"Ugh, what IS this?"
"Do you really want to know?"
"Probabaly not..."

Trunks closed his eyes and shoved the orange glob into his mouth, not bothering to chew. It tasted like an old boot - heck it probabaly WAS an old boot. Frowning, he watched as Pan choked down her meal; probabaly the only time this week she would have that luxury. Usually they went with nothing.

'We should throw a party," Trunks thought angrily. He knew it was a bad idea to think like that, but everything was starting to catch up with him. Survival had not been easy, and it was taking its toll on his body. He had been able to count his ribs for months, and his hair was no longer lavender - it was pure white. Stress and starvation; not a good combination.

Trunks knew that it was affecting Pan too. He had done his best to give her most of the food, the water, whatever he could, but there was often nothing to share. What was worse was his failure to protect her. Those damn scars on her face, so like his own, were a testament to that failure. They had only been hiding in that cave a week when those things found them. A WEEK! Trunks had been scared out of his mind when it happened. A gibbering idiot - and it was all his fault, for lighting the damn fire in the middle of the night. What better way to attract enemies? Trunks shuddered; it was not a good memory. Sure, he had eventually located his testicles and saved Pan from the Reaver, but not completely. He had to rip it off her face with all his stregnth, tear away her flesh in one agonizing yank.

Trunks sighed - that had been months ago. How long had it been, exactly? He could not remember. He thought maybe it had been a year - perhaps more. Everything had melted into oblivion and monotony. They had gotten pretty good at avoiding the parasites and the people they controlled - that was simply a matter of laying low and not being stupid. It was staying sane that was giving them both fits. Trunks was pretty sure he was going crazy. He was actually starting to hear voices occaisonally, though he could not understand what they were saying. He did not want to. The thought of losing the last healthy part of his body made Trunks want to cry.

'Well, at least I've avoided doing THAT,' Trunks thought heatedly. He still had a shred of his pride, and so did Pan. They talked to each other very little - nothing to say really - but Trunks could see that she was proud of herself. She could take care of herself, she could find food for them, and she could FIGHT. Damn, could she fight.

Trunks closed his eyes. He really had given up hope that day - he had thought they were goners, but Pan saved both of them. He blinked as he realized that had only been two weeks ago. He had been able to deal with the parasites in the past, but when it came to the people they hosted, Trunks was at a loss. The emotional impact of it had been too much. Seeing his parents that way, Reavers pulsing from their throats, Trunks froze. He thought about tearing the fucking things out of their bodies, he thought about powering up to Super Saiyan and raining down his vengenace, but he did nothing. He just stood there - he had gone completely bug fuck.

That was the first time Pan had ever gone Super Saiyan, and Trunks could only thank Dende for it. He had not thought it was possible to piss off a child that much, but Pan proved him wrong. She blew up nearly everything in sight and scared the hell out of the Reavers. They actually RAN AWAY from her display of power. Trunks was so shocked he almost wet himself. Usually the Reavers would head towards anyone showing off their power and suck it up for themselves.

Naturally the creatures recovered and sent their host bodies after Trunks and Pan again, but by then they had found a new hiding place. ANOTHER new hiding place. Trunks growled in frustration.

"Trunks, I wish you would stop worrying." Pan's quiet voice shook Trunks back to the present.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" He snapped, "This is hopeless!"
"No it's not, and you know it! We're still here because we can beat those fucking Reavers!"

Trunks blinked at Pan's use of profanity. She was only, what, eight, nine years old? Trunks realized that he had quit thinking of her as a child a long time ago. Smiling for the first time in months, he walked over to Pan and sat down.

"I've really rubbed off on you, haven't I?" He said to her.
"What are you talking about?"
"Come on, I know you didn't know how to cuss before all this happened."

Pan laughed; it made Trunks feel so much better to hear it.

"Well, I did learn a FEW works from you, Trunks, but you should hear my mom when she gets mad!"

"I think you probabaly learned the worst ones from me, you little monster."

Pan just laughed and leaned against him. Trunks sighed - he wasn't going crazy, and he wasn't lonely. He was just a pessimist. He knew Pan was right, they COULD beat the REAVERS; he was going to have to grow some balls. He knew what they had to do - they had to venture out.

The Reavers had taken over the world, and most of the humans had been herded like cattle into slave camps. Trunks and Pan had done their best to avoid those places, but the two they had come across in their journies had sobered they immensely. Trunks figured that someone was controlling the monsters - they did not seem to have intelligence of their own, but he had no idea who was doing it. He also had no idea where the creatures came from. Piccolo had known about them, but he had not had time to share much. That was about the extent of his and Pan's knowledge on the monsters. It was disheartening, to say the least.

"Pan, I think we're gonna have to go into one of those slave camps."
"What?" Pan sat up straight and stared at Trunks, "Why, for Dende's sake, would we do that?"

"Because, we need answers. We're accomplishing nothing hiding out here."
"But, they WANT us. We show up at one of those camps, and they'll infest us for sure."

Trunks had thought about this.

"Yeah, they want us, but I think that's only because we are free. We've escaped them for a long time, and they want our power. BUT.." Trunks raised his hand as Pan was about to protest, "I don't think they know WHO we are. If we go into one of those camps, we'll just blend in with the filthy mob."

"I dunno Trunks...can't we lure a few here and rip them out of their hosts? Then we would have people to help us..our friends!"

"I thought about that, but how do we know we can get them out? I got them off of US, but we were never fully infected. Everyone else is totally consumed. Plus, who knows, it might kill them."

Pan's little face wrinkled in thought. Trunks wondered what she was thinking about. A few moments later she smiled and spoke.

"Actually, Trunks, I think you're on to something. It'll be scary, but I think we can pull it off. I mean, we look like shit, not warriors trying to save the earth, so we probabaly won't draw much attention."

"Exactly! We'll have to be careful, though. I'm not going in there unless I know I can get out."

"No kidding."

They sat in silence and pondered this problem. Neither of them had much stregnth left, so blasting their way out was not an option. Plus, if they did that, they would have swarms of parasites trying to suck the life from them.

"Well?" Trunks finally broke the silence, "Any ideas?"
"Just one..." Pan was frowning.
"What?" Trunks thought he knew where she was going with this.
"You remember those people we saw...in that...hole?"
"Yeah..." Trunks felt his stomach lurch.
"When we're ready to leave the camp...we can just....well, hide with the dead people, and let them bury us....we're strong enough to climb out.."

Trunks did not like that option, but he could think of nothing better. The camps were surrounded by a containment field, so flying out was impossible. The ONLY way people left was as corpses.

"I guess we'll just have to learn how to play dead..." Trunks said solemly. "But...Pan, if this works, so many people will be saved...we have to try."

Pan nodded and laid against him again. It was going to be a long night, Trunks could tell.

***

OK folks, I NEED reviews! I hate to beg, but I must...I'm starting to lost my motivation on this story, and that would be really bad, especially when I go back to school and get all distracted again. Heck, if I get enough reviews, I might be tempted to draw up a comic about it as well....who knows? The more reviews I get, the better I'll feel about this story, that's for sure!