Page 6 of Black Mamba

Still billowing with smoke, I approach the same window on this ship as I had on the other. With the vessel slightly ajar and on its side, the smell of burning metal and chemicals fill my nose. Looking inside the window, the arrangement, down to the seats, is the same as the previous ship, except in this one, half the floor is gone and there is smoke thickening the air. I see bodies in some of the chairs, but they are unmoving.

Dead humans. I hiss and draw back.

When both smaller ships remain quiet, I lose interest in them and return to the first.

I head straight for the large, rounded window, foregoing the coverage of the trees, and lifting my hands, I peer inside. Small blinking lights, mostly golden in hue, light up the space softly. They cast the normally white chairs in shadows, emphasizing their plush shapes. Deeper inside I see more places for humans to sit. Along the wall to my immediate right, past the chairs, is a series of shelves lined with bottles. Past that is another space with counters and tables and then a wall at the rear. In the center of the rear wall is a hallway. The hallway is lit up by more subtle golden lights lining the floor, casting the white walls in a muted yellow hue. It ends at a large mirror.

Without glimpsing the female anywhere, I assume she is still in the back.

I pull away and return to the trees.

I have learned that humans, like most nagas, rest at night. If she has not reappeared now, she will probably not reappear until daylight. I will not see any more humans tonight.

Swiftly leaving and traversing the slopes of my mountain, I eventually track down the buck’s corpse by the side of the river.

Thoughts of the humans and their ships plague my mind as I spend the rest of the night butchering and removing the buck’s hide and antlers outside my cave by the water. I remove the fat with a short, metal blade and prep the hide to begin drying as soon as the morning.

For a time, I debate whether to bring some of the deer meat to the humans, only deciding to forgo it for now. I still do not know if they are enemies. I do not know who, or if anyone is on the middle ship.

By the time I rinse the buck blood off me, morning light is filling the sky. A dewy, gray fog filters across the land, emerging from the lake.

I return to the female’s ship.

I lean against a tree out in front of it, obscured by others, and cross my arms.

When she finally appears, I jolt from my hiding spot, surprised to see her.

Her head swivels in my direction before turning the opposite way. In my brief glimpse of her face, I see that her eyes are squinty, her lips are pursed, and her dark brown hair is a mess around them. She dashes down the hallway toward the mirror at the end. It slides open at her approach. Unlike last time, where she was wearing blue pants and a shirt, this morning she is in an oversized white shirt and short pants. Very short pants.

Her legs are on display. They are shapely and fair-skinned, and I am temporarily intrigued by the backs of her knees. How smooth and soft they appear.

The door slides shut, and the mirror returns to its place.

I settle back into the shadows to wait.

I am good at waiting.

FOUR

A STATIC BURDEN

Elena

I slump on the seat above the toilet, groaning into my hands. My head spins when I move and there’s a stabbing pain behind my eyes. Smacking my mouth, I lick my lips, cringing against the taste of alcohol on them. Why did I do it? How could I do this to myself?

I whimper before reaching down and sliding my underwear and black pajama shorts back on. Rising from the toilet, I walk out into the larger bathroom, making my way past the doublewide shower unit and to the mirror on the wall next to it.

Opening the panel, I pray my parents have some painkillers stashed on the other side. Even if they don’t, the small medical field kit in the front will have some. Finding the compartment empty except for extra toothbrushes and hand towels, I close it with another groan, not wanting to have to put further effort into it. Leaning over the sink before I see my wretched appearance in the mirror, I turn on the water and splash my face. Afterward, I fill my water cup twice and chug down as much as my body can take.

And then I begin to remember why I drank excessively in the first place, especially when I hate being hungover, when I usually turn to tea to calm me down.

My parents and everyone else I know are dead. That’s why.

And I have no idea if my sister is alive. I’d been in communication with her until I wasn’t. Now I can’t seem to reach Mateo’s ship. The usual radio channels are… gone.

Once The Dreadnaut started erupting and all the ships had begun fleeing its orbit, I lost contact with everyone, even Jenna. I know she’d been on her boyfriend’s ship but they had only just left.

I fill my cup with one more round of water and force it down despite my belly aching. While I do so, I try not to think of what will happen when my parents’ ship inevitably runs out of it.