Joey has been silent for a long time now. It is strange, considering his usual behavior.

He hasn’t communicated anything with me since my previous awake cycle, except for telling me it was time to get into our fixed truck when I came out of stasis.

Deviation in normal behavior patterns is not a good thing. I remember Doc saying that, almost three moons ago.

The pup is laying on my legs, and I groom it with my hand. It soothes this anatomy, a similarity it shares with the wolf anatomy.

My brain is becoming more and more active, processing things much faster with the recently increased amounts of biomass. Humans are very proficient in adding biomass to everything. They’ve even found a way to add it to water!

“More protein bar?” I ask, hesitant, and Joey sighs as he pulls two more out of the truck. It seems to hold an endless supply of them. Happy!

Eat.

Still delicious.

Wiggle.

“I don’t fahkin get it.” Joey speaks, and I turn to look at him. He’s still not looking at me, staring straight at the… road, he called it, his head resting against his hand. Through the hair on his face I see a frown. I’ve learned that that’s a general human sign of displeasure.

I tilt my head, confused. His eyes look at me for a breath, before returning to the front.

“How the hell do yeh act like that, when yeh...” He stops, letting out another sigh. That’s also a display of displeasure.

Hmm…

Now that I think of it, both he and Oscar were acting differently around me when I returned from dealing with the snacks. I’d informed them that through a psionic link I’d learned they were attempting to assault Oscar’s home, COWARDLY hoping that we had entered stasises. But that didn’t seem to change their reaction.

Develop the Songbird syrinx. They found it humorous when I copied their voices before.

“When yeh...?” I repeat, but instead of laughing Joey releases… a fear scent?

“Don’t fahkin do that!” He snaps, and I deflate.

“Sorry.” I say, removing the syrinx.

“Ah, don’t be… ah fahkin Rift.” Joey replies, roughly scratching his face hair. “Just… tell me why.” His eyes shift to me again. “Why’d yeh kill ‘em? Why’d yeh… eat ‘em?”

I tilt my head, confused.

Is killing aggressors to remove threats not what humans do? Or…

Ah.

I remember!

Mind-Walker also exhibited discomfort when I ate her kin. Perhaps that is the cause? But why? It seems inefficient to leave behind biomass, even if it is kin biomass.

“Well?” Joey’s tone grows impatient.

“I killed them because they attacked me.” I reply. “With their detachable metal claws.”

Joey sighs. He seems… relieved? But it doesn’t last. His posture stiffens again. “Yeh, alright, fine. Self defense, I can get that. Not hard to imagine what they were doin’ outside of me mate’s garage at night, with weapons. But what yeh did wasn’t… that.” Joey shifts in his seat, and a shiver goes through him. Another fear scent. “Yeh bloody tore ‘em apart, kiddo. And ate ‘em. I still can’t understand why yeh did that.”

Mmm…

Annoyance. And confused.

“Why wouldn’t I eat them?” I ask instead, studying him, and his head whips around to me.

“WHAT DO YEH FAHKIN MEAN, WHY WOULDN’T Y- AH SHIT!”

The truck JERKS TO THE SIDE, THROWING MY BODY AGAINST THE DOOR! GAH!

Joey turns the circle structure in front of him, the… wheel, he had called it - which was strange, because what the truck used for movement were also wheels I'll have to clarify the difference later - until the truck is no longer moving erratically. Joey’s breaths are heavy, his fingers tight around the wheel.

The pup whimpers, nuzzling closer against my body. Strange. The urge to protect the pup has grown stronger, in the past day. Perhaps because I’ve been feeding it biomass? It would be a waste for it to die.

“Kiddo, yeh can’t eat people.” Joey snaps, and I turn to look at him. He’s frowning again, another sign of displeasure.

I’m confused again.

“Why? It would be a waste.” I ask. What is it about being kin with something that causes an aversion to eating them?

He looks at me again, mouth open and eyes wide. I recognize this expression too! Surprise!

“Because they’re people.” He states, clearly confused. “Like you and me. What kind of folks did yeh have that makes yeh think eating people is okay?”

I tilt my head again.

Hmm…

Folks means parents, which means Doc. “The Creator always made me fight my other kin. They were tests. If I didn’t kill my kin, or other creatures they tested me against, I was not fed biomass, and was shocked with poking instruments. It was… unpleasant.”

Joey grows very still, and the truck slows down until it stops. I look around, hopeful. Normally when the truck stops, it means other buildings where food is kept are around.

But there’s nothing. I turn to look at Joey, and see he’s staring at me.

“Say that again?” He says, but his voice is very quiet. Ohhh, the quiet intimidation. It does not work on me, but I comply.

“I had to test to earn biomass.” I tilt my head as his mouth opens. “Is that not normal? I thought all humans did this.”

He continues to stare at me, and I shift. His gaze is unpleasant.

“Joey?”

“... my god.”

-

It was worse than he had thought, Joey realized.

Much worse.

The kiddo hadn’t been abused, or abandoned. He had been experimented on. For as long as he could remember.

He glanced to the side, where No-name had fallen asleep with his pup curled up in his lap. They were nearing Sacison now, with the sun still just barely clinging to the sky as the moon was beginning to rise, while Joey replayed the conversation he’d had with him as they continued the drive.

From what he had been able to gather from the conversation, No-name - he fahkin refused to call him what those monsters had named him, especially since the kiddo also didn’t seem to like being called that - was born and raised in some sort of lab out in the woods. Now, he was perfectly aware that he wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. But whatever was going on, he knew it was definitely illegal. And definitely couldn’t be talked about. Crazy scientists conducting experiments on children in the middle of nowhere? Yeah, he’d read enough conspiracy theories to know that discussing that with local authorities would have him dead in an ‘unfortunate trucking accident’. Or maybe from a heart attack. Or a suicide that involved three bullets in the back of his head.

Yeah, no. Not on his to-do list.

“Fahkin hell.” Joey mutters under his breath. He glanced over at No-name, the fear he’d had towards him completely washed away by the fear of what would be done to No-name if those sickos ever found him again.

The second thing he’d been able to gather was that something had happened in the lab. The ‘loud’ that No-name had been talking about when he first woke up was probably an alarm. And it all clicked in to place.

The police that had closed off the woods? Containment. Something had escaped from there, probably the ‘predator’ he mentioned running away from. For some reason No-name refused to talk about anything that happened after his escape, but judging from the random pup he had, Joey could only assume the kid had been living in the woods for god knows how long.

Right now Joey was only grateful that he’d run the kid over with his truck. That had probably, ironically, saved his life. The only problem was, Joey didn’t know what to do with him now.

He could continue with his original plan. Drop him off with CPS and hope for the best, but that was suddenly sounding like an awful idea. But he didn’t know what else to do…

Ah fahkin shit. The idea wasn’t a terrible one. But… it would mean a very long talk with Brooke.

More on that later, he still had another few hours before he was back in the city, and he needed sleep. He hadn’t been able to get any after the… incident with no-name in Burstin. But before that, he had to make a call.

“Joey!” Oscar’s voice hissed through his transceiver. “You’re alive! Is that… thing still with you? I still can’t believe you decided to keep with i-”

“I’m fine, mate.” Joey interrupted, the exhaustion creeping into his voice. “And No-name’s not a thing. He’s just a kid, with some apparently really heavy baggage.”

Oscar made some sort of strangled squeaking sound of disbelief. “You saw what he did to those people, Joe! I’ve still got half a mind to report it to the police. Who knows when he’ll-”

“No!” Joey hurriedly interrupted, then glanced over to the kid. He breathed in relief when he saw that No-name was still asleep. “No, whatever yeh do, that is definitely not it.”

Oscar paused, his panic settling as he recognized the grim tone in his friend’s voice.

“... alright, what’s up?”

Joey pinched the bridge of his nose, slowing his truck to a stop and pulling over to the side of the road. The next town was still an hour’s ride out, and he didn’t think he’d be able to make it.

He let out a deep breath. Where to fahkin start, eh?

“Alright, so first thing’s first. What yeh saw? Forget it. It never happened. And whatever you do, do not go to the boys in blue.” Oscar gave a disbelieving scoff.

“Joe, I don’t think I’m ever going to forget it for the rest of my life. The way he…” Joey heard gagging over the phone, and winced in sympathy.

“I know mate, trust me, I know. But… It's bad, mate. Really bad.”

“Worse than…?”

“Much worse. So… turns out that…”

Joey spends the next ten minutes explaining what he’d been able to piece together, his voice hushed as he sends occasional glances over to No-name, making sure he was still sleeping.

Oscar, for the most part, remains deathly quiet. Finally, when Joey finishes talking, he gives a long, breathy sigh.

“Shit.” He says simply.

“Shit.” Joey agrees, and they sit in silence for a few moments longer.

“Well… now I almost feel bad for locking him outside of my house.” Oscar murmurs, which wins a wry chuckle out of Joey.

“Nah mate, that was a perfectly reasonable reaction. If I’d had my gun on me, instead of in the truck, I’d have probably tried shooting ‘em.” He says.

“Alright, well… shit. I don’t even know what to say.”

“Yeh don’t have to say anything. Just don’t report what yeh saw, alright? Last thing we need are blue boys looking for ‘em.”

Oscar gives another soft sigh. “They’re going to be looking for you two anyways.” He warns. “The entire town’s been talking about a mutant kid passing through, and how Jodie practically chased Brias and Connel out of the diner to stop them from harassing the kid. You know how small towns are.”

This time it was Joey’s turn to sigh. “Yeah, I know.” He agrees reluctantly. “Just… if they come around questioning yeh about it, only tell ‘em what happened before… that. There’s not any evidence, is there?”

“No. Nothing. The kid wiped the place clean when he was… eating.” Joey heard more gagging, and felt another flash of sympathy.

“Sorry about this mate.”

“Nah, don’t be. About time something interesting happened around here, right? I’ll probably just be drinking myself to sleep for the next couple of months. But you stay safe. And make sure the kid’s taken care of, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Joey grunts.

“Take care brother. Don’t take so long to come through next time. But also, don’t have any crazy scientist shenanigans going on when you do either.”

Joey chuckles dryly, and hangs up the call with a boop. Massaging his eyes, he turns off the truck, the huge beast shuddering as it powers off. He leans back in his chair, thoughts whirring in his mind.

He didn’t know if what he was doing was right. Didn’t know if this was the best way to go about it.

What he did know, however, was that there was no way he was letting those sick fuckers take the kid back.

With that in mind, he drifts off, snoring lightly within moments of his eyes closing.

What he missed, however, was the tentacle that had been gingerly wrapping around the back of his chair, the sharpened point remaining mere inches away from the nape of his neck, starting from when the tentacle’s wielder had heard the word ‘gun’ until the end of the conversation.

Satisfied that there was no immediate danger, however, the tentacle slithers back underneath the baggy clothes of its owner, and soon the only sounds left in the truck were light snoring, and the even, measured breaths of a boy and his pup entering stasis.