The Galactic Bride
Chapter 15: The Survivor's Guilt

Waking up in a start, Aki shot up in a cold sweat. There was a sound of a horn of some type blowing, but that wasn't what woke him up. Throughout the night he kept having nightmares. Images of that Tarfull he stabbed in the eye kept pledging his dreams. It would still haunt his morning, if not for the sound of that horn that was still blowing. He shook his head, trying to wake up fully so he could figure out what the horn sound was, but by the time he was coming out of it, the horn had stopped.

He looked over to General Anura's sleeping spot, wondering if she knew what the horn was. But her spot was empty Looking around in semi-panic he saw that it was morning and the cave door was open. Scrambling out, he saw the General sitting by a fire, cooking a weird looking fish, while braiding some kind of grassy material into a rope.

"Ah, the horn woke you up?" The General looked up from her work.

"Sort of." He said.

She looked into his eyes and knew it was nightmares. He could tell death pledged her as well from the returned gaze. "The horns you heard play every morning and night. They'll tell us how many is left. Just now it blew nine times."

"Nine?" Aki went over to the fish and turned them over before they blackened. "Nine people? Didn't we start off with 18?"

The General nodded. "By my count it was: 5 Wahconese, 4 Nimbonians, 4 Tyrian, 3 Tarfulles, and 2 Mari. Last night we took out the Tarfulles and two others working with them. It could have been the Mari or our fellow Nimbonians. I'm guessing it was the latter. As chatty as they were, they didn't seem very Mari like. But it was dark and I couldn't tell."

The ease she took talking about death was both sick and amazing. They took out five out of the nine dead. Just them. Which meant they were the hunters last night, not anyone else. "Who took out the other 4?"

"I don't know. I'd guess it was the Wahconese and the Tyrian, After I escaped, the next big targets where those groups. The game seemed to be geared to lean in their favors so I think they started fighting each other when we left. But I could be wrong. It might have been full chaos."

"So half the contestants remain after just one night." Aki saw the fish were done. He pulled one away and forced the General to stop braiding rope and take it. "This should be over pretty soon then."

"The first rotation is always the bloodiest. But usually it's not half the field." The General admitted. "Still, I don't see anyone dying today."

"Why not?"

"Everyone is tired and scared after hearing that horn. There were other hunting parties out there, I'm sure of it. So people will be resting, supplying up, or fortifying their bases. That's what we'll be doing."

"How do you know?"

"If it were you, would you want to fight someone after not sleeping the previous night?"

"Probably not."

General Anura nodded her head, then took a bite out of the fish. It was only then did he see notice that she had a black eye. "If anyone dies today, it will because it's a chance encounter." She spoke with her mouth full. "In a way I wish we'd just all attack each other and be done with it. But that's not how things usually work in competitions like this."

Aki had to agree that being proactive took the nerves away. As they were talking, he had forgotten about those people he killed. So after breakfast, he helped General Anura as much as he could. Most of the things she was making were traps for both competitors and animals. He even created some of the traps that Lani had taught him in the cargo bay, just for good measure. When they were finished it was mid-afternoon, and the General had forced him to memorize where all the traps were so he didn't hurt himself on accident.

His stomach was growling again by the time they went back into the cave. The General left the door open and the fire going. Apparently she wasn't worried about search parties that night. They sat next to each other in silence, minus the sounds of their stomachs growling.

"I should have thought to catch some more fish earlier, but I was so caught up in the traps I forgot." The General rubbed her stomach. Even in the firelight he could see the bruise on her side from the gang attack she suffered.

"Want to try for it now?"

"It's dark."

"So." Aki smirked slightly. "If anyone is coming for us, they'll walk to the fire. It'll be too dark to see us that well at the stream."

"Perhaps." The General groaned and crawled out of the cave, taking the spear-gun. "Might as well. Take the ax. You guard me while I fish."

And that's what they did. After navigating through the maze that was their traps, of course. When they reached the river, Aki looked back to where the cave was and was surprised he didn't see any fire light. Apparently the rock wall was just curved enough light didn't get though. He wondered if it was just the angle, or if they were blocked completely from view. The General seemed to be in the same mind set.

"Come. Let's travel down the stream and see if we can spot the fire along the path."

So they did. They nearly walked towards where the bear was still poisoning the water below until they gave in. There was an occasional flicker of light, but not so much that anyone would notice it over the variety of movement going around in the jungle. It just was so thick. Grinning at each other for choosing such a perfect location they headed back down the stream where it was deepest.

Fishing at night seemed almost peaceful. Both of them had to keep silent as not to startle the fish. It took forever to get two, though. The first fish was almost caught right away, but getting the second one was a pain. Especially when the General was using the spear gun instead of bait, and was only going by her eye sight to try and catch them. But in the end they had two fish.

Once back at the camp-site they sat around the fire again cooking the fish. The smell filled the air. Part of him was worried that someone might pick up on that, but the other part of him didn't care.

"I was thinking… Your water-trick must of done a number on the Tarfulles. They sent out whoever they were allied with to scan the wood instead of going themselves." The General spoke casually.

Aki had almost forgot about the Tarfulles. He hated that she brought it up. "We don't have to talk about them, do we?"

The General looked at him in silence for a moment then continued. "I was thinking perhaps you had the right idea. Weaken the enemy, then attack… or else let someone else take them out."

Aki ignored her, and looked at the fish. It seemed to be taking far to long.

"We should look for something poisonous in the morning, then scout out that camp by the beach." The General went on as if Aki was enraptured in the topic. "Major Lani pointed out some dangerous fruits to you, didn't she?"

"Yeah." Aki saw no way to avoid the topic now. "Can't we just…"

"No." The General shook her head. "If we keep going, the quicker this nightmare ends. You have to put aside your normal self while you're in here. Save the images of the dead for when you are safe. In here, they don't matter. You keep going."

"Easy for you to say."

"It's not easy. You never get over your first kill. And you'd have to be a heartless animal not to care about your last. But you can't let that affect your judgement. If we just camped out here, we'd be the victims sooner or later."

Aki saw truth in what she said, but it still rubbed him the wrong way. He didn't want to forget that Tarfull girl. He wanted to punish himself.

"Fish is done." General Anura broke the silence they had gone in after her lecture.

They ate. Aki sighed heavily, trying to figure out a way to steel himself for the days ahead. He didn't want to be a murderer, but the problem was that he already was one. Then he thought of that Tarfull again. She had jumped into the pond to kill the General. Didn't that make her an attempted murder? They all were in the same boat but bid it make it right that Aki had killed first? He didn't know.

"I remember seeing some yellow-melons." Aki finally spoke after awhile. "They are poisonous, and would cause death if eaten in large quantities. It would be hard to tick anyone to eat them. So I figure we just squeeze the juice into whoever's food rations we find. It might not kill them, but it'll probably make them sick."

"Grand." The General spoke, obviously relieved that Aki was trying to get over his first kill. "The problem will be getting to the beach."

"Going through that jungle we're sure to be ambushed or attacked. Might even step into someone else's traps." Aki reasoned.

"We can repel down the side of the cliff." The General was looking into the cave at the rope they had. "Getting back up might be an issue. Going down is always faster, so the chances of us not being seen would be fine. Going up is slower-"

"Especially if there are two of us." Aki nodded in agreement. "One should stay by the rope and be ready to help pull the other up. Only one of us should go down."

The General was nodding her head. It was eery how well they thought alike when dealing with strategy. It made Aki worry about himself. How different was he from this psychopath anyway? And how similar was he? "You're the strongest. You should stay up top."

Aki wasn't sure he liked that idea. "You shouldn't have to go down alone."

"Sneaking in by myself would be easier." The General rightly reminded him. "Plus your strength will help me climb the cliff-face better. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

He was worried about her. The killer of his best friend. It sickened him to know that he didn't want to be alone, and would even put up with the company of this savage than be faced with death on his own.

A cool breeze came in as they were discussing the details of the next day's plan. Aki was glad for the fire. He didn't realize that it was getting cooler while they were eating, but now that they were done and had worked out what they were going to do next, he noticed it. He looked at the General who was hugging her chest and rubbing her arms with his hands. She too looked startled at the weather shift.

"We're on a tropical island, so the weather can change in a heart beat." General Anura reminded him. "There must be a cold front coming in. That might cause rain. Before we go to bed, let's take a few embers with us in the cave. That way it might be easier to start a new fire if it rains during the night."

Aki looked at the cave, wondering if it was possible to have a small fire inside. He quickly dismissed that. There would be no where for the smoke to go. Perhaps at the mouth of the cave, but that would mean they'd have to keep the door open and the rain might set it out anyway.

"Do you think we can use some of the bags we've collected to make a blanket? Aki asked her.

"I don't know." The General looked up at the trees above them. They were rocking back and forth. "If we lose the fire we won't be able to see what we're doing…"

There was so little time in the day that they didn't have time for the domestic aspects of the shelter. He was starting to regret that. All they did was fortify the cave and make traps…. traps. Aki stood up, and swore. This random thought stumbled on something important.

"The animal traps we set. If there's rain we won't get a chance to check them in the morning. And it's too dark now. We could lose out on some food."

General Anura shook her head, then reached for one of the logs in the fire and held it above her head like a torch. "Keep the fire going, I'll check the traps. Maybe we'll get lucky."

She left, and he followed her torch light as long as he could. He noticed she had the sense of mind to take the ax with her as well. The breeze was chilling him, and he wished he had thought of the bag-blankets sooner. The night would be cold, especially in a cave. After what seemed like hours the General returned empty handed in the food realm. Tucked under her arms was a lot more of the shrubbery she had been using for dry bedding.

"The traps haven't been set for long, so it was a long shot." The General told him, then glanced at the shrubbery. "I thought maybe we could collect more of this and try to use it as a blanket. It's better than nothing."

They both went out on several trips to collect more of the stuff. Moving around warmed him up and he was glad for it. When they returned back to the cave the first of a few droplets fell. It wasn't long before both of them were inside the cave with the slobbery on top of them. It held in no heat, and generated little either. At best if was a small patch to a large hole.

"Body heat." General Anura told him. "Come over here."

As he scooted closer to her thats when the tropical down pour began. The fire outside sizzled as the drops hit it. The General wrapped her arms around him. He started slightly, as her skin was cold. He could only imagine that she did the same. It would be a long miserable night, he knew. Just where did that front come from anyway? He didn't notice the sky before, but then again, he was in a jungle and couldn't really see the sky.

"I wish there was an oven in here." General Anura complained.

Aki buried his face into her shoulder. He wished there was an oven then the cave also.

Sᴇarch the FindNovel.net website on G𝘰𝘰gle to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.