The Eden Projects (Book I)

Chapter 46. Bridges Burned.

- Kasper -

I have to move on...

It had been a day. Kasper paced back and forth in their new quarters. Zak and himself would share a room, just as they always did. From what remained in the ways of furniture, the space could have been an office at one point. He didn't care. He was anxious. Zak hadn't moved and even though Ace had told him he wouldn't, it still unnerved him. Zak was never still. It was such an unnatural thing to see him unmoving and ghostly. Even when he slept, he would toss and turn and shift through the night. Kasper had watched him do it. So this was strange in every sense of the word.

"Get food for him..." He settled down at the edge of a filing cabinet-desk set. "-the hell am I supposed to do that." He was exhausted and drained and there was no way he would be doing any hunting on his own until he himself had something to eat, let alone for someone else. Even if it was for a friend. Kasper reached for his bag and rummaged through its contents until he had found a knife. Does it have to be human? For a moment he considered the dog. I can't do that. "What about me..." He turned the knife on himself.

"If I can keep the cut open..." He shuffled to Zak and positioned his bare arm over Zak's face. "God-" Without a second thought he began cutting. Flexing his hand with each deeper venture until blood was running down it and dripping on the sheet just shy of his head. He dropped the knife, and stuck a finger in. Keeping the wound from closing. "Alright, this is gonna taste like shit." Using his elbow he tilted Zak's head and pressed the bleeding wound to his lips. This is so stupid. Almost instantly, Zak's body reacted and he bit down. Kasper grimaced as his teeth retracted and repositioned, his tongue lapping at the cut. Black lines streaked up his neck and face and Zak moaned. One hand drifted up, and held his arm steady.

"That good huh." Kasper muttered. Feeling the tug of Zak's mouth again and again. When Zak had chewed a significant sized hole, Kasper moved his finger and wiped up the bloody dribble from his friend's cheek. He wondered when it was enough, he wondered how much he could give before he himself gave in, and he wondered if he could fight Zak off without killing him. He wondered if Zak knew what was happening. 

Kasper watched him eat away at his arm, and although the feeling disturbed him. It was oddly calming. Calming in the way frostbite left cold was nothing more than a feelingless chill. He watched the way Zak's neck flexed with each desperate swallow. He wasn't chewing, he was tearing and choking down the bits, like a bull shark, again and again. He knew now that he cared for Zak and if it were possible, he would have traded places with him for every pain he had ever experienced and he had never bothered to tell him that. He had never asked I need you Zak. I can't do this alone. He shuddered at the thought of Zero. I need you both. A knock at the door ripped him away from their quiet moment. and he drew a blanket up over his bloodied arm, wiping the excess from Zak's face. "Come in-" He shouted.

Riley entered quietly. She took one look at the scene and must have figured out what was going on. "I brought some bandages." She said, letting the door close gently. "How is he? Toph filled me in." She sat in a chair that was pushed against the wall.

Kasper lingered on her hands, then looked to her face. "Good, I think." He took one of the bandages and wiped at the bloodied mess that was his arm. "I didn't have anything else." He flashed her a glimpse.

She nodded, looking away from the mauled limb. "He must be glad he has you... Are you okay?"

Kasper sighed. "I don't know, I think so." His head was rapidly sorting the days events. 

"Okay." Her hands busied with the zipper of her jacket and she pulled her scarf out of its tucked position. "This place is perfect, every family has their own room and impossibly enough, the heat still works. Ark really knew what they were doing."