Ame Perdue

Chapter Sixteen

We took Kam's suggestion.

Only one water creature had been assigned to come out here and they currently laid in pieces across the clearing. The shower system that they had set up was nothing more than a flooded tent, so we were left with changing clothes and doing our best to wipe off any of the gunk that had landed on us. It wasn't going very well. I did my best to ignore the black patch on my arm. Milo had outlined it in white so that we would be able to track how much it was expanding.

I felt somewhat better as I pulled on a clean pair of sweat pants matching it with a hoodie. I should have been roosting the outfit, but I felt comfortable in it despite the hot sun beating down on me. I had noticed earlier that there was only one star in the sky, it was beginning to set as the other star began to rise to the north of it. It was both dusk and dawn at the same time as they changed places.

My bag was once more slung across my shoulders. It had stayed in Kam's tent during the duration of the fight, unlike Milo's. Last I had seen the elf's bag, it was covered in as much bodily fluid as he was. The state of the items inside of it couldn't have been but so much better. We had split up before I had time to converse with them to figure out a basic plan, but I wasn't very concerned.

I would be able to figure out something concrete once we scouted out his camp.

It didn't take the others long to get cleaned up, all of them looking cleaner than I was. Acilia looked relatively clean, but as she came to stand beside me, there was the clear smell of burning meat. I wrinkled my nose. She must have burned off any bits of flesh still sticking to her, melting off everything that didn't belong. Kam was less clean, his outfit looking windblown. There was still dried blood stuck to his face, but all of the large pieces had vanished.

Somehow, Milo looked the cleanest out of everyone. And by that, I mean that there wasn't a spec of blood left on him. Even his waist-length hair was clean of any tint of red, a feat for hair as white as his. His backpack was spotless again, despite the fact that had been a mess only moments before. Acilia looked at him disgusted by his appearance, "Did you find a shower?" She asked eyeing his slightly damp hair.

"My kind doesn't have a need for such things. Our magic is strong enough to clean ourselves," His tone was oddly bitter when he spoke, "Just imagine how much better this world would have fared if my species hadn't been killed off." Acilia visibly flinched.

"I don't care enough to touch that with a fifty-foot pole," I declared. I didn't know why or frankly care why Milo was upset about his species dying off in a world that he didn't even know existed a month ago, but it didn't matter. He could get over it. I turned my attention onto what remained of the camp, surveying both the survivors and the damage.

There was a massive bonfire going in the middle of the clearing, the dead body having been piled inside of it by the other survivors. I gagged at the overwhelming scent of burning flesh. It was nearly as bad as the gunk that Milo so kindly smeared on my face earlier. I could practically taste the scent of organs burning, the layers of fat bubbling off the flesh, "Kam can you redirect that scent? I think I'm going to puke."

"Show some respect for the dead. Consider yourself lucky that you are joining them." Milo's voice was tight as he stared at the fire. I silently mocked him behind his back, the smell was practically bad enough to wake the dead. Even someone with anosmia would gag at it. Kam waved his hand without comment, fresh air filling my lungs with my next breath. I sighed in relief.

"Listen up everybody!" I called out without warning my companions. Kamdyn winced and took a step away from me as if the unexpected sound hurt his ears. I smirked as the seven people took a tentative step forward. They seemed very hesitant to get too close to me, likely believing me to be a demon of some kind. More than one of them refused to make eye contact with me, likely believing that I would decapitate them for looking at them wrong. The thought had me grinning.