As Dell slowly opened his eyes he couldn't help holding his breath. He didn't want to make even a slight noise or movement out of fear that all the pain from before would return. He may be an ok hunter with potential to be much more, but you'd have to be utterly insane to go through that much pain and shrug it off.
"Hey get up. Get up you're fine." Said an unfamiliar voice.
Dell wasn't sure where it came from, it sounded like it was coming from right ontop of him. But he quickly got up none the less, slowly turning his body around to see if anyone was near.
But, all he saw was his own blood from the attack tearing into his back covering the dark alley way. To wich he quickly felt his back wich shockingly was fine.
"How? That thing fucking tore into me!" He said in an confused manner.
"That thing is trying to get your attention" Said the voice again.
"Oh fuck. Are you in my head-" Dell asked, but was interrupted by.
"Oh my- no just take off your shirt" It said in response.
Dell slowly blinked a few times not looking forward to what he was about to see. Slowly he would take his shirt off, then proceeding to yell and stumble backwards.
"What the fuck! What snowballs chance in hell is this?!"
What Dell had seen was a long and shark teethed mouth starting from the left corner of his stomach and ending on the right corner of his chest along side a large red eye on the left side of his chest.
"How in the fuck did I not notice this when waking up?!" Dell yelled, his hands starting to shake.
"Well when I do this" The eye and mouth closed, and when they did it was like two scars where there instead. Dell touched them to see if they acted the same as scars, wich they did.
"You see? No big deal-" The thing said.
"No big deal? A fucking slug shot into me like a bullet and now is using my stomach and chest like a God damn face!" Dell yelld at the thing.
"You have a really foul mouth yknow"
"I will NOT be told social etiquette by a fucking slug" Dell replied.
"Ah fair"
Dell paced around for abit. The thing stayed silent for now allowing him to process everything that had happened. Dell would say in a short and sharp way "Explain".
"Well my goal was to hit you in the head and fully take over your body. But you are quite the slippery fellow so I hit you in the back and grew here. So, instead of fully taking over its more like I've infected you" It explained to Dell.
"I should probably throw myself off a building. You're not like anything I've heard of" Dell thought out loud.
"Well that would be a problem for me. Seeing as your survival directly impacts mine. If the brain dies so does the body. And you, to my detriment, are the brain". Whatever this thing was it didn't want to die.
"Infact! You could see this situation as a benifit!"
"You're fucking with me" Dell said through a sigh.
"Not at all! Think about it. You still have the majority of the control in this situation and surely you're aware that an infected is much stronger then a regular human" The thing had an oddly cheery tone.
It was true that Dell felt better after he woke up. He wasnt weak prior to this event and if it wasn't due to multiple unexpected events he would already be back at base by now.
"Well I'm clearly not a regular infected so I'm going to need you to explain"
"Well I've managed to increase the efficiency of your muscle fibers both in terms of endurance and power out put. Also my blood has mixed with yours allowing for faster healing, though it isn't an insane speed so don't count on it saving you mid fight". The thing explained.
Dell thought on this for awhile. Leaning on one of the alleys walls he thought to himself. "If I can get this thing to cooperate with me my chances of surviving this hell hole city would increase drastically if what he says is true. Infact I may be able to search for some answers"
"Oh and the best part of this is, when eating prey I absorb a portion of it directly into the muscles and such making us stronger" It said.
"How does that make any sense?"
"I'm a monster, whoever made me probably has the answer to that"
Dell sighed. No matter how he looked at it he had to accept that this thing was apart of him.
"If you're using me to survive I'm using you to get stronger and get some answers" Dell stated.
"Why of course, as long as I get to enjoy the thrill of hunting and the pleasure of feasting" The thing said in a low, growl type of tone.
"You sound like a Victorian cannibal"
"Doesn't that say more about you?"
Dell stood still for a moment, deciding not to answer that since he didn't have anything good to say.
He would sigh and put his shirt on, slowly making his way back into the pub.
"Where are we going?" It asked.
"I'm in good shape and have a hungry monster to feed. We're going to go hunt" Dell replied.