Mars Underground by H.M. Waugh

Author:H.M. Waugh [H.M. Waugh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2023-03-20T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 31

This is harder than Dee thought it would be. Marte’s a Y, practically a stranger. Dee didn’t expect it to be so tough to watch him die.

He hasn’t woken since he collapsed yestersol. It’s almost like he’s back to the zombie state he was in when they were underground, except she knows everything has changed since then. He’s infected with the Others. Like her, sure, but he’s so much weaker. And they went straight into his bloodstream.

Will he be able to fight them? Will he wake with the sun’s rays?

Or is this more than his body can take?

She watches the sky pinking. The air is freezing. She stands up, stretches out. Gives her hands another swipe with tea tree and frowns at how poorly the cuts have healed. Heads off to find some breakfast.

She can’t help but think – though she’s been thinking it a lot – that this might be the last sol for Marte. She gathers young sweet potato and garlic chives, pokes at the coals of last night’s fire with a stick until it flares up again, and throws the potatoes in to bake.

There’s no change in Marte. He’s just lying there, bundled in blankets, his back to her. Shallow breathing through Other-clogged lungs—

She stills. No. Actually, there is no sound of his struggling breath. None at all. When did she stop hearing that?

Her heart is yammering. She bites her lip. Slowly approaches him, circling to the opposite side. Wincing. Is he gone? His face comes into view.

And she halts.

She’s seen death before. But it doesn’t look like him.

In the bright freshness of morning, his cheeks look like they’ve got more colour. More than yestersol, anyway. And sure, that’s not hard. But honestly? It’s more colour than she’s seen on him. Ever. She’d say death was being kind to Marte, but there’s something eerie about it all. She inches closer. And her guts contract.

He’s breathing. Slow and steady and deep.

Dee’s skin creeps.

Because he’s infected. And he was already sick before the Others got him.

So how is he looking so healthy? She watches his stomach rise and fall, gripping her hands together to stop them shaking.

‘What are you staring at?’

She screams. Falls backwards. It’s only Marte – of course, no one else is out here – but still, she thought he was dead until a moment ago.

‘Are you okay?’ he says. Frowns. ‘Am I okay?’

She clears her throat. ‘You tell me. How do you feel?’

He seems to think for a moment. ‘Great, actually. Is that roast potato I smell?’ His stomach grumbles.

She stares. Who is this? Certainly not the Marte she’s become used to.

He pushes back the blankets. Sits up. Stands, even. Wobbles a bit, but it’s the fastest she’s seen him move in forever. He smells his armpit, grimaces. ‘I need a bath.’ Frowns at the ground and the cliffs and the trees. ‘Where are we? May I have some clean clothes?’

She’s staring at him. Again. Makes herself stop. ‘Um, we’re in the Valles Marineris. And you didn’t mean to come with us, remember? So you didn’t bring a pack.

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