#luckliy he has zeke!

[wheredidalltheusersgo]

The Stranded and The Scaly

Chapter 9

Day 7: We'll work this out.

Geoff paced around on the cave floor, fidgeting with his hair.

"This CANNOT be happening, dude."

His tail whipped around in a panic, Ezekiel made sure to stay out of the way.

"HOW could this even happen, man?!"

Ezekiel sat and thought for a moment.

"Gator in swamp. It bite, you mutate."

Geoff stopped pacing around and sat on the floor with his legs crossed and his tail in his lap. "How am I gonna face Bridgette like this?.. Will she even love me as a mutant?..."

Zeke gave the other boy a sympathetic look.

The blonde sighed and ran his clawed fingers through his messy hair. "I don't think they're coming back for me, man. It's been a whole week."

"Not lose hope."

"Why don't we just do something to get our minds off this? Anything works." Geoff stopped fidgeting with his hair and began to pet his tail.

Ezekiel stood up. "We hunt. I go on land, you take water." He began walking towards his exit to the cave. "Sounds just fine, buddy." Geoff got up and followed close behind.

The way out of the cave was not 'a walk in the park', as one would say.

Geoff did his best to follow Ezekiel as they climbed over rocks and walked through shallow waters. "You know this place like the back of your hand, don't you?" Geoff attempted to make small talk as they ventured out of the cave. "Only some. Other parts are mystery." The smaller mutant grunted in response.

While he was trying to play it off and lie to himself to make the situation seem better, the blonde mutant knew that he was still devastated by this turn of events. All of his life plans were probably canceled, he'd never live a normal life again. He'd never marry Bridgette, and they'd never have kids. Bridgette probably wouldn't want freakish half-mutant babies, anyways.

The worst part about this whole thing, though? If he and Ezekiel were ever rescued, they'd probably spend the rest of their lives in some government facility, being experimented on and monitored. They'd never know privacy again.

Geoff squinted as light shone from the exit of the cave. A few minutes later, and he was standing in the sunlight again, his scales shining under the sun's rays. Man, that felt great. He felt the urge to just lie on a rock somewhere and just soak up all that wonderful warmth... But he and Zeke had things to do, and it wasn't time for another nap.

The pair trekked through the forest, with the taller of the two occasionally brushing branches away from his face so he wouldn't walk into them. They were careful to stay away from the campsite, things wouldn't be very pretty if they were found.

Soon, the pair reached the lake.

Geoff got on his hands and knees to check out his reflection in the water, he gasped at what he saw. His face was a pale green, while the bridge of his nose and the area above his eyebrows was darker and scaly. He gently ran the pads of his fingers along the scales. "This is fuckin' gnarly, and not in the good way."

Zeke patted his ridged back to console him.

Geoff bared his teeth and observed how sharp they were. He gently poked one.

"I mean, it's kinda cool."

Zeke stared at the gleaming, sharp teeth.

"Hunt!!" He grinned.

"Eh? Hunt? You want me to hunt?"

The smaller mutant nodded quickly.

"I guess I could?" Geoff craned his neck down towards the water.

The water rippled as Geoff dunked his face in.

Surprisingly, he was surviving beneath the surface of the water.

He looked around in awe at the fish and plants in the lake.

A curious trout swam towards his face, big mistake.

He snapped his jaws shut around the fish and rose out of the water with a wide grin.

Ezekiel clapped his hands excitedly and gave the blonde a double thumbs-up.

Geoff spat the trout into his hands. "Dudeee!! Did you see that?!" He laughed and knelt down in front of Zeke, dropping the fish in front of him. His tail thumped against the ground to mirror his excitement. Ezekiel grinned. "Swim!"

Geoff grinned and backed up a bit before charging forwards and diving into the lake with a splash. Swimming was unbelievably easy now, since he had a tail to propel himself forwards with and increased lung capacity. Thanks to his sharp gator teeth, he had managed to catch at least five fish, this was surprisingly....fun!

The duo spent a few hours at the edge of the lake, talking, eating, and swimming.

As night fell, they relaxed in the cave. Geoff had given his sleeping bag to Ezekiel, since he couldn't even fit in it anymore. He smiled at how cozy the other boy looked as he laid on his slightly scaly chest.

Geoff's tail wagged slowly as he drifted off to sleep.

Boy, was he grateful to have a buddy.

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