The Symbiote

Chapter Two - A Rest

It's been about twelve hours since Scathe and I escaped from the AlignTek township, leaving behind the only life I'd come to know in the last few years. It had been a desperate flight to escape before the psychotic researchers found us and collected us as 'test subjects'.

I stare up at the sky as a small white cloud drifts by, listening to the breeze as it blows past.

Scathe had carried me for dozens of miles, never once complaining about being tired as he sprinted across the state. We'd skirted around most of the cities and towns to avoid causing a stir with Scathe's monstrous appearance, and had finally stopped at an abandoned rest stop after crossing the state line.

Well, I say abandoned, but it was really just empty. As far as either of us could tell, there wasn't anybody around for miles, but the place was still upkept, and there were a handful of vending machines that were full of a variety of junk food. 

I ended up spending about ten dollars on the pastries and snacks in them; I hadn't packed any food before the escape from the township, and I was starving. As I scarf down the sugary snack cakes, I look over at Scathe, standing at attention nearby.

"Hey, don't you need to eat or something?"

Scathe glances over, straightening his glasses. He'd assumed human form as soon as we'd stopped to keep from causing any potential problems, and I had to admit that he looked better in the clear daylight. Honestly, he was kind of... gorgeous.

He grins his lopsided grin and shrugs his leather jacket-clad shoulders.

"I do, but there's not really anything here for me to eat," he says, and I look at him quizzically. 

I hold up a package of junk food, waving it enticingly.

He laughs, finally coming over to me from his lookout post, and plops down into the grass beside me.

"I don't eat the stuff you humans do, kiddo," he says, gesturing expressively. "I survive off of basically a single chemical that's a little hard to find in most things."

I glance over at him, and he looks back, green eyes vaguely glassy.

"What chemical?"

"Collagen."

I stare for a moment before lying down, looking back up at the sky. I munch thoughtfully on another bite of food as I search my brain. Why did that sound familiar? 

It suddenly comes to me; it's in all sorts of beauty products, but also in-

"Have you never had like, gelatin? Collagen is in that stuff as a main ingredient."

Scathe scrambles, suddenly kneeling over top of me, eyes wide and desperate. His hands grip the grass on either side of my head, and he's panting slightly.

"Where can I find it?"

I blink in surprise, and a bit of worry; he quite clearly must have been starving, but had just been playing it off. I push him off me, having to use both hands against his wall of a chest, and drag my backpack over as I sit upright. He's immediately hovering by my shoulder, and I wonder if he's going to drool on me as I dig around, trying to find the bag.

Finally, I get my hand on it, and pull it out, displaying the cellophane baggy with both hands and a smile.

"Gummi bears. Made of gelatin, and likewise... collagen."

Scathe stares at the translucent multi-colored bears, eyes narrowing. He glances between them and me, and I could almost see the gears turning in his head.

"This... is it? It doesn't look anything like what they fed me at--" he cuts himself off, biting his lips together and glancing at me, eyes wide.

While I'd like to pursue that thought, I leave it. He clearly wasn't ready to share yet, and I couldn't blame him. I change the subject as smoothly as I can.