Branded

by Ana J. Phoenix

“I found a bottle of Coke. Real Coke. Coca-Cola brand name and all.”

  José's mouth fell slightly open as Asher started humming the Coca-Cola Christmas jingle. Which wasn't only very catchy, but also very unfitting. Still he couldn't help but feel a sudden craving for Coke.

  “Real Coke?”

  “Well, not real real. It was British. But...you know. Tasted real enough.”

  “Wonder how that got here…” And whether there was a connection to the bed phenomenon.

  “Probably the same way we got here,” Asher said, like it was the simplest thing.

  “And how exactly did we get here?”

  “Dunno. Sorry I didn't think to ask the bottle.” He kept humming that stupid melody. José was going to have it stuck in his head for the rest of the day. Sometimes he wanted to whack Asher.

  “What did you do with it?”

  “I threw it away after I drank it up.”

  José went ahead and whacked him.

  “Ouch! What was that for?”

  “We could have used that bottle to ask around.”

  “I didn’t think of that. Oh, by the way, I also found Horse-Guy,” Asher said then, like an after thought.

  “What?”

  “Don’t worry, he’s dead.” Only Asher could say that like it wasn’t big news. “Let’s just go on and find some food.”

  “You mean you found his corpse?“

  “Yeah. Now c’mon. I’m starving.”

  “Okay,” José said slowly, trying to process the info.

  Asher started walking again, obviously done with the topic. José followed. They only made it a few steps before José noticed a weird smell in the air. Like something rotting, but not quite. He stopped Asher.

  “Do you smell that?” José asked.

  “No. What?”

  José focused on his surroundings. Something wasn’t right. “There’s a cold spot in the bushes.” He pointed to the right. “What’s there?”

  Leaves rustled as Asher went to check it out. “Man,” he said. “You don’t wanna know. Seriously, you don’t.” He stepped away from whatever he’d found.

  “What is it?” José crouched down beside the cold spot. It was about the size of a child, lying in the bushes.

  “Don’t touch that,” Asher said. “She’s dead.”

  “Is it a—”

  “She looks like an elf. With a dog tail.”

  A half-breed child. José took a deep breath, feeling the contents of his stomach work their way up. He turned away from the corpse.

  “This is fucked up,” Asher said. “This is really fucked up.”

  José nodded. He would have liked to give the girl a proper burial, but there was no time. “We have to go on,” the lavalight said into his ear. Digging a hole large enough would have taken forever in this soil. José made himself take a step up the road.

  “Come,” he said to Asher. “Let her rest.”

  ***

  At the end of the day they reached a sad accumulation of run down huts by the shore. Several people had gathered in the middle of the village, out in the open. “You figure they’re all waiting for that boat?” Asher said, looking over the assembly of freaks. Most of them seemed to be women and children. Asher cringed as a baby’s crying reached his ears. “Figure the baby will be boarding?”

  “I guess,” Blind Guy said.

  “Awesome.” Asher didn’t try to hide the sarcasm.

  “The lavalight said it’ll only be a couple hours, probably.”

  Asher looked out over the sea, but it was too dark to see whether the land on the other side was visible from here. The smell of cooked meat drifted into his nose, but thankfully, he’d already eaten. One more goal accomplished.

  “C’mon, let’s call it a night.” Blind Guy yawned. “I think with this many people here, we don’t need a watch out.”

  “Alright.” Asher led them to an open spot just outside the first huts. The ground was a little softer there, not as trampled on. It had been a warm day, and even without a fire, he felt comfortable. The stars looked a lot like they did at home just outside the city. As a small child, he’d lived on the beach side, and he’d always liked that view of the night sky. It was pretty.

  He looked over at Blind Guy, who’d curled up on his side, facing away from Asher. Another pretty sight there. If only he wasn’t so complicated. “You know it was really nice last night before you chickened out.”

  “I’m sure you had more fun by yourself after.”

  Asher shrugged. “Could have been better.” He’d gotten so close yesterday, he couldn’t just give up now. If anything, he wanted it more now than he had before. He couldn’t get Blind Guy’s taste out of his mind. Or the way his touch had felt. So intense.

  Blind Guy turned around. “I’m really not into this whole one-night-stand thing,”

  Asher rolled his eyes at him. “Wouldn’t be a one-night-stand if we did it twice.”

  “Repeating a mistake doesn’t make it right.”

  “I don’t care if you hate me, or you don’t like me, or whatever. But do not call me a mistake.”

  “I didn’t mean you, Asher. I meant us having sex.”

  “Whatever,” Asher said. “You wanted it too, yesterday. You stopped yourself, but you wanted it.”

  Blind Guy took a deep breath. “You don’t get it.”

  “No, I don’t.” Asher lay back down. “If you didn’t want it, why did come on to me?” Blind Guy could pretend all he want, but he hadn’t been all that innocent yesterday night when he’d pressed their bodies together.

  Blind Guy didn’t say anything for a long time, then, “Remember when I told you you were hiding a likable side?”

  Asher blinked his eyes open. “Huh?”

  “I think I caught a glimpse of it.”

  Asher huffed and rolled onto his back, unsure what to do with a reply like that. “You just don’t want to admit that you get horny, too.”

  “Goodnight, Asher.”

  ***

  When Asher woke up the next morning, Blind Guy wasn’t around. Where had he gone, though? Finding food?

  Asher got up and walked into the town. The sun was starting to creep over the horizon, but wasn’t offering much light yet. Birds that sounded vaguely like gulls were crying in the distance.

  The freaks were all still sleeping, huddling together between the small huts. Asher stepped between them, careful not to wake anyone. Fortunately he had a lot of practice at sneaking around.

  When he got to the shore, Blind Guy was sitting with his legs crossed in front of him, hunched over. Half-asleep, maybe. Asher was tempted to poke him to see if he would fall over. Instead, Asher sat down beside him and breathed in the salty air. The sea smelled like it did at home.

  “What are you doing out here?”

  Blind Guy straightened himself. “Asher?”

  “Yup.”

  Blind Guy shook his head. “I’m not doing anything.”

  “You’re so weird.”

  Blind Guy snorted. “You’re one to talk.”

  “Huh?”

  “Forget it.”

  Asher shrugged and looked at the water, wondering what sort of creatures lived in it.

  “I was just getting a little homesick last night,” Blind Guy said after a while. “I miss my family.”

  “Oh,” Asher said, not sure how to respond. “I miss cigarettes.”

  “Cigarettes?”

  “Gauloises. The ones in the pretty blue packs.”

  Blind Guy laughed. Asher wasn’t sure why, but it was kind of nice. “I like Camels Lights.”

  “Those are for pussies,” Asher said, but it didn’t stop Blind Guy from laughing, and he felt a smile tug on his own lips.

  Chapter 12 - Like a Candle in the Dark

  Not a lot of passengers boarded with them, but the four or five children who did made such a ruckus that it seemed like a whole crowd of football fans was on board. Asher fixed every one of them with a hateful stare as they ran a
round the deck, playing catch. The green-scaled sailors who worked on board didn’t seem to mind, though.

  Blind Guy stood off to the far side, leaning his arms on the railing. The lavalight was there, too, but the little bitch flew away when Asher approached. He glared at her, then turned to look out over the sea as he came to stand beside Blind Guy, one step away from the railing. The boat wasn't very large, but they were still high up above the water and he didn’t want to know exactly how high.

  He could make out land in the distance, but it was nothing more than a gray strip over the horizon yet.

  “What are we gonna do when we get there, again?” he asked.

  “Find the lavalight’s friend and get him to tell us what he knows about our world.”

  “And then we can go home?”

  “I hope so.”

  Asher leaned with his back against the railing, and almost fell on his face when something rocked the boat. He grabbed onto the railing. Had that been a wave? Asher looked at the sea, but it seemed calm. And on deck, there were more and more sailors running around who didn't.

  This just could not be a good thing. Especially not when the sailors started passing out weird purple life vests. ”Safety precaution,” they said. Asher refused to take one of those ugly things. He didn't need to swim. If something happened, he could fly. He’d done it once, and he could do it again. Land was already visible, after all.

  Blind Guy took one of the vests. It didn’t look pretty even on him. Asher opened his mouth to say something, but a deafening noise made him shut up. He tightened his grip on the railing as something tore right through the middle of the boat and ripped it in half.

  Eyes wide, Asher tried to get a glimpse of the monster as it dove back into the sea with a splash. Water was flying everywhere. People erupted into screams and scrambled to the upper sides of the boat as the whole thing started sinking. The sailors ran to the railing and shot what looked like rays of lightning into the water. Someone blew a horn.

  Asher tried to shake himself out of his stupor. He had to transform. But he couldn’t without the weight of his dragon form pulling the boat under. Taking a deep breath, he climbed on top of the railing, eyes closed. He halted for a second, fear beating in his ears like a drum.

  Here goes.

  Giving himself a push, he let himself fall before he could lose his balance. As fast as he could, he transformed before he could come in contact with the water. Spreading his wings, he flew up into the sky.

  There, he forced himself to look down. Below him in the water swam the same kind of monster that had attacked him in the forest.

  Ugly son of a bitch.

  The monster reared its hideous head and spew a heavy spray of water onto the left half of the boat. Almost all the passengers of that side were swept into the sea. A lot of purple blobs in the water.

  The sailors shot at the beast again and it dove back under. A scream rang in Asher’s ears as one of the swimming passengers got pulled down. Seemed like the monster was having him for lunch.

  Asher had better find Blind Guy before his companion would end up as snack too.

  He flew deeper over the water surface, the smell of salt strong in his nose. He dove under the various rays of magic that the sailors, as well as some of the passengers, tried to shoot at the monster. Finally he identified one of the purple blobs as Blind Guy and fished him out of the water with his front claw.

  “Enjoyed your swim?”

  “Shut up,” Blind Guy said, breathing hard.

  Asher flew up a little higher so he wouldn't get hit by anything. “You okay?” he asked while he eyed the battle below.

  “Yeah, sure…”

  Asher moved his claw as far toward his back as it would go and waited for Blind Guy to climb onto it.

  “Hold on,” he said, “I'm going down again.” He flew toward the wreckage. There was no way he could save all of those people, especially not without endangering himself, but he didn’t want any more deaths on his mind than necessary. With Snake Woman and Stone Kid already there, it was getting crowded.

  But there were so many purple blobs in the water. Who to save? How did one make decisions like that? Should he just take the pretty ones? But in this chaos, everyone looked the same.

  Someone else got pulled under.

  Asher had to act fast. Somehow. His eyes flickered back and forth between the survivors.

  “Get the children,” Blind Guy said. Asher blinked. Those little bastards? But Blind Guy obviously knew more about this people saving thing than he did, so he would let him call the shots. This time.

  The children huddled together on one end of the boat, their feet already touching water. Asher flew deeper to get to them, ducking beneath another ray of water. He was getting good at this. The children looked at him, eyes wide, green, orange and blue hair blowing in the wind generated by his wings.

  “C'mon.” He reached out his claws to them. They had no time to waste.

  The bravest of the bunch, a brunette little girl, finally took him up on his offer and the others followed soon. “Take my hand,” Asher heard Blind Guy say as he helped them climb up. There were four all in all. Two of them had tears in their eyes. The smallest one openly cried for his mommy.

  Once they were all settled on his back, Asher took to the sky again.

  Before he could soar high enough however, the monster shot out of the depth below him and scratched him with its back along the side of his belly. The ugly beast had thorns on its backside, and Asher roared as they tore through his scales.

  He squeezed his eyes shut, took a deep breath and flew faster, ignoring the pressing urge to transform back. They would all drown if he did that.

  “Are you alright?” Blind Guy shouted over the wind.

  “Don't worry.” He'd get them to the coast alright. Opening his eyes again, land seemed close, and at the same time, a million miles away. But he could do this. He just had to keep moving his wings. Just a little longer, just a little…

  On his back, Blind Guy was talking to the kids, but Asher couldn’t make out what they were saying. Black spots danced at the edge of his vision, but he could not give out now, they were still above water. Maybe they could swim. The thought was tempting, very tempting. But he didn’t know if the kids could swim.

  The wind picked up as Asher pressed ahead. The first huts of a port town became visible, and he headed toward them. He barely touched the sandy beach before he felt his body fall into itself, no longer able to sustain the transformation. All the weight he’d been stemming trying to keep it going came crashing down on him in this instance. He barely noticed people jumping off him. Still, a weird sense of accomplishment took hold of him, even as the last of his powers drained away and exhaustion took hold of him.

  He’d made it.

  But the world looked blurry and his feet didn't want to support him. He fell to the ground, clutching his stomach. Stabbing pain tore through him as he took a breath.

  “Asher?” Someone knelt down beside him and turned him onto his back. Somehow he’d gotten blood on his hands. He looked up at Blind Guy, who was ordering the frightened children to run and get a medic or something. Asher coughed, and he grinned against the exhaustion.

  “I made it.”

  “You did,” Blind Guy said and stroked a hand through his hair. Any other time, Asher would have told him off for messing with it. “Now hang in there, okay?”

  Hadn’t he already done enough of that? Asher looked down on himself. There was so much blood. Well, fuck. He blinked, trying to clear the blurry spots from his vision. “Hey, Blind Guy?”

  “Yeah?”

  Asher almost smiled as Blind Guy forgot to remind him that his name wasn’t Blind Guy.

  “Don’t talk, okay?” Blind Guy said then, shaking his head. His hand strayed down from Asher’s head, fingertips ghosting over the bridge of his nose until they came to rest on Asher’s lips. “Try to save your energy.”

  Asher squinted at him. Why did Blind
Guy care so much? “D’you…” Asher began, making Blind Guy lift his finger. “You think… this is… likable?”

  Blind Guy froze for a moment. “Sure,” he said then. “Sure. You did a good thing, okay? Just don’t go making a habit of getting in trouble with monsters.”

  Asher let his eyes fall close. “’M tired.”

  “I know. Just stay with me a little longer.” Blind Guy pressed something, fabric, his shirt maybe, against his wound and Asher winced. Blind Guy said something about stopping the blood flow and help coming, but Asher wasn’t getting half of it. Still, as his consciousness slipped, he was sure that Blind Guy could handle the rest.

  Chapter 13 - A Bonding Experience

  “Ash?” José tried, but no reply came. No sign that his companion was still conscious. Except for their breathing and the sound of the waves, the world lay in silence. The smell of blood tainted the air. It had been there for a while, even when they were still flying, but José hadn’t been able to do anything about it then. Not that he was able to do anything now. He pressed his shirt down on Asher’s stomach, but he couldn’t stop the blood.

  “It's gonna be okay,” he said, anyway. “Help's coming.” At least, that's what he hoped.

  There was no response, of course, but José kept talking anyway. The waiting was killing him as much as it was killing Asher. Except that it wasn't killing Asher. José would not let someone else die. He would not let Asher die.

  José gritted his teeth and cursed himself, then Asher. That idiot had just had to go and get himself torn up. José knew he was being stupid and irrational and unfair. He didn't care. It was better than thinking about what Asher had said.

  “Of course you’re likable, you stupid little idiot.”

  A child’s voice sounded from the distance. “Over there!”

  José perked his ears at footsteps. People were running toward them. About fucking time!

  The children brought back three men with them. One of them grabbed José by the arm and dragged him away from Asher. The other two were talking among themselves.

  “Holy shit, that’s actually a dragon.”