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Times have changed, and we don’t know how long it has been since the first time all of this has happened.
The skies have turned blood red. What once was lush grass was now replaced by pulsing flesh- it almost felt alive, squirming and writhing beneath me whenever I travelled. The air was pungent with a rotting smell, but most of us have grown to tune it out by now.
Smalltowne was not the Capital of Friendship anymore. A couple of us have left our houses, having gathered as much as we could to protect ourselves from our own friends, who have somehow turned into monstrous beasts. We don’t know how this all happened. All we knew is that a sort of dark sickness had been spreading, and there will be hell on Sprunki World if we don’t resolve this as soon as possible.
They already got Brud. He came to our base with a fourth of his head completely bitten off, and since then it had grown teeth. As I brushed the sleeping FC’s keyboard clean, I took a glance at what they were up to in the medical department. Vineria was mainly in charge of nursing the others, infected or not. Mr. Garnold, as far as I knew, did not know much about medicine but he still offered a hand to help Brud’s ailment. I watched as Vineria held his head, while Mr. Garnold used his strongest tweezers to extract the extra teeth out.
But they kept growing. For every tooth pulled out, three or so more would grow in its place. At least Brud had a natural talent for pain tolerance, else I imagine he would’ve been kicking and screaming in agony. We don’t really have anesthesia here. Not after our access to the outside world had been blocked off…as the Mech couple described, it’s as if the Big City disappeared into thin air.
The laboratory’s gates opened. Everyone tensed up for a moment, before calming down at the familiar sight of FunBot. Poor guy had gone dented from all its outdoor work, seeing as it was one of the few resilient to whatever was taking over our friends’ bodies. It came in and without a word, plugged itself to the printer. It took a few minutes, but finally, the pictures were printed.
“Danke, son,” I heard Professor Clukr say, gathering the papers as he patted FunBot on the shoulder. He scrutinized them, adjusting his glasses as any smart scientist would. He seemed to hum in thought, squinting his eyes…
“Is something wrong, Father?”
“I just…I can’t come up with a hypothesis as to vhat za correlation between ze hostile infected Sprunkies may be. Not yet. Not vith vhat ve know now. But I know zere’s something zere.”
FunBot bowed its head. “I’ll gather more evidence.”
“N…no, no, FunBot. It’s okay. You can rest for now.”
I watched as FunBot dejectedly sat down next to me and FC, its gaze distant. Hesitantly, I asked,
“What was it like out there?”
“Horrible,” it said, “OWAKCX wouldn’t leave me alone for a good half hour.”
I made a face at that. I turned my head, watching as Professor Clukr pulled out his observation journal and tallied down what could probably be his notes on interesting things he found in the pictures.
“How is Brud, honey? Vineria?”
“He’s, uh, he’s not flinchin’. Real impressive stuff, I gotta say, bucket boy!”
I watched as Brud seemed to furrow his brows at Mr. Garnold’s words. I thought that maybe, just maybe, he didn’t like what he said, for some reason. I don’t know why he would be annoyed, though I understand that sometimes, people say things that they don’t realize are somewhat upsetting.
“Sorry that Simon bit you, Brud,” I told him, trying to be polite. “Do you feel okay?”
His face looked softer as his remaining eye looked at me.
“Could be betta’,” he admitted with a shrug, tilting his head so Vineria could heal him- or at least attempt to. I winced as I saw another tooth grow out from the spot Mr. Garnold just tweezed out. His face, already stained and pouring with blood, began to look messier. It’s impressive how Brud doesn’t flinch at all, but he doesn’t seem to be feeling too well despite this.
Vineria frowned as her healing spell didn’t work, letting out a sigh.
“It’s no use, Professor.” she muttered, “He just keeps growing more teeth.”
“Hmh…vorrisome. Garnold, give me a sample.”
He complies, giving him a few of Brud’s extracted, bloody teeth from the tray, all placed on a small dish. Professor Clukr wears his gloves before picking up one of them, squinting his eyes. The piece he picked up looked weird- it was a tooth growing out from another tooth, which probably shouldn’t even be possible…but I’m not a doctor.
“And it vas Simon who bit him, yes?” he inquired.
“Simon bit me.” Brud answered, furrowing his brow.
“Yeah, Simon bit ‘im,” Mr. Garnold repeated. I saw Brud glare at him.
Professor Clukr hummed.
“And from vhat I’m seeing thus far, Simon has also grown extra teeth since his transformation. It seems like, vhatever this may be, it could be contagious. Likely via being bitten, considering how close contact vith Brud seems to have done nothing to you two thus far.”
Vineria furrowed her brows, sighing. “The infection persists, Professor. Brud has only been growing more teeth since he got here.”
“You saying he could become a walkin’ tooth-freak like Simon?!” Mr. Garnold exclaimed, “Scary!”
I intervened. “But, Brud is still gonna be our friend, no matter how many teeth he has. Just like how Simon is still our frie-”
“Zat’s not za Simon ve know anymore, Gray.” Professor Clukr cut me off.
I felt nervous, adjusting my seat a little.
“Easy on Gray, hun.” I heard Mr. Garnold say, “I’m sure he’s still good ol’ Simon! It’s just, ah…well, he’s pretty outta it right now, you know? If we just find the cure to this weird ol’ infection, he’ll be right back to being the friendliest sprunki!”
“Vhat ve need is more information. After our break, ve continue research.”
I heard a rattle, and I turned my head. It was FunBot, shuddering. Being a part of the research team isn’t an easy thing- you have to get close with your infected friends, and they aren’t exactly very friendly anymore, if what happened to Brud is anything to go off of.
I think Brud noticed it shaking too, because his eye was a little wide. I watched as he lifted his upper body off the testing platform he was lying down on, furrowing my brows at his bloody head.
“Me can help,” he said.
“Sorry?” Professor Clukr lifted his head.
“With research. Me can help.”
“Brud…” Vineria worriedly placed a paw on his shoulder, “You’re not in the condition to help right now.”
“Well why not? Me can still walk n’ talk. Just one eye’s busted.”
“Buddy! Haha, well, uh…I can appreciate the enthusiasm, but seriously! You need to lie back down and get better before you do anything rash!”
Mr. Garnold looked like he was about to place a paw on Brud too, but Brud slapped him away. It surprised him. Surprised me, too.
“Ow-”
“Think ‘bout it just a moment will ya?” he said, “You all needa test dummy. An’ you all needa get more infos on the abnormalities. Well what if me can use me tolerance to-”
“For goodness sake- zis isn’t a game, Brud,” Professor Clukr snapped back all of a sudden.
“Never said it was.”
“You’re throwing yourself into danger just like zis, like it’s nothing!”
He was looking straight into Brud’s eyes now. I saw his fur stand on end. Brud’s did too, his tail swishing in that angry way.
“Yeah? Well ya send your own son out there like it’s nothin’, me don’t know why me can’t join in! Y’seen how dented his metal skin is?!”
“I- I think you mean my shell…” FunBot muttered.
“Same thin’.”
“Brud-! I…gah! Listen to me!” Professor blurted out, “You think this is all just yet another shenanigan like usual, but it’s not! Ve are in za midst of an apocalypse! Vhich means, high danger!”
Brud suddenly got up from where he was sitting.
“Me know that! Me know what’s goin’ on! Me ain’t playin’ no more!” he yelled. I haven’t heard him yell before, especially not this angrily. “Y’always do this, Professa’! Me try to help time n’ time again and you always push me away! Y’think me don’t notice?!”
“I don’t need things to become more complicated because of your stupidity, Brud!’
“YOU WANNA SAY THAT AGAIN YOU FUCKIN’ STUCK-UP-?!”
Quickly, I stood from my seat and hurried over to the two. I rushed between them, stopping Brud from throwing a punch at Professor Clukr’s face. Mr. Garnold was quick to run over to his husband too, holding him by the hands. Vineria got up as well, putting her arm in front of Brud- who was seething out of his mouth.
“Woah, woah! No more of that now!” Garnold exclaimed. “Who taught you that language?”
“Shut your blabbin’, Garnold!” Brud hissed, “Y’ain’t no betta’!”
“Vatch your mouth!”
“H-Hey, enough…” I tried to mutter out, as overwhelmed as I was from all the yelling. “Let’s just take a break from all this for now…unwind before we continue.”
Vineria nodded with me. “Gray’s right. Now more than ever, we need to stick together. Like roots in the soil. I could make you all some tea to calm your nerves…”
Brud chuffed.
“Save it, Vin. ‘am leavin’,” he spat. He nudged her arm away before hastily walking away from the rest of us, making his way for the gates…
“Leaving?! Are you crazy?!” Clukr yelled, chasing after him. “You know vhat it’s like out zere?! Abnormalities roaming about! You vill-”
“ME. DON’T. CARE.”
Brud’s ear was pinned back at its lowest now.
“You know what? Fuck all of you! Fuck you, fuck you, FUCCCK YOU. Fuck this group, me didn’t need you! What’s the use if me am just gonna sit around all miserable?! And guess what, bastards! ME HATE ALL OF YOU. Just watch, me will take ‘em all down and you’ll be sorry! You ALL WILL BE SORRY! FUCK! YOU!”
I could only watch in horror as he unsealed the gates and fled.
“Wha- he- hey! Are we just gonna let him run out there?! He’s gone bananas!” Mr. Garnold yelled.
Clukr chuffed, shaking his head. “It’s no use fighting him. If he vants to leave, fine! He can leave! Vhatever! He can suffer za consequences himself!”
“So he’s just…o-out of the League now? Just like that?” Vineria asked.
“Vell apparently, he vanted a death vish more zan his own safety! If he really vanted to survive he could have just listened! But no! Even in za midst of a crisis he is still an utter scatterbrain!”
I opened my mouth to protest, but I was quickly cut off.
“Vhatever! No use dwelling on zat nonsense! Get me vater, honey. I feel my temples throbbing.”
“O-On it, hun.”
That could have gone better. I made it a note to myself to check in on Brud later, see how he’s doing. But for now, it’s the Survivors’ League’s allotted break time.
Things were awkward and tense in the laboratory after that. Clukr had his glass of water, Vineria was left sitting at the testing table with no one to nurse, and FunBot was dreading the outdoors. Brud never came back after that.
As for me, I’m still wondering if friendship will really persist in these devastating times. I truly hope so, but I’m only seeing doubt.