Chapter 21
When I wake, it’s midday.
I rub sleep out of my eyes, the tent feeling a hundred degrees hotter than the past few days. Next to me, Lowell sleeps soundly. Thankfully, he’s still very much alive despite his struggling fever.
Taking a sip of the dwindling water, I split up the few packets of rations left to last me for an unknown number of days. Lowell urges me to drink when needed instead of attempting to save it, but I worry I’ll get carried away and down the entire canteen before the sun sets.
Deep in thought, my ideas and plans come to me much more clearly than before.
I wonder if it’s because my brain is finally in a functional survival mode after days of panic.
But it’s then that I realize I can hear my own thoughts.
No wind howling, no shaking tent, no pelting of sand against plastic.
I nearly jump out of my skin, ripping the tent door open with one throw of my arm. It feels like a daydream as I gaze at an amazing sight: The sandstorm has subsided.
Reaching behind me to where Lowell lies, I slap at his chest furiously.
“Lowell! Wake up!” I shout, clamoring out of the tent door.
Sky.
Clear sky.
Dunes of sand, unobscured.
Lowell groans behind me. “Why the hell are you shouting?” he asks, sleep caught in his throat.
The swelling wave of relief I feel weakens my knees. I can’t rip my eyes away, as though looking elsewhere would make it all disappear.
“The sandstorm!” I yell, pointing ahead.
Lowell jerks to attention, his eyes wide and body clumsily wobbling to the front of the tent. “It’s—!”
“Gone! The sandstorm is gone!” I vibrate excitedly, my fingers wiggling.
With a grunt of pain, Lowell pulls himself out of the tent to stand to attention, his mouth forming an awed smile. “Wow. Aren’t we lucky? I thought it’d last three more days at least.”
Without thinking, I wrap my arms around Lowell’s waist and squeeze him tightly. “Thank the Goddess! We’re getting out of here!”
Lowell’s hand presses to my back tentatively, like he doesn’t know how to hug me. After our fight a few days ago, we haven’t spoken much.
For a moment, I bask in the feeling of elation and relief. Although our journey home is far from over, I finally feel like I can breathe again. I’m going home, not back to a dungeon or stuck in a tent. Home.
But the thought is a bit sour.
Dehydration must be scrambling my brain.
Lowell pats the top of my head, twirling my braid between the webbing of his fingers. “Let’s pack up and get the hell out of here. I’m sick of this fucking desert,” he says with a gentle laugh.
I rest my chin on his chest, catching a wisp of a frown before his mouth forms a smile once again. He doesn’t look down at me.
“Let’s change your bandage one more time before we leave,” I say, raking my nails over his back before pulling away.
Lowell’s skin shivers beneath me as he nods, his hand trailing over my lower back to keep close.
“Yeah,” he whispers.
* * *
Although the trail back is wrecked beyond recognition by the sandstorm, I’m able to guide us in the right direction using Lowell’s compass.
The entire landscape is different now. Massive dunes are leveled, and the sparse directory signage is nowhere to be found. The emptiness is eerie.
We ride back at a steady pace, Lowell careful not to overexert the sandcycle despite our desperation to leave the desert behind. The engine sputters an alarming number of times, our shoulders tensing and preparing for the worst with each stall.
Nevertheless, we somehow make it back.
As we pull up to the entrance of the Gaia 4 hideout, Ginny barrels out of the front door so ferociously, she almost falls down the stairs, her blonde hair strewn about.
Guy trails behind with an accompanying look of shock on his face, grabbing hold of Ginny’s arm to steady her stumble.
“Lowell! Oh, my Goddess, Lowell! You’re alive!” Ginny shouts, out of breath by the time she reaches us.
Lowell cuts the engine, throwing his good leg over the seat to slide off. He turns to me with his hand extended in offer.
Begrudgingly, I take his hand in mine and hop to the ground.
“The Orageist Giant nearly killed us, but we managed,” he brags, clearly eating up the way Ginny worries over him.
Guy rubs Ginny’s back as she catches her breath, his eyes flicking between Lowell and me. “Goodness, we thought you both died. The sandstorm was so powerful it ripped up all of the fencing we laid and drove it right into the side of the compound. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”
Lowell leans on his good leg, hiding a pained grimace. “Good thing the fence won’t matter because the Sandpits will return to their habitat.”
Ginny gasps, her eyebrows lifted and hands waving back and forth. “Woah, woah, woah, wait. You actually succeeded?”
Lifting his chin, Lowell frowns. “Why do you sound so surprised?”
Guy bumps Ginny on the shoulder with a shy smile. “The plan was pretty stupid. We had little faith.” His face turns guilty. “Since you’re back safe, we can admit that now, right?”
Lowell sputters as if offended, but I lift my hand to halt whatever idiotic thing he is going to say.
“I apologize for cutting this conversation short, but Lowell’s leg is badly hurt.
He needs medical attention urgently,” I say, gesturing to the very obvious wound surrounded by blood-stained fabric.
“Oh, what the fuck, Lowell?” Ginny exclaims in horror, sucking air between her teeth as she rushes forward to get a closer look. She turns to Guy, snapping her fingers. “Have medical get a bed ready. Lowell, come with us.”
With a sighing groan, Lowell rolls his eyes as if he is not actively sweating and in tremendous amounts of agony. “It’s not that bad. I’ve had worse.”
Ginny makes an aggravated face, blowing air through pursed lips. “Stop trying to impress May. You look like a damned corpse.”
Lowell’s cheeks flush pink despite his paled complexion.
I bite down a smile.
“At least let me check the severity,” Ginny demands, her voice more authoritative than usual. I’ve rarely seen her speak to Lowell that way, but she’s sick with concern. And she should be, his usually dark scales lightening to a dusty grey.
Lowell fends off Ginny’s prying hands like an irritated child, intent on acting tough.
Amidst the chaos, Guy sheepishly saunters up to me after he’s finished speaking to the medical bay on his radio. “I can give you a quick look too, if that’s okay,” he says, nodding towards my arm for consent.
I oblige, allowing him to inspect the visible skin. Although I’m filthy and covered in dust, I haven’t been injured. But in my current state, I wouldn’t trust my eyes or my body’s communication to my brain.
As I’m patted down, I notice that Guy’s scaled hands are not nearly as soft as Lowell’s. The deep crimson with touches of black has a rough and prickly texture. He looks more equipped for a desert environment than the other Lizardfolk in Gaia 4.
“I didn’t get hurt, I think,” I say as Guy squeezes and rotates my joints.
“Any pain here?” he asks, twisting my wrist.
I shake my head.
It’s nothing short of a miracle that I didn’t break at least one bone, but I have Lowell to thank for my safety. If he hadn’t cradled me while we fell, I have no doubt every piece of me would have been shattered.
Humming in acknowledgment, Guy moves swiftly to hover his hand over the area of Lowell’s bite mark. He jostles the area, and I wince.
“Oh?” he inquires, pressing the area harder. “A broken shoulder?”
I slap my hand on top of his, tripping over my words, “Ah, i-it’s probably just bruised. No big deal.”
I can’t let him see.
Never mind the embarrassment — the implication alone would complicate everything if revealed.
Guy pushes my hand away. “Well, I’ll take a peek to make sure.”
Slipping his hand under the fabric, Guy drags my shirt collar over my shoulder, exposing a small piece of skin. His nose wrinkles as he brushes a claw over the recent scab, the smell of copper apparent to tuned senses.
It only takes him a moment to realize what it is, his look of concern slowly shifting to one of self-consciousness.
My heart leaps into my throat. There is no hiding what happened in the desert with a giant Lowell-shaped bite mark on my shoulder. I can only hope that a mating bite is unique to Lowell’s species, but with how Guy is shrinking into himself, I guess not.
Before I can protest any further investigation, a dark silver hand wraps around Guy’s snout in a flash. His body is flung to the ground with a thud.
Guy’s expression is dumbfounded and stunned. He stares up at a very angry Lowell, whose eyes are wide and stilted
Lowell’s lower eyelid twitches, a snarl in his voice. “Hands off.”
Guy stammers, crawling backward with a severe look of fear. He pushes to his feet hesitantly, his palms lifted in submission.
“S-sorry, boss,” he whispers, gingerly slinking behind Ginny.
Lowell glances over his shoulder at me.
My heart flutters at how his gaze softens when our eyes connect, the slitted pupils spilling into dark pools.
He didn’t like that Guy was touching me, I think with a goofy smile.
A slapping noise draws my attention to a very angry Ginny who has just smacked Lowell’s chest with her palm.
“What the hell?” she shouts with a scowl. “Stop being such an asshole and let us help you. Your bravado can’t fight off an infection.”
I snort a laugh, hiking my shirt back up to my neck.
“Yeah, whatever,” Lowell says, flustered. “Guy needs to mind his fucking hands.”
I clear my throat in an attempt to cut even a sliver of the tension currently between us all. Lowell keeps a keen eye on a still-cowering Guy.
“I think what Lowell is getting at,” I start slowly, waiting for Lowell to drag his glare away from Guy, “is that we are working in a very short window, given the severity of his injury.”
Lowell grunts in acknowledgment. “Yeah, that.” He smiles warmly at me, dissolving his previous scowl. “And May needs to hurry back to Nilsan to fulfill her end of the deal before any further damage is done. If we don’t get the project shut down by the end of the month, more lives will be lost.”
Ginny’s thin brows tighten skeptically. “Wait, you’re going to let May go back to Nilsan? That’s not what you told me before!”
I knew it.
Lowell laughs her off, crossing his arms while shrugging. “That’s because I only decided to recently. You know I always play it by ear.”
With a lowered voice, Ginny grits her teeth. “Dammit, Lowell. Are you sure she’ll hold up her end?”
Turning his entire body to face me, Lowell’s massive stature eclipses the sun to cast me in his shadow.
“She will,” he says sternly.
“I technically won’t be lying to the government when I report the Giant’s domain expansion, so I have no reason to betray you,” I chime in, worried that Lowell will change his mind with any more probing doubt from Ginny.
With one exchange of a look, Lowell and Ginny have an entire silent conversation. Their eyebrows dance in an array of expressions, argumentative and judging.
“May is more than aware of what happens to those who draw my ire. It’s in her best interest to be my ally, not my enemy.” Lowell cocks his head in my direction. “Isn’t that right?”
I smile as innocently as I can, but it comes off as more of a pained grin. “Y-yeah.”
With a huff, Ginny closes her eyes. “May, for your sake, you’d better be telling the truth.”
For once, I am. There is no benefit to betraying them.
“You have my word,” I say, pressing my palms together pleadingly.
Ginny shakes her head in disagreement with Lowell’s decision, but she resigns. “Well, then it’s settled. Let’s get you both to the infirmary.”
I offer an apologetic smile towards Guy, a searing glare from Lowell piercing through the side of my head in response.
“I assure you that I’m okay. Lowell took good care of me. I can leave as soon as Lowell is ready to release me,” I say to Ginny.
I see a crooked grin pull at Lowell’s mouth when I say he took good care of me.
Looking between myself, Lowell, and Guy, Ginny sighs while leaning on one hip.
“If you say so, but I insist you come inside so we can at least send you off with some fresh clothes, food, and water. You never know if the weather will turn for the worse.”
“Just make sure she leaves before dusk. With the Giant freed, we don’t know what the night will bring,” Lowell orders, reluctantly bracing Ginny’s shoulder as he almost trips on his bad leg.
“You got it, boss,” she says, motioning for Guy to assist me as well.
As Guy wraps his arm around my waist to support me, Lowell shoves Ginny towards us, snapping his fingers at Guy.
“No. You—” he points at Guy. “With me,” he finishes while turning his hand to point down at his feet.
I don’t miss the knowing look exchanged between Ginny and Guy as their eyes flick between Lowell and me. This must be out-of-character for him — to be so possessive. To me, it seems to be aligned with his temperamental personality.
With a fearful look, Guy takes his arm.
“Follow me,” Ginny says.