Postmortem Ch9 || Dearly Departed

The conscious trio froze briefly after Tobias spoke, then a low growl accompanied by the rattling of quills rasped through the air as Rime prepared herself for an attack by unseen opponents. Hazard readied himself as well, shifting to stand near Click to defend him, if need be.

“What do you mean, we’re ‘not alone’?” the doctor dacen asked as he stepped up beside Tobias. He peered upwards towards where the cryo’s gaze was cast, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just shadows and the dark, yawning mouth of the facility as it opened up into the unknown. Nothing even really smelled out of the ordinary, either. There were all sorts of scents tangled together, but that was hardly unusual with as many dinosaurs had come and gone through this very area recently.

For a moment, Tobias didn’t answer. He merely continued to gaze upwards, his pale eyes unblinking. The shadows didn’t move. Perhaps they thought that he hadn’t noticed them stirring.

“They don’t mean us any harm,” he replied finally. His muzzle turned towards Sunflower before his gaze did. “They’re just curious. We apparently make for...unusual company.”

Rime snorted, but otherwise didn’t say anything. He wasn’t wrong. She had never thought a moment in her life that she’d be in even somewhat peaceful company with...a dacen. It was unnatural, and it wouldn’t last. Whenever she left, whenever this strange group broke up, he would again be the hunted and she a hunter. That was how things were meant to be.

She peered up towards where Tobias’ gaze had left. “That’s it?” she rumbled, with no small amount of disbelief and even mild annoyance. What had he seen? Who was among them?

“That’s it,” Tobias repeated. Rime hissed in displeasure as Tobias walked back to Hazard’s side, where the suchomimus lay still unconscious and broken. That wasn’t an answer.

“What are they?” she snarled, following Tobias. He sniffed over the suchomimus’ wounds, delaying his response to the acro’s venom-laced questions. Click had been pulled from the poisonous depths of the facility, his wounds were at least not weeping blood anymore, but he had been moved too much. He needed rest.

“Harmless,” he replied and in the same breath turned to Dr. Sunflower; “Can you tend to him here? He is in a fragile state.”

Prototype and Callahan both seemed to be a bit ruffled by the cryo’s answer. They weren’t harmless, neither of them. Prototype had survived her entire life around the dangers of the Alpha Labs - the albertos, the dacen, the acros, even other freaks that weren’t any of the above. But, of course, she had never...faced all three at once, and she would doubtless not get away unscathed if she approached with ill intent.

Callahan herself was a fierce huntress, even despite her small size. She could outmanoeuvre everyone in here, even the other utah, she was certain. But...she couldn’t put herself at risk. Not with Petrichor depending on her for food, water, and defence.

Perhaps they were harmless. For now.

Dr. Sunflower hesitated, studying Click. “I...would prefer if we were somewhere more sheltered and comfortable, for his sake,” the dacen admitted with a heavy sigh. “But...yes, I suppose I could tend to him here. We can build a nest around him so that he’s more comfortable and stays warm.”

The air coming from the open doorway was surprisingly cold compared to the warmth of the greenhouses that Sunflower was used to from Zone B. It called to Rime, though. Enticed her, beckoned her. She’d never felt such a thing from anything but the cold room, far below. How could such a thing exist? What was the source of the cold, what more was out there? Were there more bodies sealed away in frozen tubes beyond the Morpheus facility that she had grown up in? From the stories she had heard from the intruders as they came to explain why they had come and why they had to continue she didn’t think so, but...it was something she would only understand if she saw it with her own eyes. Perhaps Basalt had been right. Perhaps she did need to see what lay beyond the edges of their small, confined world.

“You can stay and build him a nest and prepare his corpse before he is dead,” she huffed. “I’m leaving.”

“What?” Hazard’s voice was coloured with surprise, which was reflected on Dr. Sunflower’s face.

“You think I’m going to stay and stand vigil over an outsider while his life leaves his bones?” she snapped. The ground shook as her claws clacked against the tile when she shifted her weight to glare more directly at the smaller alberto. Her cold gaze was an unspoken dare for him to keep pushing.

“I did my part,” she continued. “I brought him to the surface and his bones will not join those of my kin. I’m not going to waste any more of my time on his corpse.” She sniffed disdainfully. “Not enough meat on him to fight over, anyway.”

Dr. Sunflower looked thoroughly disgusted. “No one is going to eat anyone!” he exclaimed.

Rime rolled her eyes. Dacen. Herbivores. This was the way that their world was, regardless of whether or not he liked it. The suchomimus that he was coddling was, at the end of the day, just a pile of meat and bone.

“Let her go.” Tobias’ soft voice stood in sharp contrast to the hard edge of Rime’s. He turned his gaze towards his companions, having been staring up at the second level again. “Her time with us has ended. Her path takes her away from here, now. We should not stand in her way.”

Rime shook her head and snorted. As though she needed permission to leave them, let alone from someone as small and weak as the cryo. As though they could stop her if any of them tried.

There were five pairs of eyes on the massive acro as she turned and strode across the foyer. They watched as she paused at the very edge of the Alpha Lab’s world, hesitating at the face of the inky blackness that waited for her. It smelled of earth and plants and water and cold, which were all familiar things to her. But there was no metal beyond the doorway. No rust, no mildew. There was, very faintly, also the scent of blood, like the site of an old kill.

She inhaled deeply, steeling herself. She couldn’t turn back now, not after putting up such a bravado about leaving. It wasn’t like she was afraid of the unknown.

Five pairs of eyes watched as Rime vanished into the night.

There was silence in the foyer until Dr. Sunflower cleared his throat. “We should...find some materials to make him comfortable, I suppose,” he murmured. “When that’s done, I’ll go back and get my supplies.”

Tobias dipped his head in agreement. His head cocked slightly, watching as one of the shadows swirled and shifted and disappeared at the edge of his vision.

“I can take you to where we got most of our nesting material,” Hazard offered. “The humans left behind a lot of soft stuff, it’s good for keeping warm and comfortable when the air starts to cool like it is now. Pillows, blankets, that sort of thing. We might be able to get a whole mattress out here, but it’ll take some doing.”

“That sounds great!” Sunflower agreed enthusiastically. Though he was a carnivore just like Rime, Hazard seemed to be a much more cheerful and helpful sort than her gloominess. “But, someone should stay with-”

Tobias lay down beside Click, whose breath came in long, wheezing rasps. “You will know better what materials you need than I,” the cryo said, turning his pale, empty gaze upon the pair of giants. “I will stay with him. He will be safe.”

Sunflower brightened once again, then turned to look up at Hazard. “Lead the way!”

Callahan bit back a hiss as the two giants began to move towards the hallway that led towards where she and Petrichor had been holed up for the duration of their time in the facility. Because where else would they go?

She turned back towards the cryo who knew too much and saw too many hidden things with his dead, lifeless eyes. He was looking at her again, she could feel his gaze on her even though he hadn’t said anything. Tskk. She couldn’t bite back the sound of unease. The utahraptor pulled back from the edge of the foyer and crept along the upper level as quickly as she could, descending on the side stairs.

There was no way she was going to be able to get past the giants without them noticing her. They’d been peaceful enough amongst each other so far, and the albertos had been nothing but helpful from what she’d seen as others had gone on through the uppermost levels of the facility, but that could change. That could all change. And who was to say what the spike-backed giant would do if he found Petrichor? She couldn’t run, she could hardly defend herself!

Callahan raced down the hallway, her heart pounding in her chest. She’d distract them, lead them somewhere else and away from Petrichor. Just...keep her safe.

“Callahan?”

Petrichor’s sleepy voice echoed through the hallways just as the curse-touched utahraptor rushed past the dacen and snapped at the alberto’s ankle.