Now, that same place can be walked down into, completely opened up.
Glancing around again to make sure I’m unseen, and hoping the first soldier gave up on me, I dart between different tents on the way back. I wait to return to the refugee infirmary until the path in front of it is clear. As a group of older men lugging lumber towards the barracks passes by, I use them as cover to dash across and inside.
I stumble right into Benjamin’s chest.
“You,” he says, catching my shoulders.
“You,” I say back. It’s odd and startling, seeing him again, especially after the last few minutes. “I’ve… been searching for you and Quinton but didn’t see you, couldn’t find you. You guys never came by to see Olivia.”
Benjamin pulls me aside as the head nurse gives me a stern look from where he’s sitting by another patient in the back. He’s noticed I’ve been away too long.
“Quinton and I couldn’t leave our tent until we were assigned jobs. We tried to come to check up on her but we kept getting stopped by soldiers on patrol. I was coming to see her now, only to find out she’s been moved to a tent—and that you’ve been with her.”
He releases my shoulders and I give him a smile, because despite everything, I’m glad to see him. “It’s good to see you. I’m glad you made it.”
“What happened to Krell?—”
“You need to get back to work!” The head nurse shouts, and my eyes skip over his name tag again because I keep forgetting it. “Now! You can flirt after your shift is done.”
Mustienoul. That’s his name.
I look back at Benjamin. “I guess we’ll talk later.”
He nods. “Later. I’ll come find you.”
I watch him leave before getting back to work as ordered, not meeting Mustienoul’s frustrated gaze. Grabbing a clean empty cup, I fill it half-way, unsure who needs the liquid more: me, or the patients. I walk to the nearest person trying to get my attention, hoping I can make someone else’s day a little bit brighter. Because until I find out whether it was Krellix who attacked the soldiers, or something else… I’m not going to be able to rest.
THIRTY-FIVE
UNEXPECTED CONSEQUENCES
Krellix
I have lingeredto watch the encampment.
I do not know why, other than the hope of seeing her among the few people who come and go from behind the tall, tree-made walls. I do not expect to get any more information about my missing clan or about what is happening here than what I already have. I should head back to Zaku’s to inform him of what I have learned.
There’s an influx of humans.
They have lost their alpha, their leadership.
We do not have to fear being abducted anymore.
But I linger outside the encampment for days anyway, unable to leave Julia. What if something goes wrong and the camp is dangerous for her? What if she needs me? I may have Nepsh watching out for her but it is not enough to alleviate the misgivings that maybe she was better off with me after all.
I yearn for a glimpse of her, but cannot get close enough to the entrance without being seen by a drone or soldier on patrol. I cannot even leave the forest. Security has been tightened. Theywill see me coming from any direction if I venture out into the open. I have circled the camp many times, only to find large machines also circling it, cutting the trees back further row by row, widening the distance ever more. Other machines, and sometimes soldiers, carry those logs behind the wall, where I assume it is cut down for kindling.
Humans like their fires. They like their meat cooked. I shake my head, not understanding it.
But I do understand their need for warmth. And I do understand that Julia needs cooked food and warmth to survive. I cannot find it within me to begrudge her these things.
Still, I do not like the slow destruction of my home… I turn away with disgust only, but again, my gaze is helplessly drawn back over my shoulder.
Missing Julia’s touch and the feel of her body against mine, of having her nearby, I stare at the distant barricade as I sink back into the denser shadows of the trees.
The need overtakes me abruptly, so intense I cannot endure any longer. With caution, I release my shaft from my slit.
I circle the hard appendage with my hand and thrust into it, immediately releasing a little of my pent-up seed. Moving my palm over my shaft’s tip to smear that same seed onto my skin, I then slide it down my length and grip my throbbing knot.Julia.I squeeze it hard, forcing more of my seed to eject from my body.Julia.I imagine her sighs in my ears as I press my palm in tight circles against me.Julia!
