Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 83205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
I much prefer Aidy's laughter to her tears. If she needs her pussy fondled every morning to put her mood to rights, I would be honored to do so for her.
"What do you have in mind for our fortress? Are we thinking a cave or something more like an igloo?" she asks, even as the wind drifts with the scent of…something. It is not the gladiators, nor a human, or any species I am familiar with. The smell is foul and growing stronger by the moment.
I glance over at Aidy, unsure if I want to ruin her mood just yet. It might be nothing. I have not heard anything. "I will know it when I see it."
She makes an exasperated sound, glancing over at me. "It would be nice to have a plan of some kind."
"I will plan based on what we have been given. I cannot bet on a cave if there is no cave to be found."
"Mmm, okay, you have a point." She holds onto my arm as we move carefully down a gravel-covered slope and nearly loses her footing. I hold onto her until she straightens, and then she makes a face. "I wish they'd dropped that pack closer to us. What do you think it was?"
I turn my head ever so slightly, looking for scents again. "Whatever it is, we want it first. If nothing else, so we can keep it out of the hands of the others."
"You're scaring me with that kind of talk, Corvak."
I nod, even as my thoughts race about what could be dropped here in a supply crate. All of my ideas of what it could be are terrible ones, though. "I will not lie to you, Aidy. If it is a crate of weapons, we do not want the others to get them."
Her hand tightens on my arm. "Kinda makes me want to run back into the mountains. Just find a nice gopher hole and never come out."
I do not point out that most weapons have heat sensors and targeting, and they would find her easily. Instead, I pause. "Do you want to find someplace to hide?" Normally I would hate this idea, but normally there is not a strange scent in my nose, telling me that there is something headed in this direction. I do not want to lead Aidy into danger. "If you want to separate, I will find my way back to you."
"What? No. Not at all." She continues to hold onto me. "We're in this together."
I smile at the sincerity of her response. No wonder they put me on suppressants. I am oozing feelings right now. Aidy's smile broadens, and her gaze flicks to my mouth. Is she going to try and eat my face again? At some point she has to realize it's strange, doesn't she? Her gaze slides to the side and she stares at something over my shoulder. "Is that a bit of smoke in the distance?"
Turning, I scan the sky. Sure enough, a tendril of smoke is staining the clouds in the direction we are heading. Is that the package? "I'm not sure supplies should be smoking."
"Maybe it's something else? Or maybe someone else already got there?" Aidy shoots me a worried look.
"Either way, we need to check it out," I tell her grimly.
Our hiking takes on a hurried edge. I push her harder than I mean to, but I am worried as to what that smoke means for us. If someone else retrieves a weapons cache, it is all over. It's an advantage I won't be able to counter, no matter how crafty I am. We move steadily toward the tendril of smoke, keeping it in our sights. The valley we are traveling around loops and winds throughout the rocky mountains, and I grow impatient to see what it is we're chasing. With Aidy following my lead, I direct her to climb the next cliff instead, so we can get a good look at what exactly is down below.
All the while, that pervasive, strange scent fills my nose.
We climb to the top of the ridge. To my relief, we can see down below, where the source of the smoke is. It looks like nothing more than a scorched stain on the side of a neighboring cliff. Whatever hit left a mark on the rocks and tumbled down to the snows below, melting everything in its path. There's a large bare circle in the snow, yellowish with plants of some kind, and in the center, a black…something.
"What is that?" Aidy asks, panting, as she moves to my side.
I honestly have no idea. I squint, wishing my sight was better. It is excellent, but from this far away, I have my doubts as to the accuracy. "It looks like a rock."
"So a meteor, not a drop?"