He wasn’t as hot, not sweating as much, not shifting as restlessly.
He was getting better, and the relief of that was overwhelming. The joy I’d felt that first moment I’d seen him returned, chasing away all those bad feelings and thoughts that had plagued me.
I talked to him a lot.
I told him all about my life, how Dad had found me when I was just a toddler. He’d gone out into the world to see if he could find some supplies when he came upon us. My birth parents looked like they’d been killed by scavengers, he said, and I was just sitting with their bodies.
He brought me here and gave me a new home, raised me as his son and taught me everything I knew.
He gave me a chance in a world that would’ve gladly eaten me up.
I told him about the apple orchard, how my great-grandpa had planted it a long, long time ago. I told him how cool I thought it was that something someone did way back then was helping me right now. I wanted to do that for someone. To leave some kind of mark that would be beneficial in some way long after I was gone.
On the sixth day, he still didn’t wake, but his skin was cooler. He felt normal. His breathing wasn’t ragged, and the wound still didn’t look infected.
He was getting better.
I thought he woke up at one point. He started mumbling something, licking his lips and trying to speak.
I brushed his hair back from his forehead. “Are you awake?”
His eyes moved restlessly behind his lids and stayed closed.
I sighed, my gaze lowering to the muzzle on his face. The collar around his neck. The rusted, bloody chain attached to it.
There was no reason good enough in the world to put these things on another person.
I wanted to help him. To get those things off him and give him whatever he needed.
It felt like fate had given me a gift, and I wasn’t going to spurn it.
Chapter 5
Three
It was too hot.
I was itching with the heat. Little prickles danced along my skin like thorns digging in.
I wanted to let myself sink deeper into the warmth. Into the odd sensations that were crawling through me.
I felt utterly boneless. Weightless.
My stomach growled so loudly that if I hadn’t felt it, I would’ve thought it had come from some other creature.
I blinked up at the unfamiliar ceiling. It was gray, not faded green. It wasn’t cracked and peeling, and the light…
I turned my head to find the source, my eyes darting frantically around the strange room. It wasn’t very large, but it was bigger than the cell I’d been kept in. There was a lamp sitting atop a small table, and another large wooden structure with colorful things tucked into the shelves. There were words written on them, I knew that much, but I couldn’t read so I didn’t know what their purpose might be.
And I was alone.
This wasn’t the prison. But…
I touched the muzzle on my face. It was still there. So were the collar and chain.
I looked down at myself, shoving the huge blanket that had been draped neatly on top of me down to my waist. My shoulder twinged, and I sucked in a sharp breath, gritting my teeth until the pain passed.
I was wearing a large shirt with a bright yellow object on the front. It had green spikes shooting from the top. I was still wearing my ratty pants, though.
