Grelda held Soulen tighter, her grip stronger as she kept crying before eventually stopping a few minutes after. She slowly pulls back and holds Soulen's cheeks with her palms while looking down at her. Soulen simply stared back, but her small never faded.
"I'm so glad...i am soo...sooo glad...." Grr sobbed before mustering up a smile.
Sohan walked forward and stared at Soulen, looking at the blood stained dress and her blood painted hands. then the color in her left eye and the vines that wrapped around her left arm.
".....Just...how are you alive?" Sohan asked first as everyone faced Soulen; clearly interested on the story.
Soulen held Grr's hand and gently pulled it down before staring at the grass ground. Few second later, he rose her head and looked at Cassie.
".....long....story.....patient? words...struggling...." Soulen grunts out before shaking her head and looking at them.
"I....will tell....you..."
And like she said, she told them. Everything that had happened, Everything. From when she escaped the gate, to her reaching deaths door by blood loss, then the flower, the dream, the corolla, the experimentation she did, the family she met and how they met their death. Everything was told without a single hint of lies. And Soulen watched their reaction. Both Sohan and Shariq had a grimaced expression, Tougz looked with pity, Cassie and Grelda held Soulen with sadness in their eyes and manner of comfort.
"You.....really went through hell.." Shariq said gently as he rubbed behind his head.
At that moment, Soulen noticed they had switched to a different armor. she recognized it as she had.....Killed probably a few...okay A lot of people in that armour. It was known as the Blue Assault armor with a very good durability and protection against the infected attack. it had a really nice design and looked really nice. Cassie however had a red version of it. maybe a recolor? she wasnt sure. regardless, they had grown and that was what mattered.
Soulen's soon fell on Cassie's finger and noticed the ring there. then looked to her sister's; Grelda, and saw the ring as well. then the males and each of them had a ring. All except Tougz.
"...rings?....fashion?" Soulen asked as she looked at Grr who blinks then blushes a bit. Cassie also did the same thing as she moved closer to Sohan who held her closer.
"Well...uhm.....a lot has happened since you left..." Grr remarked as she began explaining how most of them had gotten married. She looked at Cassie and Sohan with a look best described as shock. her eyes were Slightly widened as Sohan blushed slight and coughed once.
"Yeah....we were surprised she said yes....but then again, they had been close since as long as i knew..." Tougz replied as Cassie buried her face deeper on Sohan's chest out of embarassment which caused Sohan to heave a sigh but chuckle gently.
"Yeah.....it happened. the wedding was a blast though." Sohan said with a huge smile as he looked to Soulen which she nodded gently.
"I'm...glad..." Soulen replied before looking to Tougz who smiled gently and shrugged.
"Ehh...my luck with women has been bad...." He replied before rubbing his neck. The others frowned a bit but didn't say anything else. Instead they looked to Soulen once more and asked if she was at the Hunter's base a few days ago.
Soulen nodded before looking to cassie who held the left side of her tummy and smiled a bit saying she was fine. Soulen frowned a bit more before raising her hand gently. The ground slowly rumbled as a vine began to grow which caused everyone to be startled. On the vine, a single flower began to bloom; a blue beautiful flower that glowed gently. and once it had fully bloomed, spores began to fly out.
The spores flew around the area, making the place look beautiful and warm. and once they touched one of them, their bodies glowed faintly while healing them. Cassie instantly checked the part she got hit after the glowing stopped and gasped when she didnt feel the injury anymore.
"Its....It healed? Its really healed!" Cassie exclaimed as Sohan checked on his own light injures that had also been healed. Old battle scares stayed. but ones recently new had healed up with ease.
"Thta's....one hell of an ability...." Grr pointed out as she felt more relaxed and refreshed.
"It is also.....very terrifying. the fact that an infected...ah well in your case a...what did you call it? A Revenant? Has this much of a healing ability? Its going to cause a serious uproar..." She remarked before looking at Soulen with a troubled expression.
"I agree. You'd be classified as a high alert mutant. It wont be an exaggeration to say humanity would be on high alert around you. So it would be best not to expose yourself for the time being..." Sohan said while holding his chin in thought.
Sohan stared at Soulen as he examined her. everyone else looked to him with a brow raised before he turned to face them and heaved a gently sigh
"Regardless....im glad you are doing fine Soulen. Although i dont know if you can do so much now that you are an infected. I heard you gave my girl a hell of a thrashing" Sohan says as he smirked gently which caused Cassie to pout.
However, Soulen frowned as she remembered what happened. It wasnt really something to brag about. After all, she nearly ended her friend. Soulen holds her left arm as she stare at the ground, Cassie punches Sohan on his arm before walking towards Soulen to hug her. He clearly didnt mean to, but it felt like a subtle attack to her on hurting Cassie
"It's...fine...." Soulen says gently, her eyes a blank gaze as she looked at them before a small smile formed.
"Ah well should tell you what has been happening so far.." Tougz spoke up as everyone nodded in agreement.
And thus, Soulen was filled in on what had happened within the two years and some, of when she left. After the whole issue at Hope 101, The mayor had been issuing stressful tasks for them to do. Or purposefully making them do harder missions and bounties. Raising their taxes and making it difficult for them to participate in certain events. He must have still been very upset with what happened when Soulen was around.
Apparently, he was mocked by the other mayors of other major settlements and was now transfering that to Cassie. Which caused Soulen to get pissed but her expression remained indifferent. Although there was a visible bulging vein in her neck as she listened to Cassie.
Eventually it shifted so a more gentle conversation. Ranging from how Cassie and Sohan got married, Their camp growing with new buildings and facilities unlocked. More members joining their camp and how Tougz was still single despite everyone else has someone or was married.
This made Soulen look towards him as he rubbed the back of his head and awkwardly laughed as the rest teased him. Soulen held her dress; her hand near her chest. She felt relieved? She wasn't sure.
She had thought her feelings for him would have gone after so long, but a part of her wanted to believe he didn't find someone because of her. She knew that wasn't the case. And there was no point in her trying to fall in-love again. No one would want to be with an half infected like her. Especially when everyone aside her friends would kill her on site or want to study her.
For a moment, she thought she saw Tougz staring at her. But when she looked up, he was focused on Grr who was talking about how she met her own husband. Did she see wrong? Possibly.
Nonetheless, she nods after they all explained what had happened before staring up to the sky in thought. That was when Cassie looked to the vine Soulen had spawned before speaking
"So....you can control plants now... Huh." Cassie said as she placed her hand gently one the vine.
Soulen's left eye glowed gently as the vine slowly twists itself downward till it wrapped itself around her hand. The gesture was warm, and Cassie could feel the warmth she Soulen was expressing.
".....like....part...of ...me..." Soulen grunted out as Cassie nodded before returning her gaze to the vine.
That was when Soulen place a hand in her tummy and stared at it for a few minutes before looking to them.
"....hungry..."
The five of them blinked before smiling as they heaved a sigh and thought for a second.
"Wait since you are half infected, can you still eat normal food?" Sohan asked Soulen nodded slowly but then spoke up right after
"Flesh...taste better....human food....not so good...." Soulen answered as Tougz and Shariq crossed their arms
"Damn... Uh....hold on for a second." Shariq spoke as he nudged Tougz to follow him.
As they left, Soulen sat back down on the grassy ground while looking up at Cassie and Sohan like an empty shell. Cassie found Soulen rather fascinating; like a doll she could play with.
The empty eyes, expressionless gaze and an unnatural yet terrifying beauty. It was hard not to be mesmerized. And Sohan was also captivated by this before coughing and looking away. After all, he belonged to Cassie. He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable.
Grr noticed that and punched him gently in his side then crossed her arms. He looked at her with a brow raised before coughing and taking a few steps back to clear his head
----
Few minutes later, Tougz and Shariq had returned with what looked like a bodybag. There was definitely something inside as it was in the shape of a person. They dropped it Infront of Soulen and opened it up revealing a blonde female who got stabbed in the head by a rather large object. The hole was still visible.
Soulen looked up to them and nodded gently before looking down at the corpse.
Before she did anything, she stops for a moment then spoke up
"Look....away..... if..... uncomfortable...." She said gently before opening her mouth.
Her tooth grew slightly longer as she sunk into the flesh and began to eat. Blood splattered all over her outfit; her mouth covered with the dead woman's blood as she was visibly enjoying eating the flesh.
Once she was done, she licked her lips before looking up to her friends who had an uncomfortable expression plastered on their faces. But they didn't look away, they watched her eat and then watched her smile as she thanked them for feeding her.
It was a sad, gory sight. Watching someone they once knew as human, now half infected, eating a corpse Infront of them. Indeed unsettling.
Soulen attempts to stand up but stumbles forward which Tougz quickly caught her to help her straighten herself.
Her eyes felt heavy, her body slumping even more as she leaned in Tougz and slowly fell asleep. Her fatigue had caught up to her again. And she slept silently in his arms.
".....even when she sleeps, she looks human.... What a cruel fate..." Grr remarked as she gently brushed her hand down Soulen's cheek.
"Come on, let's return back to camp and have her rest. We should put her in a place the citizens of our camp can't see her for now...." Tougz suggested as everyone nodded in agreement before making their way back to the centre