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maybe he was planning on killing me right there and
then, and grinding my flesh into paste to have for supper! My body
urges me to run but doesn’t provide the means. My legs have gone
stiff and I am oddly frozen to the spot. He brings the knife up to
eye level and I finally spot his target. If I had been more aware
of my surroundings, I could have saved myself that brief but
intense moment of embarrassment.
    A gruesome, oddly long, and green patterned
snake washes through the thin flakes of sand about my feet. I
remain calm, rested a little by the knowledge I wasn’t on the menu,
and keep my foot still. Any sudden movement could have resulted in
a strike and there was no telling how venomous it was. Kolt threw
the knife down with scary precision. It strikes the snake just
behind it’s muzzle shaped head. An instant kill.
    He
kne lt down and I’m suddenly hit again by
the burning relentless sun. It knocks me for a second but the break
has done me good. I don’t feel quite as sick right now. He digs the
knife right behind the snake’s skull and successfully,
effortlessly, beheads the thing. He pushes the head deep into the
sand and starts unraveling the lengthy beast from it’s sandy home.
I remembered some of my basic survival training. The one good thing
to come from that job. It is always a good idea to bury the head as
it remains poisonous for some time.
    The snake is
at least two meters long, a good two inches thick, and rubbery in
texture. It is a sandy green color and I’m not sure, what with the
blue and green spots dazzling over my eyes from the sun, how the
Hell Kolt spotted it at all. Maybe his gas mask lenses had a tint
on them to keep the light out. For the first time ever I’m jealous
of him for them.
    ‘ I have never
done anything to make you afraid of me.’ The rising intonation at
the end of the sentence almost makes me think he is asking me a
question. But I think he’s actually just
surprised. Maybe a little offended too.
    ‘ I’m sorry.’
I say after a few seconds to think. I came up short. That was the
best I could manage. But for me it was
still pretty good. He was right though. He had never done anything
to make me afraid of him. I just was. But there I was regardless
making up things he might be thinking. I leave the issue. Nobody
wants to talk about it. I can sense that.
    Maybe the two
of us are quite similar in our stunted emotional development.
Neither of us wants to hold hands and talk about
o ur feelings. Even though I know I’ve
hurt him. Instead of dwell on it or make an ass out of myself
making up some bull excuse, I decide that I’m just going to try to
make more of an effort to understand my new accomplice. It looks as
though we are going to have a lot of time together
anyway.
    He reaches the end of the snake and starts to
squeeze. He rolls his tight fingers right around the dead animal
and pushes all of the brown, murky innards out of the gaping hole
he had stabbed through it. The rest would be meat and good eating
later on. The bile he forces out stinks in the desert warmth. It
smells like fresh sick and makes me gag. I manage to hold it
together, mostly out of pride, and swallow to keep my water down.
Kolt casually throws the snake carcass over his back, draped around
his shoulders like a scarf and picks up the backpack.
    ‘ I though I
was going to be on the menu.’ I just can’t resist. I try to
use humor to mask the fact I upset the
man.
    ‘You might
have been. Had I been able to eat solid food.’ Was that a joke? Had I
finally dragged a sense of humor out of him. He turned around and
gently tapped his soldered gas mask. Of course. How could I have
been so stupid. The poor guy couldn’t even take in water. He must
he been surviving on liquid supplements ever since the
crash.
    I get sick of
all of the walking before I even know it. I’m tired of falling over
in the sand and stumbling like some uncoordinated ape. The effort
of getting through the desert is sapping eve