His mind was blank, but his body was already moving. Subconsciously, he knew this was the best time to attack. He had to take care of the creature first, as it wouldn’t wait patiently for him to help Martha. Orion moved straight for it. Slowly at first, bending down only to pick up a sharpened stone he had dropped, then he began to run as fast as his legs would carry.
Before the creature had fully recovered from the impact with the rock, he lunged at it, aiming for its neck. The creature saw him, however, and jumped back at the last moment before he could strike back. Orion had never fought seriously in his life, and he didn’t expect to ever do so, but that didn’t matter now. Every second counted, so the moment it moved, he was already desperately calculating in his head where to put his foot next to quickly change the momentum of his body. Bouncing off the painfully hard stones, he swung after the creature, wounding it shallowly in the forearm.
Apparently the rules of pain didn’t apply to the beast here, as it only let out a strange, screeching squeak, but it could still move. Orion wasted no time, however, taking advantage of any moment of weakness the creature could get. He lunged once more, roaring, but once again it reacted, this time striking back. The sharp stone connected with the monster’s skull, slicing through the skin and lacerating the eye, eliciting another pained squeal. Orion couldn’t celebrate, however, as he was also struck in the shoulder by sharp claws.
Whether it was the adrenaline or the fact that this wasn’t his first wound in this place, this time he wasn’t paralyzed for as long as before. The pain was still excruciating, and for a split second his body gave way again, causing him to kneel on one knee. Orion regained his consciousness through sheer force of will, and taking advantage of the creature’s moment of thrashing, hastily gathered a few loose pebbles in his free hand. Once he was standing, he moved, screaming. After being hit in the eye, the beast lost its self-confidence, leaning cautiously towards him and tensing its muscles. Orion, noticing this, threw a handful of stones in its direction.
It was a gamble that fortunately paid off, as the creature reacted by prioritizing avoiding the flying projectiles to protect a remaining eye, thus exposing its neck. Orion would not waste this opportunity and swung at the universal weak point of probably every living creature. The moment the sharp rock connected with the creature’s neck, it tried to jump back again, but Orion didn’t stop with the swing. Without losing momentum, he passed the creature, still keeping the weapon lightly lodged in its neck, and threw himself at its back. It had protrusions embedded in them, which dug into Orion’s chest as he tightened his grip, driving the rock deeper into the creature’s neck, but he tried to ignore them.
The monster struggled and attempted to throw Orion off, but he held on desperately, tugging the rock to do as much damage as possible. Letting out wild screeches, the creature reached out for Orion’s head, causing another scratch dangerously close to his eye. However, he gritted his teeth and did his best to drive the stone even deeper into the creature’s body. After several minutes of struggling that seemed like an eternity to Orion, and several more scratches, the beast finally gave up. Its limbs were no longer strong enough, and with a sickening, gurgling sound, it fell to the ground, motionless.
Orion held the grip for a moment longer. He wanted to be certain the creature was dead, and he also used the moment to catch his breath. He hadn’t imagined he’d be able to act so quickly and use so much strength, especially considering the pathetic state he’d been in before they’d been attacked. Putting that aside for later, he rolled off the beast and staggered toward Martha. Once he reached her, he walked around her so that he could still see the fallen creature. He doubted it would get up, but he didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks. He knelt down next to her and began checking her condition.
Although Orion felt as if the fight had lasted at least an hour, it had actually been very short. Martha had not yet regained consciousness, but seeing the state of her torn body, he did not know if she would ever regain it. It was only at this point that it dawned on him how dire the situation was, and his eyes filled with tears. The wound that ran from her neck to her stomach seemed to bleed in the same way his hand had when he had cut himself, or his current wounds, but much more intensely. Orion was not a doctor and did not know what to do in such situations. He tried to proceed logically. So he looked more closely at the wound, trying to analyze it somehow. Fortunately, it did not seem very deep. There was a chance that no organs had been cut. The cut was also quite narrow. The creature had sharp claws, and most likely, when it lunged at Orion, and he was pulled away, Martha was hit accidentally and at the edge of the attack range.
Orion grabbed the cut rags she was wearing and pressed them to the wound, wanting to stop the bleeding. The moment he touched the wound, Martha’s body tensed and twitched, and a moan escaped her lips. Orion paled at the thought that he had caused her additional pain, but it was the only sensible thing he could do now. Unfortunately, in this place they could only dream of any disinfection of the wound or proper bandages. Gathering his determination, he lifted her head with his right hand and placed it on his knee, then began to gently stroke her, and with his left arm he still pressed the rag to the wound, causing her body to spasm further.
“Martha...” he whispered in a trembling voice. His mind began to weigh down with dark scenarios and with all his willpower, he pushed away the thoughts of losing his dear companion. Seeing her lying there quietly with her eyes closed, he began to break down.
His tears began to fall on her face, and he leaned down, touching his forehead to hers, then closing his eyes as well. He thought desperately about how else he could help her. I don’t even know if I should wake her up or let her rest. She’s lost a lot of blood... he thought.
“Blood!” he shouted, an idea coming to him. His face lit up at the thought as he remembered the effect his blood had on her previously. Although, if he let out any more of it, he would definitely be in trouble, now that didn’t matter. He lifted his head, perking up. It would be difficult for him to give her blood from his current wounds, while also keeping pressure on the wound. So he put his right hand to his mouth and bit down hard. The adrenaline that had been pumping through him during the fight had already evaporated, so the incomprehensible pain of piercing his skin attacked again. Orion regained control of his body and put his bleeding hand to her mouth.
“Come on, drink…” urged Orion, feeling worse and worse.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Martha opened her eyes slightly. It took her a moment to recover, but once she realized what was happening, she slowly raised her arm and moved Orion’s bleeding hand away from her mouth.
“It won’t help...” she croaked, looking at Orion apologetically. “I feel... I feel my life slipping away.”
At those words, Orion lowered his head and bit his lip. Seeing that wound, he knew it would end like this, but he denied it, as if his wishes were coming true. He felt her hand on his face and looked into her eyes. But he couldn’t bring himself to say anything, so he sat in silence. His mind was slowly getting darker after the fight and the blood he had given again, but he didn’t want to let these last moments together go to waste.
“I’m sorry that I’m leaving you alone,” she said, tears starting to flow from her eyes, too. “Will you do something for me?”
Orion tried to respond, but no sound escaped his tightened throat. So he just nodded.
“Get out of here and find your family. No matter how long it takes, I know you can do it.” she spoke each word more quietly. “Don’t blame yourself... And one more thing.”
She needed a few moments to gather her remaining strength. Orion took her hand and sat in silence, looking at her.
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“Those outbursts of joy of yours. I liked them, you know?”
He couldn’t control his crying any longer, so he burst into a new flood of tears, sobbing loudly. He leaned down to kiss her, but broke it off quickly, afraid she would want to say something else. Martha smiled gently, slowly closing her eyes.
“You taste... like...” she added in a whisper, but didn’t finish. Orion felt her hand loose and begin to fall, so he gripped it tighter and pressed it against his forehead.
He stayed in that position for who knows how long, staring into her face. She passed away smiling, but even though she told him not to, Orion blamed himself for not doing better. If he had braced himself more, he wouldn’t have let her pull him away, and she wouldn’t have taken the blow. If he hadn’t injured his hand earlier, maybe the creature wouldn’t have sensed them at all and wouldn’t have been on that ledge. He realized much too late that as he walked with his bleeding hand, warm gusts of wind hit his back and probably carried the scent further. If he hadn’t approached her at all, having initially given up on contact with another human in that place, maybe…
He shook his head, pushing away the overwhelming thoughts. He could spend eternity wondering what could have been done better, but it wouldn’t change anything now. Sitting there for a moment longer, he slowly calmed his emotions. Finally, he placed her hands on her body and gave her one last kiss on the forehead. He gently lifted her head from his lap and laid it on the ground.
Orion was close to fainting, the hunger was making him feel something corrosive under his skin, and at that moment it was difficult to control his thoughts. His gaze turned to the body of the beast that had caused all of this. As he stood up, his face lost all signs of emotion. He pushed all feelings into the background, carefully closing them off. He walked over to the dead monster and grabbed his weapon, preparing to sink it back into its body. Orion cut open the strange skin of the beast, exposing the flesh, and sank his teeth into it.
The consistency was awful. It was nothing like the meat he had eaten, not to mention the fact that it was raw. Having it in his mouth, he felt as if it was simultaneously falling apart and melting, leaving behind some unidentifiable suspension. At one point, it even began to burn the inside of his mouth, but Orion didn’t stop. He could already feel the intense, flowing energy. His body began to feed, but at times he felt as if he was being electrocuted. The pain caused by the intense hunger turned into something else. He felt as if the meat he had eaten was dissolving him from the inside, but it still gave him strength, so he continued, breathing heavily between bites. At one point, he had the impression that he was starting to get used to the pain; he had quite a bit of practice at it. As he slowly devoured the monster, he began to laugh madly. The beast that had so suddenly lunged at them to devour them had ended up as a meal itself.
He ate and ate, cutting off more and more pieces of meat. Eventually, the pain that accompanied him rose to a new level. He felt like he was going to explode from the inside. He still didn’t stop, more out of stubbornness, ignoring common sense. When the pain reached a paralyzing level, he rolled over next to the monster and began to roar with abstractly intense sensations. The energy that was now raging inside him felt like his body was about to burst into flames. He closed his eyes and calmed down, trying to somehow control the feeling. It took a long time, but since he had torn himself away from the monster’s body, the overwhelming feeling slowly began to subside.
When the pain returned to being bearable, he would stand up and continue eating. He repeated the process several times, until he knew that if he tried again, he would indeed die. His thoughts returned to Martha again. He wondered what to do with her body. He didn’t want to leave her to end up as food for the monsters. Orion didn’t know what other possibilities there were, though. He remembered the whitish liquid that flowed from some of the rocks. It wasn’t as common here, but he still wasn’t sure if it would have the same effect as lava. He figured it was one of the better options available. He had tried digging with his improvised weapon before, but had only managed to torn off a few smaller pebbles.
Resting for a while after his meal, he stood up and approached the monster again. He decided that if he was going to continue his journey, he might as well take provisions with him. He also wanted to use parts of the monster to see what effect the white liquid had. After carefully removing the skin, he cut the meat that seemed edible into pieces. He used the more solid parts of the skin as a bag and stuffed his future food and weapon into it. Then he approached the body of Martha. He looked at her in silence for a moment, but gathered himself and lifted her up on his shoulders. Sighing heavily, he looked around for the spot with the white liquid and set off towards the burial site.
As he walked, his emotions threatened to erupt several times, but he forced them away, not breaking his mournful march. After reaching the place and a short but difficult climb, he reached a place from which a white liquid was leaking. He tried to immerse a piece of the monster’s flesh in it. This turned out to be a good idea, as instead of burning, it began to pulsate wildly, while giving off a terrible stench. Orion was against such a funeral, it would be better to be eaten. Instead, he decided to find a spot with a rock ledge that was as difficult to access as possible. This took quite a long time, but the next part took even longer. After carrying Martha’s body to her resting place, he left his provisions next to her and went down to gather loose stones into an improvised bag. He had to make several trips to transport enough to cover her entire body, which, surprisingly, now looked a bit dried out. After creating a grave, he made a cross shape out of lighter stones. Orion had never been religious, but he didn’t know if the same applied to Martha. After performing the burial, he sat down to rest nearby. He was still full of energy from his feeding, but his muscles were strained.
Finally, with a long sigh, he stood up and said goodbye to Martha. He gathered his provisions and climbed down from the rock. Time to continue the journey, alone again, he thought, desperately pushing all feelings to the back of his mind.
Orion marched, following the wind. Obstacles were rare here, so he had no fear of the wind turning. Sporadically, he still strayed toward the rocks, climbing them to look around or to rest. In this way, hours turned into days, and days into weeks. Since the creature had been devoured, his hunger had disappeared, and whenever he began to feel its shadow, he ate what was in the bag. Surprisingly, he found that he did not even need to rest that often. For the first three weeks, he slept only six times, more because of the opportunity to find a safe place than out of necessity.
When he ran out of distractions, his mind began to digest the things he had been pushing away. He thought about his year of torture and how he had actually broken free from it. During this process, his body would start to shake, and he would sometimes stop to just sit there and cry before getting up and continuing his journey. It also took a while for the fact that he had taken the life of something to really become clear. Of course, it had been self-defense against an aggressive predator, and when it came to fighting, there was no place for empathy or reflection. He had had to act then, and now he couldn’t push it away any longer, and it was all sinking in. Furthermore, he knew that any hesitation at that moment would cost him his life. Orion knew that it would be foolish to feel sorry for the creature he had killed, but he still threw up as full consciousness descended upon him. Only after daring to consider this event did it dawn on his mind how he had laughed madly while eating his prey. So he thought for a long time, taking one step after another.
The biggest enemy of his journey was loneliness and monotony. For a long time, he felt a painful emptiness in Martha’s place, and he often remembered the conversations they had had. After a month and a half, he felt that the thoughts that could occupy his mind were starting to run out. So he walked, trying to fix it somehow. He counted the rocks on the horizon, made up stories, watched the pulsating foam in the sky, trying to understand its meaning, and looked for patterns in the arrangement of the stones he walked on.
The ground slowly changed from sticky gravel to something resembling ash, but much heavier and more adherent to the surface. Before this change fully took place, Orion took some loose pebbles with him in case some creature attacked him again. The surface here was more irregular, resembling small sand dunes, and due to the loose ground, the air clarity also decreased, limiting his field of vision. Orion continued walking and tried to feed his brain with anything, but everything around him was bland. At one point, he began to make up random rhymes or tell jokes to himself, ending up focusing on his sense of proprioception, then imagining having extra limbs and tracking their positions.
Marching steadily, he passed the second month of his stay in this place. Finally, he also found something he had never encountered before. It resembled a small lake of black liquid in a depression in the terrain. This tar-like liquid behaved strangely: it did not reflect anything from itself, but seemed to emanate a kind of black mist. Orion did not dare to touch this substance, although he felt a distinct temptation to simply jump in. First, however, he threw into it a few pebbles he had brought with him. After touching the liquid, the stones disappeared into it without causing even a ripple on the surface, so he gave up on bathing.
After shrugging, he continued his journey. Eventually, he began to feel tired again and needed sleep, but there were no safe hiding places in this place. The small dunes were too low to feel safe behind, and the reduced range of vision made it difficult to find anything further.
