40
KASPAR
I'm a keffing lying ass. I hate that I've had to lie to my Sunshine, but every protective instinct in my body says not to tell her about the footprints. Alice worries enough as it is.
If we're not alone and the stranger is still here, odds are they'll be a foe. If they're friendly, they'll take her away from me all the faster. Neither is a good option, and so I decide the best course of action is to go far, far away from both pod and footprints.
South it is.
It makes for a miserable night, crawling through the muddy jungle with low visibility. The trees overhead block out most of the moonlight, leaving things far darker than I'd prefer. I can tell by the way Alice stumbles and clings to me that she's having a hard time seeing, and I'm glad for mesakkah senses that are keener than a human's. I can guide her if it gets any worse…
Which it does, in the middle of the night, when it starts to rain on us again.
By the time dawn hits, Alice is dragging and my own adventurous spirits are feeling a little less enthusiastic. I offer to carry her again, but she declines. She hates being dependent, I can tell. I know how that feels, and it makes me admire her all the more. She's scrappy, my little human mate, and it fills me with affection even as it makes me want to protect her all the more. She's tough, but the universe is tougher.
Which is why she needs me.
"Not too much farther," I tell Alice after the sun rises. She's stumbling with exhaustion. I hold my hands behind me as I walk so she can grab onto them.
She just smacks them with her hands. "High five!"
I pause and turn around, confused. "What?"
"What?" She echoes back, giving me a tired smile. "Sorry, I'm getting loopy, aren't I?"
"I don't mind. We can take a break here if you like."
She leans against me, wrapping her arms around my waist and pressing her cheek against my chest. I hold her close, enjoying the moment. Her skin is sweaty and damp, her bright hair plastered to her head in messy waves, but she's never looked more beautiful. "So we're almost there?" she asks, voice drowsy. "Where's 'there' specifically?"
I have no clue. Sterre's a terrible guide, too. She wanders all over the place, and it's clear that if she's leading us somewhere, it's most likely her litter box. Still, I want to give Alice some sort of hope. She's fatigued and I want to find the right spot for us to settle in. Somewhere safe and defensible.
Where that is, I'm still searching. So I rub her back, inwardly wincing as I notice the pink welts all over her skin from bug bites. They've been feasting on her soft flesh all night long. "Where are we going? Hmm. Just trust me, I guess. I'll know it when I see it."
"I do trust you." She snuggles against me quietly for a bit longer, and then chuckles as if something's funny. "My. You must be tired."
"Me? Why?"
"Because I'm rubbing against you, naked, and you have absolutely no boner." She leans back and gazes up at me, fluttering her lashes. "Or have my charms faded already?"
I've been too focused on protecting her to think about my dick. Of course, thinking about it now gets me hard, as does the look Alice shoots in my direction. Within moments, I'm hard and rising fast.
She notices, too, and her lips draw up in a smirk. "I take it back. All systems are go."
I grin. "Just being around you is enough to get me hard. My cock was taking pity on me with all this walking. But don't worry, it remembers who you are."
"Are we talking about your penis as if it's a third party? Because that's weird, Kaspar. Super weird." She pokes my navel and then pulls away from me with a bone-cracking yawn and then smacks her lips. "Are we still close to that stream we passed not too long ago? I'm kinda thirsty. Tired as fuck and my feet hurt, but I'll settle for a drink right now."
Sterre slinks out of the bushes and over to Alice's side, butting her gleaming head against the human's hand. Alice automatically begins to pet the carinoux, scratching at the small ear buds and giving her surroundings a fatigued look. The protector-kin's got good timing, at least. "It's not too far back. I'll go get a refill of water. You stay here with Sterre. Don't leave."
"Don't worry," Alice says, yawning again. "I'm not going anywhere."
Her fatigue worries me. I can keep going for days on end if I have to, but I don't like how tired she is. Alice is slightly built and she's been stuck on a deserted ship for the last few years. I don't know that she has the stamina for this sort of hiking, and I don't want her to hurt herself. I hate that I can't do more to take care of her. Right now I'd give my left nut for a bowl of noodles for her to eat and a bed for her to lie on. Kef, at this point I'd rather go back to our pod and take our chances there. But we're far enough away at this point that going back without supplies would be futile.