Chapter 11
eleven
. . .
Emily
Full, warm, and happy, I sipped my tea and watched Kex as he moved around the hut.
It was primitive, but well made. The branches making up the walls were not finely shaped but carefully pieced together to form a solid structure.
I’d hoped to wake up and find a stove, maybe a microwave and fridge had been hidden by the dark.
A toilet and running water, maybe an AC system and a smartphone built into the wall.
But it looked like low-tech really was my future.
Watching the gorgeous man as he folded herbs into his small pouches, I figured I could adjust. Especially if the number of orgasms I’d had last night was any indication.
I’d lost count the third time Kex woke me up.
The space felt old, and I wondered how long Kex had lived here. It didn’t seem like he shared the shelter with anyone, and the forest outside stirred with life, birds, bugs, and small animals making up the background noise I’d grown familiar with. There was a definite lack of people sounds.
Did Kex live out here all alone? Did he live alone by choice, or was he the last of his people?
That would explain his immediate and complete acceptance of me if he’d been alone for a while.
As I sat watching him, enjoying the sight of his naked body as he moved around the shelter, his actions finally registered as odd.
Was Kex packing? Were we going somewhere?
I let my head fall back in frustration. I wished we could just talk. I sighed and lowered my tea.
“Kex,” I said. My alien turned to me, a smile immediately on his face, replacing the focused intensity. I lifted my hand and bent my finger toward me. “Come,” I said.
He frowned. “Come,” he repeated.
I set the mug between my legs and used both hands to gesture him to me. “Come,” I repeated.
He stepped toward me. “Come.” Then he stopped and put up a hand. “Wait. Yes?”
I grinned. “Yes.” My alien man was so smart. Way smarter than me. If it had been up to me to learn his language, we would be screwed.
He grinned back and sat on the bed next to me.
I reached out and tugged on the sack he was filling.
He lifted it and showed me some of the things inside, but they didn’t answer my questions.
I sighed. “Kex Emily walk,” I mimed walking.
“Kex Emily sleep here,” I pointed at the bed.
“Kex Emily wait here,” I pointed at the bed, hoping he would understand. His eyes seemed to brighten.
He mimed walking as I had. “Walk?” he repeated.
“Yes, walk.”
He nodded and straightened. “Kex Emily walk. Kex Emily sleep.” He pointed at the bed. Then he pointed at the sack. “Kex Emily walk,” he said, and followed it with a word I didn’t understand. I tried to repeat it but he just snickered, and I hit his chest.
He dug around in his sack and pulled out a small bag.
Untying it, he dumped it out, and a bunch of nuts plopped onto the bed.
He took two nuts and set them to the side, then moved the others into a cluster.
He pointed to the two lonely nuts. “Kex Emily,” he said.
Then he pointed to the other cluster of nuts and repeated the other word again.
I frowned and pointed to the cluster. “Family?” I asked.
Kex shrugged and nodded. “Family,” he repeated.
Then he pointed to the first two nuts. “Kex Emily walk.” He took the nuts and danced them across the bed until they were by his knee.
“Kex Emily sleep.” He moved the two nuts against each other in a way that was definitely not sleeping.
I snorted, and he grinned, then continued dancing the nuts across the bed toward the cluster. “Kex Emily walk family.”
Okay, so he wanted me to meet the parents. I could deal with that. And more people probably meant an easier time surviving such a primitive way of life, right?
I stared at the cluster of nuts, and an idea came to me. I took the big cluster and split it into two, spreading them as far apart as I could easily reach.
I picked up one nut. “Kex,” I said, and set it in the middle.
Then I picked up another nut from the farthest cluster.
“Emily.” I placed it back with its cluster.
I pointed at the other nuts in the pile.
“Jen, Olive, Harper, Cindy, Morgan, Bonny. I gestured at the whole cluster. Family.” I met his eyes, and he nodded solemnly.
I picked up one of the nuts again. “Emily.” Next I lifted my other hand and made a swooping motion and screeched like a giant monster bird.
Swooping down, I picked up the Emily nut and flew it around the bed for a moment, screeching and screaming until I dropped the Emily nut right next to the Kex nut.
His lips tipped up in a grin and he reached out and slowly stroked the Emily nut.
I grinned and picked up our two nuts. “Emily Kex walk family.” I brought them over to the cluster symbolizing his family, then I pointed at the lone nuts all the way on the other side of the bed.
“Jen, Harper, Cindy, family.” I said sadly.
I met Kex’s eyes, and I knew he understood.
Carefully, he fished two nuts out of his family’s cluster and moved them back to the center.
He pointed at the sack in his hands, then picked up our nuts.
“Kex Emily walk family.” He brought our nuts to his family cluster.
“Kex Emily wait family.” Kex scooped up a handful of nuts and brought them over to my friends. “Kex Emily family walk. Yes?”
I smiled sadly and nodded. Kex reached out and pulled me onto his lap, he held me tight against his chest and I took a deep breath.
We would go to his family, and then maybe with more people we could try and find my friends.
It felt impossible, and Kex likely knew how hard it would be to find my family on this vast planet, but he’d offered to try, and that would have to be enough.