Sam wasn't doing so great. He was currently in a nearby cave that was the old home of the old king. Sam found it and took it for himself.
Once he did that he immediately stitched up the worst of the wounds that were going to kill him. After that, he went back and retrieved the old king.
After all, his clothes were all torn up in that battle. Now he is just in his cargo pants. But those are all torn up, now looking more like cargo shorts.
He was going to remove the coat and the claws and fangs from the old kings body. He would use them to help his survival. He would also cool and eat him.
"It's a good thing Peta ain't nearby."
At least Sam could joke in a bleak moment.
But despite joking a bit, the pain, both physically and mentally were tremendous. He felt tears prickling his eyes, and while he was patching himself up, he allowed himself to act his age for once. As it seemed he would be stuck for a bit healing himself.
He allowed the tears to fall and allowed himself to mourn.
"Zola…Zola…damn it!"
He kept carefully stitching, even while crying. It was because he was feeling much better after finally allowing himself to cry. The pain and the grief were tearing him apart and he needed to be strong in the future. He could spare himself for just a moment.
Before the fire, in the unforgiving Nyungwe forest, a young 16 year old boy let out a loud and painful wail of despair.
———
A red-eyed and somewhat relieved Sam was sitting before the fire. He was pale and didn't look good at all. He was covered head to toe in bandages. All the bandages in his first aid kit had to be used to patch up his back, his torso, his shoulder and his arm. He stitched it all up as best he could, but he had a massive problem.
'I can't reach my back.'
Sam decided that he could only do one thing.
He heats up the knife, making sure it's red hot. He bites a bit of cloth leftover from his shirt that still clung to him after the battle.
He felt the wounds with his hands and memorized the exact location of each and every severe wound. This was going to hurt.
Committing to memory the exact locations of his wounds, he finally gets to work. He starts with the easiest ones to reach that are closer to his sides. The hardest ones are in the middle of his back and he would go for them later.
Biting hard into the clothe he makes sure that he doesn't mess up and gets ready for a mind-bending pain.
His shaking hand does not waver, and finally he commits.
*hiss*
"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!"
Sam was biting into the cloth so hard he was sure that he tore through it. But that was nothing compared to the agony. He had to use all his will just to stay awake.
After staunching the bleeding of that wound. He poured some alcohol that was in his kit onto the wound. He had a little more left and decided that he would need it for this more than the wounds he could stitch himself.
He was crying a bit and was truly in agony as his back was on fire.
'Fuck! It hurts so bad! Stay strong! Zola! Zola will see me through this.'
He held the hot knife that was once his lovers and believed in it. Believed in himself. Believed in the promise he made to her.
He immediately put it back into the fire and got it heated up.
Sam shakily sighs.
"Now… round 2…"
———
Sam was in a park. He was looking down as he sat on a bench, as all the kids were not even bothering with him.
When they saw the lonely Sam, they ignored him. Like a leper.
He just got out of school and more kids were showing off their quirks to each other.
As a quirkless kid, Sam was disappointed. He already found it hard to fit in with his mixed heritage. But adding being quirkless to that, has made him the black sheep of his school.
Suddenly, he feels his phone vibrate.
It's a call. He accepts it and puts the phone to his ear.
"Sammy! Are you okay? You haven't come home yet."
Sam sighed.
"I'm fine mommy. Some kids got their quirks and I wanted to see what they could do with them."
Sam lied. He came here because he wanted them to invite him over. He was just having his own little pity party.
'I'm such a loser.'
Sam was really depressed.
"Just wait for a bit. Mommy is coming."
"Mom you-"
*beep* *beep* *beep*
Sam sighed.
"Well… I guess I will wait."
Sam sat on the park bench, waiting.
Not long after, a beautiful woman with brown hair came and sat next to him on the bench. She saw the longing on his face as he stared at the other kids having fun.
It broke her heart seeing her baby like this.
"Sammy… anyone who thinks that just because you don't have a quirk, that you are in any way inferior to them, is not worthy of being your friend. If they don't want to play for that reason alone, then leave them. Mommy is quirkless and was always picked on. But I found true friends. Friends I would cherish. I know you will find them one day."
She brought her son into a warm embrace and Sam finally began to feel a bit lighter.
"Thank you, Mommy."
"Now… what do you say we go and get some ice cream on the way home!"
Sam looked up at her with shining eyes.
"Really?!? But what about Daddy?"
She chuckled and put her finger to her lip in a shushing motion and winked.
"He won't be mad about what he doesn't know."
Sam laughs and nods his head.
"Then let's go!"
"Yay!"
They both get up and head out of the park with big smiles.
All of a sudden though, the world began to erode.
Sam looks shocked and terrified as everything is melting and disappearing.
"Mommy!"
But she was disappearing too. Her face still smiling down at her beloved son. Even as she fades from existence.
Sam reached out to her but she kept smiling at him with love until she disappeared. Now, he was back to being 16, and he was standing before someone who terrified him. He couldn't see his face but he did see a wicked smile.
"Wake up, my canvas."
———
Sam gasped as he shot awake. Before he could comprehend anything else, he felt a horrid feeling on his ankle. He looked down and what he saw nearly made his heart stop.
He saw one of the most dangerous snakes in Africa. A gaboon viper, digging its giant fangs into his ankle.
Sam quickly grabbed his knife and cut off its head as it was still biting him.
"Gahhh!!"
He could already feel the agony from the venom.
"G-gotta get it out!"
He uses his knife and cuts into the bite.
He is shaking as the pain is becoming horrid. He sees the black blood from the venom and brings his ankle to his mouth. Luckily he was flexible. Otherwise he would have to amputate.
He starts sucking on the wound. The nasty taste of venom enters his mouth and he quickly spits it aside. After that he does it again and again and again.
Despite doing that for a good hour, he was starting to feel the effects of the venom.
"F-fuck! Do I have an anti-venom?!?"
He digs into his first aid kit, and finds nothing of the sort.
"Shit… will I have to… amputate?"
Sam was scared. The pain was already beginning. The wounds, the infections, the pain and agony, now the gaboon bite. This was as merciful as a forest filled with predators could get.
Sam could only struggle. While he got most of the venom out, he didn't get to it all in time. Now, it was up to his body and his will, to fight the venom.
And he could tell. It was not going to be a pleasant fight. At all.