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reclusiveopossum · 1 year

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Sagebrush - Part 3

Sorry it took a minute, finally not sick. Was feeling really crummy for a few days so writing got set on the back burner, but I'M BACK. However, this chapter is a little short and mostly just Dally mentally monologing, so I apologize for that

CW: Digestion Mentions, Mentions of what Equates to a Mass Murder, Mentions of Physical Abuse, THERE WILL BE NOMS IN THE NEXT ONE I PROMISE AND HOPEFULLY IT'LL BE LONGER TOO

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It was another ten minutes of cradling the small, trembling body of the human to my chest as the tension gradually leaked from his limbs and he was left limp in my arms, breath finally beginning to lose the tight rasp it’d maintained since applying the poultice to his face. After the first five minutes or so, the nervous possibility of this species of human not reacting to the plant the same as the others had twisted its way into my head and anchored there. I’d applied it to plenty of my own wounds before and I knew it stung; having wet leaves pressed into raw flesh didn’t feel the best, but the initial pain was usually gone within several minutes and even then he was still shaking. The whiled time, my tail trembled in an anxious chatter at my side, watching apprehensively.

But now, he’d lifted his head to peer up at me, almost looking as though he was trying to work something out, though he turned away as he always did when he realized I was looking back.

He shifted and slid off me, stumbling on his feet when he landed, but straightening and brushing himself off, albeit a bit shakily and I frowned, inching closer to let my nose brush his arm. “You okay?”

Though his small frame went briefly ridged at the touch, he actually relaxed a bit after glancing back at me, rubbing at his neck and nodding rather vaguely. “Yeah, just- surprised me I guess, sorry. . .”

Fangs grazed my lip and I withdrew, tongue flickering against the air as I glanced around. “You still hungry?” He’d said he was, but I knew pain could easily change things and he might just want time to recover.

One of his hands had been hovering over the smear of slowly setting chewed-up leaves but dropped when I spoke again, following my gaze out over the expanse of sagebrush and tufty grass. “I mean I won’t tell you I’m not, but. . .”

“Then get your scrawny ass up here,” I snorted impatiently and lifted him from his feet again, narrowing an eye at in a silent challenge for him to protest. He just squinted silently back before turning away.

After returning to the rock pile that had served as our windbreak through the night and donning my coat and bag, gun slung across my back, I started off across the wide dip in the land we were situated in to find the human something to eat.

So much for being drunk and disposing of this boy in the morning. . . It wasn’t as though I didn’t know exactly why I found the idea of his small, lifeless body so abhorrent, and why I couldn’t be responsible for his death too. Not to mention, having to physically feel him die within me was something I was positive I couldn’t handle. Maybe there was a chance I could do it over; keep him alive, prove to myself I could protect him. Because last time. . .

He was even more of a risk though because not only was he human, he was one of the new humans, and no one of age that I knew would hesitate to dispatch one of him. He was a threat. And they would be completely correct, I was just being stupid and sentimental, but my brain wouldn’t let go of the stubborn similarity between them. Even if I didn’t actually know him or what he was really like. . . I wanted to learn.

I was a gullible, soft, reckless idiot. And I was going to protect this kid.

The human was leaning drowsily against my chest when I finally caught the scent of fowl on the breeze, distant, but close enough to reach within the next twenty minutes. So I hitched him a bit higher on my hip and continued on through the erratic rollings of the land, as though it couldn’t quite make up its mind whether to be smooth hills, jagged earth, or a flat plain. Maybe its indecisiveness was why I got along so well with it.

The sun was warm against my scales as the morning crept over us, and if it weren't for a certain small human, I’d have been happily sunning myself and sleeping off last night's meal in the heat, but I had someone to take care of now; something to do with myself, and once aforementioned someone was fed as well, we could both sleep it off together.

By the time the small shafts of buildings rose from the ground in the distance and I realized it was likely where his lunch was currently camping out, Sawyer was drooling into my shoulder, his legs swinging limply against me in his sleep, and I smiled faintly. I highly doubted it had anything to do with trusting me, but regardless, it was rather interesting how his face softened so when he wasn’t awake to set it into a firm scowl. Resisting the urge to brush his hair back, I let my posture curve a bit, protective. I would keep this human alive.

It was only once I actually reached the small, abandoned town that I shook him gently from sleep and he moaned, nuzzling into me in protest, the way he used to. . . Stop thinking about it, this isn’t him. Just get the poor kid some food and get out, dammit. “C’mon, you little jerk, you gotta wake up,”

A breathy whine passed his lips and he twisted a little, but ultimately buried himself deeper against my shoulder.

I was mildly tempted to inform him just how cuddly he was when half conscious, though ultimately ruled it out since I doubted it’d happen again if he was notified of it. “You wanted to walk so bad, remember? I can't hunt while carrying you and I’m just gonna drop you if you don’t think it's worth comin’ back to the land of the living.”

That did manage to begin bringing him round and I only chuckled under my breath at the groggy death glare I received moments later. Taking him carefully under the armpits, I set him down and he blinked blankly at my tail before crossing his arms over his chest and looking away. A whisper of adrenaline rose off him the same way it had last night and my forehead wrinkled in quiet concern, but I didn’t say anything. So far, he didn’t seem anywhere near keen on letting on to his anxieties.

“Where. . . Dallas, this’s a town, they’ll shoot you, you-” He seemed to have woken up enough to notice the shadow we were in was cast by one of the many buildings around us and I was taken rather off guard that his first thought was that I would get shot.

I shook my head and twisted forward into the light, stating simply, “It’s empty.” On further inspection of our surroundings, a thick layer of dust coated the windows that weren’t broken in, doors hung from their frames, and grass grew up through deck boards. When I said it had been abandoned, that wasn’t. . . entirely the truth. The former occupants of this post had fallen prey to our population control and newcomers learned pretty fast what happened to humans who dare come out this far.

By the look I was being given by a certain smaller human, he suspected as much and I offered a small smile in return.

In reality, he was probably no different than the rest of them, but still, I couldn’t bring myself to believe that; not until I was given an adequate reason those two men had bound him and sliced his face open.

Shoving my hands deep into the frayed pockets of my coat, tasting the air again, and following it off through crabgrass studded streets in search of what I was now inclined to believe were a group of quail that had taken refuge here. It would be smart if it weren’t for the fact that I wasn’t the only one who hunted here with the knowledge animals tended to use the baron homes and stores as shelter.

I flinched at the sensation of a hand trailing along my tail and found Sawyer following me with a hand resting on my side upon jerking back to investigate, stilted breath easing out in an odd sort of relief. Relief of what though? That it was him and not some imagined threat, or that he was touching me of his own volition. . . probably. . . best not to think too hard on it.

“What’re we lookin’ for anyway? It’s- I mean. . . where are we?” The fact that his hand stayed where it was even as we continued, moving almost absently over my scales made me wonder if possibly, we were making progress. Even if I knew that should not by any means be something I was hoping for.

I did my utmost to swallow that thought, nodding forward. “Pretty sure they’re quail. Lots of critters live in here since it’s pretty much free housing.” That was all I was willing to elaborate on; they likely already assumed the truth, I didn’t need to confirm it for them.

“Oh. . . how many you think? Or c’n you not tell?”

“Enough.” He was likely getting tired of my vagueness, but I was busy hunting for him; I didn’t need to answer pointless questions. No, they weren’t pointless. . . he was just curious; trying to gather as much information as possible. He used to do the same and I’d had to remind myself not to snap at him either. . . “Maybe eight or ten, dunno. We probably won’t need more than one for you; you’re small. . .”

I could almost feel the scowl aimed at me and snickered to myself even before he rent back. “I am not small, jackass, you’re just gigantic, that ain’t my fault.”

“You’re smaller than those two what had you tied up last night,”

“Yeah- w-well” For his sake, I refrained from outwardly laughing at his spluttering anger, even if it was honestly sort of endearing.

“Yeah well nothing. Nothing wrong with being small, y’re easier to feed this way and I don’t got a problem with that.”

And while he shoved hard at my tail for that, he didn’t offer any more response and I only smiled silently to myself.

He really wasn’t much different from the old humans I’d interacted with previously, but that might be a different story if he was the one with the gun, then again, maybe it wouldn’t. He’d been the one tied, cut up, and looking more accepting of death than whatever they’d planned for him. It didn’t. . . something about it didn’t line up, but I still wasn’t prepared to interrogate him or pry for my questions to be answered. If he wanted me to know, and I doubted he did, he’d tell me.

I trailed my hand along the fronts of the buildings we passed, mind sifting through all the questions I likely wouldn’t get answers to any time soon, until my eyes caught on what I assumed was some sort of painting with words over it, but the words weren’t what caught my attention. It was the face that drew my eye, and how familiar the subject of the painting looked. . .

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<- Part 2 --- Part 4 ->

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#he blep #also dally just like “PRECIOUS TINY HUMAN- THIS'S NOT ALLOWED BUT YOU'RE ADORABLE”#he's such an idiot #I love him #dally art #naga #vore fic #sagebrush #my art

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