Despite being positive that Boursin would treat him like a burden on this exploration, Jaime was relieved to have him present. Out of the four of them, Jaime was the only one who had no experience with firearms. So he felt a little better having a war veteran around if he was attacked by a vicious plant.
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On second thought, maybe he should ask Gabriella to teach him to shoot.
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Boursin was loaded up with gear, apparently anticipating a variety of scenarios gone wrong whereas Jaime only carried a small pack. Now he was wondering if he was woefully underprepared to explore the wilderness despite it having been his idea.
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They waved goodbye to Emory and Gabriella who had set out in the opposite direction from the other side of the boat and cautiously stepped on to the mossy ground. It held under their feet, but it certainly didn’t feel stable. Jaime felt that if he wasn’t careful with his steps, the moss would slide out from underfoot, sending him tumbling to the ground. It squished and sunk under their feet as they walked.
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“Don’t you think it’s weird?” Jaime asked in sudden realization.
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“The island that wants to eat us? Yes, Derrand.”
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Jaime glared at him.
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“There’s no bugs. Or birds. But the plant life is thriving despite there not being any pollinators or seed distributors.”
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“I don’t think this place really follows the rules of nature.”
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Jaime wanted to be irritated at the bland statement, but technically Boursin was right. Nothing here seemed to follow any established rules from the world they knew. The dense network of trees began to fade into an open space. At the center of the mossy field was a singular, much smaller tree with shaggy leaves. It vaguely resembled a weeping willow. Here, the light had dimmed into a shade of teal, casting a blue tint of coloring to all the plants.
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“Look, we can use this as a marker to find our way back.”
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“Creepy.” Boursin commented.
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Jaime ignored him and stepped closer. Boursin caught him by the back of the shirt.
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“Can you not blindly approach dangerous plants?”
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“It looks like an ordinary tree.”
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“Are you kidding? Look closer. The fruit looks like a bunch of decapitated doll heads.”
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Jaime squinted his eyes and peered closer. Boursin was right. Hidden among the hanging greenery were small tan fruits that were dotted with black spots resembling bruises. They did begin to take on the appearance of a doll’s face when you stared for too long.
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He stepped back and gave it a wider berth without acknowledging Boursin’s words. Boursin shivered and rubbed his arms.
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“Doesn’t it feel like it’s getting colder the further we get from the ship?”
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The trees continued to grow more sparse as they journeyed farther into the woods, beginning to shift from something resembling swampland to a topology closer to a marsh.
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“Is that a cave?” Boursin asked, looking into the distance, “It’s the first thing I’ve seen that looks like a rock.”
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It did look like a cave, except for the fact that it wasn’t connected to any surrounding rock face. In that respect, it was more like a curved boulder. Technically, it could be the entrance to a cave system. Jaime wasn’t sure that spelunking was a bright idea.
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“Hopefully, there aren’t any animals nearby. Come to think of it, we haven’t seen any of those either.” Jaime commented.
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~
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Alek walked behind Derrand following him across the marsh toward the odd looking cave. They only intended to glance inside. With their recent luck, Alek was afraid that they might be attacked by a strange monster hiding inside.
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Derrand was talking nonstop about how the ecosystems didn’t make any sense from an environmental standpoint and Alek was tuning him out. Until he stopped talking suddenly. One moment, Derrand was stepping forward and the next moment, a splash rang out as he fell straight through what looked like solid ground into a hidden pool of water.
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Alek froze. Derrand was just gone. One second he had been standing in front of Alek and the next he had vanished. And he wasn’t swimming back up from the gap in the ground that he had fallen into.
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“Shit. Shit.” Alek cursed and fumbled with his pack, pulling out a length of rope and tying it to his hatchet as a weight.
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He dropped it into the murky green water and fed it quickly, hoping that Derrand would take hold. Just before his fear tumbled over the edge into panic, he felt a tug on the rope. He tightened his grip and leaned back with all his body weight, pulling on it as hard as he could. After a few moments, Derrand’s arm broke through the water and grasped at the ground. Alek lunged forward and dragged him back onto the moss.
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Derrand collapsed on the ground, sputtering and coughing. He was soaked to the bone, clothes clinging to his frame. Alek bent over and caught his own breath while Derrand turned on to his stomach and vomited up brackish water. He continued to retch for a few minutes before he recovered his senses and Alek pulled him to his feet.
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The other man was already shivering violently. Alek hadn’t been wrong, the woods were getting colder as they ventured further. Worse than that, the light had continued to change. Although the sun was never visible in this place, it was suffused with yellow light through the cloud cover during the day. The odd blue light had continued to dim as they walked and was now growing darker by the minute.
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“I think it’s going to storm.” He said, more to himself than Derrand who was still coughing.
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Either that or night was descending early. Alek wouldn’t put it past this place to disregard the rules of time as easily as it ignored the other rules of existence. He looked out over the marsh and judged the distance to the cave. They couldn’t return to the ship with Derrand soaking wet in the cold with darkness descending. Alek felt in his pants pocket for the extra bullets to his gun and shook them out of the box, transferring them to his shirt pocket.
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He turned to Derrand and spoke, “Hold my hand.”
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Derrand blinked rapidly at Alek’s extended hand and again Alek felt like an idiot, ears flushing.
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“Just do it!”
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The cartographer frowned slightly in confusion, but laced his fingers with Alek’s own. Alek pulled out one of the bullets and mentally mapped out his walking path to the cave. Then threw the bullet one step in that direction with force at the ground. It bounced and settled in the moss. He took a cautious step forward toward the bullet and picked it back up. Derrand followed warily.
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He flung the next bullet. It splashed, breaking through the moss into water below. Fuck. Alek pictured a checkerboard in his mind where every black square meant certain death. He had felt more at ease navigating ships through areas crowded with enemy mines during the war. If Alek ran out of bullets, they would be moving across the space blindly. The next bullet hit solid ground at a diagonal from their position. They stepped lightly into the space.
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The perilous game continued across the field, more bullets hitting water than Alek was comfortable with. The two of them ended up taking a circuitous route across the field to reach the cave, both sighing with relief when they felt solid rock under their feet. The temperature had dropped dramatically in the half hour it had taken them to cross the field. Alek could see his breath forming vapor in the air in front of him. Thankfully, there was still enough light to see into the cave itself. It didn’t lead anywhere; it really was just an overhanging boulder. Which was comforting given that it meant nothing was hiding in the cave. At least that Alek could see at first glance.
He deposited a shaking Derrand on the floor of the cave and spied a group of vine-like branches climbing up the wall of the rock. Hopefully they were flammable. And not actually the legs of a hidden giant spider or something equally atrocious.
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~
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Jaime couldn’t stop the tiny spasms that were wracking his muscles in an attempt to keep him warm. How on earth had the weather gone from balmy to freezing so quickly? He watched Boursin pull out a hatchet and observe the wall of the cave closely. The first lieutenant glanced back at him.
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“Take off your clothes.”
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Jaime coughed in surprise, lungs still aching from inhaling water. If his body weren’t devoid of any warmth, his face would have gone rosy. Thank god that his blood wasn’t moving properly through his limbs.
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“You’re going to get hypothermia. Take off the wet clothes.” Boursin added.
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Ah, right. That made way more sense than where Jaime’s mind had immediately gone. His brain was moving slowly with the cold, that was all. He pulled off his boots and cringed as water spilled out of them onto the floor of the cave with a squelch. Then he peeled off his socks with a grimace before standing and pulling off the rest of his wet clothing. The harsh cold of the air against his bare skin wasn’t much better than being weighed down by drenched fabric.
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Boursin unwrapped a jacket that was tied around his waist and tossed it to Jaime. Jaime caught it and pulled it on. It was too big, arms loose around his shoulders compared to Boursin’s broader ones. The arms hung halfway down his hands, but it was warm. He pulled it tight around himself and settled back on the ground, flinching at its coldness.
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While Jaime had disrobed, Boursin had hacked away the vines on the wall and made a pile in the center of the cave. Now, he leaned over it and managed it to successfully light it with a flint.
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“Thank fuck.” Jaime heard him whisper under his breath.
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“My father really screwed you over when he asked you to babysit me, huh?” Jaime said ruefully.
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“What are you talking about?” Boursin replied bluntly.
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“Come on, you’ve been especially keeping an eye on me. I’m sure the captain ordered you to keep his idiot son out of danger.”
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“He didn’t.”
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“What do you mean? You’re always yanking me out of danger. And you hate me so there’s no reason for that unless you were ordered to do so.”
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Boursin rolled his eyes and settled back against the cave wall next to Jaime.
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“I’m not looking out for you specifically. I’m responsible for the crew and you’re part of it. So I have to keep you safe as much as I would Gaby or Beau.” He paused with a bitter laugh, “Although, I don’t seem to be doing a very good job of that.”
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He looked distant for a moment, staring off into the space beyond the entrance of the cave.
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“Also I don’t hate you. You’re just annoying sometimes.”
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“You constantly picked on me at school!”
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“I picked on you!?” Boursin shot back in disbelief, eyebrows raised.
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“Your friends were constantly insulting me! You were the popular kid and the whole class sent me dirty looks every time I spoke!”
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“You constantly shot down my ideas in class and always talked over me. They felt like they had to defend the poor scholarship student from the rich kid at the top of the class. That professor already hated me for no reason, you know.”
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Jaime opened his mouth to counter, but couldn’t find the words. Was it possible that Jaime had been the instigator and not realized it? Maybe his victim complex was misplaced. But hey, Boursin’s friends had been jerks and Jaime was only returning the favor. He chewed on the information for a moment. The truth was that he had thought Boursin was interesting and had wanted to befriend him. Of course with Jaime’s abysmal social skills that had quickly turned sour which had stung. Not that El would have ever allowed him to really make friends, but…
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“I’m sorry.” He said begrudgingly, “I’m not very good with people. When I get nervous, I interrupt and talk over people. And then I got carried away when your friends insulted me so…”
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Boursin laughed. He was sure that this was the first amused look that the other man had sent in his direction. Jaime hadn’t realized that he had dimples.
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“I’m sorry that my friends were pricks.”
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“Thanks.” Jaime replied with a small smile.
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Boursin extended a hand.
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“Truce?”
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“Truce.” Jaime replied and shook it.
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“Boursin…”
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“You might as well call me Alek.”
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“Right. Then call me Jaime. Is it raining?”
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Alek looked out the entrance to the cave where Jaime had pointed.
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“Fuck. No, it’s sleeting.” He said, leaning forward to get a better look.
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No longer distracted by the conversation, Jaime felt the cold sharply again. He glanced woefully over at his clothes which were still sopping wet against the cave floor.
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They slept back to back next to the fire to maintain some semblance of warmth. By the time Jaime awoke the next morning, he felt a piercing ache in his exposed feet. Well, he thought it was morning…time felt like it was moving strangely. It had only been afternoon when they reached the cave.
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Jaime reached for his feet and felt that they were bitten with cold. To his dismay, some of his toes were turning blue. The air outside the cave was still chilly and Jaime’s clothes had not grown much drier overnight. Alek took off his own shoes and socks, giving them to Jaime to put on. He felt especially guilty for misjudging the other man now, considering that Alek was clearly the only thing that had stood between Jaime and death by hypothermia. His father had been right when he had criticized Jaime for forcing his way on to the expedition. It was very obvious now that he did not have the survival skills that were needed for normal emergencies, let alone supernaturally dangerous islands.
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Despite being able to stand, Jaime was gritting his teeth with every step. His other limbs had suffered with the cold, but he had the distinct and unnerving feeling that his toes had been damaged much more severely. It was an odd sort of pain. The actual skin itself was still numb, but in the muscle and bone underneath there was a vicious pain that shot up through the nerves of his foot. Alek saw him stumbling and shifted his pack against his chest. He looked worse for the wear, but not as bad as Jaime.
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“Come on, I’ll just carry you. If you lose your footing, you might fall into one of the gaps.”
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It was true, but Jaime felt like a burdensome child being piggyback carried and still wearing nothing but his boxers and Alek’s coat. The embarrassment was almost more stinging than the frostbite. Since Alek’s hands were supporting his thighs, it was left to Jaime to test the ground for stability by tossing bullets. He wondered if this looked as ridiculous as it felt.
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By the time they made it back across the field and walked the distance to the doll-faced tree, it had grown noticeably warmer again.
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“I think the temperature is changing with the location.” Alek said.
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That didn’t make any sense. But then again, nothing did.
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~
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As they approached the ship, Alek saw Gaby waving at them. She was holding some kind of bizarre fruit in her hand. It vaguely resembled a pineapple with the rich purple color of an eggplant. Alek and Jaime climbed on the boat and Gaby gave him a strained grin. The captain was sitting with a wet rag to his bloodied face, clothes torn and askew.
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“What happened?” Alek asked.
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“Well, it’s just down to us officers now. The cook just lost it? Picked a fist fight with the captain and ran into the woods.” Beau said.
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He looked wan and was now sporting an eyepatch. The skin around it had small scars running in every direction.
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Milton’s knuckles were bruised up and he was also nursing a cut face. He spoke up after Beau.
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“I don’t know if it was some influence from the island or if he just broke under the circumstances. Either way, he fought like a maniac.”
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Milton grinned.
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“Then again who knew the old captain was such a good boxer.” He said with a hearty laugh.
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“Well, I’m not dead yet. I can still throw a punch. You boys are alright?” The captain said, casting a concerned look in Jaime’s direction.
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“Ahh no.” Alek replied, “Jaime needs to see doc about some frostbite.”
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“Frostbite? Gaby and I were sweating in the heat the whole time. How the hell did he get frostbite?” Emory said.
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“It didn’t sleet where you were?” Jaime asked, astounded.
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Gaby and Emory looked at each other in confusion.
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“No, we ended up in a grove of trees with a ton of this fruit.” She said, gesturing to the spiky fruits sitting on the deck around her, “It was stiflingly humid.”
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“Are you alright?” Jaime asked the captain.
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The man gruffly nodded. Alek was starting to get the impression that the captain shared some of Jaime’s social ineptitude. It was painful to watch them both, clearly concerned for the other, trying to act casual. He noticed Jaime grimace as he shifted his weight.
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“Let’s see doc.” He told Jaime.
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~
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They had been trying to slowly warm up Jaime’s feet in lukewarm water for twenty minutes. Most of the skin had returned to a pinkish shade, but the second and third toes on his right foot went from bluish to a concerning black-gray color. The skin there had begun to peel and slough. The doctor didn’t look enthused about the prognosis.
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“It will be fine, right?” Jaime asked nervously.
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Robert gave him a strained, tight smile.
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“Kid, your toes are necrotic.”
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Jaime chewed on his fingernail.
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“If we were back in a settlement, I would wait but…wound infection setting in out here could kill you and I won’t have much recourse. I gotta amputate your toes and cauterize them.”
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Jaime felt all the blood drain from his face. He felt himself nodding manically as though he understood the situation, but in actuality it hadn’t set in yet.
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Robert looked over at Alek who was standing behind him, looking concerned and eyeing the door.
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“That crazy bastard who tried to fight everyone came in here and smashed some bottles. So I’m out of general anesthetic. You need to hold him down.”
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Jaime let out a laugh mixed with a sob.
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“It’s fine, kid. There’s still local anesthetic. It won’t hurt, just don’t look down when you feel the pressure.”
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Jaime laid back against the table and bit a cloth into his mouth, holding tightly to Alek’s forearms. The doctor hadn’t been lying. It didn’t hurt, but there was a deeply uncomfortable pressure. Now he would have to live with the memory of his toes being cut off. He let out a scream into the cloth, and tried to glance down out of instinct.
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Alek pinned him back to the table by his shoulders and yelled, “Don’t look down!”
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Why did the fucking bastard look more queasy than Jaime did? Jaime squeezed his eyes shut.
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~
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Doc had told Jaime that he could stay and rest, but the cartographer had insisted that he would rather be distracted and forced Alek to drag him back up to the main deck. He was laying on the wood and meticulously drawing the areas that the two exploration parties had discovered. At the top of a map labeled La Fenestrea, Alek spotted a few words marking different locations: The River, The Marsh, The Cave, and The Orchard.
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Despite looking a hair's breadth away from a mental breakdown over his heavily bandaged foot, Alek was impressed to see that the cartographer’s drawing skills hadn’t failed him. Beau wandered over and pointed to his eyepatch then Jaime’s foot in camaraderie.
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“At least eye patches look manly, I just have eight toes now.” Jaime commented.
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“Should we try eating a little?” He heard Gaby ask Emory.
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“Absolutely not! Are you crazy? Why are you trying to taste test the fruit from hell?” Alek interrupted, yelling at her.
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“I did a patch test on my skin and tongue. No reaction yet.”
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Alek cursed and rolled his eyes.
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“We’re going to run out of food eventually, Alek. It’s better to identify what’s edible before the situation becomes dire. For all we know, that’s what made the cook attack everyone while we were gone. Maybe he ate something poisonous.” She countered.
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Alek was exhausted and also hadn’t eaten since yesterday. He wasn’t planning on remedying that anytime soon though, still nauseous after assisting the doc. How Jaime was managing to munch on bread while he worked on the map was beyond him.
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“Fine, whatever. Poison yourself. I don’t care.” He complained.
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~
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The next morning, Gaby, Emory, Beau, Alek, and himself were the only ones on the deck. The others had continued to rest after taking the beating from the day before. Jaime had given up filling out the details of the map in exchange for watching Gaby and Emory. That was a much more amusing distraction.
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After consuming a small amount of the fruit together, the two were not poisoned, but they were high out of their minds. They sat facing each other with their knees touching. Gaby was laughing with her head thrown back, finding everything absolutely hilarious. Emory looked like he was having an out of body experience.
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“Maybe I should have some of the fruit.” Beau commented.
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“You might have a bad trip.” Alek replied.
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“I’m already having a bad trip.” Beau complained.
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Gaby had initiated a game of patty cake with Emory, giggling hysterically as they wildly missed each other’s hands.
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“Patty cake, patty cake. Baker’s men. Bake me a cake as fast as you can.”
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Emory was moving way too slowly to keep up with the beat of the song. That said, it looked like he was concentrating very hard. It reminded Jaime of a sloth. Meanwhile, Gaby was missing his hands by a wide margin, arm swinging out past his shoulder instead of connecting.
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Jaime smiled despite himself, amused by their antics. He didn’t think that the fruit would make for a good food source, but it might serve in place of alcohol if anyone really needed to detach from reality for a while.
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His foot was sore, but shockingly didn’t hurt too bad. It ached to be sure and the cauterization burn was uncomfortable. It was clear that the doctor had been right and that the cold had probably killed off any nerves connected to the toes. It felt heavy and weird, but not excruciating. On the downside, he was now walking with a slight limp and kept trying to wiggle the toes that were no longer attached.
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“Batty cake, batty cake…” Gaby began, dissolving in laughter again and falling over.
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“What did it taste like?” Jaime asked.
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“Like the stars.” Emory replied seriously.
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