Page 81 of Stranded with the Alien

Thirty Six

Rocky was waiting outside with not one but two dead fowl. Feathers and blood round his mouth suggested there had been at least three at one point, but he’d decided to have breakfast early.

He looked at them quizzically as they came out of the tent, the scar over his eye giving him a ‘what the hell haveyoubeen up to’ expression. Kara giggled.

“Good dog,” she said, patting his head. It struck her that he was now as tall as her waist and his paws were like dinner plates. He seemed to be having a growth spurt every other hour.

Vahn plucked one of the birds while Kara tried to copy his actions with the other. They prepared the food in silence. Kara cast a surreptitious glance at the Vraxian as he squatted by the tent. He didn’t seem bothered in the least that he had no clothes on.

Her eyes dropped to his nether regions. He still seemed semi-erect even after last night’s exertions and she felt a tingling in her own underbelly. Hurriedly she looked away.

When they had the meat spitted and roasting over a fire, Kara got to her feet.

“That’s going to take a while. I need a wash. Do you think the river’s safe?”

“I will accompany you.” His tone brooked no argument.

He brought the blaster and the laser-blade down to the riverbank for good measure, and insisted on going in first to make sure it was safe. Kara rolled her eyes.

The water was crystal clear, which meant if therewasanything in there, they’d see it coming a mile off. She decided she couldn’t wait for Mr Macho Alien to give the all-clear.

She shrugged off her shirt and dived gracefully into the river with barely a ripple. The current was firm but not too strong, and the steady flow against her body was cool and refreshing.

She surfaced to find Vahn scowling furiously.

“You were supposed to wait.”

“Relax, snake-boy. I’m a good swimmer.” She smoothed her hair back, squeezing the ends. “Shame we don’t have any soap.”

“On Vraxos when there is no soap, we use sand. It feels pleasant against our scales.”

“That’s a great idea. Nothing like a good exfoliation. Hang on.”

She flipped like an otter and dove down to the river bed, grabbing a handful of the fine silt on the bottom. She bobbed up in front of Vahn. The water reached her chest but was only waist deep for him. She tilted her head to look at him.

“May I?”

He nodded.

She rubbed the sand onto his chest, using a circular motion to draw it across his scales. His eyes closed in bliss and she was startled to see his skin change color from blue to lilac.

“I guess you’re enjoying this?” she hazarded. He gave an answering growl of contentment. “If you lift me I’ll do your shoulders.”

He slipped one of his serpetri around her waist and lifted her till she was face to face. She stroked the sand onto his collarbone and shoulders, frowning in concentration as she worked it into his deltoids and trapezii.

“Is that too hard?”

“It is perfect. Let me return the favor.”

“No, it’s okay, you don’t have to.”

“Kara, why do you never ask for things for yourself?”

“Sorry?”

Confused, she let her hands rest on his shoulders.

“You are so stubborn, so annoyingly unrelenting when it comes to helping others and yet you never accept comfort for yourself. I am wondering what happened to make you that way.”

---