Page 69 of Galactic Sentinels: Vol 2
Sam beams from the edge.
“Well, someone was eager! You didn’t even undress first!” she laughs. “Enjoy your bath. Goulou and his buddies will help you out later. I’ll send a towel. Leave your clothes on the bank—I’ll wash them for you!”
Before I can yell at her, she vanishes behind the trees.
Floating up to my neck, the cold numbs my leg. A welcome relief.
I fumble with my soaked pants, scowling at the four Gekkaris who stayed behind to keep me company.
Or mock me. Hard to tell with their lipless, toothless faces.
Goulou figures it out and helps me strip.
For once, I actually feel… good. The cold water stings, but in a sharp, satisfying way.
I scrub every inch of myself. Most of my wounds are healing—except for my right leg. That’s where the flesh-eating slugs did the most damage, feasting on the open fracture.
Sam told me they were close to severing a nerve or vein. That would’ve meant amputation—something she doesn’t know how to do. She applies poultices to my wounds, but she’s no real doctor.
I soak for a long time, grateful to move without too much pain. Four scaly friends wait on shore. A fifth arrives with a pink wrap.
Is it just me, or is Sam deliberately trying to humiliate me?
Eventually, I haul myself out.
“You’finiss?” Goulou asks, clumsily signing.
No way I’m learning their sign language, like Sam suggested.
“Yeah, sure. Let’s go.”
Goulou gets it. Two others help pull me up.
One stares at my… anatomy. Let’s just say I don’t appreciate the attention. I growl. Loudly.
Goulou snaps at the offender, then hands me my crutches.
I wrap the pink cloth around my waist, masking my ‘offensive virility.’
Only a few hundred paces to my tree—but it may as well be light-years. I’m strong, yes, but damn, I’m heavy too.
Sam appears, as usual, with that sunshine grin.
“You look better! That bath did you good. We should do it again sometime.”
Too exhausted to answer, I turn to Goulou and nod. He gets the message.
They carry me back up, each step agony. By the time I hit my pallet, I’m soaked in sweat and still starving.
Just then, Sam enters, a bowl in her hand.
“I went hunting too!” she says, eyes twinkling.
“Ah, finally—Goozil meat! See, you can be useful.”
“Oh, Grumpy, you really are stuck on that. You’re starting to sound senile…”
What?! Does she really think I’m old?
