4 4. A friend in a wheelbarrow

While walking through the dreary streets, stinking to high heavens with rotting corpses, Dwax was at a loss about what to do. He broke into a supermarket and ate some packed salami, fresh off the shelf. It felt great to have a good meal for once.

He gorged himself. He might have eaten three meals worth of supermarket goods. After he felt full, he started roaming the supermarket for other goods. He was going to have things he didn't get to have before. Namely, shaving cream, perfume, and hair gel. He wanted to be cool, like those guys who walked by him when he was begging for money in the streets.

Like a child in a candy shop, he galavanted around the shopping district. He cut his beard in the public toilet. He used the fancy balsam to rinse his face. He used the hair gel to make his wiry, long hair slick. He smiled and winked at himself in the mirror.

"Hey, babe, what's up? You didn't expect to see such a handsome young man today, weren't you?"

He left the public bathrooms satisfied. He wanted to check up on the street corner he used to live on. He wanted to know if any of the people he knew had survived. All of a sudden, he heard a voice.

"Hey, you! Hey!"

Dwax ran to the spot where he heard the voice.

There was a middle-aged man who was being swarmed by ants. He kept trying to scatter them by moving his head.

"Hey, my friend. Could you do me a favor? Could you put me out of my misery? They have been pinching chunks out of my orifices for a while now, and it hurts."

Dwax smiled.

"That won't do at all, my friend."

He pulled the man away from the ants and slapped away the ones already on him as best he could.

"Wait here."

There was a construction site a few blocks back. Dwax ran there and brought a wheelbarrow. As he loaded the man on the wheelbarrow, he asked for his name.

"My name is Warrow. I used to work as a manager for a clothing shop not far from here. I can't move anything below my neck since the whole thing happened. For some reason, I didn't die."

Warrow looked solemn.

" Let's find a metamorphosis pod. There are genetic modifications that are best for healing people. For example, Axolotl genes. People would get axolotl genes spliced into them to regenerate their limbs. I want you to find me a metamorphosis pod so we can try that. If it doesn't work, you should let me go. I will only be a burden to you. I don't have anything to live for anymore. It's alright."

Dwax slapped Warrow in the forehead.

"Shush. Don't talk like that. We will do as you say and get you fixed. My name is Dwax, by the way."

Warrow felt a bit indignant about getting treated like a child by the young man in front of him. He grumbled a bit but then calmed himself. The boy was a good person. Even though traveling on a wheelbarrow was uncomfortable, this was the most comfortable he had been for days.

"Turn left from here. Turn right. There should be a metamorphosis store around here. They should have some pods we could use."

Warrow concentrated and activated his hallucination gland to assess his genetic situation. There were blacked-out, uneditable genetic traits.

[GeneAI optimized musculature: failed to implement]

[GeneAI optimized digestive system: failed to implement.]

[GeneAI optimized live: failed to implement.]

[GeneAI optimized nervous system: successful implementation]

There were a series of genetic edits that he never asked for and never consented to. Warrow's face changed from pain to sheer resentment for a brief second. He didn't want to freak his new friend out, so he wiped the expression from his face not long after.

Dwax attempted to haul Warrow into the pod as is.

"Stop. What are you doing?"

Dwax was a bit confused.

"I'm putting you in a pod."

Warrow sighed.

"Haven't you ever used these things? You have to clean me up first to avoid contamination. Do you see the large device over there? Strap me onto it. It will spray me with chemicals. Then you have to select Axolotl from the computer and let the pod automatically do the rest. You might need to find the card on one of the employees. The pods might need a security clearance to be used."

Dwax nodded and then proceeded to do what he was told. The machine started to wash Warrow from head to toe. There was a lot of blood flowing away into the machine's sink. Warrow had lost a lot of blood to the ant's relentless assault.

"Warrow! Do you want any other augmentations?"

Warrow thought a bit. Normally, these augmentations cost a fortune, but now they are free due to the circumstances. The suppliers for the liquid that is being used in the pod probably died, and this was probably the last time he had a chance to genetically alter himself in a drastic way.

"No, I'm good. I just want to not be paralyzed anymore. Anything else might mess things up for me. I don't want to take unnecessary risks. I'm not an expert in genetic manipulation. I'd actually rather do this under the watchful eyes of an expert, ideally, but I'll have to make do with just this."

After the machine washed Warrow head to toe, Dwax hauled him into a pod again. He sat in front of the computer and searched for "Axolotl."

Luckily for him, the manager of the pod shop had been logged in during the time he died, leaving Dwax with no hurdles.

As he waited, Warrow's pod filled with liquid.

[Warning: The target is malnourished.]

[Applying an auxiliary glucose solution.]

This was going to take some time. Dwax stepped out for a bit. He didn't want to have bloated corpses around when he slept somewhere, so he decided to put them in a pile away from the shop. There were only four corpses in the vicinity, and the wheelbarrow was handy for this kind of work. He wanted to burn them due to his new religion, but he decided against it. He didn't want to create a roaring inferno, which he couldn't control. As a homeless person, he knew how dangerous an unattended fire could be. A fire that might envelop four corpses wasn't something to be handled by a malnourished person.

At least he was freed from the terrible stench assaulting his nose. As he was waiting for Warrow to finish, he saw a woman approach him. This woman had a striking appearance. She had green skin and glowing eyes.

She stopped and introduced herself.

"I've been looking for survivors since yesterday. I'm glad I'm not the only one. I'm Kahara, by the way."

Dwax squeezed her hand, and to his surprise, her hands were like corded steel. She was incredibly strong. She glanced toward the shop.

"Are you trying to get an augmentation? Do you need any help? Why is there a wheelbarrow?"

Dwax cleared his throat.

"I have a friend in one of the pods. I found him paralyzed on the streets."

Her eyes went wide with excitement.

"There is someone else?"

Dwax nodded.

"His name is Warrow. He is a middle-aged man. He was paralyzed from the neck down after the attack, so I brought him here to get an Axolotl gene therapy."

Kahara smiled. She felt like she was getting her life together. There was nothing scarier than becoming all alone in the world. She was going to get a semblance of a life back one step at a time, and the first step was to form connections with the person in front of her.

"So, what were you doing before all this? Tell me about yourself." She said. She put her hands together and smiled.

Dwax sat on the sitting bench and gestured for her to sit. He talked all about how he was a homeless man and how he fought over a rat.

"So you were a death row inmate." She said. Her voice was laced with disappointment. Out of all the people she could meet, she had to meet a death row inmate. After thinking about what he said, she added,

"At least it was in self defense. There are way worse people out there. Besides, you helped that Warrow guy, right? You can't be all bad."

She was cursing under her breath. Dwax smiled.

"I've been given a second chance by God. I don't intend to squander it. Don't worry. I lived a wretched life in the streets. You had to play dirty out there, and I've done some things I'm not proud of."

Her shoulders fell.

"What did you do?"

Dwax smiled. He understood what she was thinking.

"I'm not talking about evil things. I just ate from garbage bins, did my business out in the open, and did whatever it took to survive. I'm not proud of it but it is what it is.