Page 39 of Fresh Flesh

Joras

The snowfinally melts after two weeks, and we can continue our journey. It’s a lot slower going than it was before.

Now I have to be mindful of Gregoran patrols. In the landlocked portions of the continent, zoomers are quite prevalent. Out here on the coast, they are not as useful and therefore more rare. The sight of one cruising along, especially one that has a human woman in tow, is going to draw interest at the very least.

We have to try and keep trees overhead to prevent our being sighted. That, and we travel at night when there is no cover available. The further we go, the more tense Maisie becomes.

She still won’t tell me where we are going, or what we are going to do when we get there. She remains adamant that she’s coming with me back to the Vegas farm, to live with Mlarx and Lurg. But I can’t help but worry. I don’t think she’d lie to me, but what if something happens she’s not planned for?

I feel like if I knew more, I could prepare for such an eventuality. Unfortunately, I don’t want to broach the subject. I like spending our nights making love by the firelight.

On the sixth day of the third week since I’d left Mlarx and Lurg, the latter calls me on comms.

“Damn it all, Joras, where the hell are you? Mlarx and I are having a hard time covering for you with central command.”

“Is Maisie all right?” Mlarx blurts. I can imagine him having grabbed the comm unit out of Lurg’s hand.

“Maisie is fine,” Maisie hollers. “Hi boys. I miss you both a lot.”

“Then you should come home, Maisie,” Lurg says.

“I will, I promise. We just have to take care of something first.”

“And what is it you need to take care of?”

Maisie doesn’t answer, and the comm starts getting a lot of static.

“I’m losing you. We’ll be back soon, I promise.”

The comm loses the signal completely, and I stuff it back into my pack.

We fly along a route called the Pacific Crest trail, but a lot of the times the ocean is out of view. The next morning, we fly along a series of nature trails. Maisie says it used to be something nothing short of breathtaking. If our need were not so urgent, I would spend more time just watching the waves fall and rise whenever we pass over the ocean.

The Gregorian home world has no vast oceans. It was part of what brought us to this planet in the first place. When we found out how badly the humans had damaged the ecosystem, it became as much a matter of duty as practicality to conquer them.

Now, though, I’m starting to question everything. I thought humans were innately inferior, but what if they are not? What if we are doing something morally wrong by eating them? It’s food for thought, no pun intended.

Later that day, Maisie calls for a stop. She rushes back the way we have come twenty yards or so, until she stands under the branches of a thick bowled tree. Her fingers trace over the bark, where a symbol has been carved.

“What does this mean?” I ask, staring at a circle with four wavy lines over it.

“It means we’re very close,” she says. “Very close indeed.”

She pokes around the base of the tree, until she finds a wire buried under the dirt. She takes hold of the wire and pulls it firmly twice, then requires it.

“Now what?” I ask.

“Now,” she says. “We wait.”

I squirm with impatience.

“You know if we don’t go back soon, Mlarx and Lurg will come looking for us, right?”

“I know, but…”

Her voice trails off as we see three figures approaching us through the woods. I expect to see humans, so the male and female hiking the thin game trail are not a surprise to me.

But the Gregoran soldier keeping pace with them, his eyes swiveling about for threats? That’s a huge shock.

“Are those humans prisoners?” I ask.

“No,” she says with a grin. “If anything, they’re the ones in charge.”

Now I’m completely confused. To what kind of madness has the woman I love brought me into this time?

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