“I suppose it is a good time to have you guys join. Planting season is about to start and we could use all the help we can get.” The three had talked through the night, Niki was still reluctant to join. But Rein and Scarlette were planning on staying and I suppose she didn’t want to let them do it alone.

“There wouldn’t happen to be another way to do this would there?” Rein asked with a mild look of disgust, he was a little bit of a germaphobe. We had told them about how the whole infection process worked, cutting your hands and letting Myc make his way into your body. It was a little disturbing to be honest, I was unconscious when it happened but, I remembered it happening to Nate.

“No.” John and Nate were sitting behind me, this was never really as ritualistic as it seemed. They had all decided at the same time so Myc wanted to see if it could do all three infections at once. Apparently it would be useful once we grew big enough that we had many people wanting to join at once.

“Let’s just do this.” Niki’s caution was fair, and apparently it made her impatient.

“Very well, let's start.” We each stepped up to an individual, me with Rein, Nate with Scarlette, and John with Niki. A small bone blade on each of our fingers and in unison we cut a small gash on each of their hands. Then we cut a small slice on each of our hands, we held a strong grip then we waited for Myc to do its thing.

“This is awkward.” Niki was getting fidgety trying to avoid John’s somehow both focused and distant stare. Nate was trying not to watch Scarlette stare intently at the strange process going through her hand. While Rein seemed to be trying to think of anything else.

We are done.

“What the hell was that?” Scarlette looked around confused and curious. Nate stared at her with a small smile of young love, while Niki was looking at John like he was the one who said it. Rein was trying to not get dirt in the small wound on his hand, as it slowly closed for all three of them.

I am Myc. It is a pleasure to meet you all.

“Is this how it greets everyone?” Niki was trying to find something to stare at, like she was looking for Myc in the small crowd.

“No. He tried to kill me when we first met.”

That was an accident, do not scare the new recruits. And the second time was because you were trying to kill me, even if it was unintentional.

“Should we know what they are talking about?” Scarlette whispered to Niki.

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Given time, you will be able to see everyone's memories, their thoughts and feelings. You will even see mine and John’s first interaction.

“Right, but not like all of our memories right. Like we can keep a few secrets.” Scarlette looked embarrassed, she was obviously thinking of a specific memory. I should know the same thing happened to me.

“We will see it all. Even your stranger preferences.” John gave a straight answer to Scarlette, who then proceeded to hide behind Niki. Me and Nate were still less connected than John was to Myc and everyone else. We were pretty sure it was Myc’s attempt to fix his brain injury that strengthened the connection. Replacing so much gray matter, even if it was dissolved into liquid nutrients still left a lot of Myc behind.

“Fantastic. So we get to see every disgusting and embarrassing thing you guys have done as well though, right.” Niki seemed more confident than Scarlette and Rein to allow her memories to be watched and thoughts scanned. That was fair, she was beautiful, tall, a great figure, what did she have to be embarrassed about. You know apart from the normal stuff first time with someone, strange or nasty habits, or disgusting thoughts that came to mind.

Eventually, although it will take time before you are able to do so with proficiency. Cat has begun making great improvements and it has been several months. Although being able to read surface thoughts with ease like John will take more time. However, practicing using the connection between each other seems the best way to increase your proficiency.

“Well. If that is all, I still haven’t finished my chores.” Rein walked out of the shelter, it seemed he didn’t want to be around when we looked through his memories. Scarlette was still hiding behind Niki, while Nate still stared with a stupid expression on his face. John turned and left right after Rein, while Niki seemed to be trying to tell John something using her mind. The expression on her face was focused and strange so I decided to try and have a peak.

Looking at Niki and attempting to see what she was thinking revealed that she wasn’t trying to tell John anything. She was attempting to see what was inside his head, trying to push away the slowly thinning fog in his mind. She looked at me as I was trying not to think about the incident at the lake.

“Oh my god. Did that really happen?” Niki looked at me with a face of disgust. It was hard to think back to that time, I got their attention even though John warned me. Then I stood there like an idiot as he was cut and shot, all in an attempt to protect me. Although John didn’t see it that way, he saw a single person scared and without a weapon staying back to let him help. Even when John was shot, I hesitated, I almost decided to run away. I would have left him there to die and was with shaky hands and pure adrenaline that let me save John.

I still think back to what happened if I had just run away, left John to die and grabbed Nate. It hurts to see that all Myc and John have built could have been wasted if they died to protect me. Apparently Niki was very good at using our connection and she saw right through me.

“Come on, we still need to make sure the gate on the water paths work.” Looking at the door John was standing there, looking directly at Niki. As we filed out of the little shelter, Niki’s face turned from one of pity to guilt. Whatever she saw in John’s head changed her mind about the lake incident.

“I’m sorry.” I looked up at John, still standing in the door. He turned from Niki to look at me, a small smile adorned his face.

“You did nothing wrong. Come on those paths may work a couple of times but they will be opened and closed throughout the season. I wanna make sure they don’t fail halfway through.”

He walked away, following the others to the fields. Knowing that he didn’t feel that I had betrayed him helped, but I still felt responsible. The small scars across his face and eye always made me think about the sound the gun made.

The bang and the sudden stillness as he fell back and it seemed that everything in the forest froze. The few seconds of adrenaline that let me grab the knife without even thinking. The regret of doing so when he turned around to point the gun at me.

It is alright to think about those times. They are hard and filled with regret. However as you know John does not blame you for thinking of leaving him. He would not even blame you if you left, no one really wants to be in such a dangerous situation. No one truly wants to die, we are as scared of death as you. You are trying to pay him back for a debt you do not owe.

“Thanks Myc.” I looked at John walking towards the field, I suppose all that regretting my decisions does is stop me from making the right one in the future. With a deep breath, I put all those thoughts behind me and started over to the fields. There was work to be done.