Chereads / Another Way (Pokémon Fanfiction) / Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: Hereafter

Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: Hereafter

Sue wasn't sure for how long she sat in her spot before snapping to awareness. It felt as if she'd dozed off into a hell of a daydream and suddenly found herself somewhere else altogether. She couldn't say she was unfamiliar with this location, though.

Nightmares had brought her back here many times.

The campfire filled the small clearing with warm light. As opposed to the previous times, she was seemingly alone now, the only occupant of the benches scattered around the fire pit. Despite that, Sue could hear the soft twangs of a slightly out-of-tune guitar. Not masterful by any means, but competent enough to lift anyone's mood with their simple melody.

Just like she used to play.

Recalling just what had happened for her to end up here proved impossible. Sue sighed to herself before looking around, the details emerging from the recesses of her memory one by one.

It was jarring.

Every time she'd dreamt of this place, it was merely a playback of that fateful evening, all its tears and denial. But this time? This time it was just a pleasant backdrop, utterly divorced from the trauma that had burned it into her psyche.

Sue was about ready to start humming along before an unfamiliar sound caught her attention. A few moments of focus revealed it to be a voice, feminine and dignified, its words inscrutable, its origin uncertain. It sounded like it was coming from-

Above...

The sky was filled with more stars than she'd ever seen in her life. In the middle, right above her, the crown jewel of a full Moon- massive, bright, hypnotic in its radiance. And speaking at her, somehow. With that in mind, the voice was adequately awe-inspiring.

And if only she could understand anything it was saying, Sue might have even been humbled by its words.

But alas, that was not the case. The few sounds she could recognize combined into words she had no understanding of, but which nonetheless sounded important. All Sue could do was tilt her head in response as she stared up at the celestial body, making it pause.

Sorry Moon, no hablo whatever you're speaking.

Just as Sue was about to shrug it off, another voice caught her attention. It also came from the heavens, but that aside it was the direct opposite of the first one. Deep, masculine, and cold in its inflections, sending a shiver down her spine.

And, unfortunately, only as comprehensible as the other one- not at all.

With the Moon already taken, she wondered which celestial body was speaking to her this time. The answer… was unnerving. The entire sky dimmed whenever the second voice spoke, many stars flickering out of visibility.

It was creepy, no doubt, but it looked like all that other voice could do. The campfire remained unphased by it trying to be all spooky.

The voices appeared to converse afterward, or at least both speak. Though, the way in which they constantly cut each other off suggested an argument rather than a rational discussion. Sue might have not understood what they were saying, but she had an awareness, deep in her, that it was about her.

Sue spaced out, imagination taking her for a ride as she tried to figure out what was going on. The range of possibilities was almost endless. Though, God and Satan arguing to claim her eternal soul felt like the most plausible hypothesis. Being in a dream made her perceive all this as funny more than anything.

Moon God and Sky Dimmer Satan fighting in her head for dibs on her spanking new Martian body.

Oddly enough, they reacted to her thoughts. They both tried to address her more urgently, but no less incomprehensibly, leaving her idly pondering more.

Truly, it would be very nice if she could understand literally anything that has happened so far.

Her resignation caused the two voices to go at each other even more fiercely. They grew louder and their words harsher, increasingly accusatory. It was amusing to observe the Moon and sky repeatedly brightening and dimming in tune with them speaking, then shouting their parts.

At least, at first.

As the volume of the heavenly argument built up, Sue was forced to cover her ear-spike-things to not go deaf. Sadly, the gesture did not affect the voices' perceived loudness.

Thankfully, before her dreamt-up ears would get blown out by the shouting match right above her head, a third voice intervened with a groan. It was unlike either of the two. Squeaky, androgynous. Its intrusion caught the attention of the first two for long enough to follow up with a comment that shut them both up, redirecting their focus back to her.

Weirdest of all though, she... recognized that third voice from somewhere she couldn't place at all. The sensation of everyone gathered staring right at her made her squirm; unseen divine eyes pressuring her no less than the usual kind. As anxiety crept into her thoughts, a chilly wind kicked up around the scene, rapidly growing in intensity. It quickly became powerful enough to undo the campfire, and then, much to Sue's surprise, her dream as a whole.

Before she knew it, the landscape was falling apart into a colorless void, making her look upwards. The sight of a shattered Moon with a golden falling star circling around it graced her eyes for just an instant before it too disappeared-

__________________________________________

And then, she woke up.

The dream quickly faded from her mind as Sue laid still on the edge of consciousness. The celestial exchange she'd witnessed was equally awe-inspiring and incoherent. The exact words were a mystery, but their setting wasn't. Her thoughts began to coalesce on the idea of it all having taken place at the campfire from the day of-

*SMASH!*

Her eyes shot open at the sudden shatter. It sped up the usual five minutes it took for her to wake up to five seconds, leaving her startled and confused. She was somewhere else altogether. The wooden wall on the opposite side of the room assured her of that much, at least. As she looked around, the thing that most caught her attention was the bed she lied on. It was even more comforting than usual because of the normalcy it represented, the normalcy she had been denied the previous day. Different from the mattress she usually slept on, but downright divine in her exhaustion after yesterday.

Yesterday...

Recollection flooded Sue's mind as she looked at her hand, her body having disappointingly not reverted to its former self. She didn't have the time to linger on the unpleasant fact, the realization that soon followed taking up all her attention.

How did she survive that?

With some awkward sliding, she sat up on the soft mattress, looking down at her blanket-covered body. She braced herself for the gruesome sight she would likely see before she yanked on the covers, uncovering her lower half-

A generous amount of bandages wrapped around her visibly swollen, very numb leg. Small cuts elsewhere were all cleaned up nicely as well.

Someone had come in and helped her out.

The unbelievable realization poured a can of gasoline on the flame of hope inside her. Someone had found her! There were people there, she was helped despite looking like a demon!

She would be alright in the end!

The sheer joy that filled her was almost intense enough to make her overlook the tugging sensation informing her that someone was approaching, and rather quickly at that. As much as she wanted to hug her presumed savior, she imagined her appearance had already scared them plenty.

Plus, her chest spike would… hurt if she went about hugging the usual way.

All those reasons combined provided enough arguments for pretending she was still asleep instead. She quickly laid back down and pulled the covers over. Just in time, no less. Her body flinched at hearing a wooden door creak open, followed by two pairs of steps strutting in. They were accompanied a pair of voices- one boyish and upset, and the other much older and exasperated, yet oddly soft-spoken. To Sue's chagrin, she couldn't comprehend either of them, her heart sinking at the realization.

Could she just no longer understand English?

That would destroy any hopes of ever returning to normalcy unless she relearned it from scratch. How could she forget the only language she knew? It wouldn't be any less strange than anything else that had happened so far, true, but that in particular was hard to believe.

Sue shuddered at hearing the older voice shush the younger one after a slightly louder complaint, followed by a whispered apology. Seems they thought she was still asleep. It led her to try her luck and glance at the pair, one eyelid peering open as she braced herself for what she'd see-

No wonder she couldn't understand them. They were no less irradiated than every other creature around here.

The smaller of the two reached to her knee, but she was sure she didn't want it anywhere near her. Most of it was cute enough, true. Light brown body, a silly red nose, a few odd cuts around its arms and front being tended to, an embarrassed expression. Its back and head were covered with a green, woody growth, the plentiful spikes sticking out of it making a solid argument for never approaching it.

The couple hedgehog quills in her shin after finding a weird creature in the park when she was little convinced her to never come close to anything spiky ever again; this one being an unnaturally green mutant only made that offer even less enticing.

While the green critter being in pain would usually elicit a bit of sadistic glee in Sue because of that grudge, she didn't have it in her right now. Not in this body. The tugging let her feel its embarrassment and aching so clearly that all she could do was feel sorry for it.

Even if it left her no less opposed to any sort of closer interaction.

Fortunately, they were being tended to by the other creature around, the source of the older voice. Describing it proved to be trickier than the smaller one. It was even less similar to normal animals than the already oddly bipedal not-hedgehog. It reached somewhere around the letter opener on her chest, was also bipedal, and roughly split between cream and... pink as far as coloration went. The shape of the pink parts of its coat made it look like it was also wearing one.

At least she wasn't the only creature with a weirdly clothed-like appearance out there.

The bunny-like tail and large, floppy ears were by far the most animalistic of its traits. Though, the latter was offset by the weird curls extending from them. They reminded Sue of fancy earrings- or, at least, until it grabbed one of them. It then extended that curl and held its wider tip to the smaller one's chest, like a stethoscope.

Her history with drugs might have started and ended at the couple cans of booze she nabbed at some party while technically underage, but the sights she was being graced with were right out of a druggie's trip.

Feeling like she'd already been pushing her luck, Sue closed her eyes and resumed her sleeping disguise. It left her relying on her hearing and the tugging sense to make out what was happening around her. Thankfully, they sufficed. The smaller creature was happier after being tended to and ran out of the building, the door creaking in its wake.

The bigger one muttered to itself before walking up to her, its approach making her swallow nervously. Unnervingly, it reacted to even that barely audible sound, speaking up towards her in a questioning tone of voice. Whatever question it had asked was immediately answered by quiet barking coming from somewhere unexpectedly close.

A closer inspection of her sixth sense revealed another creature nearby, unnoticed until now, resting just out of view beside her bed. It felt very grateful towards her and... oddly familiar. It was much more noticeable to her extrasensory perception now that it was awake, providing a clue as to how all that worked.

Did the big one actually understand that barking? Its own sounds were more like soft mumbling than anything, about as distant from canine woofs as her own speech. And yet, the two appeared to converse for a while afterward, the topic being her.

Sue had no idea how she even knew that, but was more certain of that fact than of most things in her present situation.

While she steadfastly pretended to be asleep, worry crept into her mind. What would they do once they realized she was awake? Were they the ones that had helped her, or… Did they simply drive out the humans that did? Were they also mutated humans? Would that even matter when the push came to shove? So many questions, so few answers-

Sue froze solid as a soft hand was placed on her shoulder, gently shaking her afterwards. It was accompanied by the bigger one's voice muttering something again, a worried question judging by its tone. Guess as well as she had tried to hide, it wasn't enough. She tensed up, bracing for whatever was to come before prying one eye open.

The big one was looking down at her. Their blue eyes softened as it grew increasingly concerned in emotions and expression alike. It spoke again afterward, no less uneasy, to which she just sighed, unsure what to do. It was expecting an answer, an answer she couldn't provide, leading her to mutter out in defeat-

"I-I chanht undershtahnd yhou, shorry."

She had no idea what to expect in response, but confusion wasn't on the shortlist. The creature tilted its head in return, muttering something back with wide eyes. Meanwhile, a couple of yellow paws reached up onto the mattress in the corner of her vision. They were followed by the very ear-haired fox from yesterday peeking at her from over the bed's edge, revealing the woofer's identity.

The two beings couldn't have been more different had they tried, but they seemed unified in their confusion. They kept trying to speak afterward for a while, their words questioning and uncertain. Sue opted to just remain silent in response, hoping she could make it clear she didn't understand them. And judging by their reactions, they didn't understand her either.

Fantastic.

On the upside, they clearly weren't interested in eating her, even if the fate of whoever built this building remained uncertain. The bigger one thought about something for a while before sighing and walking over to the other end of the bed. It pulled back the covers, revealing what Sue had already seen- her leg having been taken care of.

Unnervingly, she couldn't move the injured limb below the knee. Whether it was temporary, she didn't know, and could only hope for a positive answer. The big one said something that was obviously meant to sound comforting before pulling the covers back on.

Its actions so far introduced yet another conundrum into Sue's strained sanity.

Whatever it was, it wanted to help her out. She'd just seen it patch up that not-hedgehog, and its emotions appeared to be almost entirely worry and concern for her wellbeing. Her leg was messed up enough to where she wouldn't be doing much walking in her immediate future, and was stuck here for now.

Wherever 'here' was.

With these facts in mind, she could use a better way of referring to that creature, one that wasn't 'the big one.' Especially since it was likely to visit her again, considering it patched her up.

A nickname wouldn't help her much with direct communication. Still, she would appreciate getting to soothe her tattering sanity through having an actual label to refer to something- no, someone- in here with.

And not think of it as an 'it' while at it. Though, determining the appropriate pronouns was rather tricky. Even beyond being inhuman, its voice and mannerisms didn't lean either way, prompting Sue to go with 'they' for now.

Guess she got something out of that LGBT+ club talk at her college in the end.

The only question remaining was what nickname to give them. Their ear-extension-thing made her think of a stethoscope. Maybe something medical? Especially since they just patched up that not-hedgehog, and probably also her...

Doc?

Fuck it, Doc it is.

She sure didn't have enough spare brainpower to come up with anything more sophisticated. And, considering their actions so far, the nickname seemed very appropriate, if painfully bland.

Doc was looking at her with a distraught expression.

In her zoned-out pondering, Sue appeared to have missed them asking a question. Though, with her nonexistent grasp on their language, it wasn't like that made much of a difference. A few moments of waiting for a response later, they sighed in defeat.

Sue felt bad for them- at least, before they perked up a bit, ears rising as they excitedly muttered something. Whatever their idea was, it led them out of this room, the glimpse of grass on the other side revealing the door to be the front entrance of this structure.

Sue appreciated the resulting silence, letting her take a breath and collect her thoughts for once. Before she could get a better look of the room, a glance at her side reminded her she wasn't alone in here, modesty kicking in. An attempt to shield her chest by pulling up the covers was made simultaneously more difficult by the presence of the big red spike jutting right out of the area in question, and somewhat pointless with an absence of any secondary sexual characteristics to hide to begin with.

That didn't mean she didn't try.

Despite that, Sue eventually had to concede defeat after her attempt to hold the blanket an inch or so away from the spike ended up revealing everything there would've been to reveal, had there been anything in there to hide to begin with. She let the blanket fall with a sigh to the audience of one yellow fox, the critter still looking up at her from over the bed's edge.

It would also need a name eventually, but Sue's immediate attention fell more so on the room she was in. In most circumstances, this wooden hut would've been scarcely interesting. Considering what creatures surrounded her, however, one question after another arose as she inspected the decor.

The most immediately noticeable thing was just how small everything was, her bed aside. The drawers and shelves lining the walls seemed more appropriate for Doc's size than a human. Even the ceiling was off on a second look, no higher than six feet off the floor.

Her claustrophobia didn't like that realization.

Vaguely medical-looking supplies and equipment lined up almost all surfaces. Gourds and wooden bottles of unknown substances, primitive tools including pincers, hooks, at least one saw. Nothing here looked made with any industrial tooling. At least, not within the last two hundred years or so.

Aside from making Sue hope she wouldn't ever get into a spot where these tools would have to be used on her, it all made her question her assumption that the structure was human-built to begin with. The ceiling was much too low for that; the furniture was tailor-made for whatever Doc was, and it all looked handmade, old-timey even.

So, if this building isn't manmade, who made it?

Unless her eyes were deceiving her, Doc didn't look like they had enough stamina to handle the logs that comprised the walls. Maybe enough to put the furniture together, but that was about it.

On that thought, they sure didn't look strong enough to have carried her over here, either. Which meant they weren't alone in this general area. Could whoever helped carry her here have also helped them out with this hut?

That was at least something Sue could try to find out on her own, closing her eyes and focusing on her tugging sense-

An instant later, a very warm softness brushed against her side, making her jump.

The yellow fox capitalized on her distraction, using the window of opportunity to scramble onto her bed and nuzzle her. The quiet woofs that left its mouth drew Sue's attention to the contented gratitude pouring out of it, warming her at least as much as its body heat.

It made sense it'd be thanking her for saving its life, but that only left her more conflicted. On one hand, she wasn't all that sure about ascribing humanity to this mutated animal, but on the other, it had clearly communicated with Doc earlier, somehow, and was attempting to do the same with her. Even if it didn't actually have human intelligence, it came much closer to that than any other fox she'd ever seen.

With that in mind, it would also need a nickname and a set of pronouns. 'They' seemed even more adequate here than for Doc, considering an absence of any obvious gender characteristics.

Looking under their tail was the last thing Sue wanted to do right now.

That left just the name. A joke at the expense of their generous ear hair felt appropriate, but she didn't have the snark in her for that, thoughts veering toward something much more innocent. They were primarily yellow all around, ridiculously warm to the touch, so maybe something alluding to that... "Flame"? "Ember"?

Either of those made her feel like a jock that names their dogs 'Destroyer' or 'Annihilator.' It was hard to deny that her current ideas were comparatively more appropriate here- not to mention incomparably cuter.

"Ember" it was, then.

With the fox being granted a nickname, Sue could pay closer attention to them instead of tripping up over how to address them. Their warmth immediately caught her attention, more consciously this time. While it was undeniably cute and very appreciated to be warmed up by a yellow-red fluff ball, Ember's temperature went beyond anything normal. They felt like a sweater straight out of the dryer, which was equally curious and worrying. In any other creature, being this warm would've resulted in it having dropped dead from a heat stroke ages ago, and yet, Ember here showed no signs of discomfort, not even panting as they got comfy beside her.

Perhaps she shouldn't have been as surprised by that considering the existence of creatures as odd as a spider her size, a half-cactus with a face, and whatever the hell Doc was. Though, this was the first time where the weirdness extended beyond skin-deep- baring her own sixth sense, at least.

Still wonder how that tied into everything so far.

Even if she only had a fox-shaped hip warmer as opposed to any answers, they were much better than nothing. Or, worse yet, hostility at the hands of an assorted bunch of nature's rejects. Their concern was... well, concerning, and Sue could only hope that it wasn't related to Doc having figured out that she'd been transformed into whatever this was.

Speaking of nature's rejects, it was a decent opportunity to give scanning the area with her off-brand Spidey-Sense another shot now that Ember had laid down. Sue closed her eyes and relaxed her body, exhaling and focusing on the sensations all around her-

Oh god, there were so many.

Middle of the woods from yesterday had quite a few blips on her radar, but it was dozens as opposed to hundreds in here. Beyond that, the tuggings here were much, much closer than those of some glaring one-legged birds out in the distance. It was too overwhelming to focus on any one sensation in particular.

Still, the emotional landscape appeared to be happy and content. Sue had to take a few breaths following her glimpse beyond while her attention returned to the world around her to the tune of an intense, if thankfully brief headache.

There were many creatures in her vicinity, most of them feeling fine. That left a few possibilities. A farm was obvious, but also the one Sue rejected the fastest. All the creatures she sensed felt... different in ways she couldn't describe even if she'd tried. Different enough from one another to make a farm with all of them at once feel infeasible. Guess whatever her sixth sense was, it could also feel species apart, somehow?

Go-go Martian Spidey-Sense, find me a human.

A settlement was another option, though the same diversity of species made that similarly tricky to conceptualize. Humans were already going at each other's throats with just one species. How could what felt like a hundred different ones ever hope to live together in any semblance of peace?

Despite that, she couldn't think of many other alternatives. The surroundings of this cabin ended up as yet another mystery, thrown onto the pile.

Though, as opposed to the rest of them, she could solve it herself.

The window was a few steps away and frankly, her right leg did not look capable of walking even one of those steps. She could probably just barely limp over there with the support of good ol' inanimate objects to lean on, letting her solve something for once.

Would be a welcome change of pace, that's for sure.

Sliding the blanket off herself, Sue turned over to sit on the edge of the bed, preparing for the journey of a lifetime. The movement stirred Ember up from their attempted nap; the fox left surprised and again concerned, woofing something at her.

"D-dhonht whorry Embher, I'll bhe arright-"

Right as Sue tried going for it, feeling around with her busted leg, she felt her hand being gently grabbed by something pointy, making her jump.

Seems Ember had taken matters into their own maw, holding her oversized hand in their teeth and pulling it back, and her with it.

"H-hey, sh-shtoph that!"

Attempts to yank the limb away from the little fox ended in failure. She couldn't tell whether that was because Ember was much stronger than they looked, or her body was even weaker than it felt like.

That didn't mean she stopped trying. The world's most bizarre tugging war continued until her sixth sense alerted her of Doc's return, somehow picking them out from the outside crowd.

With them being unlikely to approve of her going for a short walk with a busted leg, either, Sue gave up for now. She slid her legs underneath the blanket, shifting to her previous spot and grumbling quietly at Ember with an unamused look. Though what she saw melted right through her grumpiness. The pup had let go of her and resumed their nuzzling while trying to push her away from the edge of the bed, ineffectual as they might have been.

I get it; you don't want me walking because I've got a busted leg.

Her expression remained soured as the door creaked open, though seeing what was brought in offset that significantly. Doc's disposition was upbeat as they carried a wooden tray, packed with various foodstuffs, a jug of water, and… a couple scrolls off to the side. That last item caught her attention in particular. After investigating the treats on display, however , she couldn't mull over it for too long. Sweet buns, rolls, a fruit salad, some grilled veggies.

The smells alone made her mouth water.

It was almost captivating enough to make Sue overlook the discussion that Doc's return had resumed. They and Ember chit-chatted while the medic brought the food to her. a lavish breakfast delivered right to her bed. Sue wished she had some way of thanking them at the moment, however limited-

The tray being set down on her calves took her out of that train of thought.

The spot, just barely out of her arm's reach, appeared to be intentional. A couple of dumbfounded blinks later, Sue turned to look at Doc, the humanoid having whisked away the scrolls in the meantime. They carried them further into the hut as they chatted with-

Oh.

Her hunger-fueled hyper-focus led her to overlook the other being that accompanied Doc on their return.

An incredible feat with their appearance, that's for sure.

If Doc was a vaguely mammalian bipedal creature, this one was a vaguely insectoid bipedal creature. Their coloration was split between green and yellow, and they appeared to be partially made of honest to god leaves. Some of them had visible chunks bitten out of them, without causing them any obvious discomfort. No way that could be healthy.

Though what even is healthy for a crossbreed of a mantis and a fucking bush.

Ember already spat in the face of biology as a whole through being impossibly warm, and that was pickles compared to the newcomer, whose very existence took that entire field of science and choke slammed it across the floor-

...and now everyone was staring at her because she stared at the mantis so hard.

Trying to save face, she looked back at the tray, thinking about how she'd pull it closer- before going for the obvious method.

Here's to hoping her arms were longer than they felt like.

Her first attempt had her pointed fingertips barely brushing against the wood. She exhaled as much as she could before doubling down, gritting her teeth through the exercise.

Maybe that was the point, to get her to stretch a bit.

Quite rude, if true. Then again, it wasn't like Doc could write down a yoga routine for her, and they knew best what she needed right now.

If only she could just get that bloody tray- UGH !

With one last lunge, her fingers just barely gripped the tray. Her back immediately complained while she pulled the bounty closer, chuckling to herself at how silly she must've looked. She did it. She completed the exercise, looking at Doc with a relieved smile-

Only to see uncertainty and sense worry.

Sue couldn't help but quietly gulp at that; they were expecting her to do this, right?

What else was she supposed to have done there!?

To her concern, Doc sighed in consternation before turning to leaf-bug-whatever and chatting with them instead, Ember occasionally chiming in as well. They were discussing something about her, but knew that Sue could not understand them at all and didn't even bother addressing her directly. Completely understandable on a rational level.

It sure didn't help with all the worry that had been germinating inside her, though.

There wasn't too much she could do about that at the moment, left to try to enjoy the breakfast as everyone gathered chatted about her. The warmth and flavors helped lift her spirits somewhat, letting her get lost in the sweetness, at least momentarily, and pretend none of this was happening.

That she was back on campus, enjoying a break between classes with treats from the local bakery. That she was re-energizing herself for two more hours of lectures about databases before her evening shift.

That she wasn't god knows where, mutated into a god knows what. That she wasn't at the mercy of aberrations of nature that could've turned on her at any moment.

That she wasn't completely unable to understand any of them.

Sue's angsty daydreaming was interrupted with a nudge to her side. A glance through her damp eyes revealed Ember to have resumed their nuzzling with soft woofs. She didn't comprehend their vocalizations, but it was hard to interpret it all as anything but trying to comfort her.

The thought helped her avoid breaking down there and then.

This might have been one capricious hell she had found herself in, but the local demons seemed to have a soft spot for her. Suppose that's only appropriate with her being one of them now.

Or... was she?

Her mind latched onto that stray possibility as she reached for the next berry roll. She offhandedly acknowledged that it tasted like nothing she'd ever had before resuming that worrying idea. While every moving creature in here was unnatural in one way or another, most of them were at least based on actual animal life.

But not her.

Maybe this spindly white thing was just what the humans turned into, but she had an inkling that something deeper was going on here. Nobody else was dealing with the terror of having their body gotten changed like that.

Hell, this building was built with Doc's current proportions in mind. Quite an impossible feat if everything had simply been mutated all at once yesterday. But if not that and this freak show of a forest had existed before her ending up here, how come nobody had ever run into it before? Especially with it being in the knock-out range of a tourist trail?

There were enough questions piling up in her brain to build an imaginary fort made entirely out of confusion and hide away from all this insanity in there.

Before she could attempt just that, Doc spoke up toward her, seeming to have just finished drawing something on one of the scrolls. The jolt to her system made her realize she'd been nibbling through this roll for a while now. A nod in the medic's direction acknowledged their callout while she wolfed down the rest of the treat.

She accomplished that in record time, Doc's confused eyebrow being her only reward for that particular performance.

They slid the food tray off to the side and replaced it with the scroll, unfurling it right away. She immediately tried to parse the detailed drawing- but before she could get into it, Doc drew her attention to one spot in particular, charcoal-stained finger patting it for emphasis. An outline of her current body with a confusing addition- namely a small, crossed-out swirl next to it.

And then, they pointed at her.

Sue nodded in response, getting the gist of it. That one represented her. Simple enough, unless she'd somehow botched interpreting something this straightforward. With that in mind, she scanned the rest of the scroll, starting from the top left and...

Another outline of whatever creature she was.

It was slightly different in places, but was inarguably the same species. The stiff hairdo was longer, the weird skin dress was shorter, and there were extra lines drawn along their arms and face, much lighter than the main outline. Probably markings or something. They also had something on their head-

Was that a crown?

Curiously, they had a swirl beside them too, but this one wasn't crossed out.

Whatever Sue was, she wasn't one of a kind. It filled her with hope of getting to meet another once-human in here and be able to figure something out, maybe even get out of this middle-of-the-woods wonderland.

That hope didn't last for long once she gave it more thought.

With everything else being unphased by their freaky bodies, a sudden transformation didn't feel likely. The other slender thing fit that notion as well. Their markings and crown gave them a royal appearance, incompatible with them having suddenly appeared in here yesterday like she had.

So, they were a native specimen of whatever bizarre species this was, while Sue was an impostor that had only awoken in this body less than a day ago. Considering her track record of taking care of herself through all this mess, they'd definitely be able to tell. A shock of icy dread went through her at the thought.

Could that be what the swirl represented? Being a native creature- or in her case, not being?

What if that discrepancy simply meant that there have been multiple rounds of people and animals getting mutated into this freak show? What if everyone around her, including that other spindly creature, came from an older batch? Though, if that were the case, they'd still be using English, or would at least understand her speaking it…

Yeah, fat chance.

What would that other-her do once they found out she was a fake whatever-this-is?

She had no way of knowing, but none of the ideas her brain fed her sounded reassuring in the slightest. They ranged from exile for being a fake, to... being disposed of right away. Excitement at meeting someone like her evaporated within moments, with the cold, mortal fear of that encounter immediately replacing it. And with it came urgency towards figuring out how to get away from here without running into them.

If she ever ran into that other Martian, she was fucked.

If her fate wasn't already sealed, that is.

With her head filled with a sufficient amount of dread, Sue shifted her attention to the rest of the image in front of her, starting with the figure next to the other-her. They were also bipedal, and also looked like they were wearing a dress, but the similarities ended there. A tail peeked out from behind them, they were covered in thick fur, and their head was like Ember's. Canine with massive ears, plentiful fur hanging out of them.

They also had a swirl next to them.

The similarity between the shape of their head and Ember's perked Sue's attention. She wondered whether it was a coincidence, or if there was something to it all, looking at the mutant fox to confirm her hunch. It would be unexpected for them to be related, considering the sheer difference in body shape and size. The bipedal hairy ears was drawn at roughly the same scale as her, after all.

Though, it wasn't like creatures here cared about such trivialities as coherent anatomy, anyway.

The little fox eventually noticed her glances between themselves and the drawing. They reacted with excited woofs and a scoot onto her lap before patting that particular sketch a few times, punctuating the gesture with more vulpine sounds, commented on quietly by Doc.

Guess there was something to it, after all.

Though, her brain threatened to fry itself over thinking coherently about any of it. Mammals didn't have that kind of difference in body shape between children and adults. This looked like the result of metamorphosis or something. Sue did not want to live with the awareness that the lovely maybe-fox beside her was actually an oddly foxlike insect.

What's next, laying eggs?

One more brick for the confusion fort in her mind.

Trying to purge the mental image of Ember being more insectoid than their appearance would've suggested, Sue's attention shifted further to the right. Finally, something she could understand-

An arrow.

It led from the couple of creatures towards a fortified structure of sorts. Sue couldn't decide whether it was a castle or 'merely' a fort. Suppose it only made sense with the crown on the other-her, but the suggestion that royalty would eventually rat her out did not calm her down any. Another arrow came from the castle, curling back towards her outline with several symbols alongside it.

Circle, a small slice of a circle, circle, an even smaller slice of a circle, circle.

The circles and slices along the second arrow stumped her for a hot minute, their weird sequencing perplexing. She was ready to concede and just add this one to the fort-shaped pile of unknowns- before realizing she recognized that odd shape. After flexing her remaining brain cells, the eventual realization made her eyes go wide. Not really at the obvious-in-hindsight discovery, but more so at finally cracking at least one part of this place's mystery.

It was the crescent Moon.

So slim, like it had only a couple of days left until it disappeared completely. If these two were moons, then full circles were likely suns. The arrow had Sun-Moon-Sun-Moon-Sun written alongside it-

Other-her and maybe-big-Ember had left for that castle and would return in two days.

Not much time to plan her escape, but still infinitely more than she feared she had.

A sigh of nervous relief left her before she finally looked up from the drawing and towards Doc, nodding to acknowledge the message as she returned the scroll. She was glad to be more aware of her situation, but it definitely wasn't the reassuring kind of knowledge.

An icy shiver ran down her spine and spikes when she tried putting it all into perspective.

In two days, the other-her would return and expose her as a fake whatever-this-is. None of the potential outcomes sounded like something she wanted to be around for.

Two days to hobble out of here with a busted leg and zero awareness of where she even was.

A gentle touch on her shoulder startled her, making her jump slightly, and almost toppling the tray still on her legs. If their emotional disposition and tone were anything to go by, Doc was trying to reassure her, the effectiveness of the gesture very limited. As much as she tried, she couldn't hide the building anxiety all that well.

Hardly inconspicuous, but what else was she to do.

A glance around the room reminded her of the second scroll, unused for now. There was even a writing implement next to it, though Sue couldn't say she had ever tried to draw with charcoal. For a moment, she considered trying to explain her circumstances. Sketch herself changing from a human to… this thing, visualize yesterday's events, but…

All that would accomplish would be giving out her being an impostor right away. She likely wouldn't even have had to wait for the king and queen of nuclear woods to come back for judgment to be passed on her.

And so, she turned back towards the tray, visibly tense as she pulled it in closer, before nibbling on what treats remained. The rest of the room soon returned to chatting amongst themselves, similarly far from upbeat.

Were they already suspecting her of being a fake, and that's why they crossed out her swirl? Were they just waiting for the royalty to return before executing her? Was she actively giving herself away right now through her skittishness? Would she be driven out of the only safe spot she'd found so far in all this madness?

That last possibility sounded particularly likely.

The anxious bind her mind was trapped in took up too much of her focus to pay attention to the rest of the treats laid out in front of her. Thoughts about how she'd get away from here in just two days with a busted leg arrived nowhere. With her stomach eventually letting her know it was sated for now, she left the tray as is, her thousand-yard stare drilled straight ahead into the clinic's door all the while.

Soon enough, the surrounding discussion died out, and the bug creature took their leave. The other two sent them off with warm goodbyes before heading out themselves. Ember trailed Doc as they carried the unfinished tray out, leaving Sue truly alone in here for the first time.

The anxious, cornered part of her psyche wanted to get up and run away as fast and as far as she could. The very slightly less anxious rest of her knew she would likely not even reach the front door in her current state. She needed an idea of where she was, where she could run off towards, and, crucially, how she'd accomplish any of it with her leg like this.

Looking out the window would help with at least one of those conundrums.

Sue appreciated the surge of determination that thought brought with itself, fear-driven as it was. Busted leg, a nightstand and a wall to lean on beside her, and enough adrenaline in her system to bring someone back from the dead.

Let's do this.

Attempts to feel how much weight she could put onto the injured leg resulted in a very unhelpful answer of 'none,' the limb immediately buckling every time. While it didn't hurt at the start, eventually a dull ache accompanied every motion, making all this even harder. Sue racked her brain about how she'd accomplish any of this.

Guess she could try pushing herself onto the good leg, lean against something for support, and work from there, under specified of a plan as that was. Under specified and likely to result in her splatting out on the floor.

But sadly, no less necessary.

Reaching her hands out to brace for takeoff, Sue began rocking back and forth on the mattress. One, two, up she went. She immediately tried grabbing everything in her reach, the good leg aching at having to carry her entire weight before she'd offloaded it onto the inanimate objects beside her.

Alright, she was up now. Just a few feet left.

With a stable-ish position, she kept her injured leg as straight as she could while pushing it against the wooden floor, hoping it would let her inch forwards. To her momentary joy, it appeared to work initially. Each push moved her a few inches, though not without stinging pain making its way through the profound numbness in her leg. Just stinging at first, but quickly growing in intensity as she crept along the wall, intensifying until every hard-earned step towards the window made her wince loudly, tears flowing down her cheeks.

She was too far in to turn back; she'd bear through it all.

She had to.

A ton of pain and a couple minutes later, Sue finally grabbed onto the window frame. She dragged her body towards it in wincing, teary triumph. She'd need to bend over to look out of it with how low it was set, the realization forcing an angry grunt out of her. Whatever, she could manage. She had it. Let's do it; let's see what this hell she'd found herself in even was.

Sue wasn't sure what she expected to see after looking out the window like this, in the most awkward position she ever had to contort herself into. However, the reality in front of her eyes roughly fit one of her earlier hypotheses.

A multitude of creatures were walking around- some of them terrifying, some cute, some yet dopey- but none of them normal. None of them like anything she'd ever seen before. Despite the diversity in sizes, colors, and body types on display, they all simply coexisted, talking instead of devouring one another.

Among them, quite a few buildings were scattered around the visible area, many similar to the hut she was peeping out of. Many, but not all, and the other kinds of structures caught her attention even more. Burrows reaching into hills or downwards into the ground, overgrown treehouses, larger brick buildings, all mixed with no discernible rhyme or reason.

They all stretched way off to her right, far out of view- this was just a tiny slice of this settlement. She made out a well-defined treeline in the distance to the left- an obvious direction for her to run off towards once the time came.

An entire village full of mutated animals, every one different and weirder still. They all just casually coexisted despite some freaks looking like mythological beasts that could have had the other ones for dinner.

Including her.

The sight was so unreal that she almost lost her balance after staring too intently. It's not like she hadn't considered the idea of a village, but there was no chance it'd be real.

And yet, here it was, staring her right in the eyes.

It kindly withdrew one brick from her confusion fort only to replace it with a couple more and give her a pat on the head for trying.

There was no way all that could've been stuffed away deep in the woods with nobody finding out, right? Not with satellite imagery venturing further inland than any human ever had. Has more time passed than she had thought between her trip and her waking up here!?

Was this even Earth anymore to begin with!?

The loud creak from behind her cut her idle pondering off. It was immediately followed by Doc's and Ember's alarmed squeaks, their approached footsteps making Sue wince as she braced herself for what was to come.

Dammit.