Chapter Text
‘Another nosebleed.’ Zeno had felt the warm droplets gathering a split second before their fall. The crimson stains spread across the parchment he had been diligently filling out with the dark blue ballpoint pen he had procured from one of the receptionists earlier in the day after his previous pen ran short of ink. It was the third encounter today as he breathed deeply through his one good nostril with a deep sigh of resignation escaping him on the exhale. He reached for the handkerchief in his breast pocket, pointedly ignoring the gathering of scientists and security officers that had fallen suddenly silent in the middle of their report about releasing lickers into the city ruins to collect environmental combat data.
The scarlet color soaked into the clean and tidy fabric as Zeno pressed it against the left side of his nose. With his free hand, he reached for a clean new sheet to begin transcribing the entire meeting so far onto the new document. “You can stop staring at me.”
He didn't even need to look up to know there were numerous eyes pinning him in place. Everyone in the facility was paranoid and hyper-vigilant after the quarantine from the cafeteria incident. He couldn't exactly blame them for being cautious, but staring at him like he were as unpredictable as a licker wasn't going to improve their circumstances any. “The air in the facility is dry today with the heaters running. This isn't abnormal.”
His attempt to alleviate the tension only worked a smidge as one of the scientists awkwardly cleared his throat. Eventually one of the security officers nudged the meeting back into the right direction as they talked about perimeter patrols and yesterday’s encounters with hostiles while Zeno was away. The report went on to detail how they managed to kill four out of five members in a recon unit that was dispatched into the city by an unknown organization. They managed to capture the fifth man to interrogate him for intel with the Commander leading the operation. Eventually their prisoner refused to break and took their own life while left alone for a few minutes in a holding cell. The result left them with more questions than answers. The bodies of the dead showed signs of infection due to excessive exposure to the city's population of biologically enhanced inhabitants. The corpses were burned as were proper procedure. They suspected there was a sixth member that they failed to intercept.
“Those bastards sure are sneaky for supposedly being just a bunch of grunts.” One of the security advisors grimaced to themselves. “Luckily we suffered no casualties but it certainly would have fared far worse had the Commander not been present in the patrol unit at the time.”
A cold sliver of dread sank into Zeno's heart as he listened to the words of the security team. The pen tumbled from his fingertips to clatter on the countertop, drawing the room to a sudden unsettling silence. Multiple pairs of eyes turned in his direction. Zeno was grateful the handkerchief was doing a good job of covering half of his expression from view as his mouth crooked in a fleeting twist of despair.
‘It can't be the Wolves, could it?’ He quickly dismissed the absurd idea before it could sink its claws into his mind and scratch paranoia across the surface like an inflamed wound. ‘They wouldn't have been brought down so easily.’
He had to have more faith in their efforts. They were a ruthlessly efficient force. There was no way the Commander and his men could keep up with a group of enhanced bioweapons like the Hound Wolves. Even Zeno struggled to evade their efforts and he was pretty sure they were toying with him the entire time. It had to be a different group. He was sure of it. It was the only answer that made sense.
Still, as he juggled the damp handkerchief between his shaking fingers, he couldn't completely silence the doubts that stirred. The room shifted uncomfortably around him as Zeno squeezed his eyes shut behind the tinted lenses of his glasses.
“Sir?” A cautious voice called to him from the lab side of the table. Zeno waved their concern off.
“Don't mind me. Carry on. I'm still listening.” He assured the table. The uncomfortable silence continued for several more beats before the collective decided it would be better for all of them to hasten this meeting to a close. Zeno welcomed their urgency to get this over with and leave the room as quickly as possible to evade another possible quarantine incident. He finished the new document as quickly as he could before submitting the fresh new report to his superiors through a localized fax. It made everything much easier to avoid having to transcribe all of that up in a typed and fully formatted email.
‘I need some fresh air.’ He only hoped it would help alleviate the worst of these nosebleeds that were creeping up on him throughout the day. It was tedious trying to mop up the mess everywhere he went. He was quickly running out of clean handkerchiefs when every single one had to be incinerated after a single use thanks to his infected blood.
There was one bright side to his day so far. The scientists that had requested samples from the city beyond were more than thrilled to hear he was willing to collect more if provided with the equipment to do just that. He was even willing to wear the ridiculous jumpsuit again. This time he had a black plastic rain coat over the top of it, and a satchel filled with even more specimen containers after he suggested the idea of collecting soil and insect samples. They even provided him with several more larger containers. There was an ongoing study being carried out in regards to the changing composition of the city’s soil quality. They already collected samples from numerous sites around the city and had a comprehensive digitalized map uploaded to his GPS display to help him navigate and mark new locations he was collecting from.
That request single handedly gave him an open pass to explore the city at his leisure to collect an assortment of potential food options for Nano’s evolving diet.
It was muddy and humid today. Far more than Zeno was expecting as he carefully moved across the rubble piles and slick concrete pillars in his search for potential specimens. He found a handful of dead flies trapped against a dirty old apartment window earlier. Using the rubber gloves and tweezers, he plucked their lifeless husks from the runners to add to a sterile plastic jar. He had taken photos of the location before collection and marked the coordinates down in his field ledger. Moving down through the opening where the building’s walls had collapsed into a degraded slope down to the alley beside it, Zeno inspected the height of the sun in the sky above. Noon was approaching as he squinted against the harshness of its amber rays striking his glasses. The heat was making the puddles dry up as he searched the ground for anything that might be left behind.
‘Too bad Dr. Gideon isn't here at this very moment. I'm sure all he'd have to do is sit still in the midday sun and the crawling pests would flock towards his necrotic stench like flies to honey.’ It would have made his work move much faster. His boot slid a fraction as his heel hit a particularly slippery patch of earth. The gravel had eroded away with much of the surrounding soil. He was extra cautious as he stepped into the next set of ruins. This place looked like an apartment building had collapsed on top of a pet store. The concrete floors had cracked and created wide gaps from cold moisture and long winter freezes forcing the cavernous crevices to widen. Zeno had to use his flashlight from his belt to help him navigate the tight space.
“Hmmm.” His golden eyes searched every dark corner until something oddly shaped yet painfully familiar caught his attention. A spindly shadow was thrown across the adjacent wall as eight legs slowly ascended along their precarious perch. He had to move quickly to intercept his prey with a sample cup and a lid held firmly in hand. It appeared to be a wolf spider at a glance but Zeno could be mistaken. He's only ever seen one in a photo in a psychology book in a section about common phobias. Arachnophobia, fittingly, had a picture of a large spider beneath the name to emphasize the fear itself in an ironic twist. A close up on a fat brown spider was displayed in all its discomforting detail.
“You'll make a pleasant feast for my little Nano.” He told the spider as he sealed the lid on its proverbial prison. While silently entertaining the fantasy of his sapling growing big enough to turn Titan Spinner’s spawn into an endless buffet of delicacies. ‘Perhaps someday, my heart, you'll feast on every last leg.’
Satisfied with a good start, Zeno had a sudden feeling his best bet for finding creepy crawlies was in the shaded places like these. He ventured on to the next building as he scaled debris with mild effort then descended into darkened tunnels and flooded systems. He found more spiders akin to his first victim as he collected more and properly labeled their cases for the scientists. He collected soil samples near those same areas as Zeno suspected if spiders were building nests near these locations then there must be other signs of prey nearby. He labeled and marked the areas, evaded some of the t-virus infected that also lumbered through those darkened domains. He made addendums to the notes about the infected in the immediate proximity and whether that could be a contributing factor, then moved on to the next area of interest.
He hadn't realized how close he had gotten to the original location where he and Chris discovered the Plant 43 specimens. There was a corpse lying on the ground ahead of him. The clothing looked relatively new considering the depth of the location he was in. Zeno suspected it was a maintenance tunnel attached to an old subway system. Or perhaps a hidden secondary entryway to another lab. It was hard to say with how badly damaged the whole area was. The body in question appeared to be male. His clothing hung loose on his partially mummified corpse. There was water spots further in the tunnel and dark mold growing on rusted pipes. Zeno adjusted his facemask to ensure a tight seal as he studied the body.
There was no sign of a t-virus infection. The man appeared to have died of natural causes. Zeno didn't know enough about the human body to say anymore but he had a suspicion it could have just been a general illness of some kind, or possible malnourishment. There were no weapons or specialized gear on the body. No personal belongings that he could spot anywhere either. A homeless wanderer perhaps? Or someone who had become lost in the mountains and wandered too far for their own good? It was hard to say.
As Zeno inspected the body, he heard a strange rustling sound like movement further into the tunnel. He shone his flashlight away from the body towards the source of the sound. His golden eyes searched the darkness for any movement that his beam couldn't detect from the surrounding shadows. The last thing he needed was to be cornered by another infected when he was unarmed -again- and unable to engage in combat with them. His heart leapt in his throat as something pale flitted across the corridor at roughly head height. He adjusted his beam to follow it. It moved lazily to the other side of the corridor like it was fleeing the direction of the beam. A noisy thwack hit the walls ahead of him. Zeno stood cautiously from his crouch beside the body then took a hesitant step back in preparation to flee.
The fluttering motion and sound of clumsy rustling grew louder as it approached, bumping against the nearby wall almost drunkenly. Zeno held the flashlight still as the roughly palm sized creature flitted towards him. At first glance, he presumed it to be a bat of some kind that had been disturbed from its rest by Zeno's presence. Holding the light up a little higher, he was startled when the large creature maneuvered itself towards the light itself. It's broad dark brown wings stretched over his knuckles as a hefty weight settled against the back of his hand. Numerous powerful legs gripped his rubber gloves as feathery antennae probed the air around it. Beady eyes inspected him with a strange sort of curiosity in its posture. Upon closer inspection as Zeno adjusted the flashlight from one hand to the other, he found a colorful moth with large grey, tan and red wings, and a fuzzy red body with slender white accents on its thick torso. Dark spots that gave the impression of eyes on its open wings drew his admiration of its strange beauty.
The moth sluggishly moved up his arm as it's antennae surveyed the path, creeping closer to Zeno's right shoulder as it did.
“Why, hello there?” He beckoned to the creature. A quiet yet still audible sound followed that Zeno likened to a squeak, answered him. Strangely, that simple noise delighted him as he grinned behind the facemask. “You're a friendly fellow, aren't you?”
Another squeak followed by a second. Both were quiet. Barely audible even with his enhanced sense of hearing. Zeno drew the large moth closer as he navigated its clumsy movements. It fluttered from his arm towards his chest to crawl into the opening of Zeno’s raincoat. Alarmed at first by the action, he tried to deter the effort but the squeaking sounds grew more desperate to his ears until he relented. He carefully unzipped the front of his raincoat to let the creature cling to the front of his jumpsuit. It's long sturdy legs gripped the front of the material with expertise as Zeno cautiously zipped the front back up until only the moth’s long feathery antennae remained poking out underneath his chin.
“A sample is a sample I suppose.” He never expected to find a specimen this big or one this eager to join him. Not since…the discovery of Plant 43 and Nano. ‘Hm.’
Zeno dismissed the thought as quickly as it came and collected his composure. He took some algae samples, and marked the location of the newly discovered corpse before leaving with his new companion nestled inside his coat.
Two earthworms, four rolipollies, two wood burrowing beetles, several more spiders, three water gliding insects, a dragonfly and two live houseflies with broken wings were added to the collection. Which also included a dead toad he found in a puddle and the shed skin of a snake. There were dozens of soil samples he had collected alongside each of these specimens, a GPS location marked with accompanying photographs and some leafy samples of weeds he found growing near some random water sources. He kept the live houseflies, some of the spiders and one of the beetles for Nano with the promise that he would make another trip out tomorrow for more. All the while, his hitchhiker was content to remain tucked inside his coat despite the climbing temperatures of the midday sun and it's humidity. Zeno returned to the ARK an hour before dinner time with plenty of time to tend to his own interests before making the specimen deliveries to the scientists in the lab.
He found he was actually enjoying the company, as bizarre as that was. He had even come up with a name for his newest addition to his secret garden. Given the nature of its wing design resembling eyes and an abstract sort of face, he had chosen the name of Opis. It felt rather fitting for his new companion.
“Opis.” Zeno declared the name aloud, just as he had for Nano, while unzipping the front of his rain coat. He was met with much more energetic squeaks as he lowered his hand to urge the creature to step upon his outstretched fingers instead. “Do you like that name, Opis?”
It's antennae bounced along as the creature gave a shrill chittering of sound. It stepped gracefully onto Zeno's fingertips, pulling itself up onto the stretch of the man's open palm with powerful legs that gripped his digits with sturdy limbs. Zeno was truly impressed by the sensation of its grasp as it lifted its gorgeous wings to steady its balance. It showed no urgency to fly away now that it was freed from the confines of Zeno's coat. Zeno removed his gloves as he turned his attention towards the terrarium where Nano sat curled up within. He flicked on the U.V. light overhead, stirring those crimson petals to bloom as they yawned open with wide leaves tilted outward to greet the warmth.
“I'm home, my heart. I brought you a companion. Nano-” Zeno began as he removed the lid of the terrarium to reach inside to gently stroke the flowering petals with the curve of his thumb. “-this is Opis.”
Nano’s bloom twisted towards Zeno's outstretched hand as a single leaf bent around his finger like a child's first fumbling grip of their parents touch. His heart swelled and swooped with elation as Zeno’s lips spread wider with a grin. ‘My heart, my blessing, my everything.’
Opis steadied upon Zeno's shoulder where it had climbed amidst his movement. It's curious gaze surveyed the room at large while patiently waiting for this introduction to pass. Zeno carried on with the usual as he used the filtered pitcher to refill Nano's humidifier and began to mix a little bit of water with a few droplets of his blood to satisfy his little sapling’s roots. Opis perked up immediately as Zeno sliced his finger with the razor to feed a few drops of his blood into the water at the bottom of a cup. Powerful legs and stronger wings fluttered in a chaotic flurry to jump the short distance to where his hand gripped the plastic drinkware. Zeno cursed under his breath, narrowly avoiding dumping it all over his good rug as he turned a baffled and mildly annoyed look towards the moth.
To his even greater confusion, he watched as it unfurled a proboscis of some kind from its head that Zeno was not anticipating, that extended into the cup towards the mixture of his fluids. “Oh.”
That made a little more sense now with the flurry of excitement after being lethargic for the past two hours. “I suppose you just needed a bit of rest, warmth and food, huh?”
He couldn't fault Opis for poor manners when the poor thing seemed to be in dire straits. Forgiving the misbehavior, just this once, Zeno observed the moth as it drank its fill. The sizable amount of fluid it had consumed was almost as much as he fed Nano each day. Once Opis was satisfied, the proboscis vanished from view as it withdrew the bizarre appendage out of sight. Opis then fluttered to the rim of the tank to perch near the U.V. lamp to bask in its heat. Zeno refilled the cup with water from the pitcher and slit his thumb to mix a few more drops of blood in to ensure Nano got his own fill for the day. Once his roots were cared for, Zeno withdrew the specimen jar with the wounded flies inside to feed to his beloved sapling. Using the tweezers, he did exactly as the plant book described as he lowered one of the squirming insects down until it touched Nano's sensitive petals. They curled up around the helpless fly as it buzzed noisily in distress before being drawn into the very center of its bloom. The stalks of its faux pollinators folded away to reveal a hidden orifice where the insect was sucked down into. The buzzing fell suddenly silent. Nano shuddered once then a second time as its leaves stretched in a mockery of a pleasant post meal pose.
Opis shifted its weight on the rim of the terrarium to get a better position under the light before settling in itself. Zeno opted to leave those two to digest their meals while he finished sorting his specimens to leave Nano’s meals in their containers on the lower shelf of the cart. He eagerly anticipated feeding the fattest of the spiders to his hungry growing sapling. Zeno took the time to fill out his observation journal regarding Nano's new diet and feeding habits, and even added an introductory page for Opis as well. When he was finished, rising from his desk to put the journal away in his bookshelf, Zeno turned back towards the terrarium to check on his two companions. He was alarmed at first when he found Opis’ perch was empty. Searching the frame of his bed where the curtain hung astray to inspecting the floor for an unexpected fall, he cautiously approached the tank for any sign of the moth.
A subtle movement caught his eye beside Nano that caused Zeno to take a moment to inspect the terrain a second time. Opis’ wings were spread out across the ground of the terrarium as the unique patterning blended well with the damp soil and rocks that made up part of Nano's home. Even the smoothed out piece of decorative wood branches that he placed for Nano's vines to coil around when he grew larger functioned as an optimal perch as Opis basked in the warmth of the overhead light.
“You two appear to be getting along well.” He noted aloud with a smile resting on his lips. Opis answered his acknowledgement with one of his own as a noisier squeak met the air. His antennae bobbed and twitched as Opis stretched it's wings before settling back down with a look that Zeno suspected to be contentment. “My heart is full, and no longer alone in this world.”
He stood by, watching the two of them in silent admiration until the late hour demanded he submit his report and his collected specimens to the labs before dinner. Reluctantly, he tore himself away from the pair. Zeno did linger long enough to return the lid to the top of Nano's terrarium but left one section of the container latch open closest to Opis’ spot. He wasn't sure if the moth would appreciate the humidifier making everything feel wet and sticky inside and gave him an easy escape away from it all. Once he was satisfied with their comfort, Zeno turned to leave, eager to get this errand over so he could return to savor this rare bliss again.