Ian just scoffed as he shook his head over at the seventeen year-old, “So, your entire theory about whether or not this child will have some freakish ability is based on the fact that the three of you do?”
Kyle let out another sigh, “It’s based on the fact that every child born since leaving Earth has had some kind of ability, and the only one we know of who actually grew up here, where we are now, he---”
“Doesn’t that stuff start at puberty?” Ian interrupted.
“Well, for me and the others from the ship, yeah, but--”
“Then why don’t we worry about it in another thirteen years? Can we worry about the present in the actual present? How about we try that?” Ian retorted with thinly veiled annoyance.
“Ian…” Kyle began, though Ian simply moved to stand, heading in the direction of the cooler to continue with the attempt at feeding the child that Jared had started before their arrival back at the shack. Though his demeanor made it clear that he had no desire to continue the conversation that Kyle had begun, which caused the younger of them to simply let out another sigh, still too exhausted and worried, about more than just that one subject right then, to try fighting Ian on the matter at that point.
After a few more moments of tense silence as Ian claimed a seat opposite Kyle’s to try and get some more milk into the baby’s system. Kyle then finally pushed himself up to his feet, despite his still weakened state. With a deep breath, he moved to work on their own dinner, sure that all of them had to be hungry after the whole of that particular day, which was now thankfully drawing to a close as the sun finished setting on their home again that night.
As he waited on the fish that he had chosen for the dinner that night to cook over the fire, Kyle moved to collect their utensils, his eyes catching the slightest glimmer at the tree line, about fifty feet off from their fire. His attention was immediately drawn to that glimmer as Ian continued attempting to feed the child at his recently claimed log seat. When Kyle’s eyes adjusted to the darkness there at the tree line, he realized that the glimmer that he caught at the corner of his eyes, seemed to actually be that of another set of eyes.
He swallowed as he slowly stood, trying to focus on the shape of the creature that those eyes belonged to, determining that it was much smaller than the bear-like creature he had seen all those months ago, but still about the right height to be some type of member of the canine or feline family.
“Ian…” Kyle managed quietly as he moved his hand to the small gun that he had kept at his own side throughout the long journey that he and the older man had just returned from.
“I thought we were done talking.” Ian muttered, not bothering looking up at Kyle as he spoke.
“Ian, would you pay attention?” Kyle returned impatiently, though still managed to keep his volume low, “There’s something there, at the tree line.” he added, the gun now in his hand as he kept his eyes glued to the animal’s outline, though it did not move any closer to the fire lit camp just yet.
Ian swallowed slightly as he slowly set the milk aside, his eyes moving to the place Kyle’s seemed to be glued to. When he did catch sight of that dark silhouette he very slowly stood, also trying not to trigger any response from the animal with any quick motions, “Ok, keep your eyes on it, but back up slowly, to me, and take her.”
“I’ve got my gun out already, Ian.” Kyle argued, though in the continued whisper.
“And it’s not attacking yet, but if you fire and miss, different story. Now do what I say.” he instructed in the same firm whisper.
“And if it attacks while I’m moving?” Kyle complained under his breath.
“Then move slow. Come on, Kyle.” Ian returned with more urgency, which just caused another faltering breath from Kyle, though he did ever so slowly take his first few steps backwards to meet Ian and exchange the gun for the child, as awkward as such an exchange was for either of them, on a few levels.
Once the child fussed slightly as Kyle took her, and Ian moved the gun upwards so that he had a clear aim at the animal, Kyle spoke up again, “Uh, Ian?”
“I have the gun Kyle, I’ve got the shot.” Ian assured.
“And what about that one?” Kyle replied quickly, trying to keep his volume low.
“What?” Ian asked, daring to move his gaze momentarily from the creature he was aiming at to where Kyle’s eyes had now found a second animal waiting there at the tree line, a good fifteen or twenty feet from the first.
Ian swallowed hard as he took note of the second animal, which more clearly took on the shape of some large coyote or wolf, or some such equivalent to earth’s canines of the same sort, all of which did travel in packs.
“And that one?” Kyle added in a near whisper as he found another companion several more feet off at the tree line, and then another.
“Shit, it’s the blood. They were just waiting ’til dark.” Ian breathed as his body remained still while his eyes found and counted at least six total of the large doglike creatures now stationed all around the camp, easily surrounding them on every side except for the one side of their camp that was shielded by the river.
“And you didn’t see any of them?” Kyle complained, more out of fear than any other emotion right then.
“I was a bit busy.” Ian argued weakly as he continued moving slowly from one target to the next trying to determine which may make it’s first move against them.
“That’s my point.” Kyle mumbled. Though Ian’s only response was a scowl as he continued to try and gauge their best plan of action.
After another moment of the animals making no move to come closer, or to leave, Ian finally spoke again, “First of all, get the baby back inside, slowly.” he stressed, “Then let Jared know we’ve got company, and both of you get out here with a gun, slowly.” he repeated as he continued to move his eyes between the animals which all stood stalk still at the trees’ edge, doing nothing to attack, or leave, just staring, watching.
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Kyle just scoffed slightly, “Three of us and at least six of them?”
“Just go, Kyle, slowly.” he repeated once more with more force, even if no added volume.
Kyle took a deep breath as he started to move ever so slowly back towards the door of the shack, holding the child tightly against him as his eyes also attempted to stay on their visitors. Just as he reached the door and was about to push it open as slowly as possible, the growls and snarls of the surrounding creatures became audible, as they all seemed to take a slight step closer, though still had yet to attack.
“Um…” Kyle began, stopping midway through reaching for the door.
“I told you, get her inside.” Ian returned more urgently, his grip tightening on the gun.
“I don’t think they want me to.” Kyle argued weakly, still refusing to move.
“Kyle, get her inside!” he repeated, trying to keep his anger from raising his volume, “Fuck, Kyle, if they attack and something happens to her…I swear…” Ian returned with his own growl.
Ignoring Ian’s request, Kyle took a deep, fearful breath, and moved from the door of the shack, to turn back to their still snarling companions, the child still held tightly against him. As he did this, the snarling seemed to stop again as the animals moved back to their previous positions.
“What in the….” Ian breathed as his eyes once again darted between the animals with a large heaping of confusion added to his already tense demeanor.
“Like I said, I don’t think they wanted me to take her.”
“In what universe does that even make sense?” Ian retorted, though the only emotion in his tone now was further confusion rather than anger.
“This one?” Kyle offered with a slight shrug as Ian scowled again with another shake of his head.
Kyle then let out another long breath as he took a few steps back away from the door and approached the outer ring of the light the fire provided.
“What in the fuck are you doing?” Ian returned worriedly as Kyle carried the child closer to that forest line and the still silent animals stationed all along it.
“Call it a hunch.” Kyle stated softly as he took another step to the very edge of the light provided by the fire.
“If your hunch tells you to get any closer to them with her, I will shoot you myself.” Ian warned.
Though just as Kyle reached the edge of the fire light and Ian had issued his threat, the surrounding animals sniffed the night time air and let out tiny little yelps in near unison before disappearing once again to the depths of the forest, nearly all at one time, as the baby in Kyle’s arms simply cooed contently as they all moved away leaving the three of them in peace once more.
Ian seemed even more shocked than Kyle at that moment, and both were quiet for a long moment, the only sound being the gentle cooing of the baby that Kyle held in slightly shaking arms. Finally, Ian managed to find his voice once more, “What in the motherfucking hell just happened?” was the only response he could find.
Kyle took a deep, shaky breath as he finally dared to move back into the ring of fire light as he tried to find his own words, “I think…” he began as he swallowed slightly, as Ian moved forward to quickly take the child back into his own arms, “I think they just wanted to see her.”
“Do you know how high you sound right now?” Ian complained as he hugged the child close to him once again.
“You saw it too, Ian.”
“I don’t know what the hell I saw. I just know that what you said, that makes like no sense, whatsoever.” he argued, though weakly.
“I didn’t say it did. But hey, maybe you can worry about it in thirteen years, right?” Kyle stated softly and pointedly as he simply moved away, to return his attention to preparing the meal.
Ian was more than a little caught by that comment, though he tried very hard not to show it as he shook his head and turned away hugging the child tightly to him once more as Kyle went about preparing their meal for the night. After a few deep breaths, and another quick scan of the woods Ian squared his shoulders and moved back toward the door of the shack on his own, refusing to even cast a glance Kyle’s way as he did.
Fortunately, Ian didn’t get any disapproval from any hidden predators this time as he opened the door and moved to place the child back in the crib that rested a few feet inside. As he tucked her into the fur blanket, looking down at her with so many unspoken questions on his face, Jared poked his head out from the divider that closed off Lili’s sleeping area from the others.
“Is that dinner I…” he began, though, he switched gears as he glanced over Ian’s expression as he looked down at the child, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Jared offered with a slight furrow of his brow as he approached the crib.
“Is that supposed to be funny?” Ian scoffed, barely turning his eyes to Jared before returning them to the baby.
“Um, no?” Jared asked with further wariness. Though, rather than answering, Ian just shook his head as he continued to watch as she closed those tiny ocean-colored eyes and seemed to drift off content as could be, despite how far he was from feeling that particular emotion, “So, did you get her to eat any?” Jared managed as he realized that Ian wasn’t planning on making any effort to continue the conversation on his own.
“Some. Then we got interrupted.” he added, though under his breath.
“Interrupted?” Jared asked as he gently moved a tiny lock of red from her forehead as she slipped off to dreamland.
Ian swallowed slightly, then offered, “A wolf, or coyote, or something. Probably attracted by the blood.”
“God, what happened?” Jared asked worriedly.
“Guess it got scared off…or something.” Ian added, though even more quietly. Though, Jared’s only reaction to that comment was a look of continued skepticism, “How’s Lili?” Ian forced himself to switch gears before Jared pressed for any more details.
Jared then let out his own soft sigh as he glanced back toward her sleeping quarters, “Same. The bleeding hasn’t started up again though, so I’ll call that a plus.”
Ian let out his own breath again before continuing, “How long do you think it will be? You know, ’til she wakes up?”
Jared seemed to falter before managing an answer, “I honestly don’t know. She was in horrible pain, and then…” he simply shook his head, not even sure how to try and explain what their mysterious new friend had tried to explain to him previously, “Then she lost so much blood. It’s left her so weak, and she was already terribly weak before the labor even started…” Jared simply shook his head rather than continuing.
“But she was strong enough to give birth though, right? So that’s gotta mean something.” Ian attempted an argument to make both of them feel better.
Jared took another deep breath before returning an answer, “She didn’t, though.”
“Come again?” Ian asked with a raised eyebrow as he offered a pointed glance down at the child that slept before them.
“She didn’t give birth. She wasn’t strong enough to.”
“Um….” Ian asked, looking quite perplexed by that statement.
“The baby, it…” Jared swallowed again as he cast one more glance over his shoulder, “there was too much pain for her to deliver normally. The baby had to be taken out of her.”
“Taken?” Ian furrowed his brow.
“Cut out of her.” Jared clarified in a whisper, which caused Ian to let out his own shaky breath as he forced back any other reaction to the statement, “I think I’ll go check on Kyle, and dinner, if you wanna keep an eye on Lili for a few?”
Ian took another breath as his eyes turned slightly downwards, “Yeah, sure, I can do that.” he managed as Jared simply nodded and headed outside, the stress of the entire day definitely beginning to wear on him, as well.
Ian took one more glance back down at the baby and squared his shoulders once more before heading back to where Lili still lay trying to recover from her ordeal. Jared had managed to clean the blood off of her and had gently lain a cover over her, but even that couldn’t hide the fact that she was nearly as pale as a corpse, still. Ian swallowed again as he moved closer, finally remembering to breathe when he saw her chest rise beneath the cover as she continued with another labored breath of her own, shallow and weak though it was, as she remained unconscious while the hours continued to tick by into that strange night.
He than moved to take a seat next to her, biting back more emotions as he brushed a red lock from her forehead. He then leaned in to give her a tiny kiss in its place and whispered softly against her ear, the stammer obvious in his voice, “I’m so sorry, Lili… So sorry I did this to you.”