Ver followed the alien as he scoured the purple forest. She didn't know how else to describe it. The forest was dense with huge trees closely clustered but they were purple in color. The mud beneath her feet was reminiscent of earth, but even that had a purple hue to it.
''Sss!'' She gasped in pain as she stepped on something sharp. Lack of footwear made her vulnerable to the alien forest floor.
Zylar whipped his head in her direction as soon as he heard her. Initially confused, he soon understood her when she lifted her leg to check on it. But before she could do so, he lowered himself to the ground before picking and settling her on his thigh. Ver held onto his neck for balance as he propped up her injured leg and observed it.
Something reddish was oozing out of the creature's leg. Zylar looked at Ver's face in surprise before returning his attention to its injury. The color of its blood resembled the lava on the mountain top. After getting over the anomaly, he started to remove the splinter stuck on its sole. Bero was such a delicate being, just a little nick was making it bleed so much. How had it survived till now?
Bero was not someone who was made to live in the vast Xoron forests. He deduced that it's kind probably lived very far from this place.
"It's dirty, stop touching it" Ver removed his probing hand from her muddy and injured leg. It was also not helping that his touch felt weirdly sensual and that was the last thing she wanted to feel in this situation. But he seemed adamant about not heeding her words because he touched her leg softly as he swept away the stuck dust and debris with his bare hand before washing her wound with what resembled water. It was whiter than the normal water. Then he took something out of his bag and applied it to her gash before bandaging it with a piece of clean cloth.
Ver didn't know what to say. Nobody had treated her this well in her life. Not even the doctor she had paid. Tears started to freely stream down her cheeks. She had suppressed her feelings all her life because crying got her nowhere. It wouldn't make her mom love her, nor would her life improve so she stopped crying. For the past few days, these suppressed feelings kept on building up until she couldn't take it anymore. Yet she still didn't cry. Even when Rick left her, she only cried because her ticket to escape had gotten away. Happy tears, which made her grateful, were unknown to her.
Right after getting thrown away by her family, she had to fight and escape that insect alien. Didn't know whether she would survive the ship crashing and was now here on a planet with purple trees and a muscular alien that made her feel overwhelmed by his kindness. She couldn't keep it in any longer.
Zylar was taken aback by the creature's sudden outburst. Right as he finished treating its wound, the soft creature started to wail loudly like someone had wronged it. It was also leaking some kind of weird liquid from its round eyes. Had he hurt the creature while treating it? Bero was such a soft thing after all. Its pain receptors might be higher than his.
"Stop wailing," He tried to soothe it, but to no avail. Out of options, he covered her mouth with his palm, "If you keep making sounds, you will give away our location to the forest beasts'' Zylar could defend himself and kill if that happened, but with this soft creature in his arms, he wasn't sure anymore. It was tiny compared to the other beasts in the forest, even a small wound was making it wail, and he couldn't imagine it fighting or hunting. It would be difficult for him to safeguard Bero while fighting.
This is new. Ver thought as he covered her mouth. He had a unique way of making someone stop crying. A giggle left her lips looking at his clueless face. She removed his hand from her lips before clasping it between her palms, "Thank you so much for treating my wound'' She knew he wouldn't understand but said nonetheless, "It means a lot, Zylar''
Then she hugged him to show her gratitude. If words didn't reach him then she would make him understand through her actions.
Zylar froze in his place as he felt Bero encircle her arms around his neck. He didn't know why the creature was pressing its body against his. He should be repulsed by it, no other creature had been this close to him. However, he kind of liked the feeling of having its soft body against him. But once the heart inside his chest started to beat uncontrollably making him panic, he pushed Bero away from him and looked at its face in shock. Did this creature do something to him? Was this its way of poisoning him?
Rage started to bubble inside him on that notion until it went away as soon as Bero touched his face. It frowned and seemed to worry for him, "What's wrong, Zylar?''
That made his heart beat even louder. He felt like it would rip out of his chest. Zylar had to calm down. He settled Bero back on the ground before standing up. Then without another word, he started to walk. He remembered leaving his hunt behind, which was the food for his clan. He has to skin and preserve it before it's too late. And he was trying to get away from the strange creature that made him feel things that he had never felt before.
Ver stood still in her place. Had she offended him by hugging him? Was his kind averse to touching strangers? But he was the one who touched her first. Or was he repulsed because she was an alien? That saddened her. Tears filled up in her eyes but she held back to not make a sound. Zylar seemed not to like her crying. Was this a goodbye then? Would she have to survive in this unfamiliar place on her own from now on?
She looked at her surroundings and turned back to walk towards the spaceship. Maybe she could find something of use in that place. Or she could sleep in the cryo pod until she was ready to come out. That was the only place she knew on this planet.
Zylar stopped in his tracks when he didn't hear Bero following him. When he turned around, he saw it walking away from him. Something snapped inside him seeing that, which made him rush in its direction and pull it towards him.
Ver's eyes went wide when she felt Zylar picking her up and hoisting her on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Hey!?'' She complained but stopped moving when she felt his firm grip on her thighs. A smile involuntarily broke out on her face, so he was not going to leave her here? It should be frightening as a woman for her to be with an unknown man, but Ver could feel it in her gut. Zylar was not someone who would hurt her.
Zylar held to Ver tighter than necessary. It was like he was desperate and didn't want her to escape him. The mere thought of his soft creature walking away from him made his chest constrict uncomfortably. He was sure it had done something to him. Letting it go now meant he would never get cured.
Once he reached his hunt, Zylar put Bero back on the ground and pulled it away to safety.
Ver felt Zylar pulling her behind a large tree. It was like he was hiding them from someone while he watched beyond the tree. Curiosity got the best of her and she too took a peek.
There was a large white animal dead on the ground. It was as big as an elephant in size but didn't resemble one otherwise. Nothing happened at first but soon the body started to writhe. Ver watched in terror as the animal soon split into two. Her entire body shook as she saw the second one spring on its leg and walk away. What in the binary fission was that!?
As the clone walked away, the initial animal remained still on the ground not moving. Zylar moved towards the dead animal and started to skin it like it was the most normal thing to do. He kept on casting glances at her maybe to make sure she didn't leave before continuing his work.
Ver was a student of botany, so she knew only a little about animals, but what she saw was clearly Binary fission. But how could that be? This kind of fission only happened in single-cell organisms. Large organisms are complex and multicelled making it impossible for them to bifurcate like that. Unless that was somehow possible on this planet?
How many other animals did the same in this world? Ver wasn't sure. But with no chance of leaving this place due to the destroyed spaceship, she had to learn more about this place. Learn more about the flora and fauna to ensure her survival. Then her eyes landed on Zylar, she needed to learn more about her Alien saviour too.