Chapter 26
Jaime
The solar storm only lasts for half a local day, which is still around a day and a half by my count, but according to Adam, that’s considered a short period of ‘sharp light’.
He remembers times when it took several days for the green light to disappear from the sky, and even the nights were short and dangerous back then because everything that was hiding during the day came out at once, fighting for food and water before everyone had to return to their dens to survive the next day.
Once it’s safe again, we stalk out of our cave. Adam offers to boil more water for me, but I tell him to leave the shell behind. We can always find a new one should we need one, but it’s unwieldy and he’ll move faster without it, which will be useful as we’re about to enter the venomfang territory.
When we reach the river, still downstream from where Adam found me, he veers off toward a bush to collect some fruits. My hopes of getting a different meal than worms die when he starts rubbing the dark red berries over himself and urges me to do the same.
“Hide from venomfangs,” he explains, making me realize it’s probably to mask our scent. Mine, specifically, since I’m a tasty new thing everyone wants to take a bite of.
The venomfangs Adam encountered before know he’s dangerous and they instinctively avoid him if they can, unless he pisses them off by doing something stupid like walking straight into their hunting grounds.
However, as Adam told me, I smell “edible”.
Apparently, that’s what drew him to me in the first place.
He really was going to eat me back then and is mortally embarrassed about it.
It’s cute how he squirms whenever he mentions that time when “the fog” clouded his mind.
Once we’re both covered in the sweet-smelling berry juice, I toss the rest away.
They’re tempting, but there’s no way to know if they’ll kill me.
Adam claims not even the clatterbeaks or the glowing turtles eat them, which is definitely a red flag.
I’ll just have to stick to worms until we get out of here.
Then I’ll have the food fabricator create every single human food it has in the database and gorge on it.
All of it. There aren’t many, even though the humans aboard the Supernova keep trying to add more, but there’s pizza and pasta, which will be excellent starters.
Fuck, I’d kill for a mac and cheese now.
Following the river, we trek upstream, and soon arrive at the spot where Adam found me.
As we take a break there, I stare at the fallen tree that saved my life.
If it hadn’t been there, I would have drowned.
My lungs constrict as I remember the painful need for air, the desperate coughing and the searing pain of water getting into my lungs.
Sensing my distress, Adam sits next to me, wrapping two arms around my shoulders and waist. “No venomfangs around,” he says confidently as he takes in a deep lungful of air. It must be handy to smell things from afar with such accuracy. “Spaceship far?”
“I don’t know, Adam. I…” I shudder. “It felt like I’d been in that river for hours, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. It’s a miracle I didn’t drown.”
Adam’s arms tighten around me. “Strong. You’re strong.”
I snort. “Yeah, maybe in spirit, but my body is anything but. Fear doesn’t magically cure paralysis. If it weren’t for that tree. And you. You saved me from that scorpion thing right under that tree.”
“Yes. Silly little creature, sitting by a manysting nest,” he teases. “You were brave and I…” Letting out a deep sigh, he hides his face in his hands.
“You were a cute murder-chameleon who saved my life,” I tease him back.
I told him over and over that I don’t hold his earlier intentions against him, but I guess I’d be embarrassed too if I tried to eat someone.
“And I wasn’t brave. I was terrified. If I could have run, I would have.
” It’s a good thing I couldn’t. Adam’s instincts would probably have compelled him to chase me, and our story would have a very different ending.
“So, the venomfang territory starts here?”
Adam shrugs and gestures around. “No border. Just often here to hunt. Small will run. Big will hunt.”
“Awesome. The one we met earlier was big or small?” If there are any bigger ones, we’re screwed.
Adam grimaces. “Medium?”
Fuck. Perhaps this was a bad idea, after all. It’s not like we’ll even find anything on the ship. The water must have destroyed everything by now, but what else can we do? What else can I do?
Picking up my fossil, I try to make my fingers close around it, but it slips from my feeble grasp.
It’s getting worse every day. How long before it spreads to the rest of my body?
Before my lungs start failing? Before I can’t swallow food or control my bladder?
I need to get out of here. I can’t make Adam watch me die.
He’ll lose himself again, and this time it will be my fault.
I sigh. “Let’s hope the venomfangs are all safely asleep in their dens. The ship shouldn’t be far. We can go there, look around, maybe leave some sort of sign for whoever comes looking, and then retreat somewhere safe. That’s doable, isn’t it?” Not that I’ll actually be doing anything.
“Yes. I will keep safe. Always keep Jaime safe.”
But who will keep you safe? I don’t ask that question out loud because it’s stupid. There’s no one else here, and I’m not equipped to be anyone’s savior. I just hope I’m not too big of a burden.
Moving slowly and quietly, we make our way upstream.
I keep my eyes on the jungle rather than watching the river, the mere sight of the rapids and the water crashing against the rocks makes me nauseous.
Dear god. How did I survive this? It seems impossible.
Even a non-disabled person would have trouble not drowning in the fast, wide stream. I feel like I’ve been given a miracle.
“Jaime?” Adam whispers after a while. “Spaceship?”
The river is wider here, just like I remember, and the crashed spaceship is sitting in the middle of it, toppled over, its hull crooked from where it’s smashed into the rocks.
“Only the bottom half juts out of the water, since it’s upside down, and parts of it are already covered in the same slimy moss that covers the rocks.
In a few weeks, it won’t be recognizable from the surrounding rocks, making me wonder if anyone can even tell it’s here.
I doubt it’s transmitting any signals. If Steven is looking for me, and I want to believe he is, would he find this place even if he knew I crashed on this very moon?
Or would he just endlessly scour the jungle, never knowing what happened to me?
As I look around, something else catches my attention. Something that almost looks like an— “Antenna? Hey, Adam, what’s that over there?”
Moving a few steps to the side to get a clear view between the rocks, the object comes into view. It’s oblong, smooth, and made of metal. It’s standing in the river just a few feet from the shore. It looks a little banged up, some of its antennae warped or missing, but it’s definitely technology.
“This wasn’t here before, I think.” I didn’t get a great look around before the water swept me away, but I think I would have noticed this.
Also, unlike the ship, the strange object is not yet covered in moss, meaning it hasn’t been here as long as the ship was.
It must have crashed here after my ship did.
Looking for it, because what are the chances of it randomly landing on the exact same spot?
“A probe,” Adam says, his faraway look telling me he’s remembering something.
“A probe. Someone sent it here? Did it transmit a signal?” They’re questions Adam can’t answer, but I’m too buzzed to realize. “Maybe we could use it to communicate with whoever sent it? It doesn’t look too broken, not like the ship. This is great, Adam! This—”
Adam’s arms tense around me, his body becoming deathly still. That’s when I hear it. The silence.
Setting me down between two rocks, Adam whirls to face the jungle, his eyes scanning for threats.
I look at the leaves and the sky, hoping to see the signs of an approaching solar storm, but the leaves are straight and the sky is lavender as usual.
The silence must mean a predator is around, and it isn’t Adam.
Adam’s scales ripple in color, turning the same black and pale pink combination as the rocks surrounding us, but the berries we smudged on our skin make him stand out.
Before I can tell him, a black blur jumps from the top of a massive rock, barreling straight into Adam and knocking him to the ground.
Instead of pouncing on him, though, the venomfang turns to me with a vicious snarl.
A scar mars her face. This must be the same female that attacked us a few days ago. The one whose young I…
I didn’t kill. It stalks after her, limping but alive, already a few inches larger than before.
“They grow up fast, don’t they?” I chatter, grabbing a stone that immediately slips out of my hand. “Fuck!”
Just as the big venomfang lunges, Adam intercepts, shoving it away from me. The young one retreats, whimpering, but its mother doesn’t relent, springing to her six feet and circling my position.
Breathing heavily, Adam watches the venomfang with an assessing gaze, a stark contrast to how he fought just a few days ago.
When she lunges next, he dodges, swiping his claws at the beast’s underside.
She roars, more in anger than in pain, and immediately attacks again.
Expecting it, Adam sidesteps nearly and his claws catch the venomfang’s side.
His tail lashes as he swirls around, the spikes burying themselves in the shallow cuts he’d just made.
This time, there’s definitely pain in the venomfang’s cry.
Crazed, she pivots on the spot and attacks Adam, again and again, forgetting all about me, which must be Adam’s intention because he’s slowly leading her away from me while nimbly evading the creature’s increasingly furious attacks.
It’s a mortifying yet captivating sight.
Feral Adam was a terrifying beast, but intelligent Adam is a deadly mirage, dancing with fluid grace in carefully calculated movements.
The venomfang yelps when Adam’s claws catch her snout and possibly her eye.
Still, the stubborn bitch doesn’t give up.
Shaking her head, she looks around, her vicious eyes finding me again.
As if she’s just remembered I’m the one she wants, she changes directions mid-attack, avoiding Adam and lunging straight for me.
Roaring, Adam jumps at her from the side, throwing her off course, and together they roll along the riverside. Adam grunts, then the venomfang howls in agony. Their bodies separate, my hopes crashing as the venomfang scrambles onto her feet. Is that thing immortal or what?
Blood covers her face, some of her teeth missing as she snarls at us before retreating. The smaller venomfang bounds after her and together, they disappear between the trees.
“Fuck.” I suck in a breath, realizing I’ve barely breathed since the fight started. “I guess you showed her who’s the boss here, didn’t you? Fuck, Adam, you were amazing. Are you okay?”
“Jaime…” He groans, stumbling a few steps closer. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m f—” The words die in my throat as Adam collapses in front of me.
“Jaime…safe…” he whispers as his eyes blink, completely out of sync, before closing.Only then do I notice the teeth marks on his arm, black lines spreading from them. Venom.