I slept in mine because I was worried about something crawling into them. “How do you clean your teeth?”
He gives me that closed lip smile. “When I find the right tree, I will be the first one ripping off the bark.”
“And how come you don’t show your teeth? Is it because they’re orange?”
He pauses in the doing up of his boots. “Showing teeth is aggressive. My teeth are excellent, and I have all of them. Why are yours white?”
I shrug. “I don’t know…they just are.”
“Are they strong?”
“I have all of them,” I say, echoing his words. I bare my teeth in a feral grin. “You’re glowing.”
That look again as if I am an idiot for pointing it out.
“I am aware.” He stands and examines his hand as if he can’t quite believe it. “I’m sure it will fade.”
I nod, but I don’t believe him. For the first time, I think he’s lying to me, and I don’t like it.
“Ready?” He belts on his sword.
“Sure. Do you know where we are going?”
“Once we get up there, I’ll be able to show you.” He points at the rock wall that surrounds us on three sides. It’s steeper than the one we climbed yesterday, but he went up it with ease last night. “I’m going to lift you, so you have less to climb.”
I want to argue that I’ll be fine, but if I’m not and I slip and break something, I will kill us both. “Is it safe to touch you? I don’t want to be shocked.”
“You can touch me.” There’s something in his voice that doesn’t translate and that I don’t understand.
“Wait, one last drink.” I put my mouth to the icy trickle. I drink as much as I can. Yeah, I know I’m going to have to pee later, but one mouthful might be the difference between life and death. “Okay. Now I’m ready.”
Aldit has another drink. Then nods as if deciding something. He picks me up as though I weigh nothing and for a moment I’m sure I feel the long, hard length of his meq rub against my ass, then he hoists me higher. I scrabble for a hand hold.
“You right?”
“Yep.”I hope so.
He doesn’t let go immediately, even though his touch gentles. I find toe holds and pull myself up. My fingers protest and my arms shake. What the fuck is wrong with me?
It’s the lack of food and running from screamers.
“You’re almost there.”
That’s when I realize he is waiting on the ground to catch me if I fall. It’s tempting to glance down at him, but I don’t. I reach up and find the lip. From there, I scramble over the top. As much as I want to lie on the ground to recover. I don’t, mostly because I don’t know what it is up here waiting to eat me. I stand, already tired when we haven’t gone anywhere yet.
By the time I’m on my feet, Aldit is coming over the lip. He pauses on one knee and sucks in a breath. I’m glad I’m not the only one who is struggling.
“I need to hunt.” But the way he says it, as he looks at me, I wonder if I am on the menu.
“Maybe we’ll find some more fruit.”
He grunts and stands. The markings on his hand glowing in the pale morning light. He leads me forward. “That way is the river that we were following before we found you. Over there is where the ship is…not that we can see it.”
“Is it still there?”
Aldit is silent for a moment. “I choose to believe it is, for the simple reason they could not have made it back to the ship yet.”
“How long?”
