Botanicaust (26 page)

Once she pulled up what felt like half the river, she gave Levi the roots. He sat on the bank picking at the cut on his arm. She looked from him to the infection and frowned.

He shook his head.
“
I don
’
t know what to do.
”

It needed to be drained and scrubbed.
“
I will do.
”

They set up camp in a hollow on the plain. The flame starter made things easy, and while Levi ate, Tula sterilized the knife blade and the scissors over the fire and gathered more leaves. They were out of gauze, and the yuvee seemed to be helping his burn. Maybe it would also help the cut on his arm.

When the knife was ready, she knelt in front of him and cupped his face in her hands.
“
No worry,
”
she said, and kissed him. The swelling around his eyes had diminished, and although she closed her eyes out of habit when their lips met, she opened them to find him searching her face. She saw why Mo was enamored with her blue eyes.

He pulled back and she clutched him tight.
“
Medicine,
not hurt.
”
He needed a large dose for this. He relaxed and allowed her to linger. As the chemicals passed between them, she breathed his breath, eyes on his, her own control over the chemical euphoria sliding sideways. His right hand slid around her waist and pulled her tight against him, her naked breasts crushed to the fine hair on his chest. Desire arced from her nipples to her belly as his heartbeat thrummed against her.

Her hands crept around his neck. Contact with his burn made him
shudder
, reminding her of her purpose. She was about to perform surgery, of a sort, and she needed to be clear headed. Reluctantly she broke contact, sucking his lower lip for an indulgent second before releasing altogether. He had a starry look in his eyes, pupils dilated in response to the chemicals.

He put a thumb to her lips, his face serious.
“
You are so beautiful.
”

You won
’
t think so in a minute
. She kissed his thumb and gripped his other hand with both of hers.

She tested the wound, pressing at the swollen edges. The tang of putrefaction rose from the greasy looking fluid leaking out. Bits of white flesh glistened sickly in the bright sun. He sucked in as she prodded, and all thoughts of intimacy vanished.

Her next kiss was purely clinical. To cut away the gangrene, she needed him completely drugged. Keeping her body tilted away, she placed her hands on both sides of his face, controlling the transfer.

Once satisfied with his sedation, she laid him on his stomach and straddled his out-flung arm. Willing her hand to remain steady, she applied the knife to reopen the wound. His arm twitched.

Blood and pus dribbled from his wrist. She rinsed away the fluids and then scraped away dead tissue with the back of the knife, her gag reflex vying for control. Gritting her teeth, she next used the scissors to cut away small sections and expose healthy tissue. He flopped like a fish, involuntary spasms shaking him as she worked, but he didn
’
t make a sound.

Once the entire wound had been cleaned down to fresh tissue, she rinsed again. With a length of cattail fiber, she crudely bound the leaves against his skin.

Releasing his arm, she leaned to the side to look at his face. He held the wadded blanket tight against his face.

“
Medicine?
”
she asked.

He didn
’
t move. His chest rose and fell in panting breaths. She hoped he was unconscious.

Levi had slept two days now, asking for nothing but her kisses. She forced him to drink, easing his fever with cool compresses as best she could. Today she
’
d collected seven beetles in an empty water bottle; the calm water around the tamarisk grove teemed with the creatures. If she caught one more, that would be four each. A feast.
If Levi would wake for food.

So far she
’
d seen birds, a fuzzy little black creature on the bank that disappeared into the water before she managed a close look, and a glossy-backed brown frog no bigger than her thumbnail. Why did the history books teach the Botanicaust destroyed all life? A slight movement in the water near a submerged tree caught her eye and she froze.

In a shady pool, a dull gray thing moved. She leaned closer. A big fish swayed gently in a hollow beneath the roots. Squatting in wonder, she gaped at the animal. Levi had caught a tiny fish a few days ago, but it was dead before she saw it. This fish was as long as her fingertip to elbow, and fat. The flat face looked alien, sprouting whiskers that swayed in the slight current and beady little eyes. She wondered if it could see her.

She slowly put her hand into the water. What did a fish feel like? Hard, like beetles? She hadn
’
t touched the other fish, in spite of her curiosity. The fact it had been dead bothered her.

She eased her fingers forward into the water. Could a fish hurt her? The spiny whiskers looked potentially dangerous. But Levi had never mentioned danger. She just wanted to touch its head.
Another living creature that escaped the Botanicaust.
When her hand slid close, the fish darted forward and latched onto her fingers.

Tula screamed and reared back, dragging the fish out of the river with her. It
’
s mouth in a vice around her fingers, the fish thrashed as she floundered backwards against a wall of trunks. On instinct, she bashed her hand against the nearest tree. The fish twitched and slid flopping into a shallow basin of roots.

Shaking, she looked at her fingers. Pinpricks of blood marked a line where the fish
’
s teeth had pierced her skin. The fish lay half submerged, a small trickle of blood clouding the water.
Did I kill it?
The thought horrified her. She picked up a floating stick and prodded the fish. It thrashed a few times and lay still.

She had to save it. Put it back in the water. But she didn
’
t want to get bitten again. Grasping it by the tail, she lifted it. It was heavier than she remembered, and slimy, slipping from her grip to plop into the water at her feet. Again it flopped, as if to swim away, and then lolled to the surface sideways. The huge mouth gaped open and closed once, as if gasping for breath.

Hands coated in slime, she grasped the fish around the middle, trying to make it swim. No response.

She leaned against the tamarisk. The bottle holding a few beetles bumped against her leg in the water. She killed and ate beetles without a second thought. How was the fish any different? It would be a shame to leave it here to rot.

Tucking the water bottle into the back waistband of her skirt, she used both hands to lug the fish back to camp, feeling an awful lot like a cannibal.

He woke yearning for her. How long had he lain here? His head spun with drugs, and he wanted another kiss more than anything. Not just the rush. He wanted the comfort of her lips, her hands against him, her firm breasts crushed between them.

The sound of her rummaging in the pack near his head gave him comfort. He opened his eyes, wanting one look without her knowing he was awake yet.

A dark skinned man crouched on the other side of the basket, digging through the emergency kit. Patterns of slashing scars covered his face and shoulders.

Cannibals.

A surge of fear shot through Levi and he rolled onto his back. Bolts of agony filled his vision with stars as he hit the burn on his shoulder. As his vision spun, he blinked to see a female cannibal standing over him, long brown hair straggling in multiple braids around her head. Symmetrical raised scars grotesquely covered her tanned cheeks and forehead. Strapped to her back, a dark skinned toddler peeked over her shoulder.

“
No!
”
He expected a knife at any moment, and rolled the other way, landing on his wrist. Pain shattered his consciousness again.

At the sound of a baby crying, the slimy fish slipped from Tula
’
s grip for the twentieth time. Why was a baby in the desert? Leaving the fish, she dropped to her hands and knees and crawled toward the hollow where she
’
d left Levi. And the knife, she realized. How could she be so careless? Smoke drifted lazily upward from the campfire, and she kicked herself for leaving it burning. Of course, if cannibals were about, they would spot the fire. She
’
d led them right to a helpless Levi.

Creeping toward the camp, she prepared herself for the worst. Maybe they hadn
’
t killed him yet. Mo told stories of cannibals leaving their victims alive to transport them. But at this stage, Levi couldn
’
t even walk. They had no reason to let him live.

Next to the fire, a woman sat cross-legged with her back to Tula, brown hair in small braids down her back. The tiny feet of a child hung off one side of her lap as she nursed. Levi lay where Tula had left him, either unconscious or dead.

Certainly this woman didn
’
t travel alone? Easing forward a tiny bit more, Tula looked past a stand of amarantox. Her heart thundered in her ears, drowning out the little noises the woman sang to her child. Maybe she could rush in and overpower the woman while she was occupied with the baby.

When she turned away from the camp, a pair of dark-skinned feet splayed across the red rock directly in front of her. The sharp tip of a spear pressed the hollow between her neck and collarbone. Her muscles seized.

Without moving anything but her eyes, she let her sight travel up the legs and body to a man
’
s face. His skin was covered with light lines of keloid scarification. Tufts of kinky hair stood out around his head. He wore a loose loincloth made of some sort of skin. And the point of his spear was very sharp.

“
What are you?
”
Cannibal dialect, but she understood well enough.

Dry air rasped in and out of her throat, but no words. Caught. Cannibals caught her, again. Her worst nightmares ended just like this.
Remember to bluff. Don
’
t show weakness
.
“
I am Haldanian Protectorate?
”
The words came out more of a question than a threat.