Lavender & Ice

8. An Injury

Ashima was going to go crazy if she didn't find something to do. A job, a task. Cooking or cleaning, even some kind of leisure activity. She had spent an entire day yesterday doing nothing but sit around inside this tent. The large alien had sat her out two pieces of jerky and a pitcher of water and left the tent early in the morning. With firm motions with his hands and stern facial features, he had made it clear he wanted her to stay and not leave the tent. He hadn't returned until dark, and then he just sat behind his desk looking through papers for hours before going to bed.

She didn't think she could make it through the boredom again today. Even the toilet and the shower was inside this tent, if you could call them that. She had always been an explorer, an adventure seeker. She was going stir crazy. She even found herself missing tv or internet to just binge watch a show or browse social media. Two things she rarely wasted her time doing.

She flung herself backwards onto her cot. At least it was a little warmer here than in that medical tent, and this floor had rugs. She blew out a breath and rolled onto her side.

"I'd even gladly read one of those cheesy romance novels Celine is always going on about." She said to herself with a chuckle but her heart clenched at the thought of her friend. Had she made it onto the planet as well? Did anyone else? Was anyone found and rescued, even on other planets? Or were they all... whether lost in space or lost in the frozen planet, she didn't want to picture that outcome for her friends and colleagues.

She looked up through the nearly translucent material that let light into the tent. It would be getting dark in a few hours. She got up out of the cot and lay on the floor, preparing to do yet another round of yoga when the door flung open and Kietnan burst into the tent, the door closing itself behind him from the force.

She gasped and stood up in alarm. "What's wrong?"

He ignored her and walked unsteadily to the crates beside the table. He began to look through them furiously but stopped to take deep breaths. She watched in fear, not sure what was happening. When he continued his assault on the supplies, liquid dripping onto the carpet caught her eye. It was practically black and thicker than the watery liquids she'd seen in the jars.

Realization dawned on her and she rushed closer to him. "Are you bleeding? Are you hurt?" He ignored her again as he grabbed a jar of dark paste. He sat the jar on the table, along with a mug of water, and a few strips of cloth.

Removing his thin jacket and his top, throwing them on the floor, he took in long breaths as if fighting terrible pain from his actions. Ashima gasped in horror at the sight of his shoulder. He had deep gashes that stretched from the middle of his left pectoral muscle, around the crest of his shoulder, to just below the shoulder blade. Dried blood caked around the wound while fresh blood was still slowly leaking out in some places.  He sat at the table and soaked one of the cloths in the mug of water. With a wince and a growl he proceeded to clean off his wound, beginning in the front.

Ashima shook her head to clear herself from the shock and stepped around to face him. "You're hurt, why didn't you go to the medical tent?!" She shouted at him. He simply continued to ignore her. "What happened?! Were you attacked by something?" She continued her panicked questioning and he continued ignoring her and cleaned his wounds. He made it to the top of his shoulder and stopped, closing his eyes and drawing in a deep breath.

Her fearful panic calmed a bit as she focused instead on the man before her. He was in pain and here she was drilling him for answers. She softened her voice and stepped closer to him. "Let me get your back." He simply looked at her outstretched hand for a moment before shaking his head and reaching his arm up to stretch further. He stopped immediately and winced in pain.