Chapter: Division of tasks

Erik heard Rugrat closing the fridge door in the basement and walking up the stairs moments later.

Erik cleared his head, forcefully pushing those thoughts and emotions to the side, becoming the Erik West he’d always been.

“Well, you might live in buttfuck nowhere, but, I’ll say this, I’m impressed with your vault and beer!” Rugrat came up the stairs and shut the door behind him with a kick. He appeared around the corner with nearly a dozen beers and a grin on his face.

Erik couldn’t help but chuckle at Rugrat’s expression.

If there was one thing they could all agree on, it was their love for weapons and booze.

“Porch?” Erik asked.

“Sure thing.” Rugrat took the beers out, then helped Erik outside and opened a beer for him. It was mid-afternoon. A cool breeze came through the surrounding forest.

Rugrat took a seat in a chair, crossing his cowboy boots and tilting his hat forward.

“Cheers.” Erik held out his beer.

“Cheers,” Rugrat said. The two of them tapped their beers on a nearby table before taking a long drink.

They just sat there for a bit.

“Nothing like a post-deployment beer,” Erik said.

“Nothing quite like it, or the first country girl,” Rugrat said.

The corner of Erik’s mouth turned up at Rugrat’s antics as they continued to drink.

“You have one hell of a hideout here,” Rugrat said.

“Got everything you might need and a few things you might not, but it keeps me going,” Erik said.

“Well, it’s a good thing that you kept your right hand. Don’t know what you’d do with all the time you have otherwise.” Rugrat shook his fist up and down in the air.

“Fuck you too.” Erik took a drink of his beer, his middle finger in the air.

Rugrat’s solemn expression turned into a big smile as they sat and drank, shooting the shit and not even talking about Erik’s wounds.

Erik woke up early, a headache brewing from the night before. He made to get up, finding he was on the couch. His left arm slipped as if it wasn’t there. He looked over, and saw that it wasn’t there.

Reality descended with a sigh as he felt the itchiness and the now dull pain of his missing limbs. He used his right hand to get up. He got on the floor and shimmied over to his bag. He popped some of the painkiller drugs and changed out of his clothes on the floor and struggled into his new set.

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Rugrat woke up some time later. “Ready?” he asked.

“As I’m gonna be,” Erik said. The painkillers started to numb the world again.

***

Rugrat made it clear to Erik he only had one job, to recover. Rugrat had carved out two circles outside of the cabin and was organizing his and Erik’s supplies. He’d got deliveries planned, in his down time he worked out with the exercise equipment in Erik’s workshop/Garage.

His strength had actually increased a point from his hard work, seeing that extra strength stat he threw himself into exercising even more.

Erik opened his eyes with a gasp of breath as cold sweat flowed down his face as he slumped back into his chair.

He was drained but recovering slowly but surely, a trickle of mana flowing back into his body.

Erik was frowning at the ceiling as Rugrat walked in covered in sweat.

“Dude, I know that they say size isn’t everything,” Rugrat couldn’t hold in the laugh as he looked at Erik’s ‘legs’.

“They’re perfectly functional,” Erik said, the same thing that had happened with his arm happened with his legs. It was as if he was a child growing once again.

He had full legs, knees, shins, calfs, ankles feet and toes, just they were about the size of a four year olds.

Growing them initially had taken time and an excessive amount of mana and stamina. The energy required to make them grow decreased abruptly.

“That’s what they all say,” Rugrat said as he walked thorugh the house, grabbing something out of the friddge and heading back to the room.

He tossed Erik a drink.

Erik grabbed it with his left hand, it had been fully regrown now. They had a day and a half before they were set to disappear.

Rugrat chugged a drink as Erik put the drink down.

You know how I told you about those odd markings that are inside our bodies?” Erik asked.

“The two circles inside one another, thirteen of them throughout our bodies. I have three of them open, you’ve only got one?” Rugrat said.

“Yeah, I think that they’re based on our mana regeneration. You have a mana regeneration stat of three while I’ve only got one. Also, when I cast a spell, then I feel the mana coming in through the hole in the back of my head.”

“Can we do anything for it, like open more of them up?” Rugrat asked.

Erik shrugged and grabbed the drink. “Hell if I know.”

“Ready?” Rugrat asked, putting his drained bottle down and leaning forwards so that his hands rested on one of Erik’s legs.

“Go for it,” Erik said.

Rugrat’s healing spell wasn’t as powerful as Erik’s but, every little bit helped speed up his recovery.

A magic circle appeared around Rugrat’s hands as power poured out of him and into Erik’s leg.

Erik’s fatigue only increased as his leg grew visibly before his eyes.

Instead of just pouring out all his mana in one shot, Rugrat slowly introduced it into the spell, allowing him to keep just above his mana regeneration rate.

Erik braced himself and started to cast a healing spell on his other leg, based on his senses he worked to find the balance as well.

After ten minutes Erik slumped back in his seat, Rugrat followed him a few seconds later.

Rugrat got to his feet and moved to the kitchen, he returned a few minutes later with a bag full of food.

He threw Erik the majority of the bag, keeping some snacks.

Erik wolfed them down as Rugrat tore open a thing of jerky and started munching on it.

He didn’t say anything as he kept eating and put one hand on Erik’s left leg again.

“Heal,” Rugrat said, his voice tired, but his eyes focused on Erik’s leg.

Erik continued to eat with him, while Rugrat got headaches from exhausting his mana, Erik’s stamina decreased sharply. He had to keep on eating all the time.

They lost track of time as the sun started to set and the lights came on in the house as Erik and Rugrat only paused when Erik’s stamina was dangerously low or the mana deficient headaches got too bad.

Erik’s eyes were burning from the exhaustion, the darkness of night was already gettingbrighter as a new day was starting.

Rugrat slid in his chair, unable to stay upright as he passed out.

Erik looked at his legs, they were still skinny as hell, but at least they looked the right length now.