problem was too difficult for him. The past few days (Had it been days? How long had he been stuck here? A week? More? His family must be so worried) had put that notion to the test countless times, throwing impossible scenario after impossible scenario at him. There were some problems, he realized now, that were too big for anyone to face.

He was facing down one of those problems now–possibly the most impossible problem he’d run into so far.

Definition of the problem was relatively straightforward, even though the problem was multi-faceted.

Facet #1: His now ex-girlfriend had undergone major physical transmogrification–was that even a word, transmogrification? It sounded like something out of a TV show. Did that term exist outside of bad science fiction? Lachlan would probably know.

Lachlan. Lachlan was another facet.

Facet #2: As part of her transmogrification, Sam’s now ex-girlfriend had grown spines and injected an unknown venom into his… friend? Crush? What was Lachlan to him, exactly? Sam shook his head. That was a whole separate problem, and it was far from the priority right now.

Facet #3: His now ex-girlfriend was now unconscious, her skin shining with an unnatural luster, curled into a ball with her head down, her shoulders latched to the forest floor by her spines.

Facet #4: The three of them were alone in a dangerous alien forest, separated from the group, and Sam was the only one who was ambulatory.

Yeah, defining the problem was easy. But what a fucking mess of a problem.

Sam hated admitting when someone else was right and he was wrong. But Lachlan had been right about swearing. There was no more apt way to describe what he was facing than a nice, simple f-bomb.

“Samurai? Earth to Samurai. Come in, Samurai.”

Lachlan spoke, jarring Sam from his thoughts. If it weren’t for the outward composure his abilities had given him, he probably would have jumped.

“Sorry,” said Sam. “Sorry. I was… thinking.”

“What were you thinking? Concocting a brilliant plan to get us out of this terrifying predicament?”

Was it just Sam’s nerve-fueled imagination, or did Lachlan’s voice sound a little weaker than it had before?

Sam tried not to think about how weak Lachlan had sounded when he’d been lying on that shop floor.

It didn’t matter now, Sam told himself. That hadn’t even really happened, at least not in this reality. Not to this version of Lachlan. Sam had made sure of that.

But his newfound, seemingly superhuman abilities that had let him save Lachlan’s life then were nowhere to be found now. Now he was just regular Sam, though a little bit faster and a little less clumsy than before.

“No,” he said. “Coming up with a plan isn’t part of the first step.”

“Ah, of course,” said Lachlan. “By all means, we wouldn’t want to jump ahead and skip steps when one member of our merry little band has latched onto the ground and started hibernating and another is full of mysterious venom.”

“It’s important to go through the whole process,” said Sam.

Even as he said that and believed it, Sam couldn’t stop his mind from jumping ahead anyway.

He couldn’t leave and abandon Lachlan and Jen, but he couldn’t stay in the same place and do nothing either. He could only see one course of action.

He had to find out how to induce his new abilities, and he had to figure it out fast.

Previous | Next