Page 8 of Fall

Before she realized what he was doing, he smeared the leaves onto thedeep, painful cut.

She whimpered slightly as the leaves stung the wound, but, before shecould object or pull away, the sensations grew blessedly numb. The leaves mustbe painkillers.

“Oh. Thanks.” She didn’t feel particularly generous, but she realizedthat at least he’d been trying to help.

He stood up, looming above her. Realizing his silent demand, Lenna sighedand leaned forward to grab the sack of berries at his feet.

When she glanced up, from a different angle, she noticed something new. Somethingthat made her twitch in surprise.

She looked away quickly and stumbled to her feet. He hadn’t even offeredher a hand.

He grunted something else and motioned for her to get moving, hisexpression impatient and annoyed.

Lenna blinked and started walking, her leg feeling a lot better, althoughher feet were still killing her.

Well, one of her questions was answered. This Hairy Man was definitelyhuman—as human as the sleek, handsome leader.

At least, what she’d seen under his animal skin tunic was decidedlyhuman. And male.

He hadn’t been wearing any undergarments.

And he had been hard.

She wasn’t quite sure what to do with that information, except for cringea little bit at the thought. Hopefully, she hadn’t been the thing that hadturned him on. The idea of having sex with such a rough, hairy creature was notan appealing one.

Now, if the Gorgeous One offered—and wasn’t an asshole—then maybe she’dconsider it. Butthisone—this one couldn’t even be bothered to bathe.

Surely he hadn’t gotten turned on looking at her bruised, bloody leg. Thingswere weird enough here as it was.

He certainly wasn’t acting on lust. He was already a distance ahead ofher, and there had been no warmth or interest on his face.

She was stuck on this planet. That much was inevitable. And she hadlittle chance of surviving on her own. Lenna had always been practical. It washow she’d managed to remain so completely independent all her life. She’dlearned to make do with whatever help she was offered, but only for as long asshe needed it.

But if a big, smelly caveman expected to have sex with her, she wouldhave to make other plans.

For now, she wasn’t going to worry about it. It could have just been afluke. None of the men here seemed to have been swept away by her femininity.

Hurrying to keep up and trying to ignore her aching hunger and the painin her muscles, Lenna followed the Hairy Man to wherever he was going.

Maybe it was hunting that turned him on.

Two

The followingafternoon, the Hairy Man killed a large grazing animal that moved in herds andlooked a lot like a deer.

They’d been walking endlessly—and to no purpose as far as Lenna coulddetermine—when they finally saw a small group of the animals in the distance.All of the men went after the deer, but the Hairy Man was the only one whokilled one.

To Lenna’s relief, this was evidently the goal of their expedition, andthey immediately strung up the dead animal and turned toward some mountains inthe distance to the east, carrying the carcass with them.

Lenna was weak and exhausted and anxious, but she was deeply relievedwhen they finally reached a large cave set in a small grouping of hills as thesun was going down. A couple dozen men, women, and children came running out ofthe cave to greet the hunting party.

This must be where the tribe, clan, or troupe had a permanent residence.

She had no idea what would be waiting for her here, but at least shewouldn’t have to keep walking.

A few kids came up to check her out—poke her shoulder and touch herhair—but everyone else simply ignored her. It was a strange and disconcertingfeeling, to be so completely irrelevant that no one even noticed her presence.

She stayed at a distance and watched, finding a mostly flat rock to siton, catch her breath, and observe as the men started a large bonfire in theopen space outside the cave and the women began to skin and gut the deer.

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