Page 27 of 20% Blood 80%
My brother’s coming to get me.To get us.
In less than a rotation, I’d be off this planet and back with my family, sharing blood communally. With no shame. Without having to beg.
Fizzy and light, I jumped to my feet. The ground began to shake, rocks rattling loose around me, and the ebony sheet of rock, much too thin to stand on, shattered like glass. The communicator flew from my hands as I scrabbled to find purchase. But with nothing beneath my feet, I fell.
An image of my family’s last Lifesgiving holiday dinner flashed before my eyes. Around the long table, my mata and fata beamed while my brother’s wife shared a bowl of whisper berries with her daughter. My siblings elbowed each other, and I smiled, despite being the object of their joke.
When I clenched my hand, I looked down, surprised to find pale fingers intertwined with my own. A familiar crisp, clean scent filled the air. And as I gazed into Silver’s blue eyes, he leaned in and kissed me on the nose.
“What’s going on with you, silly? It’s like you’re somewhere else?”
Silver’s smiling face morphed into wavy black walls. Head spinning, I clutched my temples between my hands and closed my eyes. Silver kissing me on the nose and calling me silly—that could only be my imagination.
What the hellfire had happened?
I remembered the ground shaking, the communicator flying and the glass-like surface shattering beneath my feet. When I looked up, the moon and sun high overhead lit the space I’d fallen into brighter than a lamp. I’d landed in a small cavern. Walls worn shiny and smooth trickled with water from which seams of moss burst.
How far had I fallen? It only looked about four body lengths. I patted my arms and legs. Nothing hurt too badly.
I flipped my pack over, reaching for the rope—it should be a simple matter to get out of here—then froze when I remembered I’d left it tied to the top of the rock face.
How in hellfire’s blanting luck would my brother find me down here?
11
“SterlingPeoples?”C’svoicepricked the edges of my consciousness as if she’d been calling my name for some time. “Sterling Peoples, the sedative effects of the winged corpse serpent should be wearing off. Can you hear me?”
Head spinning, I pushed up and scooted backward until my butt hit the wall. My guts revolted at the motion, and I curled to the side and heaved up the contents of my stomach. “Fuck this shit.” I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and tucked my head between my knees. The sudden dizziness eased.
“The aftereffects are quite debilitating, but they pass quickly and can be sped up by drinking fruit juice.”
I shivered at the thought of the statue-like creature creeping through the ceiling vents, stalking me, waiting to shake more of its silky sleep dust on my head. “C, is that thing still around?” Would it guard my body until I withered and died?
“It is not moving at this moment. However, a sensor is picking up an unaccounted-for weight in an overhead vent not far from you.”
I hadn’t survivedsporemageddonto become corpse serpent fodder.
With a laser-eyed focus on the ceiling, I staggered to my feet, then crouched slowly to pick up the tools that had fallen from my belt. Lessthan a second later, I lurched toward the hovertube, holding my cramping stomach.
After stumbling from the hovertube, I dragged myself to the Tig biodome. Crouching between rows of fragrant, ripe d’ew, I ripped one from its stem, cracked it open and dove in. Their honey-sweet juice dripped off my chin onto the rinds of the three discarded melons at my feet. My headache slowly disappeared, and the need to throw up everything I’d ever eaten relented. As soon as my head stopped spinning and my thirst was quenched an image of D’alton at the bottom of a crater of sand flashed through my mind.
“C? Is D’alton back from hunting yet?” As soon as I asked, I knew the answer. If D’alton were here, I wouldn’t have woken up alone in that damn corridor covered in some crypt creature’s dust. He would’ve come looking for me.
“No, Sterling People’s. D’alton of Clan Lasting has not yet returned.”
Had I detected concern in her voice? The longer I spent with her, the more sentient she became.
“Can you try to reach him?” I checked my wristport and frowned. It indicated only two suns had passed since I’d left to seek a distraction. That couldn’t be right. “C? How long was I out for?”
“Sterling Peoples, your heart stayed at a sleeping rate for twenty suns and twenty moons.”
What the ever-loving fuck? I’d been passed out for two days! Where the hell was D’alton? I wiped the melon off my face, waiting for more info. He should have been back by now.
“D’alton of Clan Lasting is not responding to my coms. He has moved beyond the extent of my monitoring capabilities.”
Damn it.Feet pounding over metal grates, I bolted to my sleeping pod. A plan formed in my mind. “C, I need you to send me the coordinates of the hoverbay.” I needed a bike.
During my one trip to the surface since theFires That Cleansehad been deployed, I’d seen no sign of the hoverbike storage. If I remembered correctly, the mechanics were located on a lower floor. Wrestling on my warmest clothes, I stuffed the rest of D’alton’s apple pie in my mouth. Despite my stomach’s rumble for more of the sweet treat, I frowned. I hadn’t even thanked him for making it. I squeezed my eyes shut, mentally kicking myself for graduating to new levels of dickhood.
