Page 15 of In Darkness and Dank

Oh, shit. Not just him.

The monster must have been shot too.

Concern spiked through Kittisak’s muddled thoughts, and he hoped that the monster was okay. He was fairly certain that the monster was the one who had been taking care of him, so he assumed that he had survived. Not knowing for sure was worrying him though, and he hoped the monster would return soon.

Kittisak had a fuzzy memory of the monster cuddling with him, and he couldn’t help but smile.

The monster had saved his life.

Kittisak used his hands to wash off the mud, and he suspected the awful smelling stuff was responsible for his miraculous recovery. He’d been shot at least twice, plus there were all the big scratches from the monster’s claws. Between lacerations and bullet holes, he should’ve bled out. There was no logical explanation for it.

Then again, there wasn’t anything logical about being saved by a giant aquatic monster and taken to a mysterious cave to be healed with some nasty mud.

Kittisak gingerly touched his chest, trying to check his injuries.

All that remained were scars—two large round ones from the bullet wounds and long slivers from the monster’s claws.

He couldn’t believe it.

These should have taken weeks to heal, and he didn’t think he’d been passed out for quite that long. He really wanted to know what was in that damn mud.

The rocks here in the cave and down in the bottom of the pool were much lighter than the mud, and Kittisak wasn’t sure where it had come from. He figured the monster must have brought it from somewhere else to help him, and he was touched by the effort to save his life.

Once he’d gotten all the mud off, he lamented that he probably should have tried to drink some of the water before creating a dirty cloud around himself in the pool. He tried to shoo the soiled water away and used his hands to scoop some up from a clear spot for a taste.

The flavor was…

Well, it wasn’t bad exactly, but it definitely wasn’t great either.

It was sharp, acidic, but he was so thirsty that he didn’t care. He scooped up more water, drinking until he thought he was going to be sick. He tried to wash out his boxers, but they remained dingy brown no matter how hard he scrubbed at them. He leaned his head back against the edge of the pool and closed his eyes, trying to finish collecting his thoughts.

Being alive was pretty damn awesome, but he needed to figure out how to get out of here and back to the others. He hoped Browning and Hutte were all right, Paiva too. He really didn’t care about Denninger, Bissell, or Zimm as he was pretty bitter about being shot, and he wasn’t sure which one of those jerks had done it.

Firm hands grabbed Kittisak’s hips, and he jumped, his eyes snapping open to find the monster standing on the ledge in front of him.

“You!” Kittisak gasped.

The monster trilled, and he checked over Kittisak’s chest and side worriedly. He patted over the scars and fussed.

“I’m okay,” Kittisak insisted. “Really.”

The monster apparently didn’t believe him and continued to prod over the scars. He bumped his forehead against Kittisak’s, murmuring, “Worry.”

“Worry?” Kittisak was stunned to hear him say something in English that wasn’t an echo. “You’re worried about me?”

The monster nodded.

“I’m okay. I’m better than okay. Hell, I’m alive.” Kittisak laughed. He tried not to squirm as the monster checked over his side because it tickled a bit, and he didn’t know what to do with his arms as he was examined. “Thank you. You know, for saving my life.”

“Prrrrrp?” The monster cocked his head.

“You saved me.” Kittisak touched the scar on his chest where he’d been shot. “Thank you.”

The monster tentatively covered Kittisak’s hand with his own, and he nodded. “Save.”

“Are you okay? Were you hurt?” Kittisak quickly searched the monster’s body for any sign of damage, but he didn’t see anything obvious.

The monster chirped.

---