Into The Underverse

Chapter 36

I awoke with a wince, my goopified skin feeling very tingly.  It definitely did not appreciate being rained on earlier.

I took a shaky breath and stretched, gritting my teeth as my skin made its discomfort known to me.  It wasn't necessarily painful, but it was like trying to stretch a sunburn...that was all over your body.

I shook my head carefully and turned over, righting myself on the branch before hopping down.  I landed somewhat gracefully on the damp ground.  Looking around, I pondered my next moves.

I was clearly lost in a forest at this point.  I was real lucky I didn't need food or water anymore, although my entire being felt sore and weak from both the rain and the incident earlier with the barrier.  I also had to be careful of which direction I chose to run in now.  I didn't want to risk running BACK to the facility.  That would be...unfortunate.

I was very turned around as to which direction I had come from while trying to find shelter from the rain.  Not to mention the fact that I wasn't sure as to what direction Night had run my body from earlier.  I could be literally anywhere in this forest.

...this is going to be difficult...

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.  What to do, what to do...

High ground, perhaps?  Maybe you'll see a path somewhere.

I opened my eyes and looked back up at the tree I had hopped down from.  Good idea.  Though I'm more likely to see a highway than a path of any kind.  If I can see anything besides trees...

I gave another uncomfortable stretch and summoned my tendrils, using them to help me re-climb the tree.

I eventually got to the highest point and looked around, using the tendrils to help me stay stable as I did.

I could see off in the distance a tallish metal spire that blinked at the top, indicating to air vehicles its location so they didn't fly too low.  Was that a safe place...or was that the facility?  I couldn't tell from this far away.  This tree was pretty tall, so I could be looking at something miles and miles away.

What were the odds of that being the facility, anyway?  Maybe it was a firewatch tower with an air vehicle light thingy next to it.  A firewatch tower could have a phone that would allow me contact with...someone.

That gave me pause.  Who the hell could I contact, anyway?  The freaking police?

I gritted my teeth to avoid crying.  There was no one here who could help me.  Not when I was like this.  ...no one here could help me.  No one.  I was alone here.  I had no friends to call upon, no trustworthy family, and the police would just turn me right back in to the facility where they would super lock me up forever to experiment on me.  My life here was ruined.

I growled under my breath as tears escaped my eyes anyway, burning my face.  I made no move to wipe them away, letting the pain linger to snap me back into focus.

Are you okay?

No, Night, I'm not.  You can hear my thoughts...you can see how f***ed up my life has become.  I have no hope for a normal life here ever again.  If I become uncorrupted, they'll just put me in prison for all the people that were killed.  If I don't become uncorrupted, they'll experiment on me for the rest of my life.  Humans are the WORST.

Night was silent, completely unsure of how to respond.

At this point, my only hope of ANY kind of life outside of concrete walls is your multiverse.  I can't keep living in the forest forever.  Maybe I should just give up and LET the facility take me...I have no future in my world anymore.