35. In limbo

When Cid and Floreo came back into the camp, Echo already made acorn bread and big pot of vegetable soup. He even prepped the grill for meat that Cid was yet to bring.

Looking at a goat Cid hauled on his shoulders Echo's eyebrows scrunched together. It's head was jumping up and down in rhythm with Cid's movements. Previously he never saw it being brought over like that. Head, skin and innards were usually left at the hunting spot, for carnivores to clean up as no one at the camp wanted to eat them.

"Go fetch the lumberjacks!" Floreo shouted while running with rolled canvas tied over his back "storm is coming!"

Echo glanced up, there was not even a single cloud anywhere to be seen. Still, he turned on his heel and headed towards opposite side of their camp. If his brother said it's gonna rain, then it's going to rain.

Cid stopped at the river and flung the carcass off to the ground. There was still some time to spare, so he started to butcher the goat. Grumbling in his stomach was not something he would ignore unless his life was at risk.

Floreo did not stop, though. Throwing the bundle with collected seeds into Echo's cottage next to dried food and unused cooking utensils that were in there already, he bounced back out to kitchen. He gathered prepared food and carried it inside as well. He also knew priorities!

When he stepped out again, his face was hit by the gust of cold wind and he shivered. Gray clouds were gathering low above the hills they just ran from, promising end to drought they endured for past two months.

He ran into his cottage and grabbed sleeping bags and blankets, personal snacks and water bottles. Window was barred shut, yet there was still wind whistling through gaps.

He heard Blaze shouting while bolting cottage doors behind him.

"Take necessities to Echo's cabin, make it a shelter!" Yax 's voice penetrated the wind, and Mani ran into their cottage to grab what they will need.

Blaze joined Cid in handling the meat, everyone else started securing and packing only important items left outside - their kitchen utensils! Wind started to bend the trees and when a broken branch fell on their outdoors dining table, Yax had them all gather in cabin Blaze and Echo shared.

As doors closed behind them, pergola collapsed under sudden gust and thumped on the outside wall.

"It was not made for this," Blaze shrugged "will fix it later."

In less than five minutes heavy clouds obscured the sun and world darkened. Thunder rolled over the valley as lightning strike hit the top of the hill. With that, the sky broke and hail started to fall.

Luckily, material they chose for the roof while building the cottages were thick overlapping planks. Other than narrow holes left for ventilation just under eaves on opposite gables, single window was right beside the entrance doors. Usually, shutters let a bit of light in, but now there was not not much of it left.

Holding onto eachother in dimly lit shelter, sound of hail hitting the planks was a brand new experience for all of them. Soon though, sound of thunder and hail passed them, and continued west. Wind howling and rain pelting doors and window remained.

"Seems like we are stuck in here for now." Mani's throat was dry and his heart thumped in his ears.

Sound of his voice broke the tension though and following that everyone started to talk, asking Echo how he knew that storm is coming, why is the goat raw, how are they going to eat now.

Floreo slid down the wall, his butt hitting the ground as his legs lost all strength all of a sudden. 'That was scary.'

He was not afraid it would catch up with them before, but now his trembling knees made him aware that he really did not want to test his body's resilience to natural elements.

Yax moved to set up their gas stove, forcing his trembling fingers to calm. Grilling inside was a verified to be a bad idea, so Cid and Blaze started slicing up the meat, boiling it in the soup would not only feed them all, but warm them up as well.

Echo and Mani sorted out the bread and bowls. It will be a little tight for all eight of them in a cottage meant for a couple, but emergency does not ask for comfort.

'Eight..' Floreo looked around and counted people present "Where are Jone and Ivory?"

Blaze felt his breath still in his chest. "They went to check vegetables garden in the morning."

"They brought vegetables back and it's now in the soup."

Echo stirred the pot trying to remember where they went next.

Mani provided the answer "When I went to the valley to pick up some mushrooms they said that they are going to check if chestnuts started to fall." He found no mushrooms though, drought made them scarce. Ogling Yax's shirtless torso while chopping wood was purely a coincidence.

Cid dumped the meat slices into the soup pot. "Those trees are not so far, maybe 15 minutes walk up north."

Blaze finally exhaled. "If they went up there, they are now probably in that cave we found two weeks ago."

Climbing up there to collect some fern rhizomes for Echo to turn them into candy, they ran into the overgrown opening similar to that one at east hill. Inside were some abandoned rooms, with a corridor that leads deeper down.

Yax felt uncomfortable tightness in his chest. Even though all of them were stronger than naturals, intelligence and science personnel had a very basic survival training. He really allowed himself to get lulled into routine again.

"They will be fine. As soon this rain lets up, we can go and look for them." Yax grabbed hand pressing on his heart, Mani's touch helping him push down discomfort.

"And deliver them food!" Blaze had his own tactic ideas "let's cook this for them."

If Jone was with Ivory, he was not worried for either of them.

***

At the same time, Ivory struggled to carry Jone deeper into their shelter. Thunders and hail caught them while they scrambled their way through darkened woods.

They were already near the cave, when a rock came tumbling down from somewhere above. Jone pushed him aside and then got hit by the rock himself.

Luckily, rock first bounced and hit his leg below the knee, so he was conscious and responsive, just in pain. If it hit his head, they would be in real trouble.

Ivory carefully laid Jone down, next to the rear wall, far enough that hail falling in through the doors could not reach them. He straightened Jone's legs and saw him wince.

"Sorry, I have to check your injury." Ivory gently pulled bottom of Jone's pants leg towards his knee.

The leg was slightly bent, but foot did not hang to the side, and there was no blood. Skin showed bruising though, and it already started to swell.

Jone choked a laugh, and Ivory god startled. "It's just broken, but not displaced."

As a medic, Jone did not perceive this level of injury as anything to worry about. "Just help me find a stick so I can immobilize it, and in 24 hours it will be like brand new."

"Do you have any powder in your bag that could help?" Ivory asked while going back to the entrance. Hail was gone, leaving only small ice balls strewn around, but it rained buckets now.

"No, not for broken bones."

Ivory came back with two more or less straight branches and ivy that he pulled off the wall next to entrance. He sat next to Jone and prepared to fix his leg.

"I can do it myself." Jone said, but Ivory did not let him.

"Why would you? Just let me know if I am doing it wrong."

Ivory firmly tied sticks to Jone's leg, then wrapped his foot so it couldn't move.

Jone ignored the pain and observed. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure, but I might choose not to answer." Ivory was never before asked any such questions.

"I thought that your panic attacks were connected to physical touch."

Ivory blanked, asking about medical history should not be treated as personal question when asked by your personal medic. He looked down at leg he wrapped in ivy and tried to find right words to describe it.

"It's not touch, it's just that sometimes sensory input during certain situations.."

Jone observed Ivory's eyelids dropping and covering his eyes as he focused on tucking in ends of ivy wrapping improvised immobilization of his lower leg. Those pale fingers felt cold as they brushed over his skin.

"Sensory overload triggers internal analysis and if situation does not correlate to previous notions, my reflex is to create distance. By punching." Trying to explain it made Ivory aware how much he avoided thinking about that subject. He could not even explain it to himself, let alone someone else.

Jone frowned. 'So Yax got his nose broken because Ivory did not see him like a lover. Did it mean Ivory did not see me like.. what? Capable to help him climb down?'

"Jone," Ivory's voice mixed with sound of rain "Can you tell me what is written in your medical history?"

Jone looked up, feeling as answering that should be fair, as he got his question answered.

"Sure, it's not confidential." Leaning his head on the wall behind him, Jone dug into his own memory, as his own medical record was not something he thought much about.

"My DNA was modified to enhance general neural activity, giving me photographic memory." 'No chips needed in this head.'

"During prenatal development, hormones were used to enhance early formation of neural network and connectivity." 'Nothing much really.'

"Enables me to cross-reference observations with memorized knowledge base and personal medical logs." 'In milliseconds.'

Ivory just stared at him, sitting on his heels, reminding Jone of meditation pose after that last crash.

"What?"

"Are you aware," Ivory's lips moved slowly, his eyes still carefully observing Jone "that you have extreme tendency to overthink things."

Jone just blinked, his tilting head and raised eyebrows painting a picture of confusion.

"During past two months, you were tensed basically constantly. I did not see you relaxed even when you sleep." Got Ivory really worried.

"When I sleep?" Jone tried to wrap his head around this statement. Did it mean Ivory observed him? Since when? He didn't notice it at all.

"You grind your teeth." Ivory watched Jone's face changing shades.

"Don't be embarrassed, tell me, is there a way I could help you relax?"