I melted back into his bare chest, trying not to nuzzle into him, though I didn’t think that he would mind.
“Don’t you want more food?”
“No, I got more than enough the first round, since I didn’t delay cleaning up as my love did.”
“I had to try to convince her to let me try some, it smelled so delicious!” Jin Woo said through a mouthful of seaweed.
Resting, I closed my eyes in bliss as Ettore absentmindedly traced patterns into my skin. I spoke without opening my eyes.
“So, tell me how the sheep hunt went.”
“It was a disaster,” I could feel Ettore’s words rumble in his chest, “we all tried grabbing them in different ways, and you wouldn’t believe how fast those little pieces of shit are.”
“Hmm,” I hummed.
“Honestly, the only one who got close to grabbing one was Bartosz.”
My eyes flew open and I sat up from Ettore’s lap.
“Bartosz? Really?”
The man in question was slouching in the corner, but I swore he was blushing. There was a subtle flush along his cheekbones.
“I played football in high school.” Bartosz almost sounded sheepish when he spoke, like it was embarrassing to bring up.
His playing was surprising, but not shocking. He had the look of someone who perhaps used to work out but then decided that eating, exercising, and, honestly, moving from his computer were costing him precious time. Also known as someone withan almost high-fashion model physique, gaunt and mildly sickly looking.
I wasn’t entirely against the look.
“So,” I said, tearing my eyes away from Bartosz, “what’s the plan for tomorrow?”
Oskar answered me, surprisingly.
“There’s a boulder on the far side of the pasture; we are going to use it to corner a sheep. We are going to shoot to grab two so that they can keep each other warm if we don’t eat them right away. We were planning on going out again this afternoon, but I don’t see there being any rush now that we are warm and full. Might as well save some energy before we go out again.”
I nodded my head, closing my eyes and leaning back against Ettore.
“I might take a nap, a food coma is hitting.”
“Dormire, piccola salvatrice,” Ettore whispered in my ear as I drifted off to sleep.
***
I half woke up some time later. I was still mostly asleep, raised voices coming in out of my perception as I dozed.
“It’s—bad for her, I–”
“We don’t think—”
“Isn’t one of us, but—”
As I drifted back into a real deep sleep, I couldn’t help but wonder what had gotten them all so worked up.
Chapter Seven
It was frigid. My entire face was numb, the same type of numb you get when you drink too much, and suddenly parts of your body aren’t completely under your purview anymore (I had let loose a bit at some crazy office parties). No light shone into the cabin; it was like the entire building was covered by a dark wool blanket, the density preventing even the hope of light.
I could have gone back to sleep, snuggled my face into the soft thing next to me, but warning sirens were going off in my head. A deep feeling thatsomething was wrongscreamed and screamed in me. Giving in, I sat up slowly and looked around. The fire was dead, and I could hear the sound of multiple sets of teeth chattering together. Ettore and Jin Woo— the soft things, I realized, were on either side of me, shivering so aggressively that they were almost jerking.
