9. Adjusting

Nobody stays terrified forever.

9

 

As the days went on they grew more comfortable in the warehouse office. Dmytryk had, with as much help as the slowly recovering Ada could offer, cleaned up the shop enough to make it reasonably functional again. Unfortunately all that was there were the things nobody had bothered to clear out when the last company that had rented the property had left, which wasn’t much. On the plus side, Ada was recovering, now able to be up and mobile for a few hours a day. They were running low on food again, so Dmytryk figgured it was about time to make another run to the convenience store.

 

It was late afternoon, but another October storm had darkened the sky with the promise of rain. They were dressed in the less remarkable clothing they’d purchased on their previous trip, in track pants, sneakers and hoodies. Ada had her ski mask and laser cutter in her pocket, a fact that made Dmytryk nervous, but she reassured him a dozen times on the walk that she had no intention of robbing anyone. Promise. That would have to be good enough, he figured.

 

They stocked up on ramen and enough irradiated fruit to prevent them from getting scurvy, which in all sounded completely unappetizing but they could afford more of that than anything else. Ten bucks and three bags of the modern equivalent of hard tack and they stepped out the door just as the sky opened up with a light rain. They scowled at the sky, the rain, and at each other, then pulled their hoods up in unison and took off towards their makeshift home.

 

The duo had made it two blocks before they heard the dogs. They were behind them, back towards the convenience store, and they stopped to stare at each other a moment before they looked back and realized that they must still be trying to track their scent. The rain would wipe out the trail back to the warehouse, but first Ada and then Dmytryk realized that their trail was all fresh and traceable all over the convenience store. They froze there for a moment, in the middle of the sidewalk. It sounded like only a few of the mutant dogs, but certainly enough to tear up the convenience store and anyone in it. After a few tense heartbeats, Ada dropped the grocery bag of ramen and took off at a dead sprint.

 

Back to the convenience store.

 

Dmytryk swore under his breath as he tossed his bags into a bush and took off after her. He was, in his mind, sprinting to certain death. It took him half the distance back to the convenience store to register that Ada was inhumanly fast. Still, that didn’t change the fact that she was frail, pasty, sickly, and had puked up half the things she’d eaten since they’d made a break from HIRA. He had the small gun, and Ada didn’t have anything. As she was nearly reaching the convenience store he pulled the gun from the pocket of his hoodie and took aim at the lead beast a moment too late, just in time to watch terrified as Ada collided bodily with the mutant humanoid dog in the doorway of the convenience store. They crashed through the glass doors in a heap, and several people inside screamed.

 

He stopped short. Dmytryk was a big man, but he wouldn’t take his luck with one of those beasts, and he couldn’t shoot it while Ada was right on top of it. But then, impossible as it seemed, having seen her be so deathly ill for so long, she was managing to hold it off of herself. His eyes widened as she knocked it a swift punch to the side of its distorted canine head. It was then that Dmytryk registered that Ada had pulled the ski mask on as she ran, completely concealing her face and leaving only her eyes exposed. He cocked his head in confusion, almost so distracted by how impossible this girl was as to not notice that the other two mutant dogs were barrelling towards him from across the gas station. The nearer of them leapt and he managed to shoot it midair, not preventing it from fully leaping on top of him and knocking him to the floor.

 

With a grunt he shoved the carcass aside and took aim at the second, missing it by a hair and nearly striking one of the gas pumps. That was very nearly very, very bad. The second shot struck home and he jumped back to his feet and turned to help Ada, afraid that in the moments he’d looked away that the beast had torn her apart. He wasn’t really expecting the reverse, but as near as he could figure the thing had tried to bite her, which was why its jaw was torn open much wider than it ever was meant to go. She looked shaky, but generally unhurt.

 

The store however was trashed. Ada looked around as the terrified patrons and cashier started to peek out from where they’d hidden behind the isles and counter. “Sorry for the mess. Uh, Cheers!” She flashed douces and jumped back through the shattered glass of the door, grabbed Dmytryk’s arm, and pulled him into a run. They jogged the two blocks until they reached where they’d dropped their bags, of which only Dmytryk’s were still there, stashed in a bush where he’d hastily tossed them.

 

“Looters and hooligans.” He muttered darkly, almost welcoming the excuse to not talk about the dogs or the fact that Ada was very clearly, beyond any doubt, much more than human. If Dmytryk was freaked about that, Ada was more. They hadn’t broached the subject even once, nothing deeper than ‘how’re you feeling’ from time to time, as though not talking about it might make it go away. As though putting it off would make it easier. Frankly neither of them had really any idea of what exactly they’d done to her. Dmytryk knew marginally more, but that was limited to a vague understanding that she wasn’t quite done yet.

 

He stood to find Ada staring at him, shaking. She’d removed the ski mask and was clenching it in her cut and bleeding fists. Dmytryk softened. “C’mere girly, you’re okay.” He pulled her into a tight hug and she immediately gripped onto his hoodie as a sob wracked her frame. “It’s okay, they’re gone now honey, it’s okay. We’re okay. We made it, we’re okay.” It wasn’t really all okay, they both knew that, but for the moment they’d gotten out alive at least and in light of recent events that certainly wasn’t a thing to be taken for granted.

 

It was a while before Ada pulled back from the hug, eyes downcast, to murmur “We should get home.” Dmytryk’s lips twitched in a half smile at that, home. It would do, he supposed. For now.

 

“Alright little sister, let’s go home.” He picked up the bags and shifted them to one hand, giving Ada a pat on the shoulder that turned into a one’armed hug as they ambled down the sidewalk back to the warehouse.