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?? CHAPTER 8 ??
Macie
I pause in my note-taking once Ryle is out of the cavern. It’s disconcerting how I miss him a little once he’s left me. How much his touch makes me shiver. I’ve barely known the man - the alien - for a minute.
He’s learning more of my language than I have of his. His contains sounds that I can’t imitate. So far, all I’ve managed to do is butcher his name. I sigh down at my tablet. Perhaps there’s a way to make a cross-language dictionary? A daunting task. We’ve got simpler, more important problems. Like, how the heck are we going to find our way back if this storm won’t stop?
At least one problem I can solve easily now that I’m alone. I pull out my tiny sewing kit and settle on the ground. I unzip my suit and slide my arms out of it, then twist it around so that I can at least sew the collar back together. This is a little silly - I don’t know why I wanted to wait until Ryle left. I’m not entirely bare beneath the jumpsuit. I am wearing a bra. Plus, I’ve already seen him naked.
Maybe that’s why I needed him to leave. I don’t want to think about nakedness around him. I don’t want to think about that drawing again.
I giggle under my breath. It was pretty funny. I can laugh now that I’m certain he won’t act upon his art. That definitely can’t happen. No matter how nice it’s been to hold his hand.
It’s warm in these caverns, and I’m sure that I’ll hear Ryle’s heavy-footed approach when he returns, so I leave my suit open. I snack on a few of my pocket rations and start taking pictures of the stones. Some of them contain paintings and some of them carvings, some symbols, some drawings. I climb one scaffold after another, taking photos of each flat stone from several angles.
I find many circular charts amongst the stacks. Star maps? Planetary movements? That will be extremely useful. Practically a cheat sheet for my project. I’ll have an easier time examining them when I adjust the contrast on the photos.
I’ve made it halfway through the middle row when I catch movement out of the corner of my eye. “Ryle?” I ask. Nothing answers. Did some animal sneak in? I climb down from my current selection in the middle of the room and peer around the corner. No sound or movement from the mushroom cave. All’s quiet.
Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me. I’m more rattled than I thought. And dehydrated. I really should go catch up with Ryle in the first cave. I should take a break. It isn’t as if these stones are going anywhere. I nod to myself. Good idea. I slip my tablet in my pocket and start to pull up the top half of my suit when something dark lands on my shoulder.
I scream.
I drop the sleeves and I flail and I slap at the many-legged thing. Is it a fucking alien spider?!
It scurries across the back of my neck. “Shit shit shit! Get off of me!” I slap at myself and dance around in a frantic circle.
Tiny sharp teeth pierce my skin, right where my neck meets my shoulder.
I scream again, hands clapped over my face in terror. Well, that’s it. This is how I die. Bitten by a spider on the wrong damn planet. I swoon and my knees give out.
Powerful arms catch me before I can slam to the ground. Ryle slaps the bug flat, jolting a yelp out of me. “Ow!” He wipes the dead bug away and plants his mouth over where I was bitten.
His lips are firm. His breath is so warm. When he sucks, hard, I nearly fall down again. It hurts, and it’s so hot at the same damn time. How can this be happening? Heat roils through me, and I cross my legs against a very inappropriate wave of arousal. Aren’t I fucking dying? Ryle spits and then sucks on my skin again.
“Pretty sure it’s too late for that, big guy,” I say. I’m feeling weak. Dizzy. Overheated and overwhelmed. My fingers dig into his arm. God, his muscles are so hard. He could have protected me against any large predator, any monster than would try to come at us. Not a spider, though. I guess we’re all helpless in the face of a spider. The thought makes me giggle.
You don’t giggle when you’re dying, right? Can I hope that I’m okay after all?
Ryle spits and sucks twice more before steadying me on my feet to examine my face. I’m... okay? Is it too early to tell? I know snakebites go fast, but I’m not even an expert on earth arachnids, nevermind whatever bit me here.
“Okay?” he asks.
I rub at the spot. “Hurts,” I mutter. I still feel so unsteady. It must be the adrenaline. I have no nausea, no fever. Just shaky knees and an unseemly dampness between my legs.
It doesn’t help when Ryle pushes my hand away and plants his lips on my neck once more. He’s more gentle now. He runs his tongue over the bite mark. Around it. Can he taste if there’s venom there? And his tongue, it’s kind of bumpy. Textured. It feels like nothing I’ve ever felt before, and fills my head with some very dirty thoughts. His lips linger for a longer moment before he pulls away. “Maysee.”
I shiver.
The gentle touch of his ridged tongue is not something I was prepared for. He examines my face before licking my neck again. Inquisitive this time. Testing me. Watching my reaction. I feel my cheeks flush with heat, and I have to bite my lip to hold back a moan. Wow. I should not be this aroused right now. What the hell has come over me?
“Okay?” he asks.
I don’t know how to answer that. This is getting out of hand. I can’t just stand here and let this alien lick me. Now that I’m sure I’m actively dying, we’ve got to get back to business. I step away from him and rub my neck. No pain, really. Just a slight sting.
“Okay,” I say. “I think.”
He reaches for my hand. “Water.”
Right. That’s one of our priorities right now. That’s where the dizziness came from. It was panic and dehydration, not from some spider alien venom. I shudder at the thought. “Yes. Water.” I take his hand and let him lead me out of the cavern.
