Page 10 of 20% Blood 80%
The impact of my crash landing had finally caught up with me, turning my struggling mind to mush. I craved a warm, dark room and a sweet, life-giving vein so badly my hands trembled against my grungy pants.
“These are the remaining biomes to the left.”
What? When had he started giving me a tour? I forced myself upright. “Are there animals to hunt?” Had I zoned out during his answer about the air?
Something ripe and smelling of green replaced the rancid, rotting odor that had been clogging my nose since Sterling had welcomed me to his home. Five foggy windows soared floor to ceiling along one corridor, reaching taller than the swooping fans. They extended beyond the mazeof black ducts like bright bubbles. A smile split my lips. My fingers itched to bury themselves in the rich, earthy soil, but the deep throb in my head stole the moment.
“Nah, there are no animals.” He looked at me like I was crazy. “Wait here while I grab a pail of water.” He jogged to the door and held his palm to the reader, and the rich green scent grew stronger, wafting to me through the open door.
Yeah, not going anywhere, handsome Earther.
Moments later, he slid a full bucket onto the chair’s arm. “Let’s hope with C’s help we can get you back to normal.” With deliberate care, Sterling tipped the chair over a raised lip into a small pod, sloshing cool water over my shoulder. “Shit, sorry.”
“S’okay.” I swallowed hard as his potent scent reached me and tightened my grip on the chair. A fresh bead of perspiration dripped down my chin. My fangs extended, and I groaned, wanting more.
“Hang on. Relief is just around the corner.”
Not likely.
I tried to shake it, but my instincts homed in on his heartbeat and the rapid-fire pulse in his neck. The sounds roared like a torrent of water in my ears. He rustled around in a compartment under a thin mattress. Did he sleep in this little can? He couldn’t even stand upright in here.
The far side of the pod, a chair’s length away, housed his bed, which was built into an egg-shaped hollow. Drinking containers overflowed with green sludge from a small, raised ledge near his mattress. Crumpled gray overalls hung off a hook inside the doorless entry my chair was currently parked in, and another pair stuck out from beneath the table. A viewscreen hung from the low roof in the hollow above his mattress. The only orderlything was a row of gleaming tools lined up along a curved shelf. Sterling Peoples was messy.
Why were we here? My leg tingled, the throbbing changing to numbness, and I worried the damage might be permanent if I didn’t treat it soon.
Saliva pooled in my mouth as Sterling moved toward me, clutching a small case. “That’s all you got?” I asked.
Sterling placed the med kit on my lap, and I tried to bite back my frustration at its woefully tiny size. The Earther was doing his best. How far had he carried me? I was just so damn tired.
“Yeah.” He scratched his tangled hair. “Shit, I’m not much of a medic. Hey, C, any idea where we can find a better med kit and…maybe a low occupancy level that might have a decent bed?” His eyes jumped from the dirty dishes overflowing his table to the laundry piled in the corner, and his foot tapped an erratic beat on the grated floor. “Damn it, I’m messing up.” Sterling raked his fingers through his long hair, swearing when they caught in the elastic. “Why didn’t I ask C before I brought you all the way down here? I keep forgetting it’s safe beyond this level.”
I ran my tongue over my teeth, lingering on the left fang at the possibility of sharing a room. “Don’t worry about it, Sterling. I can manage.” How? I didn’t know, but easing his discomfort was paramount.
“Can you call me Silver—”
C interrupted. “Hello, Sterling Peoples. I am happy to help.” Her cheerful voice lessened the tension until it was just about manageable.
Silver. I liked the sound of his name. It felt familiar. But even more than the warmth that built under my skin as I rolled the sound of the letters over my tongue, I liked that he’d trusted me with his less formal name.
Determined to make things easier for him, I twisted to reach the bucket and groaned at the searing agony that ripped through my rib cage.
He placed the bucket in my lap, and I nodded in gratitude.
“D’alton of Clan Lasting, level ten is equipped to accommodate overflow from the level fifteen med bay. It’s unfortunate, but the coolers have lost their power source and the blood bank will have spoiled. They do have a health meter and revive gel and various remedies to accommodate the many species employed on Thermal Station C. You should recover quite well there.”
Blant! Now what? I poked at my lifeless leg.Is this the beginning of blood fever?
Silver frowned. “Shit, do you need a blood transfusion?” His gaze mapped my leg. “It’s mostly stopped bleeding. Here, take this.” He opened up a packet and shook a tablet into my palm. “It should help take the edge off.”
Revive gel would get me by for now, and with a fresh mantu kill, the bloodlust might be held at bay. For a while.
C carried on, and I got the impression that without the AI, Silver would not have made it this far. “The cooling unit is under repair on level nine. All occupants were rehoused while repairs took place—”
“C, get to the point.” Silver knocked over a drinking container, and I smiled at his attempt to tidy.
C’s laugh sounded like it came from inside a tin can. “There will be empty rooms on level nine, but they may be a little on the toasty side.”
I rinsed my face, putting all my strength into holding my arms steady. “I must look like I’ve been rolled in Lizzard dung and left out to rot.” My hair would never get clean with a sponge and bucket. “Sola, what I wouldn’t do for a cold shower and a bloody mantu steak.”
