Page 61 of Planet Zero
He didn’t want her that way, Addie told herself, rubbing her neck. He was merely pissed at her for treating him, at finding himself unconscious and helpless under her hands, and he lashed out as a scare tactic,knowinghow uncomfortable she felt around For men. Well, it worked. It would be a long time before she came near Zoark and his body again.
Feeling marginally more in control, she eyed him with distaste. Alien Neanderthal.
But god, he was strong. Even when he was weak, he was strong, and even in his foreignness… lovely.
“Where is that brother of mine?” Zoark rotated his head around as if checking the teepee for Oh’nil’s presence even though he knew they were alone.
Addie stood up on shaky legs and took two steps toward the door. “If I see him, I’ll send him over.”
Picking up her medical sack, mindless of supplies still scattered around, she stumbled out of Zoark’s teepee.
Chapter 19
Following the assembly, the mood of excited anticipation descended on the settlement. Men started sharpening and packing tools to be carried with them. Women began sorting through their belongings and gathering provisions to sustain the tribe while on the road. Scouts went out in the direction of their projected path.
Chele showed Addie how to roll up the furs and tie them with ropes to form backpacks, and how to hang pots filled with provisions on both sides. The two of them went over who would carry what stuff and made more rope.
In an unexpected development, Melmie gave Addie the old boots that she’d outgrown. They were a tad too large for Addie and worn out in places, but they would protect her feet on their long trek over the mountains, and she was beyond pleased.
Her only concern remained her healing ribs. The significant weight of the possessions she’d be required to carry over a long distance, walking for days, worried her, but it couldn’t be helped. She bundled her torso in a tight wrap for support and called it a day.
On the morning of the move, the tribe rose early. Families ate a quick meal prepared in advance, Chemmusaayl said a few words of blessing thanking this place and asking Nature to be kind to the people on their quest, and gave a signal to disassemble the teepees. As one, women quickly took the furs and skins off the frames and rolled them up in practiced motions.
Boys received permission to knock off the wooden frames, and they swarmed the bare poles, hitting the wood with their clubs, pulling, destroying. Oh’na grabbed a pole too and was yanking it loose from the rope tying it to other poles. People laughed and Addie smiled, too.
With a last glance at the abandoned camp, they set off.
She experienced a twinge of nostalgia. So much happened to her in the recent few months. They were likely never going to return to these parts - For rarely did in one person’s lifetime. Their planet was vast, and they roamed it freely, owning no one place yet claiming it all.
She trudged on like a good little soldier, looking back at the broken bones of their settlement as they got smaller and smaller until the hills and dense vegetation swallowed them from view.
And then she only looked forward.
Predictably, all men walked ahead of the womenfolk except for the two warriors who were bringing up the line. By weight, men carried most of their belongings including the heaviest tools and weapons. Each had a massive sack strapped to his back, and a smaller one on the front. Women didn’t have a front pack, especially those with small children that required carrying.
Addie tried to avoid being obvious about it, but her eyes kept returning to Zoark. If she didn’t have intimate knowledge of his wounds, she would never have guessed he had any. He walked next to Oh’nil at the back of their formation but not as far back as she, and it gave her an excellent opportunity to observe him. He carried an axe and a spear, and the same amount of stuff as every other man except Chemmusaayl whose sack looked smaller than Oh’na’s. Zoark’s shoulders didn’t bend under his load. He kept pace easily with his brother and sister despite the slight lurch every other step. He was thinner and paler than his brother, with deep grooves on both sides of his mouth and dark shadows under his hooded eyes, but otherwise, he blended in with the rest of the male population of their tribe.
How did he do it? He must be hurting now. He had lost a lot of blood. He had a concussion.
As if sensing her eyes on him, he turned and caught her looking. He read pity in her eyes and his face tightened with annoyance.
Addie averted her eyes. Really, what was the point of looking? He needed no minders, and he wanted none. And if she had to worry about someone, she should worry about herself. Zoark with his issues and his buttheaded, combative disposition had no place in her life except as a passing acquaintance. A chance person. Someone she had known.
Someone who shared with her the secret of Timpho grass juice.
Someone who killed the Tek for her.
Someone who saved her from the Wrennlin.
Someone who made her… feel human again.
???
The tribe’s first rest stop allowed only a brief respite. People barely had time to take off their load and quickly eat a small snack before Chief Net’ok announced the break to be over. The first walkers already started moving forward when harassed Addie ran to a dense patch of vegetation nearby to relieve herself, silently cursing For bodies that didn’t require drinking and, as a result, didn’t need to empty themselves of excess liquid.
Addie painstakingly hid her potty business and not only for the usual privacy reasons. With her membership in the tribe tenuous at best, she didn’t relish explaining yet another “weird” aspect of her physiology to the likes of Chemmusaayl and Vuskas. Oh’na had caught her once, crouched behind a rock, and boy, had she had questions. Addie had had a helluva time explaining that one.
By the end of the day - or rather, soon after the first stop - the novelty of being on the move had worn off. Children were the first to herald the waning interest with complaints that quickly escalated into whining. Amused, Addie discovered that flopping on one’s back and kicking legs while screaming loudly was not an exclusive prerogative of Earth's children.
