Collared and Injected 17-23 Jul
So I slowly crawled down from the bed and into the water. It went up a little over my waist. I continued to hold my breath as I considered following after him. If I went, I'd lose the only air bubble I knew about. I waited for my lungs to start to burn and it never came. It felt weird not breathing, but I seemed to be able to stay alive without it. I was getting good at accepting weird things, I was in a city of mermaids at the bottom of the ocean in a different dimension after all.
I dove down and followed Pem out of the room and into the hall. "Just this way," he said, it was a weird muted, echoey, high-pitched sound. I gave the 'ok' sign, but he didn't seem to understand. "Is there a problem? Do you need to visit the restroom?"
I shook my head then made swimming gestures before pointed ahead of us. Pem snorted, bubbles coming out of his gills.
"You know you can speak, right? The rebreather makes it so you communicate underwater like normal people."
"It does?" I asked, tentatively, not trusting that this would work.
"Yes. It does," Pem said. "Now, tell me, are you doing ok?"
"I'm doing fine. Everything seems to be working surprisingly well."
"Surprising? What's so surprising about it?"
"Nothing. It was just...a figure of speech. My friends?"
Pem was quiet for several seconds then said, "Yes...right this way. Most of your...companions are still recovering, but I can take you to the one that is awake."
"We were attacked by some kind of monster. It was all tendrils wrapping around us, feeding on our lifeforce."
"Oh, you got tricked by a giant leechvine. That explains the symptoms. I hear those things can be quite deadly."
Pem brought me to the cell where Crag was being held. I banged on the door to window to get his attention. "What's going on here?" he asked.
"Pem and his people saved us," I told him. "If you want to come out here. You're going to put on one of these rebreathers. They will have to inject themselves into your bloodstream."
Crag looked worried. "Do I have a choice?"
to be continued next week
or everyday on @QuantumUnstable
