Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
“I want to go home,” I whimper. “I want to be safe and bored again. I want to go back. I wish I’d never tried to have an adventure. I didn’t know how awful they are, how often they try to kill you.”
“You have been so brave,” Thor tells me, his big hands moving over my body in comforting ways. “And you are perfectly adapted for survival. You are quick, you are smart, and most of all, you are lucky.”
“This isn’t lucky,” I sob. “This is… desperation.”
“Luck is a real thing,” he says. “Don’t ever doubt that. Now, are you going to eat that chocolate fudge?”
“Only if you split it with me,” I say.
“Deal,” he agrees with that handsome, heroic smile of his.
My heart flutters as we sit together, me in his lap, and enjoy a ration from a lost ship. My tearfulness has caused a slight salty taste in my mouth, which only serves to make the chocolate taste even better.
I sleep well that night. There is something about sleeping inside of a mountain that creates a sense of safety that cannot be recreated in any other kind of dwelling. We were descended from cave dwellers, so I am told, and I do not think we ever really lost our taste for it.
The next day, we carefully ration a little more food, and Thor allows me to come out with him. We are still risking exposure by leaving the cave, but needs must be met at times.
It is while attending to these needs that we see yet another Vikar act of terrible destruction. The roly-poly horde of body-eating bug monsters has returned to what must be their usual sleeping place. Thor and I are able to see them quite clearly from our lofty vantage point, though I hope we are hidden from below by the various crags of rock that jut in rough shards.
The Vikar, it seems, are not inclined to appreciate the raw beauty of the creatures who sweep across this alien landscape and pick sites clean. Or very nearly almost clean.
Eventually, we sneak back up into the mountains, risking exposure, but finding a small encampment Thor set up for us. There, we watch another act of intense destruction from the Vikar ship. The horde has returned to their sleeping plain to rest, and are no longer a threat, but the Vikar are not going to tolerate the risk.
They send weapons firing down across the entire sleeping horde, obliterating one of the wonders of the natural world for their own convenience. I never thought I would be on the side of a horde of voracious beasts, but I feel pity for them as they are attacked by a force beyond their understanding.
“They’re such assholes,” I curse softly. “They destroy everything.”
Thor nods in agreement. “The creatures aren’t that dangerous and are easily avoided. You just don’t kill a lot of people all at once. How hard is that? Drako knew better.”
“Maybe whoever is piloting that ship didn’t ask Drako what he thought,” I say.
“He seemed to have plenty of authority when we were on the verge of being captured,” Thor says. “I don’t know what their chain of command is, but I doubt Drako is low on it. Men like him seek power at all costs.”
“Do you hate him?”
Thor cocks his head to the side. “Do I hate him? Or are you asking permission to not hate him? It’s okay. This is a complicated situation. It’s not like normal life, where you pick a nice guy and that’s the end of it. Your body has become part of the territory that is being fought over. I’m no better than him in that regard.”
“You are so much better,” I smirk in a way I know he’ll understand I intend to be suggestive.
“Is that right,” he smiles back. “Why don’t you show me how good I am?”
“Such a good boy.” I giggle to myself as we stuff ourselves back into our cave. I am starting to become immune to horrors in a very concerning way, but I assume it’s trauma, me being a terrible person, a flaw in my character, or just what happens to people when bad things start happening and then keep happening.
No time to muse more deeply on that, because Thor is setting about making very sure I am going to regret calling him a good boy.
He strips me down, and before I can complain of the cold, he covers my body with his own naked form. Thor is a massive man, and he has done everything he can to cultivate mass in order to survive, so when he is on top, I am effectively sandwiched between a massive man heater and the ground.
Thor makes love to me with passion and intention. He is more controlled than Drako, and he is also larger, more powerful, and a better person. Who cares if he doesn’t have stupid tattoos or a rakish demeanor. He is everything I will ever need, and maybe if I am very lucky, when this is all over, he will ask me to marry him.