Page 28 of Expose Me

What happened during the Great Sacrifice?

What’s a highway?

Why do you need to sleep so much?

At one point, we drove past an extremely faded billboard advertising an obsolete medication, and he asked what chlamydia was.

There was no pattern or clear connection between the things he was asking and only an occasional follow-up. I was happy to answer them all. It gave me something to do on the long drive other than glaring at the bastard and occasionally correcting our course as my connection to the Onuei strengthened.

Something occurred to me around mid-afternoon.

“What’s with the questions?” I asked before he could fire another one. “You have that intuitive learning thing, don’t you?”

“Yes, but I need at least some information to begin with,” he explained. “And I enjoy hearing your unique interpretation of the facts—your opinions, I believe you call them.”

“You don’t have opinions where you’re from?”What the fuck?

“We do, they are just not so ... colorful as yours. There is less nuance when everyone has the intuition to learn the truth of a situation—to an extent. Also, there is no sarcasm. I’m finding that I’m rather fond of it.”

“You guys don’t have sarcasm?” I gasped. “How do you express yourselves and crack jokes? It’s downright barbaric. And here I was thinking you were more advanced as a species.”

Zey chuckled and the look in his eyes was sohuman. He was adapting to Earth more and more by the minute.

It was late afternoon when we pulled into Liege thirteen hours later, in what used to be Belgium. I parked the car behind some buildings. The guy I’d stolen it from would’ve reported it missing when he got off the train a few hours earlier. It was time to ditch it.

I’d been feeling the Onuei more and more in the last hour, and I was pretty sure we were within walking distance. But I was starving, so I headed for the bustling strip of bars and food joints, present near any market in a No Man’s Land area.

Limiting the amount of time I spent around people, I got a burger and fries to go, and Zey and I settled onto a park bench nearby. The burger was bland and the fries were stale, but I didn’t care. It was food in my belly. I washed it down with Coke.

With a curious expression, Zey picked up the cup and smelled the straw. I watched him, finishing off the last of my burger. He wrapped his lips around the straw and frowned.

“How do you make the liquid come up?”

I chuckled and swallowed my massive mouthful of food. “You have to suck.”

“Suck ...”

I pursed my lips and demonstrated. He stared at my mouth as the furrow between his brows smoothed out. Then he put his mouth back on the straw and sucked hard. He must’ve got a massive mouthful ... which he promptly sprayed out onto the grass.

“What is that?” He gave me a horrified look and gagged. “It’s disgusting.”

“Mostly cancer-causing chemicals and sugar.” I laughed and summoned a bottle of water. “Here. This fixes everything.”

He slammed it back in one go while I sipped on the Coke.

“Why do you consume that poison?” He looked genuinely aghast.

“We’re self-destructive and hedonistic.” I shrugged. “It’s not a great combination.”

“Is all human food so ... toxic?”

“No. Just the cheap, fast stuff, usually. Do you have food where you’re from? Or is it just water?”

“Some, but it is only consumed occasionally for pleasure. Water is all we need.”

“What does it taste like? Is it—”

My questions were interrupted by a video call coming through on my phone, and I sprang to my feet. Zey was right there with me, shoulder against mine, tense and ready, even though he had no idea what made me react that way.

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