17 Bullets: becoming the Werewolf Queen

Chapter 5: Loss

59 BULLETS

The next morning I woke to the loud sound of things hitting the truck roof. Sitting up hasty, Jia calmed, "it is just rain."

"Oh," I looked out and watched. I'd always loved the way rain balanced the world and smiled. But this rain was different, just like everything on this planet. Instead of small individual droplets, it was like splats of golfball sized drops. It was fascinating.

Jia handed me a biscuit and water bottle.

"Rations today I guess." We'd be soaked in seconds trying to look for food.

I was not looking forward to bathroom breaks.

We ate with the slops of rain hitting the roof as our radio.

"Can I look at your arm again?" She asked sometime after we were through.

"Oh sure." I held out my arm.

She grabbed my salve and unwrapped the gauze. She studied the wound, noticing what I did. That it was spreading. "How does it feel?"

"Still burns," I shrugged. "But not as fiery as the first few days. It's getting better."

Lies.

She shook her head. "I'm not sure it is. The blistering is still very much intact. I would expect it to be shrinking by now. But it is growing."

"Deathberry. We don't know how it works here."

Jia began to unwind a length of clean gauze. We were going through the roll way faster than I wanted.

"Hey Jia. I know this is painful, but can we cut up one of your extra scrub sets to use as bandaging? The gauze isn't helping and we should keep that for when we really need it."

She sighed. "Who is the doctor here? But I believe you are right." She dug through her shopping bag and brought out a pair of pants. "Here."

"Thank you. I know it's got to be hard losing your only possessions out here."

"Go ahead. It is alright. You only have two changes. I have many."

I was able to squish into the other pair of jeans now. Wasn't comfortable, but going bottomless while I washed the first pair was much less comfortable. Give me another week of hiking on rations, they'll fit just fine.

I sighed. What a diet plan. A magical transport to a distant planet.  Package that in a pill.

"Thanks." I grabbed my multitool and began cutting them into long lengths.

She took one when I finished and wrapped it around my arm.

"Look on the bright side," I said looking down to the underpart of my arm. "We know potatoes are edible now. On to the rambutans."

She smiled. "I hope they taste like rambutans. They are so yummy."

I nodded and looked down to my phone checking my battery. It might be a pretty boring day. There will be no sun out for charging. The fence should still work, not that any animals will want to be out in that rain either.

We nibbled some MRE cookies and told each other stories as we huddled for warmth under the sleeping bag. When we finally were quiet too long I decided to use my phone battery some more and set up a book on tape I had downloaded.

We lost ourselves to the day as we listened about a New York mystery. The fantasy breaking up the monotony of the gloomy day.

The next day the sun came out bright and early to dry the soggy ground. We checked the snares and weren't as lucky this time, though I was fairly certain they would be empty already. We hiked a bit through the muddy ground to find the rambutan tree and I had Jia test the rambutan juice to her lips and I tried a turnip.