-Oliver-

Waking up from an uncomfortable feeling in my gut was unpleasant, yet not quite as unpleasant as what I saw when my eyes blinked open.

Alright. Who gave Hice a gun?

Since he didn't seem interested in shooting me, yet, I pushed myself up with my arms and rolled my shoulders a little. They were stiff from the position I'd slept in, and as I looked behind Hice, I realized that Ocar had gotten up, likely when the other mer either broke in or was allowed inside. Most likely the latter.

"Good morning, Hice. What can I do for you today?" I mumbled, my attitude shining through my sleepy mind perfectly. He seemed to ignore it, though, which was probably for the best, and instead just began speaking.

"I can't fix him. They said you can, but so did they and it did not help."

His voice was stern at first, but as his words wound down, so did the volume and strength. His eyes lowered, but then refocused on me, as if I would attack him and he had to be wary. If I had a gun, I probably would have tried to get in a shot at first, but now that I knew why he was here in the first place, I also knew that he didn't want me dead.

He wants me to save his friend.

"I would be glad to help your friend, Hice," I stated calmly, trying to ignore the gun still pointed at me.

Even though I had told him that, he remained still for several seconds and I could tell something else was going on inside his mind. When he didn't say anything a full minute later, I tried again, smiling softly to try to get him to relax a small amount.

"It's okay. I don't want to study him or move him from where he is right now. I'd be glad to come with you, and I'll only bring my basic bag of things I use to help others. I'll just check him and try to figure out what's going on, then we can maybe go from there if you'd like?"

He seemed to still be warring with himself on letting me anywhere near his friend, but soon after I had spoken, he finally managed a small nod. Instead of returning the gesture, I carefully got myself to the edge of the bed and allowed Ocar, who had walked over, to lift me into his arms. Hice probably didn't want him coming, but he clearly knew that he best just keep his mouth shut on that idea, because I wouldn't be going anywhere with just him. I was crazy, but suicide wasn't something on my to-do list.

We followed Hice as he ran out the back door, which, surprise, was shattered as if a car had driven through it... or a mer. Now that I actually looked closely at him, his hands were cut up, along with a few marks on his arms that were all steadily losing blood. My instincts told me to get them treated and wrapped up, but my other, smarter instincts said to wait. Ocar's injuries had already begun to heal so I didn't doubt that Hice's would also be okay. His friend was the most urgent, so I would tend to him first and then perhaps Hice would be more open to having his own injuries treated if necessary.

On our way out, Ocar grabbed my medical bag from where it had been placed next to the sofa. It was misting outside and the sun was nearly down, but I had just enough light to be able to see for at least another fifteen or twenty minutes. Hopefully that was enough time because I doubted Hice would let me move his friend inside.

At least my bag has a small flashlight in it if I end up needing some light.

I wasn't too surprised when Hice took us over toward my own home and the river in the back. He had probably checked to see if I was home before trying Jayson and Parker's. At least he hadn't broken the glass at my house, likely because I had obviously not been home. When he finally stopped, Ocar walked until we were about a yard away and gently set me down on my foot. He then handed me my bag as I used his help to stay upright and keep an eye on Hice. After looking around for a few moments, he seemed to find what he was looking for and carefully began tugging it free of a large clump of weeds and water plants.

The sick mer...

I thought it might look worse, or even have passed away, but to my surprise, it seemed to be visibly breathing a little better than it had been before. Not wanting to waste any time, I carefully let Ocar help me to my knees and got busy taking out some exam tools. Knowing Hice's protectiveness over the mer, I used each tool on myself just to prove that they wouldn't hurt him, then quickly checked his heart rate, pulse, mouth, eyes, ears, and just about anything else that could give me a clue as to what was going on with him. He was extremely dehydrated, his skin loose in places it definitely shouldn't be, and he also had several areas where his pale skin was discolored. It looked almost like he'd been abused, which was definitely possible, however, as I checked the bruises, I couldn't feel any tense muscle beneath them and the mer gave no reaction of pain from them either.

Not bruises.

"It's not physical abuse, but these bruises could be caused by several other things..." I mumbled to myself as I dug through my bag to see if I had brought anything I could use to take blood.

"They are caused by you disgusting humans and your pollution," Hice snarled at me, speaking as his fingers gently stroked at the mer's light blond hair. His words took me back to the first time I'd seen him, or at least thought of him. His image in my memories wasn't exact to what he actually looked like, but that wasn't important. The message he had given me was. I wasn't sure how I had heard his words in the first place, unless perhaps he had actually said them from outside and I'd managed to hear them somewhat through the glass door he'd clawed, but now wasn't the time to think of that.

"I know pollution is our fault, but if he was taken care of at Cal-Waves, then the poison it caused in his body should have been flushed out long ago."

Hice's face tensed for a moment, then relaxed when he glanced down at the other mer. "But they told me that is what had caused them." His head jerked back up, our eyes meeting. I could see the fear in his as things began to come together in his mind. "They gave him shots. Said it was medicine? They said it would make him better."

My heart hurt as I reached over and gently took one of his hands that was now tightly tangled in the sick mer's hair. After a gentle squeeze, he loosened his hold a little.

"It's okay, Hice. I think I know what happened, and I also think I may be able to help him."

His face lit up with the faintest inkling of hope. I turned to Ocar, giving him a reassuring smile since I knew he wouldn't be happy with what I was about to ask of him.

"Can you please go get something in the house for me?"

I knew he was going to say no so I just kept talking, hoping to get my point across before he could disagree. "Please, Ocar? Just break the back door and walk into the bathroom. In the back of the mirror cabinet should be two bottles tied together with a rubber band. I need those as fast as possible."

He wasn't happy about me cutting him off, and I had a feeling he wasn't done arguing either, but thankfully he got up without another word and ran up the hill to my house. Hearing the glass break made me tense, but not a minute later, he was running back through the opening he'd made with the two bottles I'd asked for. The moment they were in my hands, I set one aside and undid the cap on the activated charcoal and handed Hice several small pieces.

"Crush that a little, then get it into his mouth. He needs to swallow it." I tossed a piece in my mouth, chewed, then swallowed to show that it was fine. Hice did as told as soon as he saw my example and very carefully got the mer leaning against his chest before he pried his mouth open and slowly began feeding him the crushed pieces. I gave him a few more once he had run out, then opened the other bottle and offered a small white pill.

"He needs to take this too."

Hice took the pill, but then eyed the bottle before staring at me.

"I can't take that one, Hice. It's for specific poisons. I can't prove that he has them without a lot of blood tests and time, but he doesn't have much more of that. Please, just trust me. The signs are there and considering you said they gave him shots and what not, the poison I'm thinking about seems like the most logical. Give it to him, Hice, please. I don't want him to die because of them. He deserves to get his life back."

Droplets of cool rain began to fall around us as we stared into each other's eyes. Tensions ran high, especially Hice's. I was asking him to trust the one thing he hated most in the world. Humans had used him and nearly killed his friend to do so. If I were in his place, I would question even being near me. By the time we were both soaked, he finally decided to give his friend the medicine. It was strong, but if it and the charcoal worked together and my guess on what was causing his illness was correct, then Hice's friend should hopefully get better over time.

I watched as he crushed up the pill, then used the rainwater on his palm to condense the dusty medicine. When it finally disappeared between the other mer's lips, I gave a shaky sigh of relief. As much as I wanted to bandage Hice's hands from the glass he'd broken and have him bring his friend inside for the night so he could rest out of the storm, I knew neither was going to happen right then.

So I licked my already-wet lips and began speaking. "I'm going to assume you don't want him inside, but I need to get back to Parker's and get some food and rest. If anything changes, come get me, but please, don't bring the gun. We don't want to hurt you or your friend so please leave that here."

Knowing that I couldn't really stop him and that trying to take the gun away from him could end very badly, I left the conversation at that and packed up the medicine, then motioned for Ocar to help me up. He didn't hesitate to do so and began carrying me and my bag back to Jay and Parker's home without a word to Hice. I knew he didn't like him, but I also knew that you didn't have to like everybody, you just had to accept that they were different. Right before we stepped into the next yard a loud boom of thunder rumbled across the sky, but beneath that, I swear I could hear an awkwardly shouted "Thank you."