Postmortem Ch5 || Ascension

Oh goodness. That was not who Dr. Sunflower thought was coming up from below. Not at all, actually. Rather than face the pleasant, albeit curious, cryo from before - an acro towered before him, menacing and horrific, larger than many of the other specimens that he’d encountered. Her lip was curled, baring the sharp, curved teeth of a carnivore. The quills along her spine rattled, adding to the tension.

“Oh, dear, I thought you’d all gone.”

Tobias appeared from the doorway, stepping into the light. It was a welcome relief to see him. The acro that he’d chosen to keep the company of was perhaps not the friendliest of sorts - the growl that rumbled in her chest made that quite clear - but she was at least not going to try to eat him, as was the way that things had previously been between their respective zones.

“A few remain,” Tobias offered. He turned his snout upwards, gazing at the pale and bloodied body of a suchomimus draped across the acro’s back.

Whatever worry about the acro’s presence that Sunflower still had was swiftly abandoned when he noticed the suchomimus. “Oh dear, what’s happened to you? Are you alright?”

A low hiss rattled dryly in Rime’s throat as the dacen approached, but when he paid her no mind, she seemed to relent. At least he wasn’t swinging his weapon of a tail in her direction.

She snorted quietly when the sucho didn’t answer, and swung her great head to glance over her shoulder. Unsurprisingly, he’d slipped into unconsciousness, his blood staining her pale hide. That didn’t seem to make the dacen feel any better, and in fact he seemed to grow more restless and upset when he realised the extent of the sucho’s injuries.

“Let them down, I can help!”

“We’re going to the surface,” she hissed.

“But I treat wounds! I know how to help him,” Sunflower insisted. When Rime looked doubtful - after all, dacen caused injuries, they didn’t fix them - Sunflower continued. “The humans left behind tools and items that could heal. I know how to use them! I’ve treated dozens of injuries, from scratches to…” Well, more serious injuries, caused by dinosaurs with sharp teeth and claws. “At least let me pack the wounds and stop the bleeding!”

“It will get him to the surface alive,” Tobias agreed, looking towards Rime. They couldn’t get Click to the uppermost floors without her help, but it wouldn’t do any good to take a lifeless body.

Rime growled a sigh and conceded. “You can treat him, but we’re not staying here. We’re going on when you’ve done whatever it is you’re going to do.”

Sunflower brightened considerably, and left quickly to collect supplies while Tobias helped to ease Click down from Rime’s back. It didn’t take long for Sunflower to return, and when he did, he was immediately at work. The wound was deep - a savage bite that had ripped across the suchomimus’ back and hips. An acro bite, but the largest that Sunflower had ever seen or treated. It would be a miracle if Click could still use his hind legs or move his tail, at all. As carefully as he could, he began to apply various pastes and herbs and sections of cloth to the injuries in a manner that Rime didn’t quite understand, but that Tobias seemed to trust. The cryo waited patiently for Sunflower to be done with his work, watching quietly as Sunflower worked quite deftly for a creature of his size. Sunflower didn’t speak much, entirely focused on his work. It was unsettling that Click was unconscious, but the unresponsive patient was the easiest patient, he supposed.

When he was done, he stepped back. He wasn’t entirely satisfied - this was rushed work - but it would at least help to begin the healing process and staunch the bleeding so that Click didn’t get any worse.

“Are you done?” Rime growled quietly. The sucho now reeked of...green things. Sharp, herbaceous scents that would stick to her hide. She was less than pleased.

Sunflower studied the sucho’s unconscious form for a moment, and was apparently content. Mostly. “For now, yes. He’ll need further attention to make sure that the wounds don’t fester and rot. They’re quite deep. What-”

Rime cut him off before he could continue. “Let’s go then.”

Sunflower frowned, but quieted. There was time for questions as they went on, he supposed. Well, was he coming? He glanced back towards his infirmary while Tobias and Rime worked to carefully return Click to his place across her back. This was his home, he’d been born and raised here...but he had a patient, and his patient couldn’t stay there. And he did want to see what sorts of things lay beyond the facility. Huge beasts, perhaps, or strange herbs that he could never conceive of existing. But he was getting ahead of himself. He had to make sure that the sucho would be okay before he could even consider leaving the facility - and his infirmary.

When Click was securely in place, Rime headed in what she was sure was the direction of the stairwell that would take them up. Tobias didn’t argue, and neither...did their tail. She shot a sidelong glance at the dacen. Why was he following them?

Once again, though, Sunflower didn’t seem to mind her aggressive disposition. Well he did, really, but he was trying to put on a friendly face, and was speaking to Tobias instead as the trio travelled across Zone B.

“What happened to him?” Sunflower asked quietly.

Tobias gazed blankly at the unconscious form draped across Rime’s back. He wasn’t sure exactly what had happened, just that it had been violent and Click was lucky to still be alive, at all. “He fell a long way,” was the only thing that Tobias could say for certain. Whether Click was thrown over the edge or had lost his footing, he couldn’t say for certain, but fall, he had.

Sunflower went on to catalogue aloud the injuries that he’d noted - lacerations, of course, but he suspected that a few of the sucho’s ribs had cracked as well, and that one of his legs might be broken but it was hard to tell with an unconscious patient who couldn’t give him feedback on exactly how he was feeling. A few minor scuffs, scrapes, and bruises from where he’d hit the ground, but nothing serious - at least, not as serious as his other injuries.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Sunflower glanced down at Tobias.

The cryo turned his flat gaze towards the pale sucho. Tobias believed he would be. He wouldn’t have felt drawn here so strongly if Click were simply going to die.

“With your help,” Tobias agreed. All of their help. Tobias had found him, now it was up to Rime to get them to the surface and up to Sunflower to make sure that he recovered.

Sunflower seemed pleased with this answer, and continued on. The dacen’s voice filled the silence as the trio walked on. What sorts of things he believed to be on the surface [Rime rolled her eyes - of course there weren’t any great beasts up there, or the intruders would have never survived, and no, the humans were definitely gone], the sorts of herbs he thought that he’d find, his concern and reasonable distress of leaving his home behind for somewhere entirely new despite the excitement that came with exploring the surface and all that lay beyond.

Rime scoffed to herself. Why get so worked up about moving on when he could just stay here? That’s what she was going to do. See what the surface had to offer, as Basalt had suggested that she do, and then when it ultimately failed to impress, she would return. This was her home. The only thing that the surface might have going for it was the availability of food. Unlike the dacen, she and her kin hadn’t had the opportunity to just grow the food that they needed to sustain themselves. Unless, like the albertos, they ate their young. It was a dreadful thought, but a sacrifice that they had to make more than once.

“Where do you think he comes from?” Sunflower asks, turning once again to study Click. The wounds stained the cloth a dark red, but the stain didn’t seem to be growing much anymore, now that the wounds had been packed. It was an ugly business, but at least it would help in the long run.

Tobias thought for a moment, reflecting on Sunflower’s question. “Many of his kin live around the water,” he replied. “They are made to swim as well as walk. They hunt fish, and turtles, and frogs when they are small. They can hold their breath underneath the water for a long time.” Not as long as an aristo or atopo, perhaps, but long enough. Suchomimus were masterful ambush hunters.

“Though for him, specifically...I don’t know.”

Sunflower seemed surprised. “You don’t know him? I thought you came down here looking for your friend when he got lost?”

Tobias clacked his jaws together quietly. “This is the first time that I’ve known his face.” That he knew of, anyway. Nothing about the sucho seemed familiar.

“How did you know that he was down here then?”

“I…” Tobias paused. It was the same way that he knew everything. He just...did. Sunflower was an inquisitive sort, and would likely be unhappy with this sort of answer, but it was the only one that he had. “I didn’t. I just had a feeling. I had to go down.” He had to follow the path.

“Well, it’s very lucky that you did. He would have died down there, left alone.”

Rime snorted quietly, turning so she could begin the last perilous climb of a stairway up towards the surface. He would have died, yes. His body would have fed her kin, or Nidhogg. He was an outsider. His bones would have been left to rot, rather than join her ancestors and the ones preyed upon by her kin and the bones of the ones who came before. Now, thanks to their efforts, he could rot on the surface instead. How fortunate for him.

As Rime began to climb the last of the staircases, again careful as to not dislodge her unconscious cargo, Tobias took up his typical position behind her. Sunflower hesitated. It was dark and cramped in the stairwell. It was so very far from his home. Zone A was dangerous, full of albertosaurus that had long tried to prey upon the dacen. But...he had a patient to tend to, and he couldn’t do that if he stayed below. Rime hadn’t attacked him yet, and he was confident that at the very least, any stray albertos that remained would at least be wary of approaching as long as she was nearby. Not that he believed he could count on her to help defend him. Tobias might. He seemed rather friendly for one with sharp teeth.

Tobias paused long enough to wait for Sunflower, watching with his pale, dead eyes. When Sunflower gathered the courage to follow them, he continued on as a bridge between his travelling companions.

There were all manner of bumps and clunks as they climbed, with the occasional apology from Sunflower. The stairway was not built for a dacen to climb, and his shoulder spikes and tail occasionally scraped against the metal of the railing and the wall. Mostly, it was just noise, but the more serious impacts lit a tiny portion of the stairwell with a flash of sparks. The stairs creaked and groaned, just as they had with each other staircase that they had climbed. They held strong. The higher levels of the facility were still in decent working order, and the metal was enough to support them.

This was the furthest from home that Rime had ever been. She had left Basalt down there in the dark. Left her frozen companions and the bones of the fallen. Even though it had been at Basalt’s own suggestion, it didn’t feel right.

She narrowed her eyes as they approached the top. A bright red light flashed occasionally, illuminating what remained of their path. Beyond that, the doorway was dim, but visible. They were nearly there.