Chapter Text
Benrey opened his eyes to blurred colors. He tried to sit up, but a sharp pain shot through his abdomen, and he let out a abrupt gasp. His ears rang, and distant sounds of creatures and whatever else flooded his senses. He touched his stomach with a shaky hand. Through blurry vision, he could see his hand soaked with a dark red, his palm sticky and warm. He flinched when he felt his fingers graze the perimeter of the wound.
“Benrey!” Benrey's senses focused. The distant sound of creatures became less muddled and overwhelming, and Benrey looked to see it was actually Tommy calling his name from only a foot away. Benrey craned his neck up to look at Tommy's worried expression.
“Holy shit! What happened to you?” Bubby exclaimed. In his pain and shock induced trance, Benrey simply blinked to clear his eyes and lock them once again on his hand. A particularly displeasing jolt of pain pulled Benrey from inertia. Realizing fully now that there was a particularly nasty wound on him, Benrey tried to spurt out some teal-green heal beam, but he didn’t have the energy to after just using the last bit he had to teleport. All that came out was a pathetic stream that dripped down his chin. Benrey weakly wiped his mouth with his finger and desperately tried to smear it along the hole in his stomach. He flinched and let out a sharp hiss at the contact. Perhaps being split by a blast door before hurt, but being hurt now was something else. This was a pain he couldn’t handle.
“We need to get a- the heal stuff! T-the pool!” Tommy sputtered. He frantically searched around and tapped his foot. Dr. Coomer placed a hand on Tommy’s shoulder and gave a tight squeeze. With a tight gulp, Tommy and Dr. Coomer ran off together to find one of the healing pools, leaving Bubby crouched down next to Benrey. Bubby had an unusually complex expression. Maybe panic, some aggravation (but when is there not), confusion. Worry?
“What the hell happened? Did you see it?” Bubby asked. Benrey didn’t respond. Rather, he stuck a finger in the side of his maw and ran it along the inside of his cheek. He pulled his finger away and wiped the residual sweet voice on his stomach. Bubby watched in a confused fascination. Such a small drop didn’t do much of anything, unfortunately, and even with a plentiful amount he’d probably only be able to scab it over without any assistance at most.
Moments later, Dr. Coomer and Tommy barreled around plants and branches with a thick, slightly luminescent liquid resting in their cupped hands. It dripped from their fingers, and Benrey was sure that their hands were probably filled to the brim before. The two scientists crouched in front of Benrey and poured the liquid onto his injuries- specifically the gaping wound, but also minding the wounds on his shoulder, and other punctures in his stomach. There was only so much that those small handfuls could do, though.
Tommy frantically searched Benrey’s body for any more wounds and flicked the last few drops of the liquid off of his fingertips. He looked at Benrey’s face for a confirmation of something, but Benrey only looked at the wound in his stomach as the flesh slowly moved and contorted around the edges.
After a terribly long stretch of silence, Tommy cleared his throat: “what happened?” Tommy asked. “Wait- where’s Dr. Freeman?” Tommy exclaimed, wringing his hands together. Bubby and Dr. Coomer shifted their attention from Benrey’s wounds to his face. Benrey’s lip twitched and he scrunched his brows.
“Is he okay?” Dr. Coomer asked in an uptight tone. Based on Benrey’s body language, Coomer was sure the answer was not one he would want to hear. But, then again, he just saw Gordon only moments ago. Right before Benrey panicked and sent the three scientists through a seemingly hastily made portal, judging by the random location and rough landing they all landed with. It was difficult to believe that Gordon could be gone after just seeing him. After all he’s been through...
Unfortunately, there's never been a predictable outcome when it came to the Science Team.
“Gordon,” Benrey whispered. He couldn’t get any more words out. His throat tightened and he let out a harsh cough. He leaned forward so his head hung down, and blood splattered on the ground between his legs. Everyone held their hands out like they were ready to grab him should he fall. He brought his own shaky hand to his stomach and pointed at the healing wound. The others stared in confusion.
“Do you mean… that happened to him, too?” Bubby questioned. An unfamiliar stillness passed by for a moment. The tension surrounding them was thick. The scientists had just begun to accept Gordon’s fate- that while Benrey may have persevered, albeit barely, Gordon succumbed to his injury. All of their thoughts came crashing to a halt when Benrey shook his head.
“He’s not hurt,” Benrey mumbled.
Dr. Coomer seemed to be the first one to understand based on the expression he developed. “Dr. Freeman… did this to you?” Dr. Coomer asked in uncertainty. “Is he… is he what you were warning us about?”
Benrey’s head dropped to the ground. His shoulders twitched. No one commented on the water dripping from his cheeks and onto the soil beneath.