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Sam

“You’ve only unlocked your abilities twice after seeing someone in mortal danger,” said Lachlan. “Both times, I’ve been that lucky someone but I… I digress.”

Lachlan was pausing between words now, like he was having trouble catching his breath.

“The problem is–” Lachlan took a heaving breath. “The problem is, in case you haven’t noticed, Samurai, I’m very much in mortal danger right now.”

“I know,” said Sam. “I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for.” Lachlan paused to catch his breath again. “You’ve already saved my life twice with your super-awesome Samurai powers. If my life has to be in anyone’s hands right now, I’m glad it’s in yours.”

But what if you don’t make it?

Sam stopped himself from saying the question out loud.

“How are you feeling?” he asked instead. “And don’t say something sarcastic like ‘Oh, I’m just peachy. I love venom.'”

“Me? Sarcastic? When have you ever known me to be anything but genuine and sincere?” Lachlan smiled weakly. “I feel… pretty shit. Nauseous. Getting dizzy. Chest feels weird.”

“Is it getting worse, or do you feel about the same?” said Sam.

“Worse. Getting worse. I’m… so dizzy. I think… I’m about to…” He trailed off.

“About to what?” said Sam. “You okay, man?”

No response.

“Lachlan?!”

Still no response. Lachlan lay unresponsive, his open eyes as vacant as they’d been when he’d bled out on the shop floor. Sam’s chest jolted with panic. He touched two fingers to Lachlan’s neck, placing them about where he thought a pulse would be. Could he feel a pulse? He wasn’t sure.

Lachlan gasped, his whole body spasming. For a moment, Sam allowed himself to feel a flicker of hope. Maybe Lachlan would wake up. Maybe he was going to be okay now.

That flicker was extinguished as quickly as it had appeared. Lachlan’s eyes remained vacant as he let out more labored gasps. The gasps came at irregular intervals, pained sounds that were somewhere between wheezing and gurgling.

Those sounds scared Sam more than if Lachlan hadn’t been breathing at all.

The lurch in Sam’s chest, the violent vertigo, the free fall in every direction at once–it was almost familiar to him now. The stifling warmth left the air, but there was no cooling sensation. It didn’t feel as though the air had grown colder. Instead, he felt the same thing he’d felt the first time these abilities had manifested–a complete absence of temperature.

That bothered him so much, the absence of temperature sensations. It didn’t make any sense. There was obviously a temperature; as long as there was matter, there was a temperature. So why couldn’t he feel it?

He couldn’t make sense of it, and he hated not being able to make sense of things.

Did it really matter at this point, though? He was lost in a jungle in another reality. He was unbound to the linear nature of time. His fingers had been eaten, then healed over in a matter of hours. His ex-girlfriend had grown venomous spines and started hibernating.

He thought back to how he’d felt when he’d first found himself in the Pit, when he and Lachlan had been stumbling through that strange building together and snarking at each other. Everything had seemed so surreal that Sam had been certain it was a dream.

He almost smiled. If the Sam from a couple days ago could only see himself now, he’d probably faint.

Man, had it really only been a couple days? It felt like four years had passed. So much had changed. A couple days ago, Sam had told Lachlan how much he’d disliked him. Now, the thought of Lachlan in danger was enough to make Sam break the laws of physics.

A couple days ago, Jen had been his girlfriend.

He looked over at Jen, curled up tightly with the top of her head pressed into the soft moss-covered mud. Her blonde hair spilled across the ground, extending from her head like cartoon sun rays. Her hair was going to be so dirty. She was going to hate that when she woke up.

If she woke up.

What if she never woke up?

Her transformation had been all Sam’s fault. She’d only changed because he’d let her fall. Because he’d broken her heart. Worse than that, he’d failed to save her life.

“I’m sorry,” he told her.

He’d been able to enter this state because Lachlan had been in danger, but he had to save Jen too. He couldn’t abandon her again.

It was up to him to help both of them.

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Sam

Sam sat beside Lachlan on the mossy, muddy ground, watching the other boy’s face in the dim alien light. Lachlan’s eyes were closed, and the rise and fall of his chest seemed deliberately slow, as though he was taking deep breaths to keep himself calm.

Sam’s own breathing felt more labored the longer he sat there. The warm, stuffy air seemed thicker by the second, and the smell of rotting otherworldly vegetation, bitter and cloyingly sweet at the same time, bore down on him until it threatened to overwhelm him.

He couldn’t see any solution other than somehow activating his abilities. But now he had a new problem, and he was back to step one.

Definition of the problem: He had no idea how to activate his abilities.

At least this new problem was easier to define than his old problem.

Step two. Conduct research.

Like he’d explained to Lachlan before–had it been two days ago? More? It felt like much longer–sometimes it wasn’t possible to conduct research in the traditional sense. He had to consider all the information about his predicament.

“Earth to Samurai.” Lachlan’s voice jarred him from his thoughts. “Come in Samurai. Samurai, do you read me? No rush, just slowly succumbing to alien venom here. Take your time.”

“I know. I know. Sorry. I was just thinking.”

Lachlan opened his eyes, and Sam averted his gaze.

“And to what brilliant conclusion have you come?” said Lachlan.

“We have a new problem.”

Worry flashed across Lachlan’s face, and Sam instantly regretted his phrasing. Lachlan’s life could depend on whether or not he was able to keep calm.

“No, no,” said Sam before Lachlan could panic. “Don’t worry–it’s nothing bad.”

“So, we have a new problem, but it’s nothing bad? Does the word problem mean something different in America or has the venom finally melted my brain?”

“A problem doesn’t have to be something bad. A problem is just an inquiry starting from given conditions to investigate a fact, result, or law,” said Sam. “And stop joking about the venom.”

“It’s my brain the venom is melting. I can make all the jokes I want, thank you very much.” Lachlan winced as he spoke.

“What’s wrong?” said Sam. “Are you okay?”

Ugh. What a stupid question. Obviously, Lachlan wasn’t okay.

“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just starting to feel like the venom is actually melting my brain. My head is fuckin’ killing me. We better figure this out fast before my beautiful, brilliant mind liquifies into Lachlan soup.” Lachlan winced again. “Are you going to elaborate on the new, non-bad problem you mentioned?”

“We need to get help somehow,” said Sam. “That axe lady will probably know what to do, but I’m the only one who can walk, and I can’t leave the two of you alone out here.”

“I’d prefer that you didn’t, yeah.”

“The only way I can get help without leaving you both is to move through time again. There’s no other option. Those are the conditions. That’s the definition of the problem. I have to activate my abilities again.”

“Step two,” said Lachlan. “Conduct research.”

Sam nodded. “I’ve unlocked my abilities twice so far. Both times, someone was in mortal danger.”

No, not just anyone, he allowed himself to admit privately. Both times, Lachlan had been the one in mortal danger.

That didn’t necessarily mean anything, he told himself. Two instances were not enough to base a scientific judgement on. A researcher conducting an experiment that used a sample size of two would be laughed out of any respectable institution. Probably most of the non-respectable ones too. It could have just been a coincidence.

Still, those two instances were all he had to go on, and Lachlan was the obvious common thread between them.

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Hi to everyone who’s still reading!

So, you may have noticed this update was over a month late…

I’m sorry I haven’t been keeping up with my chapter schedule; work has been very busy, and I haven’t had much time to work on the story.

I was recently promoted at work (yay!), which means I’ll most likely stay this busy for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, this means I won’t have time to keep up a regular posting schedule. I’ll continue updating the story intermittently whenever I have time, but for now I won’t be able to commit to a regular schedule.

If circumstances change in the future, I may resume weekly or fortnightly updates, but for the time being, updates will be sporadic.

Thank you for reading!

Anna

Unfortunately, this week’s chapter will be delayed another two weeks.

Thanks for reading, and sorry I keep delaying chapters!

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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.

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Hi everyone!

Sorry, I meant to post this yesterday, but the next chapter of the story will be delayed until April 6.

Thanks for reading!

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Lachlan

Lachlan couldn’t see Jen from where he was lying, but the panic in Sam’s voice was enough to make him worry. He took a deep breath and tried to force himself to stay relaxed. Well, as relaxed as he could be under the circumstances.

He’d heard that if there was no hope of medical treatment, the best hope of surviving venom in your system was to stay calm and lie as still as possible for as long as possible to keep it from circulating. The worst thing you could do about a venomous scratch was panic.

It was hard not to panic, though. He was lost in an alien jungle full of hostile wildlife, he had some unknown venom coursing through his veins dangerously close to his heart, and now Sam was crying out Jen’s name in a way that suggested something was very wrong.

“Jen? Jen?! Jen, wake up! Jen?!”

Slowly and carefully, Lachlan turned his head to the side. The small movement sent a wave of vertigo through his body. If he hadn’t already been lying down, he suspected he might have fallen over. That couldn’t be good. He closed his eyes took another deep breath.

Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Don’t panic.

When he opened his eyes, what he saw did nothing to ease his nerves.

Jen was sitting on her knees, curled up with her head touching the ground. Most of her skin was covered by her clothes and hair, or tucked under her body, but a little triangle of bare skin was visible on the back of her neck, between the top of her shirt and the part of her hair. A weak little beam of distant sunlight had fought its way down through the dense foliage, landing on that tiny patch of skin and reflecting back into his eyes. The reflected light–glossy with a faint shimmer–reminded him of looking out a bus window at sunset, when the sun was low enough in the sky to hit every window and car and bombard him with beads of white gold light, leaving him with spots dancing in his vision; it prompted him to wonder if he’d ever ride a bus again.

Human skin shouldn’t have reflected light like that.

“Well,” he said. “That’s new.”

His head was starting to throb. He hoped it was from the sudden assault of light and not from the venom.

“That’s new?” said Sam. “She’s–she’s shiny! She’s all shiny! And all you can say is ‘that’s new’?”

“What do you want me to say, Samurai? I’m a bit too busy trying not to die to be careful with my words.”

Sam buried his head in his hands.

“I just–I don’t know what to do. You’re… you’re envenomated, and now she’s–” he gestured at Jen.

“Hey. It’ll be alright.” Lachlan wasn’t sure whether he was reassuring Sam or himself. “It’ll be alright. We’ll think of something. Let’s start the steps of problem-solving over again. I’d say this qualifies as a new problem, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah. Yeah, it does.”

“Alright. Step one. Step one is–“

“Definition of the problem.”

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Hi everyone! This Thursday’s chapter will be delayed by one week. Thanks so much for reading!

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Jen

Jen squinted at the dark space beneath the rock, fighting every instinct to keep herself from crawling back in. The wavering light filtering through the trees, the light that had felt like a dim, distant glimmer just minutes before now scorched her skin and threatened to blind her. She thought of a documentary she and Sam had watched together just a few days ago about the life cycles of stars. When a massive star reached the end of its life, it exploded in a powerful, catastrophic burst.

After all that she’d been through in the past through days, this was how she was going to die? In an alien supernova with her ex-boyfriend?

But why was it so quiet? She knew there was no sound in space, but surely an entire sun exploding would make some noise. There would be shockwaves or something.

Come to think of it, she didn’t feel any shockwaves either.

And Lachlan and Sam weren’t acting like they were about to be vaporized by a devastating radioactive shockwave. They were carrying on their conversation from before, going on about the problem-solving process.

No. No, the sun wasn’t exploding. Something else was going on.

She didn’t know what, and she didn’t particularly care. If the sun wasn’t exploding, that was good enough for her. She was satisfied with that. All she cared about was getting out of this light, crawling back into that cool, inviting space beneath the rock and nestling in for a nap.

She moved a fraction toward the rock. No. She wasn’t supposed to go back in there. She couldn’t remember why, but it had felt important.

Since crawling back under the rock wasn’t an option, she settled for curling into a ball, tucking her knees into her chest. The spines flattened, retracting into her body to make room for her legs, but she wouldn’t have cared much if they hadn’t. She had to protect herself from the white-hot explosion engulfing her.

She tucked her hands into her chest and pushed her face into her knees, shielding all of her unprotected skin from the light. She was grateful she’d changed out of her dress into clothes that covered her arms and legs. If she could be beneath the rock, she could at least be fully covered.

Whatever forgotten reason she’d had for staying out in the open was starting to seem less and less important. If it was really such a big deal, she wouldn’t have forgotten it in the first place.

She tried to unfurl herself and found that she couldn’t move her limbs more than a fraction.

Sam was kneeling beside her, while Lachlan remained lying on the ground. They were talking, but her mind couldn’t parse the words. They sounded worried, but not supernova worried.

She tried to speak–to tell them there was nothing to be worried about. There had never been anything to worry about. She was fine. Everything was fine. It wasn’t ideal that she was out in the open light, but there was nothing she could do about it now. It was time.

Time for what?

It was time.

She knew what she had to do. She rolled over so she was face-down, knees and head on the ground. She flexed her shoulder spines–those could still move, at least–and extended them, hooking them into the ground.

There. Now she could sleep.

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Hi everyone!

I said last week I would try to resume weekly updates, but unfortunately, that doesn’t seem like it’ll be doable for me right now. I still really want to keep the story going, so I’ll be publishing chapters every two weeks going forward.

Thanks so much for reading and see you next week!

Anna