I turn back around to discuss it with her and catch the look of horror that flits over her face when she sees the state of the genali I envenomated.
It's an incredibly painful way to die, I admit.
Our venom quickly invades their circulatory systems, increasing the flow rate and then causing all the pathways and vessels to burst.
The genali is essentially one giant bruise with gray viscous liquid leaking from every orifice.
To her credit she simply shakes herself and then keeps moving toward me. "I don't recognize everything, but most of it looks useless, Thivoll."
I purr thinking of how intelligent and practical she is. It makes me want to go right back to licking her.
"Yes, unfortunately. Let's look for a med kit and I'll start destroying anything we can't use."
The hunters seem to have used up most of their pack space with tents and bedding. The bedding is a specialized fabric that helps keep them moist and warm.
I try not to think of how full of their pink slime it must be as I shred it with my claws.
Their packs are made of the same fabric and I know Ree won't want it against her skin any more than I would, so I simply dump out the contents and add the packs to the shredded pile.
Ree sifts through what I dumped, almost instantly locating the ribbed metal container of medical supplies. She takes a moment to figure out the clasp, which is designed for the wide webbed hands and small claws of a genali.
She pulls out the stitch clipper. "Does this use dissolving staples, you think?"
I look closer at the design. "I believe so, and your Silver's nanites will break them down once they are no longer needed."
She sits down as her black suit recedes from her arm, then calmly starts pinching the wound together and stapling it. She makes a hissing sound through her teeth as she does it, but keeps going until the task is complete.
She shakes her head when I hold my hands out in a wordless offer of help.
Then moves to the wound on her leg.
Only a slight tremor in her hands as she puts the stitch clipper away betrays her.
"I could have done that."
She looks at me, and her lips twitch up on the sides. "I know. But it made me feel more in control of how fucked up all of this is to do it myself."
"I respect that."
I spy another useful resource, and it distracts me from our conversation. "These will taste terrible, but they will sustain you more efficiently than your ruminating."
I open the foil pack of meal cubes and show her. "Oh, I'm quite familiar with those, unfortunately," she says with her tiny nose wrinkled and her tone suggesting she despises them.
I toss them aside. I don't like the thought of her eating something she hates.
"I'll search for better food."
She shakes her head. "No, we need to take them. They bring back memories of being on the ship and terror, but food is food."
I whip my head over to her, a spike of rage shooting through me, reminded that they didn't have her in cryo for her journey.
"I thought their buyers were particular about harems being untouched before delivery or auction."
"I was in an isolation chamber, but they had a camera up and needed entertainment for their viewers. Plus, they just enjoyed scaring me, I think. They didn't touch me because they didn't want to trigger the metamorphosis."
I'm confused. "I didn't know humans did that."
She shakes her head. "We don't, but they changed us. Speaking of . . . I've been around you long enough . . . Actually, that doesn't matter right now. Let's get out of here. I don't want to be anywhere near them anymore."
