Death Valley [LPG vs. 3 Honey Badgers/ Day 4]

I knew how Shadow felt now. That night in the maze where he had lain against me the entire night crying, I knew that pain, I understand why he cried. It hurt, it really did, but what good what it do to cry? He wouldn’t hold me, I didn’t want him to-- no that was my job. This whole area was cold, no matter how close we pulled ourselves together. I was almost hoping the cold would numb my body, that maybe it would take away the pain that seemed to be ruling me. I wanted relief for Shadow as well though, for his body was pressed against mine, his little hands covering the wound in his stomach, and I had no doubt in my mind he was in pain.

This was my third night in this place, and I was almost sure it was never going to pass. It seemed as though it would just be stuck there, and that everything we did from now on would be in the dark, almost as if we would be fighting more blindly than we already were. What chance did we have now?

If not being able to sleep was bad enough, it was even worse that just as you did fall into a light sleep, the sun began to crawl into the sky. Inch by inch it made its way up, coating the sky with colors that almost made you forget you might die today. It was one of the prettiest things—wait definitely the prettiest thing I had seen since I had been here. For the first time in days it almost felt right to smile. It almost felt right to just stand up and be excited about something other than another death. This was a real reason to be happy.

I looked over to Shadow, made sure he was still asleep, and stretched out. It felt good to be alive. That’s one thing I never thought I would—well think. But then again, I had never imagined getting stuck to an oversized ice cube either. Speaking of that thing, wasn’t it still in my bag? My bag was just out of arm’s reach, and after a display that could have mostly been avoided if I had just stood up and walked over, I pulled out what I had been looking for. Cassie, remind me again why you decided to bring that with you?

I remembered that song that I had been singing to Shadow as I had held him up to the sun as it rose. The words to it were now blurry, but the general idea still remained. It was incoherent anyway, what would the difference be now? I would have lifted Shadow again, but since he was hurt, I didn’t want to injure him anymore than he already was. I thought about it for a moment before looking around and my eyes falling on one object in particular. Cassie, you’ve got to be kidding me right now. I walked over and looked at it for a moment, and the disgust that was inside of me could probably be easily read on my face. I have got to get rid of that thing soon. That thing. That’s all I could refer to it as. But, as tradition must go, I picked it up and raised both eyes and tongue. Let’s hope this doesn’t attract anyone… or anything. “As ioyama baihi Baba.” The words, if you could even call them that, were incoherent and more like grunts or prehistoric noises. “Ihi uhm ioyama.” Loud and clear, and pretty sure that if I wasn’t a laughing stock yesterday, I was now. If Shadow didn’t wake up soon I was done with this and going back to sleep. “Ioyama.” That was it, I was done with that stupid song, and if Shadow by some strange chance hadn’t woken up, I would just go over and wake him up myself.

But whether you consider this my luck or not, I saw him staring at me, half-awake and probably more than half-disturbed. I mean, I was standing holding a severed tongue up to the sun singing a song that didn’t make any sense before, and most certainly didn’t make sense now. Seeing his looks of confusion made me set the tongue down beside a tree, hoping that after we moved on it was something I would never have to see again. I motioned for him to get up and follow suit. We couldn’t stay here much longer.

I’m not really sure how we ended up back in the massive orchard. I wasn’t really complaining either, as I did happen to prefer the towering trees to the ice cube we had just left behind. I didn’t, however, prefer the thing that now stood before me.

[drops tongue]

[attacks Honey Badger 1, flail]
[dice=200+12000]
[deep gash on chest; 9.5]