Botanicaust

by Linsey, Tam

  “Good idea,” he said. But to hide them both, he’d have to use the blanket as well as the robe. No time for modesty. He jerked the blanket free and plucked some pale branches from the tree. Funny. He’d never seen the leaves so white. Still, they would make a good camouflage over the rusty splotches on the robe and blanket.

  Self conscious of his nude body but desperate, he opened the first aid kit and retrieved the scissors. Poking holes in the fiber of the blanket and robe, he forced branches and leaves into the fabric.

  By the time he was satisfied with the results, the duster was close enough for him to see silhouettes through the open side.

  Tula sat on the desert floor clutching her knees against her chest, face slack and eyes glazed. She babbled the whole time he worked. He assumed she was offering directions, but since he couldn’t understand, he didn’t pay attention. He draped the blanket over himself like a cape and held out the robe toward her, leaves and branches rattling in the stiff breeze. Her eyes widened and she skittered backward. “No, no.”

  “Tula, we have to hide.”

  She shook her head vehemently. The duster sped closer. Had he and Tula been spotted?

  “Tula. Hide!” He tried to put the robe over her. She cried out and scurried away, moaning.

  What was wrong with her? The flyer was nearly upon them. He pounced on her and dragged her to a beat-up stand of amarantox. Pushing her backward to the ground, he settled on top of her to hold her still. Her struggles didn’t make covering them with the blanket and robe easy. “Tula, stay still,” he said against her cheek.

  She sobbed and relaxed her limbs, but her whole body trembled violently. Panting against his shoulder, she moaned his name.

  “Shhhh. Tula.”

  They waited. How long until the search party came their way? Beneath the blanket the air grew stuffy. The smell of evergreen filled the space, and he became embarrassingly aware of how close they were. Pressed against her skin so intimately, they might as well be making love, he couldn’t help his arousal.

  Save me from temptation…

  The drone of the duster drew nearer.

  “I’m sorry,” he murmured. His hips ached to press tighter against her. Her hands crept up his sides, gripping the small of his back. Lips against his shoulder.

  Stiffening, he said, “God, Tula, no.”

  The fabric over them rustled in a breeze, halting his protest. The humming flyer passed directly over their position.

  Seemingly unconcerned, her tongue caressed the skin at the edge of his collarbone in lazy circles. What was wrong with her?

  “Tula, we mustn’t.” The same words he’d spoken to Sarah so many times.

  The whirr of the craft faded, but he resisted the urge to move. They could still be nearby.

  She pulled his head toward her, lips against lips. The hint of wintergreen filled his mouth.

  A shiver raced to his toes as the world spun out from under him, like after drinking too much apple wine. The soft warmth of a woman seemed like a dream, smooth skin beneath his fingertips, a subtle sigh of sweet air against his cheek. His body took over, and suddenly the duster didn’t matter. The hard, dry earth beneath them didn’t matter. The only thing in his world right now was the willing woman beneath him.

  Her legs parted, encouraging his hips between them. He could hardly breathe beneath the blanket. Tasting her lips again, his head spun with drunken desire.

  Her fingers bit into the flesh of his buttocks, pulling him deeper, closer, as her heels locked his thighs in place above her.

  No turning back. Waves of mind-numbing pleasure crashed around him and he let go, primal need claiming him. The release was exquisite, lasting forever and over too soon. Palms planted against the baked earth, he lifted, allowing a cool rush of air to flutter beneath the blanket. She was so beautiful, the light turning her skin green. Green?

  His head swam as he raised his face to the horizon. What had just happened, here? She was Blattvolk. A temptress of the devil. And they were supposed to be hiding from the search party. “What have you done to me?”

  She didn’t speak, just traced his lips with her index finger. His vision wavered again. Drugs. She’d drugged him. This must be a trap.

  Levi woke as the sky shifted from lavender to purple. The blankets lay in a heap at their feet, the robe bunched as a pillow beneath Tula’s head. She lay with her back against him, breathing deeply. His shoulder hurt from gravel digging into his flesh. His naked legs throbbed with sunburn.

  He sat up and searched the sky. No dusters. Just the looming mountains he’d seen to the north, now in stark contrast to the fading light. What had he done? His disjointed memories reminded him of his first mid-winter cider festival; the hard cider had gone to his head, and he ended up singing naughty lyrics at the hymn-sing, giggling like he was twelve instead of eighteen.

  Only this new incident involved multiple layers of sin. First, he lay with a woman out of wedlock. Again. Second, the woman was an abomination.

  He looked at her profile cradled atop the gold robe. The smooth arc of her cheek, the dark lashes against her green cheek. The smell of their lovemaking lingered on his skin.

  “God forgive me.” He lifted his face to the mountains in the distance, unable to muster a better prayer. His head pounded, and his body ached from the hard ground. He reached for the water bottles and sipped. How long would this water last? Already he was dehydrated from the hiking, the sunburn and the … activity with Tula.

  He shook his head. Even though it was a sin, his body wanted more of her. He had to continue his journey. But what about Tula? He looked over his shoulder, longing taking hold at the sight of the curve of her rump. She was beautiful and alien all at once.

  He couldn’t desert her. Even if she was a temptress. Before waking her, he pulled the blanket around himself, leaves and all. “Tula.”

  No response.

  He leaned closer to her ear. “Tula.”

  Still no response.

  This time he shouted, but still she didn’t budge. If he hadn’t been able to see her chest rise and fall, he might have thought she was dead. “Tula?” He reached out and shook her, gently. The familiar warmth of her skin under his palm made him queasy.

  When she didn’t rouse, he bit his lip and frowned. Something was wrong. Shaking her harder, he rolled her onto her back. Her jaw was slack and she breathed slightly through her mouth.

  Why wouldn’t she wake? Perhaps he hadn’t been the only one affected by the strange loss of control. Had the Blattvolk drugged them from the air, hoping they would show themselves? The thought of blaming someone else for their actions eased his mind.

  But what about Tula? He couldn’t leave her here. No matter what happened between them, she’d saved his life. At an exorbitant cost to herself. He owed her an escort to a safe place.

  After easing the robe from beneath her head, he pulled the sleeves over her arms and tied the waist, trying to keep his eyes from her breasts.

  Heaving a great breath, he lifted her in his arms and headed north.

  The Reaches

  After two days of grueling travel they reached an outcropping. And God blessed them with an oasis of water and cattails for food. Even a muskrat den gave Levi hope for more than bugs and roots. But Tula remained unconscious.

  Two more days Levi watched over her, trickling water into her slack mouth every little while in hope some was getting into her system. Blisters dotted her jade skin in what Levi assumed was a sunburn and not some horrible disease. The thought of a plant person sunburning seemed odd, but it was his only explanation. To protect her, he built a shade tent out of cattails and kept her cool with leaf compresses.

  Still, she slept.

  This morning he woke, filled his water bottles, and gathered a few roots to resume his journey. He couldn’t stay here forever. Signs of abandoned cannibal camps dotted the waterside. The Blattvolk were looking for him. And he had to save Josef.

  Yet, he couldn’t leave Tula h
ere unconscious. What if she never woke up? He didn’t think he could carry her and enough supplies to get to the next water source. The morning waxed into afternoon and he still hadn’t left, with or without her. He sat in the shade with his knees drawn up, looking out over the scraggly tamarisks surrounding the pool. The first few bits of cattail fluff drifted in the breeze; fall would be here soon. A turkey buzzard circled the sky in the distance, mimicking a Blattvolk aircraft. Or maybe it was the other way around. Perhaps tomorrow was a better day to leave.

  He waded out to catch water beetles for supper. Most of his days were spent searching for food for the journey, and he rationed what he found, even now. Today, a muskrat was caught in one of his traps, and he thanked God for keeping him here another day to find it. He gathered more of the pale leaves from the trees Tula had pointed to in the desert. The plant was only familiar to him as a weed they rooted out of the fields, but the leaves were large and made nice compresses. He wetted them and piled them into the lab coat sling before sloshing back to camp.

  Turning to Tula to apply new compresses, his heart leapt when he saw her eyes open. “Tula!” he cried, kneeling to see if her fever had broken.

  Her skin still burned. He raised a water bottle to her lips, but she barely managed one swallow before coughing wracked her and she again fell unconscious. Vivid memories of Josef’s sickness opened a hollowness inside Levi. He focused on changing her leaf compresses, but the cattail jelly didn’t seem to be helping. A fire was his next priority, or he’d be eating raw muskrat tonight.

  He donned his blanket around his waist and skinned the muskrat, staking the hide in the sun to dry. He didn’t know much about tanning, but the hide might come in handy later.

  Starting a fire with what looked like a miniature flame gun from the emergency kit, he spitted and roasted the tiny carcass. The scent of real meat, after so many days of the bland drink the Blattvolk gave him, was like manna. The meat would barely be a meal for one. Did Tula eat meat? She drank the Blattvolk drink with him. Maybe that was out of politeness. Plant people shouldn’t need to eat.

  But they also shouldn’t sunburn.

  He looked from the feast to the unconscious Tula. His stomach rumbled. If she was awake, he should share. With a sigh, he went to her side and urged her awake. “Tula.” He didn’t touch her. The oozing blisters looked painful. Instead, he stroked her hair, once silky between his fingers, now caked with sweat and grime.

  Her lids flickered open and his heart lifted. He hadn’t realized how alone he felt. Lifting her head again, he offered the water bottle. She looked past the bottle at her leaf-covered body and whimpered. Her hands fluttered like dying birds as she attempted to push the leaves away.

  “What is it?” Levi grabbed her wrists. “Tula?”

  “Bad.” She croaked, and her head fell back against the pillow robe.

  He looked at the wide, palmate leaves he’d dampened and placed on her body. Were these poisonous? He’d had no skin reaction picking them. But maybe her blisters weren’t a sunburn. He picked the leaves from her skin as quickly as he could. Had he made her sick this whole time?

  The thought worried him. He washed her oozing skin with clean water and debated putting the robe over her. The poultices kept the flies away as well as treated the blisters. Deciding to give the sores time to dry out, he left her uncovered and hoped the smoke from the tamarisk fire would be enough for the flies. As he turned the cooking muskrat over the flames, he couldn’t keep his eyes off her nakedness in spite of the blisters.

  Out of darkness, Tula became aware of shivers twitching up and down her body. Even though chemical euphoria coursed through her bloodstream, the effects weren’t enough to overpower the pain. Her head ached. Her bones shot fire out her fingers and toes. Breathing hurt, her throat and lungs dry and tight.

  The sound of splashing water nearby drew her starchy eyes open. Through the filmy haze over her corneas, she saw slatted light. Although it hurt to move, she twitched her head left to see a solid rock wall. Directly above, some sort of plant matter had been woven into a shelter. Thankfully it wasn’t touching her. On her abdomen, she ran weak fingers over blistered skin. The poisons running through her system could have killed her. They still could, if her organs were damaged from the sudden shock of so many alkaloids. How could he cover her in leaves like that? And how long had she been unconscious?

  Memories of her flight with Levi crept into her consciousness. The last thing she fully recollected was the duster on the horizon. She squinted at the leafy roof, yearning for a drop of water on her parched lips. Fortunately the Protectorate hadn’t found them, or they’d be in prison. Or worse.

  Splashing again drew her attention, and she forced her head the other way. Knee deep in water, Levi placed the cap on a dripping water bottle. He limped up the slope toward her, water sluicing from his muscular legs. The sunlight made the blond re-growth of hair glint like flecks of topaz against his tawny skin. Flashes of remembered sensation tickled the pit of her stomach. Had they? The taste of his skin, the broad expanse of his back under her fingertips, the powerful feel of him between her legs couldn’t have been a dream.

  Guilt churned her already roiling stomach. To have sex with a patient — an unconverted patient, at that — went against all her training.

  But then, so did helping one escape.

  And what about Mo? Aching sadness squeezed her eyes shut, but she was too dry for tears. Mo had saved her life. What was he doing right now? What did he think of her? What would he think, if he knew about this?

  She opened her eyes, struck by the beauty of the big man crouching next to a fire. The muscles of his broad back flexed as he stirred the coals, flames shooting to life along with her lust. She shoved it down. The damn alkaloids would not control her.

  She focused on the familiar smoky scent of the fire, like Mo after a day of work. No, Mo after a day at work meant more alkaloid sharing fun. She needed to clear her head. Riding through the pungent smoke was another smell. A saliferous tang that called to mind the emergency with Bats. And the time before…

  Charred flesh.

  Turning to retch on the stone beside her, all thoughts of a lascivious nature disappeared.

  “Tula!” Levi scrambled toward her, leaning over her to press a palm to her forehead. His skin reeked of death. He lifted her head to press a water bottle to her lips and she strained to swallow. The fluid burned as it washed over her parched membranes, and she started coughing.

  “Okay, okay.” He held her steady until she settled.

  Coughing fit over, she lay back, unable to do more than lie there. But she was awake and alive.

  “Hungry?” he asked.

  “No,” she croaked. How could he think of eating with that stench all around?

  The tightness in his face eased. Moving back to the fire, he pulled something from the coals and gnawed at it. The smell of burned flesh grew stronger. In fascinated revulsion, she watched him chew and swallow bits of meat from some small creature. Reddish muscles and blackened little paws dripped juice down his chin. She’d never considered what a non-cannibal might eat in the desert. Beetles like Mo brought couldn’t be the only thing. But to eat another living creature seemed like such a shame.

  At least it isn’t human.

  He fished black globs from the coals and set them aside. Steam from the lumps released a strangely sweet and spicy scent, not unlike the agave candy she gave her patients. He held up a water bottle to the light and she saw several thumbnail sized beetles crawling around in it. Tilting it onto the fire’s hot rocks, he shook the skittering bugs out. They crackled and popped before he twitched them away from the fire with a long stick.

  He looked up and met her gaze. “…hungry?” a string of words as he asked again.

  She shook her head minutely. Beetles she could stomach, but the overpowering stench of the dead animal eradicated the desire to put anything in her mouth. Besides, she could go for days or even weeks without ingesting food, as lo
ng as she could photosynthesize. Eventually, she would need to replenish amino acids, proteins, and some minerals and vitamins. But not for a long time.

  Levi finished his meal and retreated to the lake, rinsing water over his hands. The trees on one side of the water cast long shadows over the surface. Sunset tinted Levi orange as he waded out to an immense stand of spiky foliage. The water churned muddy as he reached in up to his shoulders and jerked a few fronds from the bottom of the pond.

  Greenery in hand, he squatted at her side. If she could have cringed any farther away, she would have, but her muscles wouldn’t respond to her brain’s commands.

  He peeled the base of the leaves, layers sloughing in rings, revealing a sticky little center core he lifted toward her. “Medizin.”

  When he moved to put the thing on her shoulder she squeaked and shrank away. What was he doing? “No!”

  He frowned. “Good. Medizin.”

  “No. No. Poison. Bad. Tula no plants.” She managed to lift a warding hand, careful not to touch the frond. “Tula, no. Levi, yes. Tula, no.” How could she express that what worked for him was toxic to her?

  He looked at the slimy frond, said a few words, then the word, “water.” He made scrubbing motions with his hands on his arms and pointed to the lake.

  Did she want to wash? The effort sounded astronomical. But between the covering of leaves and the gooey sap he’d likely been spreading on her, it was a good idea. No wonder she was covered in blisters and unable to move on her own.

  She nodded.

  He slipped his hands beneath her like a baby and carried her to the water’s edge. Lowering one arm, he allowed her to slide to her feet, but the change to an upright position nearly made her pass out. She sagged against him like a rag.

  “I can’t,” she tried to say.

  “It’s okay.” He swung her into his arms again and strode into the pond until waist deep.