Bones on Mars - A paranormal, sci-fi, fantasy romance

Mysteries

Floyd poked at the fire with a gnarly branch. Embers spat in all directions. Acrid smoke billowed into his nostrils.

He sneezed. "Not now."

"What do you mean 'not now'?" Leela's posture radiated impatience.

Short of stamping a foot, she had it down pat.

"Means I'm not climbing down a cliff in the dark. Even if I don't break my shins, I might run into a pack of saber-tooth tigers. And then what?"

Leela plopped back on the pile of furs. "You think they might hang around here?"

"I haven't the foggiest. But I'm not going on safari in the dark to find out. Don't forget, we've neither got protective gear"—he pointed at the furs draped around their respective bodies—"nor weapons."

Leela waved her spear. "Got that."

"Yes. One. Which we need for fishing. Well, I guess once we've we've been eaten, we don't need to worry about food anymore."

"That's gross." But she didn't get up. Instead, she wrinkled her nose. She looked cute when she did that. Her large, dark eyes stared into the star-speckled sky outside the shelter.

Woosh. Something pink flared, and faded away again. The rumbling and the distant singing or whatever it was, gained in volume.

"Uh," Leela said. "You saw that?"

"Yes. And I keep hearing things."

"Saber-tooth tigers wouldn't be so noisy, I guess."

"Woolly mammoth? Or maybe it's Sid, the sloth causing avalanches. Or his mates, having a party."

Leela slapped his thigh. "Don't be ridiculous." But she was grinning. "Okay, so we stay here and do nothing."

Floyd held out the fur to her. "You got it. I don't know where you grew up, but my home-sweet-home was in Edingow's underbelly. If you learn one thing, it's not to go where you'd better not be."

"You don't sound like a Scot."

"No." A world lived in that answer, but he wouldn't share it. At least not now.

Leela cleared her throat. "I wonder if El wanted us out there."

"If she did, she could have dumped us in the plain. Which she didn't. So there. That's assuming we're really not hallucinating."

"We're not."

"Wanna bet?"

"I never bet."

The tromping and singing peaked in a shrill screech and pink washed over the sky, the pink of a fiery dawn.

But the leaden tiredness in Floyd's bones told him dawn was hours away. And he wouldn't get much sleep either, not with this racket going on. Not to forget that, despite the warmth of the fire, it was bloody freezing. He knew it. The temperature knew it. The moment the fire went out, they'd have nothing but the furs to keep themselves warm.

Well, that and their bodies.

Despite the fishy whiff of Leela's furs, the thought had merit.

He shifted in his seat.

It would be too bloody cold for that as well.

"I wonder what the woman wants," Leela asked. "There's got to be a point to this craziness."

"Yes, she wants me to understand something. Why me? I never understand anything."

Leela giggled. "You're not that bad."