Following the river, we trek upstream, and soon arrive at the spot where Adam found me. As we take a break there, I stare at the fallen tree that saved my life. If it hadn’t been there, I would have drowned. My lungs constrict as I remember the painfulneed for air, the desperate coughing and the searing pain of water getting into my lungs.
Sensing my distress, Adam sits next to me, wrapping two arms around my shoulders and waist. “No venomfangs around,” he says confidently as he takes in a deep lungful of air. It must be handy to smell things from afar with such accuracy. “Spaceship far?”
“I don’t know, Adam. I…” I shudder. “It felt like I’d been in that river for hours, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. It’s a miracle I didn’t drown.”
Adam’s arms tighten around me. “Strong. You’re strong.”
I snort. “Yeah, maybe in spirit, but my body is anything but. Fear doesn’t magically cure paralysis. If it weren’t for that tree. And you. You saved me from that scorpion thing right under that tree.”
“Yes. Silly little creature, sitting by a manysting nest,” he teases. “You were brave and I…” Letting out a deep sigh, he hides his face in his hands.
“You were a cute murder-chameleon who saved my life,” I tease him back. I told him over and over that I don’t hold his earlier intentions against him, but I guess I’d be embarrassed too if I tried to eat someone. “And I wasn’t brave. I was terrified. If I could have run, I would have.” It’s a good thing I couldn’t. Adam’s instincts would probably have compelled him to chase me, and our story would have a very different ending. “So, the venomfang territory starts here?”
Adam shrugs and gestures around. “No border. Just often here to hunt. Small will run. Big will hunt.”
“Awesome. The one we met earlier was big or small?” If there are any bigger ones, we’re screwed.
Adam grimaces. “Medium?”
Fuck. Perhaps this was a bad idea, after all. It’s not like we’ll even find anything on the ship. The water must have destroyed everything by now, but what else can we do? What else canIdo?
Picking up my fossil, I try to make my fingers close around it, but it slips from my feeble grasp. It’s getting worse every day. How long before it spreads to the rest of my body? Before my lungs start failing? Before I can’t swallow food or control my bladder? I need to get out of here. I can’t make Adam watch me die. He’ll lose himself again, and this time it will be my fault.
I sigh. “Let’s hope the venomfangs are all safely asleep in their dens. The ship shouldn’t be far. We can go there, look around, maybe leave some sort of sign for whoever comes looking, and then retreat somewhere safe. That’s doable, isn’t it?” Not that I’ll actually be doing anything.
“Yes. I will keep safe. Always keep Jaime safe.”
But who will keep you safe? I don’t ask that question out loud because it’s stupid. There’s no one else here, and I’m not equipped to be anyone’s savior. I just hope I’m not too big of a burden.
Moving slowly and quietly, we make our way upstream. I keep my eyes on the jungle rather than watching the river, the mere sight of the rapids and the water crashing against the rocks makes me nauseous. Dear god. How did I survive this? It seems impossible. Even a non-disabled person would have trouble not drowning in the fast, wide stream. I feel like I’ve been given a miracle.
“Jaime?” Adam whispers after a while. “Spaceship?”
The river is wider here, just like I remember, and the crashed spaceship is sitting in the middle of it, toppled over, its hull crooked from where it’s smashed into the rocks. “Only the bottom half juts out of the water, since it’s upside down, and parts of it are already covered in the same slimy moss that covers the rocks. In a few weeks, it won’t be recognizable fromthe surrounding rocks, making me wonder if anyone can even tell it’s here. I doubt it’s transmitting any signals. If Steven is looking for me, and I want to believe he is, would he find this place even if he knew I crashed on this very moon? Or would he just endlessly scour the jungle, never knowing what happened to me?
As I look around, something else catches my attention. Something that almost looks like an— “Antenna? Hey, Adam, what’s that over there?”
Moving a few steps to the side to get a clear view between the rocks, the object comes into view. It’s oblong, smooth, and made of metal. It’s standing in the river just a few feet from the shore. It looks a little banged up, some of its antennae warped or missing, but it’s definitely technology.
“This wasn’t here before, I think.” I didn’t get a great look around before the water swept me away, but I think I would have noticed this. Also, unlike the ship, the strange object is not yet covered in moss, meaning it hasn’t been here as long as the ship was. It must have crashed here after my ship did. Looking for it, because what are the chances of it randomly landing on the exact same spot?
“A probe,” Adam says, his faraway look telling me he’s remembering something.
“A probe. Someone sent it here? Did it transmit a signal?” They’re questions Adam can’t answer, but I’m too buzzed to realize. “Maybe we could use it to communicate with whoever sent it? It doesn’t look too broken, not like the ship. This is great, Adam! This—”
Adam’s arms tense around me, his body becoming deathly still. That’s when I hear it. The silence.
Setting me down between two rocks, Adam whirls to face the jungle, his eyes scanning for threats. I look at the leaves and the sky, hoping to see the signs of an approaching solar storm,but the leaves are straight and the sky is lavender as usual. The silence must mean a predator is around, and it isn’t Adam.
Adam’s scales ripple in color, turning the same black and pale pink combination as the rocks surrounding us, but the berries we smudged on our skin make him stand out. Before I can tell him, a black blur jumps from the top of a massive rock, barreling straight into Adam and knocking him to the ground. Instead of pouncing on him, though, the venomfang turns to me with a vicious snarl. A scar mars her face. This must be the same female that attacked us a few days ago. The one whose young I…
I didn’t kill. It stalks after her, limping but alive, already a few inches larger than before.
“They grow up fast, don’t they?” I chatter, grabbing a stone that immediately slips out of my hand. “Fuck!”
Just as the big venomfang lunges, Adam intercepts, shoving it away from me. The young one retreats, whimpering, but its mother doesn’t relent, springing to her six feet and circling my position.
Breathing heavily, Adam watches the venomfang with an assessing gaze, a stark contrast to how he fought just a few days ago. When she lunges next, he dodges, swiping his claws at the beast’s underside. She roars, more in anger than in pain, and immediately attacks again. Expecting it, Adam sidesteps nearly and his claws catch the venomfang’s side. His tail lashes as he swirls around, the spikes burying themselves in the shallow cuts he’d just made. This time, there’s definitely pain in the venomfang’s cry.
