Day Two

[Samus Aran]

Samus felt a degree of relief that they’d opted to stay away from today’s so-called “Easter Egg event”. From what she’d heard from Mickey and Erza, the pair had been lucky to escape unscathed from the first one. As for the second, she could only fathom why nobody else had turned up to procure medkits. Perhaps they hadn’t been as desperate as they, or perhaps they’d been afraid.

As the sun began to drop beneath the horizon, Samus returned from a small excursion, dumping a dead deer in the clearing in which they made their camp. It had been quiet, compared to the discord of the first day. Was it the same in the city?

“Nice catch, Samus,” grinned Harry as he stoked the fire. “Looks like it’s venison tonight!”

The armour clad bounty hunter shot him a thumbs up. It was nice to be able to do that without her shoulder stabbing in pain. She didn’t mention that she was a vegetarian normally, and the meat was liable to do some strange things to her already-taxed innards. It was nice just to be able to eat something that wasn’t packaged waste.

Pepsiman was sitting as far away as possible from Mickey, but even he seemed a little less on edge then earlier. A full twelve hours of nobody trying to stab him probably helped. “Would anyone some refreshments?” He turned to the newly-returned bounty hunter. “Samus, are you hydrated?”

She’d been avoiding the mascot’s constant attempts to get her to drink that carbonated swill. But having just returned from her hunting trip, she relented. “Give me a can of the regular shit. None of that fake sugar crap.” She was beginning to lapse into her old modes of speech, if only because her time in the Federation military had been the only time before that she’d felt such camaraderie. She caught the can, pulled her helmet back, and took a deep gulp. “Tastes like death.”

“Don’t be so morbid,” chastised Mickey Mouse, but his smile told the hunter that he was only half serious.

Pepsiman crossed his arms, looking genuinely upset despite his lack of a face to express with. Samus strolled over and fake-punched him on the arm, eliciting a huge whelp. “Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I liked that other stuff.”

The advertiser looked at her in a way that might have been suspicious, but he relented. These were, after all, the people that had chosen to save his life. He reared back up, looking proud once more. “At PepsiCo we hope to cater to all tastes. With such a wide range of products, there’s something for everybody!” He flashed a thumbs up.

Samus returned it, glad that her helmet hid her grin. The other three members of MESH snickered.

“So what’s the plan?” asked Erza. “Do we stay here, or keep on the move?”

The Metroid-Human Hybrid crossed her arms, becoming more serious. “I think we should stay where we are. The more we move, the more chance we have of coming across enemies. Let them do the fighting.”

Harry continued to stir the fire. “I don’t like the idea of sitting here while the rest of the groups move around us. We have no idea what’s going on. For all we know, they could be planning an ambush.”

There was quiet for a few moments. Then Mickey broke the silence.

“As long as we’re together, I think I’ll be okay with anything.”

The group smiled. Even Samus, embarrassed as she was, couldn’t help but let her cheeks flush. She felt the same way. And by the look on the faces of the others, she could tell they all did too.

Then they were gone.