59 BULLETS

The next morning I woke to the loud sound of things hitting the truck roof. Sitting up hasty, Jia calmed, "it is just rain."

"Oh," I looked out and watched. I'd always loved the way rain balanced the world and smiled. But this rain was different, just like everything on this planet. Instead of small individual droplets, it was like splats of golfball sized drops. It was fascinating.

Jia handed me a biscuit and water bottle.

"Rations today I guess." We'd be soaked in seconds trying to look for food.

I was not looking forward to bathroom breaks.

We ate with the slops of rain hitting the roof as our radio.

"Can I look at your arm again?" She asked sometime after we were through.

"Oh sure." I held out my arm.

She grabbed my salve and unwrapped the gauze. She studied the wound, noticing what I did. That it was spreading. "How does it feel?"

"Still burns," I shrugged. "But not as fiery as the first few days. It's getting better."

Lies.

She shook her head. "I'm not sure it is. The blistering is still very much intact. I would expect it to be shrinking by now. But it is growing."

"Deathberry. We don't know how it works here."

Jia began to unwind a length of clean gauze. We were going through the roll way faster than I wanted.

"Hey Jia. I know this is painful, but can we cut up one of your extra scrub sets to use as bandaging? The gauze isn't helping and we should keep that for when we really need it."

She sighed. "Who is the doctor here? But I believe you are right." She dug through her shopping bag and brought out a pair of pants. "Here."

"Thank you. I know it's got to be hard losing your only possessions out here."

"Go ahead. It is alright. You only have two changes. I have many."

I was able to squish into the other pair of jeans now. Wasn't comfortable, but going bottomless while I washed the first pair was much less comfortable. Give me another week of hiking on rations, they'll fit just fine.

I sighed. What a diet plan. A magical transport to a distant planet.  Package that in a pill.

"Thanks." I grabbed my multitool and began cutting them into long lengths.

She took one when I finished and wrapped it around my arm.

"Look on the bright side," I said looking down to the underpart of my arm. "We know potatoes are edible now. On to the rambutans."

She smiled. "I hope they taste like rambutans. They are so yummy."

I nodded and looked down to my phone checking my battery. It might be a pretty boring day. There will be no sun out for charging. The fence should still work, not that any animals will want to be out in that rain either.

We nibbled some MRE cookies and told each other stories as we huddled for warmth under the sleeping bag. When we finally were quiet too long I decided to use my phone battery some more and set up a book on tape I had downloaded.

We lost ourselves to the day as we listened about a New York mystery. The fantasy breaking up the monotony of the gloomy day.

The next day the sun came out bright and early to dry the soggy ground. We checked the snares and weren't as lucky this time, though I was fairly certain they would be empty already. We hiked a bit through the muddy ground to find the rambutan tree and I had Jia test the rambutan juice to her lips and I tried a turnip.

Then we tidied around the camp and made sure that the fence was still okay after the rain. It looked alright, just needed a tightening at one of the extra sticks I pounded in.

We played mancala again that night as we ate chili over rice. Then we finished our mystery book and gave our goodnights.  That was life now.

The next morning Jia woke me excitedly. "We have caught another dinner."

"Oh?" I asked sitting up and seeing the sun peek over the horizon. "You didn't wake me for it?"

"It was the same screeching. I did not worry. I knew it was lunch."

"Let's go get it cooking and then make a trip to the lake."

"Yes. I think that is wise." She smiled.

She got the water bottles and clothes ready while I went to find which snare. She couldn't tell where the sound came from last night.

When I checked the fifth snare a chill ran down my back. Yes, we had caught something. But the gutted thing was no longer our lunch. I gulped and ran up a tree. I gave the three-tone whistle loudly over the trees as our code to get to safety. She'd run into the truck.

My rifle was poised at the ground scanning for the predator that had torn up our chicken. My hunting sense burning at the back of my head like the deathberry boils on my arm. But my fright lessoned as the minutes past and the area looked and sounded clear. My eyes went back to the chicken carcass. Feathers were scattered in a massacre and blood spots pressed out four feet in every direction. The predator was not a clean eater. I imagined that panda with the teeth shaking the chicken as it tore the flesh from bone and cleaned out the insides with a rough sandpaper tongue. I shuddered and gave another search of the horizon. But it seemed the animal came, ate, and left.

Lucky.

After another five minutes of quiet, I slid down the tree and back to the cab.

Jia opened the door and peeked out as she saw me. "What happened?" She asked frantic.

"Our chicken was someone else's lunch. I was worried the animal would still be close, but I think we're in the clear."

"Oh. That is very good." She breathed in deep.

"Sorry. Just rice and potatoes tonight."

"Maybe when we get back from the water there will be another caught in the trap."

"Could be." Though I was sure anything we'd catch would be scurrying around at night. Although I did see the porcupine rat during the day.

We stuffed my last protein bars in for lunch and had the freeze dried scrambled egg meal for a hot breakfast. It tasted good, but the texture was very rubbery. Maybe those chicken things laid eggs and we could find a nest. I could really go for an over easy egg.

We packed our bags and started the trail to the lake. It was harder to remember where to go this time as the heavy rain had washed my cuts through the ground away, but we still did well enough following the presses through the underbrush. I made sure to carve the path deep this time.

Both of us sighed deeply as we came to the bank of the lovely lake. I could now see her eyeball fish, floating near the surface forty feet away. When its violet orb of an eye locked on our movements it darted away, sinking under the water.

Creepy.

We cleaned our clothes and hung them to dry while Jia got in the water for a bath. I headed up the same tree I'd used last time to scope the area. I was hoping the starmonkeys would again be clear on the other side of the lake.

What I actually saw was worse.

Far away, clear on the other side of the next mountain, blurring grey shapes ran through the trees. It made me uneasy with the speed they were going.  Faster than a car, for sure. There were six as far as I could tell, and ran up and over the other mountain, so not towards us at least. But the speed they were going, they could be on our camp in minutes if we weren't watchful.

As Jia finished, my scope kept up a perimeter search for the grey blurs, but I didn't see them again and Jia called that it was my turn.

I descended the tree and handed her the gun and began to take the pins out of my hair.

"Dragon!" She screamed.

The next second the pterodactyl thing from the other day shrieked its entrance.

Jia pressed the trigger, but the bullet missed.

58 BULLETS

"Jia!" I yelled and ran back for her.

The dragon dove towards her as she sent another shot to the sky. This time the bullet clipped a foot.

57 BULLETS

The animal bellowed its discomfort but in the same moment it grabbed Jia with outstretched clawed fingers. Jia cried in pain as the butcher knife hooks pressed into her body like cutting swords, spilling redness over her scrubs.

The gun fell from her grasp as she let out a gurgle, and the monster pushed off of the ground and took her airborne. I ran for the rifle and set the sight just as the creature opened its claws and let her slide off and fall into the trees.

I backed up against the tree and sent another shot flying at the beast. But the creature dodged the bullet that was meant for between the eyes. Another shot. The bullet cut through its wing and the air current around it faltered. It sent shrieks to the sky as its wing tried to keep the side up. It began to retreat in a fast dive over the water and I let another shot go into its other wing as it flew down over the other mountain and out of my sight.

54 BULLETS

I sat a moment with shock running through my system. Commanding myself to take a breath, I then called Jia's name.

There was no reciprocated call.

"Jia!" I ran through the brush in the direction the animal had dropped her and scanned the floor.

When I came upon her, my steps slowed in dread. Her body lay at broken angles and blood seeped from sores I could press my whole fist into. Her blood and insides surrounded her and pressed out in splashes along the vegetation.

I didn't need to check if there was breath on her lips.

I turned and lost my breakfast.

When my stomach had settled, my tears began. I had only known her a few days, but she was a true friend and ally in this crazy place. I backed against a tree and slumped to the ground, letting my voice tell my sorrow.

I was alone.

When all the water I had stored in my body dried up, I inched back to the lake and refilled with the sweetness the lakewater promised.

I didn't want to move, but I couldn't leave Jia in the open. So I packed up our things and carried my half back to the truck. I grabbed my mini shovel and headlamp and set back down to the lake. Jia would be buried today.

I ran back down the mountain and made it to Jia's side before some other animal came for her. I began digging into the earth beside her. Each strain of muscle, like a eulogy to her life, to her death. There would be no way I could dig deep enough before night set, so when I got only three feet down, I rolled her bloodied body into it and began to press the dirt back around her.

"I'm sorry for the shallow grave my friend. You deserve so much better."

I packed the dirt around her and dug more to mound over her as the sun went low in the sky. I patted the ground and then covered the hill the best I could with rocks. It wasn't much and I didn't think it would ever be a deterrent to the spined bears, but one could hope.

"Goodbye Jia."

I set a colorful bunch of leaves over her grave like flowers and then turned and walked back to the lake. I packed up the last of our supplies and hobbled the trail to the truck. By the length of sky left, I would not make the truck before darkness.

I welcomed the night.

As nightfall fell over me, I turned my headlamp on and slung the rifle closer to my arms. When golden bright eyes shined back from the light I aimed, ready to take my hatred of the monster out on the tiny creature. But it just hissed pointy teeth and ran up a neighboring tree.

I made it to the truck with no more interference and went to lay down over my truck seat without worrying about a meal or staying up to watch. If the animals wanted me, I was ready to go to sleep and never wake up.

But the sun came, and I did wake up.

I didn't feel the need to eat, but I rinsed my mouth out and drank a bottle of water while I sat on the hood of the truck staring up into the sky.

It was hours later that I realized it was the longest I had been in the open sun in days and I was burning. I didn't want it to matter. I wanted this world to go away. Just let me fall back through the portal to Earth. I was done playing survivor.

Taking a hike up the mountain again, I slipped between the two trees that meant I was on the path for the deathberries. I didn't bring the rifle that had been connected to me like another limb the last days. 

It didn't matter.

I needed something to take away my pain.

When I got to the small pool I sat in the greens and watched as the water slid over the rock. Silently, my eyes glided over the blackberries and wondered which one would I put in my mouth. What would it feel like? Would it be sensationally sweet and beg me to eat more? Would it bubble my mouth before I knew to spit it out? Something told me it wouldn't happen right away. I could eat a few. I would feel them releasing their poison into my stomach. Boiling me like lava from the inside out. Boiling me like the wound still at my arm. My body would not be able to take the treatment and give up life.

Just like Jia's body gave her up.

I sat at the pool for another hour and watched a tarantula with bright yellow claw tips on each leg scurry around and catch some roach. Each claw pressed into the underbelly and seconds later the roach stilled.

Another body giving up.

I stood and began the slow walk to the truck and noticed my arms reddening with the heat of sunburn. Grabbing a bottle of water I poured it into the ground by the tire. I worked the earth into a creamy mud and scooped some into my hands, pressing the cool paste over my arms and face. Thought I still didn't really care if I hurt or not.

Harvesting a turnip, I took it to the cab and proceeded to eat it without cooking. I just mechanically bit into it and chewed. Again and again. It didn't matter if my body reacted to it. Tomorrow I would know.

I laid my head back on the seat as the skies darkened and welcomed the abyss of sleep.

The next morning I woke to grunts. My head lifted to see a grey sabretooth tiger as big as a horse right at the border of the perimeter fence. A porcupine rat hanging limp in its mouth, next to long tusk like teeth. It looked at me and the growl it let vibrated through the truck.

I was numb to fear.

I was numb to everything.

The animal must have thought I was not a threat or a treat. Maybe it couldn't smell me through the truck. So it carried its prey on into the trees and I watched as it lazily walked over the mountain. My eyes would lose it in the fierce forest only to see movement catch again further up. As it got further away the greyer of a blur it became. And I thought back to the grey blurs from the lake. Was that what they were? A group of sabretooths? It did seem like their muscled back legs could move fast, but that fast? I wasn't sure.

I sat there until the sun shown midday. I needed to get up and move. Stretching my stiff muscles, I opened the door to let fresh air into the cab. Taking a deep breath, I let the scents of the world move me. With the same quiet slow movements as yesterday I got a drink of water and rinsed my mouth. Then I dug another turnip and ate it.

Everything was mechanical.

Looking up the mountain, I wondered if I should go find a rambutan. Maybe that could be something to look forward to, in this darkened world. But I never moved to find the trail to the rainbow trees. I just sat back in the cab and laid back across the seat, staring out at the dash.

This was me giving up. The first rule in surviving was wanting to survive.

This was not me wanting to survive.

My eye caught a glint of light from the floor and I rolled enough to see what it was.

When I realized, I reached for it and sat up.

Jia's ring.

A partial smile tried to flutter to my face. I missed her already.

Her ring was so beautiful. Wide golden band, shiny and strong. The stone, some kind of aquamarine faceted with many lines to let the light dance off it, set directly into the band.

I moved the ring back and forth between my fingers, letting the sun bounce light around it. My thoughts wandered to why it was here. She had never taken it off as far as I knew. Maybe the scare of the carcass before we left, flew it from her finger in some shaken fright.

I put the ring on my finger and stared at the loveliness for a few moments.

But I knew it wasn't right. It was Jia's.

And I had to get it back to her.

My blurry thoughts started forming connections again. My sight becoming clearer. That was my survival. I had to get this back to Jia. It would top her grave as a silent marker.

A smile actually started across my lips.

I would do this for my friend.

My mind pressed over what I would need for the trip. And I began to be myself. Survival words came back to me. To survive you have to want to survive first. And I did want to survive. I wanted to give Jia back her ring. I wanted to survive to gift the life I had to Jia.

I burst out of the cab and started filling bags with empty water bottles.

My eyes flitted to the ring on my hand again and again as my will strengthened and I set off down the wearing trail to the lake.

When I made it down, I dropped the bags at the water edge and went in search of Jia's grave. This ring would be her gravestone. And as I found the undisturbed pile, I couldn't help but whisper a hi to my friend.

"Brought you your ring."

I placed it at her head between two spotted stones and stood back. Thanks for being my friend.

I stood over her grave for a few minutes giving her all the love and life I could, pouring out from myself over her cold body buried below.

"Bye Jia."

I turned to the water and filled the bottles, then stripped and got into the water. Letting the warmth press into me from the refreshing water. I then sat up and cleaned over the mud across my arms and face, then washed out my hair, remembering her nice words about it.

With a sigh, I got out and dried, placing my hair back into a wet tight bun, then started packing things back in my bags for the journey back to the truck.

A hunter's chill alerted me like spider sense before I heard the screech.

Dragon.