Nao yelped as he collided heavily with the ground. His teeth rattled, and for a terrifying moment, his surroundings were blurred. When they clarified, he saw Rin rolling behind a nearby tree. Wen Xulong removed his arm from around Nao and shifted into a defensive crouch in front of him, wielding a pistol with both hands.
All of this happened in two seconds; Nao’s eyes captured it all, then landed on what had triggered such a sudden reaction.
The woods weren’t thick. It was easy to see through the trees for a stretch. Not far from them at all, slinking between the trees, was a creature that on the whole looked like a black panther, and yet very clearly wasn’t.
Two ferns stuck out of its head like antennae, their stems green and the ends of their leaves red. Its eyes were more reptilian than feline. Bristling out along its back were long and sharp quills, striped orange and yellow, thicker than a finger. And curled behind it, baring a stinger dripping venom, was a scorpion’s tail.
Nao definitely wanted to throw up now.
Rin pulled a flare from his belt and tore off the cap. He quickly tossed it out.
The panther’s attention was drawn by the noise. It padded cautiously toward the place where the flare had landed, investigating. Without sparing a second, Rin moved forward, stalking the creature silently. Nao’s heart jumped into his throat, but the panther didn’t seem to notice Rin until he was mere feet away, and by that time it was too late.
Rin drew the machete hanging at his side and cleaved out in a flat horizontal slash. The creature’s tail was lopped clean off. Rin dropped with it to the ground as the creature’s quills puffed up and shot forth, embedding themselves in the trees and scattering over the ground. Once he was safe from this attack, Rin got back to his feet, preparing to roll away from the panther once more.
This time, the panther was faster.
A black paw swiped toward Rin. Its claws were frighteningly long—long enough to pierce through someone. Those claws shredded straight through Rin’s uniform and drew out a spurt of bright red blood.
Rin let out a sound that was halfway between a grunt and a yell. Wielding the machete a second time, he chopped downward. There was a brutal crunch, and the panther collapsed at Rin’s feet. Blue and green liquid washed out of its wounds, interspersed with red, creating a mess all over the ground.
Nao’s throat convulsed. Only by locking his jaw and clinging desperately to the desire not to puke did he manage to hold down his lunch.
Rin took a step back, then touched one hand to his half-shredded vest. His fingers came away coated in watery red. Though he did a good job of hiding it, his pain showed in the stiffness of his movement.
“Nao-chan, you’re up,” Wen Xulong said. He stood, then turned and held out a hand to Nao. “Up you go, c’mon.”
Nao pulled himself upright with Wen Xulong’s help and approached Rin, who had taken off the vest and was now doing the same with his shirt.
An awkward mess of thoughts and emotions battled inside Nao’s head and heart as he witnessed this. A large part of him was terrified and concerned by the three long cuts across Rin’s chest; a smaller part was distracted by the defined muscles of his arms and abdomen. His face felt hot, and his heart raced.
With shaking fingers, Nao unslung his backpack and dug through for medical supplies. He pulled on gloves and found the saline, then directed Rin to sit beneath one of the trees. Water still dripped down, but it was at least a little better than standing in the open. He examined the cuts, then bit his lip with a frown.
“. . .They’ll have to bleed a little more,” Nao said. “This. . .will hurt.”
He reached out and prodded at the flesh around the wounds; the bleeding grew stronger. Nao’s chest panged in sympathy each time he pushed in, but as they had no source of clean running water, this was the best way to ensure Rin wouldn’t end up with an infection. Rin’s breathing was ragged, but he made no other sounds, even as red coated the skin of his chest and stained his waistband.
Nao let the wounds bleed for a moment, then used a cloth to wipe away the blood around them and poured small amounts of the saline solution over each cut, holding the cloth underneath to catch the overflow. After cleaning the cuts, he sprayed blood-clotting solution over the wounds, then picked up a packet containing a curved, sterilized needle.
“These are deep, so they need stitches,” Nao said quietly. “. . .Please try not to move until I’m finished.”
Rin hummed in assent. He did indeed sit perfectly still, even as the needle passed in and out of his flesh, drawing it back together. Slowly, the wounds started looking less and less severe as they were taken care of; after finally sewing up each of them, Nao felt his heart settling down. He cleaned Rin’s chest one more time, then grabbed gauze and bandages and wrapped the cuts up, concealing a good chunk of Rin’s torso underneath layers of white.
Strangely, Nao’s fingers felt weaker and shakier with every pass of the bandages. His entire body was hot now, not only his face; it was uncomfortable.
He didn’t dwell on it much. There were more important matters to attend to.
Nao put all of the trash in a plastic bag, then peeled off his gloves and tossed them in as well before tying up the bag and returning it to his backpack. He grabbed a bottle of painkillers and handed it to Rin.
“Thanks,” Rin said. His voice was a little hoarse. He tossed back a couple of the pills, then handed the bottle back, and Nao tucked it away.
Wen Xulong squatted down by the panther’s carcass and cut loose four different samples. “Well, we’ve got our mutation-category samples taken care of.”
Rin pushed himself to his feet. “Yeah. Guess they’ll pull us out in about twenty seconds.”
Nao tried not to let it show, but he was greatly relieved to hear this. He’d suddenly begun to rethink his career choices.
Sure enough, after about sixteen seconds had passed, Nao’s surroundings faded to smears of color, then went dark as his body numbed once again. A few moments later, the numbness abated, and someone unclasped his visor, lifting it away. He saw Rin and Wen Xulong undergoing the same process across from him.
It hit him that he had never been in real danger—neither had Rin or Wen Xulong. That wasn’t even reality, and it was this scary; the thought made Nao’s legs feel weak. Actually, his whole body felt weak, like he might collapse at any moment, and he was burning up from head to toe. The room seemed to tilt and spin a little, and nausea surged in his stomach. . .
As soon as he was unhooked from all the wires, Nao offered a polite smile and said, “Please excuse me for a moment. . .”
He crossed the room and entered the bathrooms, rushing into the nearest open stall and falling to his knees in front of the toilet. He struggled for a few moments, but in the end, he lost the fight and the contents of his stomach came right back up.
Nao heaved for a while even after his gut was emptied out, then sat beside the toilet, mustering his strength. He was deprived of fuel now, so he’d have to find something to eat very soon, or he just might die here. Food was the last thing he wanted right now, but Rin would be upset if he didn’t eat, so he painstakingly dragged himself to his feet and exited the stall. He rinsed his mouth and face in the sink; while he did so, someone else entered the bathroom.
Nao shook the water off his hands and grabbed a handful of paper towels, drying himself off. Only after doing this did he look up to see Rin, standing near the entrance of the bathroom and looking worried.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
Nao blinked a few times, then scraped together a smile. “Mm. . .I’m fine.”
In reality, he still felt weak from his head to his toes—even worse now than before—and he was also still very hot. He would’ve liked nothing more than to fall into bed and sleep for a week, but not only was there no bed nearby, he had work tonight. He’d have to settle for a good meal.
Rin didn’t look convinced in the least. Nor did he look like he felt at all well himself; he was paler than usual, with beads of sweat dotting his forehead and causing his bangs to stick.
He took a step forward and lifted his hand. Before Nao could react, that palm landed on his forehead. It felt cold; Nao shivered.
“You’re running a fever,” Rin said with a deep frown. “Come on. You need to see the nurse.”
Nao wanted to protest, but he didn’t have the energy, and he knew Rin wouldn’t budge even if he did. When Rin turned to leave, he tried to take a step after him and ended up pitching forward. He crashed against Rin’s back and nearly hit the floor, but Rin caught him before he could.
Without a word, Rin lifted him into his arms and carried him out of the bathroom. Wen Xulong caught sight of the two and hurried after them, leaving his things behind.
Nao looked up at Rin. All he could really see from here was his tense jawline and the bottoms of his chin and nose. If he looked down a little, he could see Rin’s pulse in the veins of his neck.
It was very fast right now.
Nao found that he was comfortable in Rin’s arms like this. With the steady rhythm of Rin’s footsteps, it almost felt like he was laying in a hammock, swaying gently with the winds. Drowsiness rushed over him, and he fell into a dreamless slumber.
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