-Message Sent.-
"You're doing a good thing, Tally." David said reassuringly.
Tally wished that she felt as sure as David did. In her new, special mind she wondered if she had herself doomed the earth by allowing Zane to test the nanos. Either way, she was going to use the equipment Dr. Cable had stuck her with in a positive way from now on. With the help of David, the random, she was going to make sure this world didn't end like the last one.
It helped that they had something in common. They were both built for the wild, as well as their friend, Andrew Simpson Smith. The next step in the journey would be to find him, after a good night's sleep (for David), of course.
"You need to rest soon," Tally said dryly.
David studied her with his gaze for a moment, and then nodded, "I'll sleep after we get some food. You should sleep, too."
Tally grunted, and began to rummage through the food supplies. Spagbol seemed to be the only packet left, and this distressed her. After living on nothing but dehydrated spaghetti Bolognese for a week, she could no longer stand the stuff. David watched from behind her, and sighed.
"Sorry!" He said, "I really shouldn't have packed any SpagBol… I just wasn't sure if you'd be coming."
Tally turned to him and smiled as gently as she could. This wouldn't be a problem, as her stomach had been readapted during her special surgery. She could now absorb nutrients and stay alive on virtually anything; including needles from pine trees.
"Don't worry about it," she said to David, "I'll just go forage for food outside of the ruins. You can stay here and eat."
He shook his head, "no, we should stick together. How about I come along and we can catch a rabbit or something?"
Tally grimaced. It made sense that no one had explained to David all the things that happen during a special operation. Even though his mother, Maddy, was a surgeon, she had likely never heard of the top secret procedure.

Tally wasn't excited to tell David though. It just seemed like another thing that would make him uneasy about her and how much of a monster she had become. It already seemed like ages since he had told her that she was still the same person to him; even thought it had barely been a few hours.
"Okay," she said, "rabbit it is. Let's go now before it gets too dark."

David smiled, and this cheered Tally up. Together they got on Tally's special hoverboard, and set out for the forest beyond the ruins. Riding on the same board weakly reminded Tally of how they had done the same thing together as uglies.
They landed at the edge of the forest, and got off the board. David wasted no time, and began to walk away as gracefully as he could in hopes of seeing some sort of edible animal. Tally stood in place, and watched him.
A few weeks ago, she had hated David more than anyone else. She had been holding him responsible for things that had either been her fault or no one's fault at all. Her brain was working quickly; each day she felt a little less superior, and a little more in control.
Today, she liked David. She remembered him from before she had become pretty, and although she didn't feel any tender feelings toward him now, she didn't feel any anger either. He was a good person, and he could see people in a different way than most. Tally wasn't sure if this was because of the way he was brought up, or if it was just who he was. It didn't matter though, because either way he was David, and he was kind to her despite the fact that she was a monster.
When Tally finally started to walk around in search of food, she did so with a heavy heart. The forest reminded her of her days following Zane, and this brought back her worst memories. Zane was gone, and that was something she couldn't blame on someone else.
"Tally," David cried, "where are you?"
Tally didn't feel like calling back. Part of her hoped that if she stayed quiet enough, the forest might swallow her up and take her away from all this pain and guilt. She hated the way she was as much as she felt superior for being special, and these were conflicting feelings. The type of feelings that made her want to dig into her arm, and feel icy again.
But she wouldn't do that, because she had betrayed enough people in her life. David, Shay, the people in the smoke. Betraying Zane again would be too much. She would keep this promise to him.
"Tally!" David cried again, this time closer.
She sat down in the cold grass and curled up into a ball. She knew that really she was hiding from David, but somehow she felt like she was hiding from the pain. That wasn't something that she was ready to face, so she didn't call back.
"Tally!" David yelled again, only metres away this time, "Tal-…"
He had spotted her, so she raised her head from her arms. She hoped that her face looked apologetic.
"Tally…" he said gently, "are you alright?"
She nodded, and found the strength to pat the ground beside her. He nodded, and walked over then sat down. Hesitatingly, he put his hand lightly on her back.
"You can tell me anything," He said softly, "I'm here."
Tally nodded. She knew that if she wasn't special, there would be tears falling down her face.
"I'm okay, David," she said tensely.
He nodded, and slowly wrapped his arm around her. When she didn't budge, he put his other arm around her and gave her a loose hug.
Tally closed her eyes. She stood up, allowing David to drop his arms. She shook away the Zane thoughts, and focused herself on finding an animal.
She saw the heat signature of a bird high up in the tree, and a squirrel. The bird would surely escape, but she may have a chance at catching the squirrel. With a burst of energy, she ran, treading as lightly as she could on the ground. She jumped, flying into the tree and quickly grabbing on. She climbed its branches as quickly as she could, and propelled herself to the branch that the squirrel sat on.
The creature jumped in surprise, and began running from her. She threw out an arm, and grasped its tail. The squirrel shrieked, and withered in her grasp. She tried to steady it with her other hand, but it dug its teeth into her. She loosened her hands, and it slipped away, leaving only a bleeding gash.
Annoyed, but somewhat icy, Tally threw herself off the tree and onto the ground.
"Sorry David, let it slip away."
He looked at her, his eyes wide. He tried to disguise his new fear of her, but she could sense it anyway. "It's alright," he whispered, hiding the shock in his voice.
Tally did her best to keep her distance from him, in hopes that he would get used to her again. She had no interest in chasing animals, and wanted only to go back to the ruins and rest. Maybe she could stomach the Spagbol for tonight.
"Let's go back, David," she spoke softly, "Spagbol sounds better than doing more of this."
He looked at her, and she joked in her mind that he was looking for a weak spot. She wondered how he felt now about those times he had been close to being caught by her. Likely, he was just starting to understand her strength.
"You hate that stuff," he remarked, "besides, I saw a few rabbits before. It won't take long."

He began to walk away. Tally wasn't satisfied with that. She didn't feel like skinning a rabbit when she could just eat some pine needles and David could eat some dehydrated food. "Wait," she asked.
David didn't stop walking, so Tally sped up to catch him. She reached her hand out to pull him back.
As soon as she pulled on his shoulder, Tally regretted it. She knew that she had put too much force into it. David flew backwards and landed on the ground. Tally heard his back crack.
"Oh god," she yelled, "Are you okay?"
He groaned on the ground, and raised his hand to touch his forehead. Tally's special nose could smell the faint sent of blood.
"David?" she asked more urgently.
It surprised her that she felt genuinely worried. More than that, she felt bad for accidentally hurting him.
He opened his eyes groggily.
"Holy shit, Tally," he said angrily, "what was that for?"
"I didn't mean to…" she tried frantically to think of what to say, "it was an accident, and I…"
David's grunt of pain cut her off, "yeah, I get it, Tally. I can't stand up, so you better be ready to carry me back."
The frustration in his voice made her feel terrible. This surprised her as well, because she didn't think that she cared about David enough to worry about hurting him. Sure, she felt that he was a useful travelling companion, but she didn't think she'd care about his survival. She guessed that maybe some feelings didn't disappear when you turned special.
Tally crouched down next to David, and asked him what to do. She ended up carrying him bridal style all the way back to the hoverboard. She knew that there would be no way to balance him and hoverboard at the same time, so she simply programmed the board to follow them, and began the long hike back to the ruins.

***

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," he said about an hour later. He had kept his eyes closed for most of the trip, and Tally assumed he had fallen asleep.
"I know it's not your fault that you're like this," David said, "I shouldn't have gotten so angry."
She found his choice of words annoying. He talked as though she was handicapped instead of built in a superior way. She knew that in her head, she was sometimes a monster, but she never doubted any part of her special body. She chose not to tell him this, though. At least he was forgiving her mistake.
"Sorry," she said, "I was too icy. I wasn't being careful."
He opened his eyes, and watched her curiously. "Icy?"
She stared down at her scarred arms. Had David never noticed them? She knew that he was following her gaze because he let out a small sound.
"What happened?" He asked loudly.
This brought Tally's mind back to somewhere she didn't want it to be. Things like this reminded her of her mistakes, which reminded her of Zane. Instantly, her mood darkened.
"When you're a special, sometimes you get overwhelmed by all your extra senses, and whatever might be going on at the time," she explained.
"So…" David said hesitantly, "you got hurt while your were overwhelmed?"
She sighed. This probably wouldn't be something that he would understand. Either way, she was stuck with explaining. She hoped that he wouldn't think much less of her.
"No," Tally said frankly, "I didn't get hurt. I hurt myself."
David shut his eyes again, and didn't say anything for a few minutes. Tally wished she could close her eyes, too. She continued to hike along, the ruins getting closer. David was beginning to feel heavy in her arms.
"I don't understand," he said after a long break.
She thought he had fallen asleep, and was surprised with what he said. Tally had almost forgotten what they were talking about.

"I understand that people do it," he continued, "the boss used to have a book about young rusties hurting themselves. I just never understood why."
He opened his eyes, and watched her, waiting for an explanation.
"When I'm overwhelmed," she began, "and I feel pain, everything just kind of gets quiet in my head. I guess the pain becomes the main thought, and for the first few seconds, I feel like I can think things through again. The reason that I hurt you was because the voice that tells me to be gentle got quiet in my head after the squirrel bit me."
David's eyes never left hers while she explained, "I wish you wouldn't hurt yourself, Tally."
He said her name in such a way that she understood that he was talking to the old Tally, not special Tally. If special Tally got hurt, it didn't matter. She was filled with nanos that would fix her up. To David though, she was still ugly Tally, the one that was nothing more than human.
"I stopped a while ago," she whispered.
He looked at her questioningly, but didn't hesitate to ask "why?"
Tally looked up at the darkening sky, and for a moment tried to bring up his face. It came to her mind easily enough, the same beautiful boy with black hair. In this picture though, he wasn't shaking. He was smiling.
The look on her face must have been enough, because David never asked her again.

***

When they finally hiked back to the ruins, it was dark. Tally set David down gently onto the sleeping bag, and hurried to make him some Spagbol. She ended up having to feed him herself. She realized that having David injured didn't feel the same as when Zane was an invalid. Looking down at David while feeding him didn't give her the same sick feeling, nor did she feel superior.
She wondered if it was just because it was David, and that thought hurt her deeply. She wished she could have been the person she is now back when Zane was alive. Maybe then she could have stopped herself from pushing him so hard.
By the time David was full, she was found herself more depressed than she had been in a very long time.

***

She slept in a windowsill, checking on David after every 10 minute ping. At some point during the night, he was awake when her ping went off. He smiled at her, and suddenly her chest didn't feel so ripped up.
"Couldn't sleep either?" he asked innocently.
She smiled briefly, "how's your back?"
He winced dramatically, then smiled widely. "I feel a lot better," he admitted.
Reassured, Tally closed her eyes and prepared to sleep again.
"Tally," David whispered, "There's been something bothering me for a while."

She opened her eyes, and nodded to him. She didn't feel very lively, and so she didn't force herself to give him responses. This seemed to discourage him a bit, but he managed to recover enough to ask the question.
"I know I shouldn't ask you this after all that's happened, but I think after tonight you owe me the answer. Tally…" He took a breath, "why did you say my name the first time you kissed Zane?"
She was taken off guard by this. Never had she thought that David could still have feelings for her when she looked like this. She was supposed to be frightening. She was supposed to be nothing he remembered about ugly Tally. More than anything else, she found the question irritating.
She didn't want to think about her bubbly days, especially after everything they represented was ripped away from her. Zane was gone, and thinking about their first kiss was really painful. All their happy memories were now.
"I don't know," she lied, "that's a stupid question."
David winced at her tone, and whispered, "No it isn't," very softly.
She gave him no indication that she heard him. She closed her eyes, and at her next ping, his eyes were closed, too.

***

The next morning on Tally's ping, David was waiting in the same position she left him in. In his hand he held a small object which she knew was used for telling time. He eyed her suspiciously before speaking.
"Tally, are you aware that you wake up every ten minutes?" He asked, hiding his frustration, "I mean, exactly ten minutes."
Tally didn't reply. She grabbed David's bag and jumped out the window. She heard him calling her name as she ran. She hoped that he wouldn't try to come after her.
The ruins stretched out wildly, leaving her close to getting lost several times. The bodies didn't bother her like they used to, something that could likely be attributed to her special mind. She smelled the water before she could see it, and filled up the water purifier as quickly as she could.

The rusty water matched the ruins. It had a greasy film in it that the rusties must had been used to. To Tally however, it was repulsive. The water she grew up on was always completely purified, and free of dangerous chemicals.
On her run back, her skintenna was picking up frantic beeps. Obviously David still couldn't walk. She felt guilty for leaving without an explanation, but she wasn't used to being with people yet. Eventually, she returned to where he was.
"Where did you go?!" He exclaimed as soon as he caught site of her, "you scared the shit out of me!"
Tally had heard David say that word twice in the last two days. She knew that rusties used to have certain words that were offensive to each other, but she couldn't understand why David used them. She made a mental note to ask him about it in the future.
She opened up the bag and held up the water purifier. It took him a moment, and then David seemed to lose some of the anger on his face.
"Thanks," he muttered as she handed him the water. He took a long drink, then watched her silently for a few moments.
She tilted her head to the side and soon became annoyed with his gaze. She turned from him and moved to the opposite end of the room to sit down. Tally raised an eyebrow at his staring.
"So, answer my question," he prompted. Tally assumed he was referring to the pings that woke her up every ten minutes.
"Yes, I'm aware, David," she said impatiently.
He sat quietly for a moment, staring at the water purifier. "What else?"
She sighed. "I can do a lot of things."
"I think," he began, "that it would be better for us to work together if I had a full understanding of your skills.
Speaking as quickly as she could, Tally listed her abilities that came with her special operation, "immunity to poisons, better agility and speed, heightened senses, infa-red vision, skintenna system, superiority complex, and stomach that can digest anything."