Page 42 of Heart of the Hunted
"I already told you, I don't need a lot of sleep," he said, holding his hand out to help her when she reached the top, but just like before, she batted it away. "We will more than likely find my friends before I need to sleep next."
"Seriously?" she asked, looking surprised by his answer as she closed the lid on the underground hovel.
"Yes, seriously."
Once she was ready, they started walking in the direction he had last seen Arun and Dain.
"But you said you don't know where your friends are, so it could take days to find them for all you know."
"That's very true," he agreed. "But that doesn't change my answer. I can go long periods of time without any sleep."
"Wow! I need sleep every night,” she said. “At least six hours’ worth, or I'm like a zombie all day."
"What's a zombie?" he asked, confused.
"It's like a dead person walking around."
"Really? Like a Vampire?" he asked, raising both eyebrows.
"Yeah, really," she told him. "But nothing like a Vampire. Zombies come back to life and eat people."
"That I'd like to see,” Taredd said. “I've never seen a dead person get up once they're dead."
"I bet you've seen a lot of dead people," she said.
"Yes, I have," he said.
"I bet you also killed most of them, didn't you?" she said.
"I've killed my fair share, yes, I don't deny that," he told her honestly, but added defensively: "But did I kill them all? No, I didn't."
"Okay, then,” she dragged out the words before she added: "No need to get your knickers in a twist."
"I don't wear knickers," he said, disgusted at the idea of wearing female underwear.
"For fuck sake, it's only a saying." She laughed.
"Well, how was I supposed to know? It's just like your zombie comment," he told her. "Where the hell did that come from anyway?"
"Oh, I read it in a book once," she said.
"Really? You can read?"
Natalia punched him in the arm. Taredd didn't know if she intended on hurting him, but it didn't come anywhere close.
"What was that for?" he asked.
"Yes, I can read,” she told him angrily.
"I'm sorry if I offended you, but I didn't think any of your kind could still read after all these years," he said sincerely.
It really wasn't his intention to offend her by his questions, he just didn't realize the Humans still taught their young how to read. It wasn't as if it was something that could save their lives if it came to it. So, he just assumed it had died out like most things they used to do.
They walked in silence for a while before he finally asked: "If you don't mind me asking, how did you learn? Is it something you taught yourself?"
"No, my mother taught me when I was young."
Now he seemed to have upset her, yet he didn't know how. All he did was ask a question. It didn't seem to matter what he did or said, Taredd was always be putting his foot in it with her. She was either pissed off with him, or upset over something he said.
