The Restoration Project

3.03 - Merrick

Merrick woke up to something wet coating his hand. He stirred and early morning sunlight assaulted his eyes, shining through cracks in the wood planks covering the windows. As he blinked away the tears caused by the light, he saw Rusty licking his hand. He pulled it away from Rusty's muzzle. His mouth was dry, his skin was clammy, and a dull ache emanated from behind his eyes, shooting to the back of his skull. It was going to be a long day.

"Good, yer up," Sunnyside grumbled.

Merrick sat up, a sharp pain shot up his back. He spent the night sitting in the office chair, his feet propped up on the desk. He couldn't remember when he had returned to the room, only that it had been a long time after Sunnyside shot the N3. He watched the lifeless body sway back and forth for hours. There were some injuries not even the N3s could repair.

"For a guy that's in a rush to get to Olaf's, you're taking it awfully slow this morning," Sunnyside replied, stamping his feet at the door. He had redressed the wound on his leg and there was no longer a blood splotch on the bandage.

Anita.

Images of her flooded his mind and jolted his consciousness as if he drank a gallon of coffee. He stood up, fighting a wave of dizziness, and opened his bag. First thing was to quench his thirst. He took a swig of warm water from his canteen, coating his sandpaper throat. He clipped it back onto the bag when he finished and slipped it over his shoulder, aware of Sunnyside's gaze from the doorway.

"If you ain't gonna talk to me, I'm fine with that. Just don't get my hopes up. I'll wait for you outside," Sunnyside said, finally pushing off from the door and leaving the office.

"Why'd you let me sleep so long?" Merrick asked.

"I didn't do nothin'. This is your quest or whatever, in case you forgot. I'm just here cuz Walther said so," Sunnyside explained.

"Then we'll get going," Merrick said, passing Sunnyside outside the door. He gazed at the bathroom on the other side of the mill but he must have closed the door when he left. He was relieved not to see the lifeless body.

"Don't you gotta mark this or somethin?" Sunnyside asked when they both exited the mill.

"We only do that in the areas New Philadelphia wants to use for expansion. Little far out here," Merrick explained.

Sunnyside shrugged and issued Merrick onward, following him and Rusty away from the mill. They didn't get far.

"What do you think that is?" Sunnyside asked, raising his hand to the Northwest.

Merrick followed his gaze to a thick plume of smoke rising above the trees. "Nothing we want to get involved in." Even if it was a natural fire there was nothing they could do about it. And it was in the opposite direction they needed to go. He was more worried about the large storm clouds building in the sky ahead of them, coming off the ocean.

Sunnyside shrugged and they followed an overgrown path back to the main road. The trees on either side had grown significantly since the last pruning. Random twigs and branches whapped against Merrick's cheeks as he walked. He was relieved when the brush thinned and they approached the main road. He turned to veer off the path and walk parallel to the road, but Sunnyside stopped to rest on fallen tree.

"We need to keep moving," Merrick warned, urging Sunnyside.

"I ain't goin' nowhere right now," Sunnyside said, wincing as he extended his wounded leg out, taking the pressure off it.

"We haven't even gone a mile," Merrick pointed out.

"And your point?"

"You gonna be like this all day?"