"Inside," Vektal says and points at the belly. "Are you ready, my Georgie?"
Like we have a choice? I let Georgie answer, though, and she says, "Let's do this."
The creature is then sliced open from belly to sternum, and blood rushes out. Weirdly enough, it makes me homesick again. "Just like skinning a deer. No big deal. No sweat."
I look over, and Raahosh is still watching me. My skin prickles with awareness and…something else? I might be about to pass out again. I hope not.
At my side, Georgie swallows hard.
There's a cracking sound, and I look over to see Vektal standing on the ribcage of the giant creature, prying it apart with big, straining arms. It gives the loudest snap I've ever heard, and then splits open.
"Really, really big deer," I comment.
Georgie swallows again. Tiffany moans and stumbles away a few feet.
I keep watching, because I need something to concentrate on. I'm afraid if I look away, I'm going to see Raahosh approaching to put his hands on me again. I'm not sure why the thought both annoys me and fills me with a liquid sort of heat.
Vektal takes the heart from one of his men, and it's swarming with wriggling, glowing spaghetti-noodle looking worms. Okay, yeah. This is not cool in my book.
"I think I'm going to be sick," Kira says somewhere off to my side, and Tiffany makes a hurking noise. But Georgie's watching Vektal like he's about to give her a diamond ring or some shit. They murmur quietly to each other, and then he pulls out his knife.
"What…what if it goes to my brain?" Georgie asks.
This is a worm. This is not cool. I am not down with this. "Like that's any better than your heart?" Seriously?
"The khui is the essence of life," Vektal says in a reverent voice.
And then dumb Georgie takes the worm from him and he cuts a nick in her throat. And I watch the thing wriggle into it like a heat seeking missile.
Oh, hell no. I am not down with this shit. I have seen what worms do to an animal's heart. Hunters know you don't eat the diseased meat. You certainly don't sign up to become the diseased meat. I back away a few steps. Georgie's shuddering and gasping, and she collapses into Vektal's arms. A few other women make cries of distress, and then the men are everywhere, offering glowing cooties to them.
I am so getting out of dodge. Nope. Nope. Nope. I will figure something else out. There simply has to be another option. I stumble backward to the copse of trees that provide no protection. The other girls look at me curiously, then turn back to Georgie. She's our leader, so they're looking to her.
That's fine. If Georgie jumps off a cliff, it doesn't mean I have to, also. She may be blinded by big blue alien dick, but I am not. There's intense, throbbing pain in my foot but I ignore it. If it's not too late, I can go back to the ship, regroup, and figure something else out. I know I'm panicking. I know this isn't logical, but everything I've ever learned at my father's side is telling me that this is a terrible idea.
Parasites kill their hosts.
As I awkwardly shuffle past the others, I see the aliens gently leading the women forward, toward their doom. Gee, that's sweet of them. There's no proof this works on a human, and Georgie went down like a light. That is not normal. Hugging my furs tighter, I waddle away a few more steps.
And stop.
In front of me, slitted eyes glowing, is Raahosh. He eyes me.
"Don't you try to stop me, buddy," I retort at him, though I know it's no good. He doesn't understand English.
But he grabs my furs and tries to turn me around anyhow.
I jerk them out of his grip and continue forward. In the distance, I hear another woman cry out, only to fall silent. I shudder.
Raahosh grabs me by the hips and slings me over his shoulders again.
"No!" I say, pounding a fist on his shoulder. "I don't want it! You can't make me!"
He hesitates, and then to my surprise, he sets me down again. He gazes at me for a moment, and then reaches up to caress my jaw. I allow it, since he's not dragging me back there. His touch is oddly gentle, caressing up and down my cold cheek. Then he gestures at the ground, as if indicating that I should wait here.
"Fine. Whatever. I'm just not going back to that." I sit heavily in the snow, taking my weight off of my bad foot.
He turns and strides toward the dead sa-kohtsk and the group of hunters. I watch him disappear into the darkness and shiver. I'll wait for a few minutes, then move on. Maybe he's going to tell the others that I changed my mind, that he's going to guide me back to the ship.
Maybe this Raahosh guy isn't such a jerk after all.
I close my eyes and rub a hand over my face. It's freezing out here, and I'm so tired I could fall over and sleep, snow and all. My brain's getting foggy. There has to be another option, though. If I could think clearly, maybe I'd be able to come up with one.