Twisted Chances

Evan was waiting outside the door of a close friend. She wasn't often late, he mother made sure of that, but there was still time left for their playdate. Though impatience could be a burden on some, especially for a kid who was hyper and had ADHD, supposedly. He had to learn to control it, for every medication that was legal in his neck of the world didn't work for him. The result was that he was was homeschooled rather than being within the school system. For he learned too fast in math for the system's liking.

To his own credit, he was a avid learner, and so was his playmate to a lesser extent. He knew math far beyond what a 8 year old should, while his playmate had more understanding into social sciences. Still, they had their typical childish sides to them. Evan was one for building block type toys, she was one for dolls. Both tended to work together really well, especially since the former provided the latter.

By now though he was getting impatient. his Infested attendant was standing by the property line calling them. "Ugh... they're not picking up, and Samantha's tracker is pinging from inside."

"Well, you know what that means being Infested." Evan told them.

They didn't hesitate to call for a welfare check, and thankfully an officer was pulling up as they were dialing. "Something wrong healer?" They asked the infested.

"We were here to meet a friend of his, " the infested told them, pointing to Evan, "But her family hasn't come out and her tracker is still pinging from within the home."

"Any reason to believe she's not without it."

"She's autistic and an eloper at that. They usually have her zipped up in a tent in one part of the home on the second floor."

Though as the Infested was filling the officer in, Evan walked out towards the back of the property. The sand seemed increasingly disturbed as he made his way to the back. Though he wasn't naive when it came to a potential crime scene. Once he got to the back door, he noticed a potential reason why. "We got a problem Ashlen!" Evan shouted from the back of the home. They both rushed over to find a surprising scene, both parents slumped over in their seats with the back door open.

"Prognosis, healer?" The officer asked them. Ashlen walked in and immediately gestured to both of then to not enter the home.

"Stay out of there and call the nearest nest. There's Hantavirus present." Ashlen rushed up to where Samantha's tent was. She was still there, alive and seemingly unaffected. "You're alright Samantha?" Ashlen asked her.

"I would've called... But the battery in my slate died before I noticed them near collapse."

"Well, put this on and leave it for eight weeks, at the least." Ashlen stuck an infested mask on her face as they led her out the front door.

"Hey! I got her, you mind staying here and filling the nest in while I take her and Evan back?" Ashlen asked the officer from the front.

"Aren't you forgetting something..?" They told Ashlen.

"I'm aware. Evan, watch her for me will you." Ashen then headed back in as Evan ran over to meet her.

"Well, seems like I got a little savior." Samantha gave him a practically flirting look.

"You seem awfully unfazed from that... I mean both Ronowa and Michael are dead from a very dangerous virus!"

"Not for long though... I know how infested work."

Samantha wasn't far off. Ashlen was doing something that any full infested like them were able to do: log their time of death, then convert them to full infested. They glided their hand over them and new mass took root in their bodies, the most obvious sign that death had already occurred. Slowly their bodies turned from human flesh and blood to infested flesh, biolines, and exocrine. The officer watched, practically in awe. They've had infested do this process before when it would matter, but seeing it like this was another thing entirely.

Ronowa was the first to wake and gasp for air, her eyes fluttering open anew as her new body started to move. "Wha... Samantha... I thought..."

"You did Ronowa, but Samantha's alive," Ashlen told her.

"Wh... What happened... To me?" she asked Ashlen.

"Hantavirus, need to corner off the home because of that."

"My baby... Who will care for her now?" she asked Ashlen.

"We will like we do Evan until we can find a family that'll take her in."

Michael stirred soon after, his now infested eyes opening as his took in his first breath as an infested. He said nothing as he looked about. Clearly his memory was slightly hazy and he had been dead for longer. "Best get moving you two," Ashlen said to the new infested. "We got a lot to work out."

Samantha was unfamiliar with the space. She was so used to the routine of her old home, nevermind that she was being constantly monitored. Even as she was introduced to the others in the Infested's care in the common room, she seemed extremely tense. "You ok, Samantha?" Evan asked her.

"New environment, what else is there. Also, I've got an infested following me around constantly and this mask I can't take off for two months."

"You'll get used to everything, I'm sure of it," Ashlen told her.

Needless to say, Samantha wasn't used to the things around her. For most of the day, she was hardly talking to anyone, except Evan. She felt safe with him; the only bit of routine she had left from her old home. Everything else had to be decontaminated prior to being brought to the nest.

The infested took note of this, and kept Evan with Samantha to try and calm her worries throughout the day. Needless to say though, this increasingly grew a spark between them. Samantha felt that she had her knight to protect her. Evan, meanwhile, only felt like he was helping someone in need.

Though, the nightfall would bring its own issues, and not just the cold of Oroborus' desert landscape.

"Samantha, calm yourself. Believe me, the gorgons aren't that bad. I've had to be petrified a few times just sleep through a night."

"I'd prefer my tent... that place was safe for me. Being stone isn't exactly small and snug. You should know this considering you hang out with them so much."

Evan thought for a bit as he ran through all the sleeping spots in the nest, or at least all that he knew as 'snug.' Nagas... Might work, but the gorgons that rest with them might scare her off. That and they would uncoil from around her if they got too warm. The Infested didn't have a tent they could use, and her's was being cleaned due to Hantavirus exposure. That only left the spiders that made webs around a series of netting and scaffolding on the roof of the nest.

"What about the spiders?" Evan asked Samantha. Though his look over at Ashlen make it obvious he was directing the question at them as well.

"It seems like our only option with her hesitancy," Ashlen told Evan.

"Spider..?" Samantha was clearly even more hesitant about them than the gorgons. "Uh...Uh... Where do the gorgons put you for the night..?"

"We don't often say, but I think you'll find you're better rested after a night like that. An Infused healer from Anderin even delved into a method that might help you acclimate; and he wasn't even out of school yet when he devised it."

"Normally that's not reassuring, but being from your type... Considerably more so."

The gorgon they later brought her to recognized the task at hand from what the infested had on her. The naga what was with him acted like she was looking out the window, so her eyes wouldn't betray their intentions at Ashlen's request. "You sure this is a relaxing as you say Evan?" Samantha asked him.

"I wouldn't be doing it at times if it wasn't. Gives me time to plan things out faster than if I was able to move about. Or if my mind is to active it lets everyone else, who's not infested, sleep." Evan kept quiet about what they did in the latter scenario, at least with him, but the temptation to say was there.

The gorgon was having Samantha do an easy pose in preparation. She visibly sighed in the midst of the setup just from how embarrassing this felt. She knew a lot about various cultures, even among multi species groups, and gorgons had one thing in common among those around the world.

Presentation was everything for living stonework.

When the gorgon finally did the deed, she noticed things she only heard Evan talk about from his experiences: Her sight and hearing were there unabaided, but her sense of touch was less a feeling and more a pressure; every need of her body was halted, no heartbeat to be heard or felt, her breathing was unneeded while in this state, and the stress of every muscle holding the pose was gone.

By all accounts, anyone else would've slept deeply and woken slowly in this state.

Samantha though, quickly realized that she had no means to communicate in this state—no way to tell them to turn her back, She was stuck in this state for the night whether she slept or not. "Well, sleep well. I get to get Evan to bed." Ashlen then walk out of her sight line with Evan before the naga's face came into view, and her eyes made it apparent what they planned. The hypnosis hit her quick and hard as the naga kept telling her rest and let her mind fall deep into sleep. It didn't take long for it to work and for her to doze off into a lucid dream.

Evan meanwhile, was resting up with the nagas for the night. In times that he could fall asleep, their coils were practically the comfort he needed. It worked both ways for them: Evan was where he slept the best, and the nagas had their bodyheat for the night. It was nights like this that felt the best for him, even if one of the gorgons petrified him in the middle of the night to cool off at times. He honestly debated trying to find a naga family to join, even if it wasn't his call. The prospect of endless nights warming up against others felt like a good prospect for him. Even becoming a naga shifter himself didn't leave him as a long term thought.

For now, though, he was biding his time for the right family to come and adopt him.