Page 36 of Consumed
“Isaac,” Con said, pointing, and Oh-a-cha-aw repeated it. It was the weirdest round of introductions ever.
But there was still business to attend to.
“Listen,” Con said to Oh-a-cha-aw. “If we let you go, you can’t bite… people. Find other ways to learn. Do you understand?”
“No more eat-know. Yes. No more dead.”
Maybe the orc was lying. But when Isaac walked over to one of the lanterns, picked up a key, and brought it back, Con took it. And then he unlocked the chains.
Oh-a-cha-aw collapsed to the floor, but Con and Isaac helped him up. Con lifted his own shirt from the floor and handed it to Oh-a-cha-aw, who put it on eagerly. It didn’t fit well but was better than nothing. Flanked by Con and Isaac, the three left the shed and slowly walked around to the front of the houses.
The children saw them first and began to howl, and then the adults came running. Trish was the last to arrive, descending from her porch with a yawn. She was the only one who came anywhere close to them, and if she was afraid or angry, she didn’t show it. If anything, she seemed amused. “You could do anything you wanted with him and you gave him your clothes?”
“Maybe one you has a pair of pants he could have? The Bureau will reimburse—” Con stopped, feeling awkward.
“I don’t think anything we have is gonna fit him.”
Good point. The coyotes were short and sinewy; Oh-a-cha-aw was as tall as Con and more muscular.
“Trish, I am very grateful for your gift. I know you chose it specially for me and your people spent time and money obtaining it. Obtaininghim. Some of your people might have been injured.”
“It ain’t a good fight if nobody’s bleeding.”
Isaac chuckled, and Con couldn’t blame him. But he wanted to make sure Trish’s fur wasn’t ruffled. “I really hope this doesn’t offend you, because I certainly don’t intend it to. And I consider your gift extremely valuable. But I’m going to free him, and I ask that your people let him and his people be. Please.” He prepared himself for a backlash.
But Trish simply shrugged. “He’s yours. If you wanna let him go, that’s up to you. Ain’t my business, anymore’n it’s your business where I put those nice blankets you brought.”
Although Con wasn’t entirely comfortable analogizing a sentient being to bedding, he let it go. “Thank you. I hope this doesn’t sour our relationship.”
“Honey, if you’re worried about our agreement with your Bureau, don’t be. It makes good sense for us. And if you can be respectful to an orc, especially after what they did to you, I bet that means you’ll be respectful to other folks too—and not just humans.”
Con’s sigh of relief was so loud that they probably heard it in Los Angeles.
* * *
Oh-a-cha-aw had been in a vehicle only once before, and since that was right after the coyotes captured him, he hadn’t enjoyed it. Now he was intrigued, but due to his recent grueling experience, he fell asleep almost as soon as they got rolling.
After some quiet conversation, Con and Isaac decided the best option was to drive the orc back to where the coyotes had found him. They stopped first at the hotel, where Isaac grabbed a pair of sweatpants for Oh-a-cha-aw and then flatly refused to be left behind. “I can sleep while you drive, dude, but I’m not leaving you alone.”
So Con drove while Isaac played with the radio, and the orc… dreamed orc dreams, maybe. It was a four-hour trip, according to the map, and darkness fell about halfway there. Con stopped at a Circle K for gas and another haul of convenience-store foods. When Oh-a-cha-aw woke up, they discovered that orcs were vegetarians, which maybe made sense. They might not want to learn anything from a ham sandwich. He was happy to drink a lot of water, however, and eat the apples and bananas Con had bought in an attempt to consume at least a little healthy food.
As the three of them sat in the SUV in a dark spot not far off the highway, munching away, Isaac twisted around to look in the back seat. “Hey. Do you need tobiteto learn?”
“Eat-know,” was the answer. Con had a sense that the orc language had a word meaning exactly that.
Isaac wasn’t satisfied. “Right. So if I gave you a little bit of my blood, would you learn from that?”
“Sorry?” Oh-a-cha-aw said that whenever he didn’t understand. He seemed to be genuinely trying, but the language barrier was significant.
“Like this.” Isaac pulled out a small knife, startling both Con and Oh-a-cha-aw, and before Con could stop him, he’d sliced a shallow groove atop his own left forearm.
“What the hell!” Con cried.
“Tsk. Language. It’s nothing—you can doctor me up in a sec.” Isaac stuck his bleeding arm back between the seats, almost into the face of a very wide-eyed orc. “No teeth, right? Just tongue.” Isaac stuck out his own to demonstrate.
Oh-a-cha-aw mumbled something that sounded very much like a prayer—even if Con couldn’t understand a word—bent forward, and with great delicacy lapped at Isaac’s arm. He took only a few swipes before sitting back again; by then the bleeding had already stopped. Maybe there was some kind of clotting agent in his saliva. That would explain why Con hadn’t exsanguinated even after the orcs had taken big chunks out of him.
“Good,” said Oh-a-cha-aw. “Eat-know. I know Isaac.” Then his eyes went unfocused and he slumped a little.
