Aquaertus

Chapter Ten - Companionship

Wait, what?

Is that who I think it is?

"Derik Valle?"

"Yes, that's me. Is that you, Errin Hassard?" He asks as we drop our weapons.

"Oh my God, yes! It's me! It's Errin Hassard!"

I just found Derik Valle. I can't believe he survived. I can't believe I'm not alone.

"It's good to see you survived, Errin," he states coolly in his deep voice. Maybe it just sounds deep because I haven't heard anybody except Cynthia in weeks. Either way, hearing another human sounds glorious.

Derik Valle is one of the doctors that worked on the USS Pertempto. He's young, but still older than me; I'm 23, and he's 28. I "ran into" him a few times on the ship. The first time I met him was when I tripped and sprained my ankle. I went to get my injury treated, and he was the doctor that took care of me. After that, I would occasionally go to his office to bother him out of boredom. I didn't know many people on the ship, and he was the first I officially met, so I went to him to kill time. Once I met Lou, I didn't visit him as often. We were never much more than acquaintances, but he's still a familiar face to me. I'm so happy to see him!

"I'm glad you survived too!" I exclaim as I stumble towards him to give him a welcome hug. He's pretty awkward, so I knew it would bother him. Just because we're in a dire situation doesn't mean I can't still tease him.

"Oh gosh," he sputters out as I squeeze him tight. He clears his throat, indicating he feels uncomfortable. I step away with a shit-eating grin plastered across my face.

"Errin," he gasps, "what's happened with your leg?"

"Oh, yeah... when I swam onto this island, something attacked me. I cut off the circulation so I wouldn't bleed out and put some antiseptics on it, but that's all I could do. Can you help? Do you have to cut my leg off?"

"Don't worry, I found something on this island that could help. Sit tight while I go get it."

I sit back down on the destroyed seat and wait for Derik to come back with whatever he thinks will help. He's only gone for a few minutes, so I don't wait long. He enters the pod with his arms full of large leaves and something on his shoulder.

"What is that?" I ask him.

"These are leaves from some sort of giant fern. When I first got here I tried to get off the island, and I was attacked, I assume by the same animal. I put these on my wounds as bandages, and they somehow sped up my healing processes. I probably would've had to amputate your leg, but these will prevent your injuries from becoming severe enough for that to be necessary. It's really fascinating, let me put them on you."

"No, I meant that," I clarify as I point to the thing on his shoulder. It looks like a tiny monkey, but much more horrifying. It has no fur or hair, just blue-green skin, a color similar to the trees. Its eyes are black and bulging, with its nostrils resting above them where eyebrows would be. The face is wrinkly, and the mouth is barely distinguishable from the other crevices. It has 6 skinny limbs, half functioning as legs and the other half as arms. It also has a long iguana-like tail that is curling around Derik's arm almost protectively.

"Oh, you mean Zippy? She's harmless, don't worry. She found me laying in the sand when I landed here and has gotten attached to me," he responds calmly.

"Oh, ok then. Hello Zippy," I reach out my hand for her to analyze, and she quickly moves away from me. "Wow, I can see why you named her Zippy. She's fast!"

"Yes, very fast. She also seems to be wary of you. She'll warm up to you eventually. Now, let me fix up your wounds."

Zippy leaps off of Derik and disappears as he kneels down in front of me. "Sorry, this might be a little gross," he apologizes as he proceeds to spit onto the leaves and apply them to my leg. "I haven't found another way to adhere the leaves, so we'll just have to manage."

"No prob, doc!"

He rolls his eyes. "It's amazing how you've maintained your attitude despite all that's happened." When we were on the ship, I was never in a bad mood. I mean, how could I? I was living my dream! Derik only saw my playful side; I went to his office to pull pranks on him or tease him until I was cured of my boredom.

"And you haven't changed a bit. Still stoic as ever."

"Keeping my composure is essential in a situation like this, Errin."

"It wouldn't hurt you to lighten up a bit, though. Do you want to be apathetic until the day you die?"

"Of course not, but there's not much time to play around while so close to death."

"I guess that's fair enough." The conversation lulls off and Derik focuses on treating me.

Derik is always very business-like. He has tunnel vision for success, and never digresses from his task at hand. I admire his work ethic, but sometimes I think he needs to calm down and take a break. It's overkill.

After a few moments, Derik chirps, "All done. You should be completely healed in a few hours, so just stay still until then. I advise you get some rest and let your body do the rest of the work."

"Sounds perfect to me." Derik leaves the pod to do whatever he's been doing on this island, and I close my eyes and wait patiently until my mind dissolves into sleep.