It had been a while now, but she knew what that had meant the last time she’d experienced the wildlife’s utter stillness. It could only mean one thing. The beast was near.
He’ll be okay. He knows better than to get in a fight with that monster, she rationalized, hoping her lover was indeed safe and out of the beast’s way.
Thinking about him made her stomach flip. A sudden burning sensation across her chest and down both arms and flanks startled her. It felt almost like two swarms of army ants were fighting just beneath her skin. She looked down at the pigment she now bore and was shocked to find she now had traces of green in them. The same green as Braxxos.
“Oh, fuck,” she gasped, the realization sinking in.
They’d been stuck by the same arrow, impaled together and sharing blood in a very unintentional manner. It had mixed. She had alien blood running in her veins along with her own. And his pigment? It had somehow tried to take hold within her, but it seemed like her own powerful colors had asserted their dominance.
Am I going to die? she wondered, a little panicked at the thought of alien blood in her body.Is he?
Back home just having the wrong blood type in a transfusion could be fatal. But this? This wasn’t even her species.
I’m not dead yet, and it’s been… how long has it been?
Judging by the light it was afternoon. But they’d been hurt at dusk. She’d slept nearly a full day. It was already late, and night would come soon. Hopefully after Braxxos returned.
But if that thing is out there, he wouldn’t dare come back. Not if it might lead the beast right to me.
She knew then and there she might be stuck in there alone for far longer than she’d initially anticipated. At least there was ample food and water. Braxxos had taken care to make sure shewas well stocked up in that regard. But she missed him. Missed him and was worried. He’d been far more gravely hurt than she had. And yet even in his wounded state, he’d put his own well-being aside and tended to her. It made her heart swell with affection, an emotional surge that, once again, made her tainted pigments flare with discomfort.
“Fucccckk,” she grumbled in pain, settling back into her cushions to ride out the horrible sensation, hoping it would ease up sooner than later.
Two dayslater Margot sat quietly in the somewhat claustrophobic treehouse, more than a bit pent-up from the lack of outside time.
She’d spent much of those two days sleeping, her body wracked with cramps as she heated up with a nasty fever and body aches as she fought off whatever was inside her. Whether it was the alien blood or the alien pigment she didn’t know. What she did know was that at the end of the second day her fever finally broke.
She was going to be okay.
Margot greedily drank down several containers of water, as well as a few baskets of fruit and vegetables. She’d not eaten in a while, but now that she was starting to feel human again her appetite returned with a vengeance. That was a pleasant development. Even more was the speed at which her injury appeared to be healing, though she didn’t dare remove the dressings yet.
But it felt better. Not great, obviously—she’d just been skewered by an arrow, after all—but worlds better than just a few days ago.
“Whatever’s in those plants, that stuff’s working like magic,” she mused as she checked her bandage. Not a drop of fresh blood to be seen, she was pleased to note.
Another positive turn of events was the return of the normal bustling about of the woodland creatures outside. Their calls and sounds filling the air anew did more to settle her uneasy mind than just about anything at that point. It was that subconscious white noise that told her everything was okay that she’d not even realized she had been taking for granted until it was gone.
And with the safe return of the animals, something else finally came home.
“You left me!” Margot blurted out after Braxxos unbolted the door and carefully climbed inside.
The expression on his face was one of distressed regret. Guilt, even. He had clearly been through a lot, and he looked quite haggard and confused. The three days in the wild without her had not been good for his psyche.
“I am so, so sorry, Margot. It was never my intention to?—”
She silenced him with a kiss, stretching up to plant it on him despite the ache in her side. He bent low, matching her gently restrained, emotional kiss. “Come sit with me,” she commanded.
Given how worn out he looked, she didn’t think he’d dare object.
They sat on the cushions, nestled cozily against one another. Survivors, the pair of them, and all because of his selfless act.
“You took an arrow for me,” she said, kissing his neck tenderly.
“And I would do so again.”
“Let me see,” she replied, pulling his shirt up to get a better look at his injury.
Incredibly, his skin seemed almost healed. It was impossible, especially given where he’d been pierced by the arrow, but,somehow, all that remained was an angry bit of scar tissue that looked weeks old, not mere days.
