by Tracy Lauren
***
Sometime in the night I wake to the heat of the fire. It’s overwhelming. I turn to look at the flames, but they’re banked low in the fireplace. I blink for a minute trying to comprehend where the heat is coming from, then I hear Rennek speak.
“Kate… my mate,” he rasps. I shoot up and start sobbing all over again.
“Rennek, baby I’m here. I’m so glad you’re awake!” But when I touch him I realize the heat I was feeling is coming from him. He’s burning up.
“Are you well, my mate?” He manages to choke out, blinking and trying to focus his eyes on me in the low light.
“Babe, listen to me. You have a fever, we have meds here but I don’t know what to give you. Which bottle is it? Tell me what will help you,” I plead. He focuses on my hair and runs his hands through it.
“Fire…” he mumbles and his eyes start to roll back.
“No, no, no, no, no! Rennek, meds… what can reduce a fever? Help with infection? Or anti-venom?” I say gripping onto his cheeks and willing him to open his eyes and speak.
His eyes struggle to focus. “Red… red bottle…” I frantically scramble to the med kit, dumping everything out in haste. I find the red bottle and dump out a small spherical pill and bring it to Rennek with a water pouch. I have to slap his cheeks a bit to get him to rouse enough to take it. But he does take it and sips a bit at the water before he goes back under. I call to him, but he says nothing more. I pour water on the coals in the fire, fearful of any additional heat getting to my poor Rennek. I spend the rest of the night wiping his head with a cool wet cloth until the sun starts peeking in through the cracks in the door. Hours later, he finally seems to cool down a bit. So I lay next to him and drift back to sleep.
Chapter 49
Kate
The first thing I do when I wake is feel Rennek for signs of fever. He is warm, but not burning like he was the night before. I eye the red pill bottle, wondering how often I should be giving him a fresh dose. Is this an every 6 hours kind of deal? Every 24? One and done? I rub my face wearily.
I think back to his words last night. They ring in my brain like a bell. Last night in his fever he called me his mate. He hasn’t used that title since we had our “talk.” I didn’t notice really, in all our running around that he has been avoiding the term, but last night when he spoke the words it became painfully obvious.
I grab water and try to get Rennek to drink, but he still doesn’t rouse when I call to him. I take the pouch and very carefully dribble just a few drops at a time into his mouth so he doesn’t choke on it like he did yesterday.
“We were supposed to check in last night with everyone, but we didn’t. This morning too. We’ve missed two check-ins now. They’ll be worried about us and they’ll come. They might even be here today. They will be able to help you.”
I stare at his motionless face, looking for a sign of recognition or awareness.
“I’m so sorry Rennek, some mate I turned out to be,” I tell him and the words deepen my sadness.
“Rennek, wake up please. You have to get better. You have to. I promise, I’ll be better at this whole mate thing. I was scared before, but nothing like what I feel now… the thought of you not waking up--of being without you, it’s unbearable. I don’t know how to be a mate or how to do forever, but for you I’ll try. Every day I’ll try.”
Tears stream down my cheeks and I feel this sickening sense of irony--here we are on our bed, that we were waiting for so we could finally make love… but we didn’t need a bed to make love. We could have done that at any time. It was this silly, self-imposed pointless thing getting between us. And all my hang ups? My mom and dad didn’t have a happily ever after, my parents didn’t love me the way a kid deserves to be loved, no one else in my life ever stuck around or gave me an example of what forever could look like? Well, it was all more self-imposed bullshit getting between us. All that junk doesn’t make me incapable of having my own happily ever after with Rennek, it just makes me deserve it that much more. Laying here next to him now, like this--it’s a bittersweet realization.
I hang my head, doing my best to fight off the misery creeping in at me from every angle. I need to be strong and hold the fort down until the others get here. I need to be strong for Rennek.
“Do not try and take those words back once I am well again,” comes Rennek’s rasping voice.
I look up to see his eyes blinking, but clear and even a small rueful smile playing at his lips. I try to speak to him but my voice comes out a bunch of crazy barks and I fall into him sobbing and laughing. When I feel his hand on my back, stroking me as if I’m the one who needs to be cared for I snap back into action mode. I hurry to bring him water and this time he gulps it down. While he drinks I bring all the meds and ointments to the bed and spread them out, eager to learn all about them before he passes out again.
“What do you need, which of these will help you? You had some stingers shoot into a few different spots and a bite on your shoulder here.” He winces letting me know he is acutely aware of the pain coming from his shoulder. “To be honest Rennek, that one might need stitches.”
“The bottle there, with the longer lid… we will have to clean the wound again… very hot water…” he struggles to explain.
I hurry to get the fire going as quickly as I can and start to boil some water. I sure wish we had some antibacterial soap right about now. I make the water as hot as can while still keeping it bearable before I pour it over his wound. I open the bottle Rennek indicated and realize it isn’t another pill bottle, but a spray of some kind. I spray it all over the red and fleshy gash and it covers it like a plastic almost, sealing it off.
Rennek tries to sit up to look at the places the stingers got him, but becomes light headed and pale. I rub some more ointment on him and he falls back into a deep sleep. I, on the other hand, suddenly have renewed energy. Seeing Rennek doing so much better has lit a fire inside me. I won’t take back my words from before, not ever. I am Rennek’s mate and I’m about to start acting like the mate he deserves.
I take my dirty clothes and the ruined blanket out to the main fountain and start rinsing and scrubbing everything as much as possible. Afterwards I hang everything from the stone windows to dry. I take the charger with me and go stock up on more fruit and cabbages. Back in the room I take the cabbage leaves and boil them in water--remembering Rennek told me how nutrient rich the plant was. The water turns pink as the cabbage boils down. I let it cool a bit before I rouse Rennek and force him to sip at it. I offer him fruit but he refuses and soon falls to asleep again. I touch my hand to his head and am happy to feel the fever is gone. Before I know it, the sun is already going down.
The only bright side to more time passing is that we have now missed three check-ins. They must know something is wrong by now. I had hoped they would come today. I’m surprised they aren’t here today. Fear and what ifs creep at the corners of my mind. What if something went wrong? What if the UPC found them or bounty hunters? What if raiders stumbled across the others, just like they did with Gorrard’s ship? I try not to worry though and tell myself they will be here tomorrow.
But tomorrow comes and the others do not. Another two days pass and I can’t push the worry back any longer. Rennek is in and out of consciousness. His healing has plateaued. He eats nothing but the cabbage broth and his stomach turns when I have tried to force him to eat fruit.
The whole reason we had the comms and were checking in daily was to keep tabs on each other’s safety, now days have passed and nothing. I worry about what my next course of action should be. Do I go look for them? Without the comm unit and the scanner I don’t know how I’ll find them. The only thing I can think to do would be to retrace our steps and try to get back to the pod.
Whenever Rennek is awake he can sense my tension, no matter how hard I try to hide it. He tries to joke to lighten my mood and make me worry less, but I know he worries too. Something is keeping the others from joining us.
I have been able to get Rennek to eat some nuts from inside the cabbages. I cracked them open and roasted them slightly over the fire and he has eaten a few handfuls, which feels like a major triumph for me. As I tidy our supplies for the millionth time, wishing I could be more useful, I come across Gorrard’s pendant in one of the pockets of our torn pack.
I play with it in my hands for a bit, studying it closely for the first time. I eye Rennek passed out in the bed. I’m beyond bored so... I decide to go back to the beacon and see if maybe we missed something last time around.
I grab my faithful charger and head out in the direction of the beacon. I surprise myself by finding it easily enough. It feels like it’s been so long since our first day at the ruins and we haven’t been out here since. I step into the odd clearing in the forest surrounding the beacon. There is that faint, pulsing light on the top of the device, still flashing. I squat down and stare at the designs, tracing them with my fingers and trying to imagine what they could represent. I explore the holes that look like something you could plug your phone charger into, sticking my little finger into one--and then reprimanding myself. Thing could have electrocuted me… I don’t stick my finger in electrical outlets at home, I probably shouldn’t stick anything in these holes either.
Then, it’s like a light bulb goes off over my head. I grab Gorrard’s pendant and shove it inside the slot in the beacon. It fits perfectly and the light on the top of the thing raises and whirrs to the side, but does nothing else. It almost seems like it’s waiting for more… maybe a second pendant? Or six? One for each little port?
“Holy. Fuck,” I say, with my eyes wide, but the machine continues to wait. There is no more movement, there are no instructions and no obvious second steps. I pull the pendant back out. The beacon returns to the position it had been waiting in for the past 30 yets or whatever they call it. I do a little happy dance and then hightail it back to our room at the ruins. I can’t wait to tell Rennek.
But I only make it as far as the courtyard. I hear this ungodly rumble, like the sound of a low flying jumbo jet. I look up to the skies, but see nothing at first. Then, a shadow passes over me. A large shadow. And maybe it doesn’t pass over me as much as it blocks out the sun for all of the ruins. I shield my eyes, looking up. It’s a ship. A huge ship. Movement catches my eye by the staircase. I see Rennek standing there, butt naked.
He too, shields his eyes and looks up at the ship. I see him struggling to stay upright--this is the first time he has stood since his injury. I run to his side and pull out my charger. It feels feeble in my hands compared to the threat looming over us. This isn’t going to be one we get out of. I can sense it deep in my heart. Maybe with Rennek at full strength, maybe if we still had a functioning blaster… but all we have is me and a charger. I look up at Rennek and his eyes meet mine. We don’t have time to speak, or to say what’s in our hearts. But in that one moment, when we look at each other--nothing needs to be said.
The ship suddenly becomes silent. A ramp folds down and I see boots begin to descend. I hold my charger at the ready with my other arm wrapped around my mate. And you can imagine my surprise when I recognize the face of the man… er alien, coming down the ramp. It’s Gorrard! Gorrard, alive and well! Gorrard with a shining metal, robotic arm. A laugh escapes my throat and I feel like we just got rescued from a deserted island.
Gorrard steps forward and I leave Rennek leaning against the column and run for our friend, embracing him in a hug.
“My god Gorrard! You’re alive!”
“I am pleased to find you are as well!” he booms.
“Don’t get me wrong, we’re so happy to see you, but what are you doing here?”
“We have been searching for you of course!”
“Whose we…?”
Gorrard turns and I see a woman coming down the ramp. She is tall and massive like an amazon, with cropped black hair shaved close on the sides and slicked straight back. She looks ageless and stunning… and a little bit terrifying. Her eyes are jet black pools and her skin is a cool grey, her jaw is all sharp angles. She looks like a force to be reckoned with. Her expression conveys power and makes me want to shirk backwards a little bit. I realize immediately that I know exactly who this is. This is Madreed. This is Rennek’s mother.
I look back to Rennek who still clings to the column to help support himself. Then I remember he is butt ass naked and I’m about to be introduced to my mother in law. Lovely.
Before I have the chance to speak, a bunch of uniformed aliens the same species as Tennir and Madreed begin pouring from the ship. My heart pounds, I haven’t exactly had the best of experience with aliens other than Rennek’s people so far… but I guess these are Rennek’s people too… sort of.
“Gorrard, help me with Rennek,” I tell our friend. “He’s been injured and needs medical attention.”
Gorrard jumps into action, running to Rennek’s side--unfazed by the nudity. He still bows a little when he reaches Rennek, but doesn’t do the whole down on his knee thing he did the first time we met. Together we support Rennek’s weight and start toward the ship. Madreed stands stoically at the ramp waiting for us, but just as we get near, I see familiar faces.
Da’vi, Allison, Reagan, April, Clark, Bossan, Kellen and Tennir all come running toward us through the throng of aliens. I hear Reagan scream when she sees me.
“Go, I am fine,” Rennek encourages me to go to our friends. I look to Gorrard and he nods, letting me know my man will be protected while I step away.
“I will help the Grey King,” he assures me.
I hesitate briefly, wanting to stay by Rennek, but seeing humans again--particularly after so many days of radio silence, overwhelms me in a way I wasn’t anticipating. Maybe it’s because of all the fear I’ve been holding on to the past few days since Rennek’s injury, but emotion suddenly overflows from within me and as I run to Reagan and the other girls tears stream down my face.
We all embrace and soon everyone is sharing in my tears.
“Thank goodness we found you, we’ve been so worried!” Clark tells me.
“What happened to you? Is Rennek… whoa, boy… okay. That’s naked right there…” Reagan says covering her eyes. “Is he hurt? Are you okay? What happened here?”
“I’m fine, and thanks to your arrival Rennek will be okay too. It was really scary there for the first few days, but he’s been slowly getting better,” I tell them.
“How was he injured?” Da’vi interrupts.
“There was a spider. Like a giant spider, almost as big as the pod. It had been following us, becoming aggressive. Rennek and I decided to kill it, but when we got to its den it wasn’t just one spider--there was a swarm.”
“We were doing okay though, taking them all out, but near the end Rennek’s gun lost its charge. He tried to finish the last of them with his knife and he did… he did it. He saved us, but not without getting hurt in the process. I think there has to be a poison in his system. The wounds look irritated, no matter how clean we keep them and even though he’s gotten better--he hasn’t recovered.”
“Can you show me where the den was? I’d like to collect some samples to create a targeted anti-venom,” Tennir implores.
“Of course, anything I can do to help Rennek. I can take you there right now.”
“That won’t be necessary, you can simply show me on the map. You should remain here,” he eyes Madreed. “You will be needed.”
Eee
p, okay.
I see Madreed speaking quietly with Rennek, her demeanor cold but her eyes soft when looking at her son. I wonder if I am imagining that. He nods and they begin to move him inside.
“Allow me to take you in Kate. There is much to discuss,” Tennir tells me.
“I’ll say… Hey… wait,” I look around the crowd of aliens who all seem to have a job to do. “Where is Vivian?”
His face takes on a weary expression and it almost seems like he is avoiding eye contact.
“Where is Vivian?” I say more firmly.
“She’s gone.” Reagan says, her face dropping the joy it had a moment ago from our reunion.
“What do you mean she’s gone?” I ask, looking from one face to the next.
“She and Dax vanished in the night, they did not take a comm unit. Or if they did, it has not been powered on. That is the reason we were delayed in reaching you. Da’vi and Allison were to pick up the pod and transport us all here to the ruins, along with supplies, but when they arrived to its former location it was gone as well,” Tennir explains to me.