“It’ll be OK, love,” Slade said in a low voice, partially obscured by the rumble of the engine. “He’ll pull his head out of his arse at some point.”
“And we’ll step in if he doesn’t soon,” Brandon said, eyeing the other man.
I settled back against the seat, staring out the windscreen at the strange landscapes that appeared. I saw tall spires of stone carved into weird sinuous shapes by the elements, long drooping lengths of vine with great purple and yellow striped trumpets of flowers that lured in masses of insects, only to close around them when they got near enough. We burst out of the closely wooded path we drove down, the foliage falling away abruptly to reveal a great plain of yellowish-green grass. White clouds scudded across a bright blue sky.
I was seeing something so very few people on my world would ever get a chance to, and here I was, eating my heart out over relationship dramas. I glanced at the back of Finn’s head with narrowed eyes.
I think Finn had managed to hold onto his good mood when we stepped through the portal, laden with guns and supplies, because he’d expected to see the Volken there, waiting for us the minute we got to the mine. Instead, we were greeted by the mine site manager, given details about the local flora and fauna, as well as any people likely to harass us. None of them were the Volken.
The site manager seemed irritated by the whole thing. He hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the Volken warriors for months, obviously seeing it all as a massive waste of time. But he stepped through with his men and the machinery they were able to take back home and left us to the peaceful, empty mine site.
Aaron had been relieved to have a bit of time to coordinate the mission, do a quick inventory of supplies, as well as consult the more accurate local maps. But Finn, left without an external enemy to direct his anger at, had turned it on himself in their absence.
I wanted him to be happy, but I couldn’t take responsibility for that. If he was determined to be angry, to keep everyone out, then that was on him. Let’s face it—guys PMS too, though with no natural cycle to bring that crazy to an end. Sometimes they just had to follow that sulk to the ground before realising what kind of muppet they’d been. I relaxed against the car seat, the guys noting my softening stance with approving nods before directing their focus back outside the windows. Scanning the landscape, looking for threats, wanting to keep me safe. I was lucky, I realised, and had nothing to be miserable about. I was surrounded by people that loved me, that wanted to look after me where I didn’t have the skills to do so.
I let that warm, fuzzy feeling carry me through until we stopped for lunch. I’d seen weird antelope creatures running in flocks, and clung to my seat with white knuckles as we drove over narrow, rickety looking stone bridges. We’d passed small villages, plumes of smoke spiralling from the top of simple buildings and saw what looked like an ancient temple mouldering in old growth forest. There were a million things I’d liked to have stopped and inspected more closely, but on we drove until we came to a clearing with some strategic fallen stones that looked like they’d be useful as seats and tables. The car in front of us signalled for us to stop, and we pulled over.
I got out of the car, feeling that weird stiffness that comes from too much immobility and shook my legs to get the blood rushing back.
“I’ll get us some food,” Brandon said. “You coming, Slade?”
Both of them eyed a blank-faced Finn, who was just standing there, blinking, as if he couldn’t believe we weren’t before the Great Wolf already.
“Look after our mate, yeah?” Slade said, slapping Finn on the shoulder, to which he nodded absently.
I shook my head and said, “I’m going for a wee.”
In hindsight, wandering off into the scrub of an alien world was perhaps not the smartest. The alternative though, of having a pee right in front of everyone, was pretty unthinkable. We’d explored a whole lot of kinks in my time in Sanctuary, but water sports were off the table. Finn just nodded when I told him where I was going, so I assumed I was safe.
I’d never been a fan of camping. The total absence of bathrooms was a big turn off, and this was doubly so as I pushed my way through weird blue and green-leafed bushes. Some were laden with jewel-like berries that smelled lovely as I unintentionally stomped on some that had fallen on the ground, but I pushed on. Sampling unknown fruit is rookie behaviour, I thought. I found a spot not too far away from our temporary camp, but unlikely to be accidentally discovered. As I unbuttoned my jeans and did what I needed to, I noticed it was incredibly quiet. There was a bit of rustling of leaves, but none of the usual buzz of insects or chirp of birds. Perhaps that’s why I heard him.
“Meep…meep…”
My head jerked around at the mournful sound. I finished up, my heart starting to race, and buttoned up my jeans in record time before stepping carefully through the grass and scrub. Fuck, fuck, fuck, I thought, remembering that scene in one of the Jurassic Park movies where the killer frill neck dino lured people into the bushes and spat acid in their faces. I’m not sure why that particular scene popped into mind, but I crept through the foliage, my claws popping through my skin, ready to at least take acid spitty’s eye out, as he killed me with his overpowered saliva. What I didn’t expect was to see a small bundle of purple fur with massive dark brown eyes and little fluttering wings.
“Meep, meep, meep!”
Fluffy’s little mouth worked frantically at the sight of me, his little limbs scrabbling as he tried to get himself upright, but was unable to. The funny sounds he was making only got shriller and came faster as I crouched down a little ways away from him.
I glanced around, not sure if this was a small animal or something’s young. The last thing I needed was mama…purple people eater turning up, outraged I’d dared to go near its baby. I watched the poor thing thrash about, increasingly desperate to get up, until I saw the problem.
One of its wings was bent back at an unnatural angle behind it, and all its thrashing was just hurting the little guy further. It looked like it was quadrupedal, the way its limbs were going, and that its wings were more to help it balance-wise. Maybe for jumping short distances, but not enough to get him to his feet in his current state.
“Fuck it,” I muttered, images of a similarly hurt Buddy flashing into my mind and tears beginning to prick at my eyes.
I grabbed a stick, thinking that might be a safe way to flip him over and let him scuttle back into the undergrowth to hide and heal. He saw this as a whole other thing. His cries became piteous squeaks for mercy as he cringed back, obviously thinking I was about to hurt him. “Goddammit, do not give me fucking alien rabies. No alien rabies.”
I reached out slowly, empty-handed now. The squeaks slowed, and those big dark eyes watched me carefully, but his meeps became little more than afterthoughts as my hand grew closer.
“Oh!” I gasped when my fingers touched its fur.
It was so soft, like clouds and velvet and duck down had a love child. I resisted the urge to pat the creature’s body, which I saw was about the length of my forearm now I could get a good look at him. Th
e good wing fluttered as I reached under his back and then gently levered him onto his feet.
Those massive eyes blinked furiously, then looked down at its paws as if amazed to see them holding it up. One wing fluttered, but the other still hung at a horrible angle. It looked up at me and then uttered a sad little meep.
“No, no, no meeping,” I said, about to get to my feet. It crept closer with that halting, one step forward, two step back thing wild animals do.