The Runner: The Author's Cut

Chapter 4

I stirred as sunlight streamed through the curtains of Gwen's apartment and looked over my shoulder, only to find the bed empty. Swinging my legs to the side, I sat up and looked toward the kitchenette, only to find Gwen wearing an apron and cooking breakfast for the two of us with Jericho looking towards the stove intently.

"Morning, Adrian!" she said, looking over in my direction. "How'd you sleep?"

"I slept well," I replied, slipping on my jacket and putting on my boots. "How about you?"

"I slept wonderfully, thank you. Wanna come help me with breakfast?"

My eyes lit up.

"Yes ma'am!" I replied enthusiastically, rolling up my sleeves as I crossed the floor and found a spot beside her.

"Could you grab an ammonite from the fridge for me? I'm making us seafood omelets."

I nodded and walked over the fridge and opened it, finding a mid-sized ammonite in the meat drawer which I promptly pulled out and removed its market tag, donning an apron as well.

"You know how to clean one?" Gwen asked. "I can show you if you'd like."

"Thank you, Gwen, I've watched my ma clean ammonites before but if there's a specific technique you use, I'd be happy to learn."

She smiled before she put the salmon she was searing on the back burner before she took the ammonite from my hands and instructed me to grab a cutting board, which I did in earnest. Setting the cutting board on the counter, Gwen pulled out a very thin knife that looked like a large sewing needle before she instructed me to grab the hammer in her nightstand drawer.

"What's the hammer for, Gwen?" I asked curiously.

"I'll show you," she replied, taking the hammer from me and turning the ammonite upside down. "Come closer so you can see, babe."

"O-okay."

Standing next to her, she handed me the hammer and guided my hand.

"You're going to want to lightly strike the underside of the shell to pop it open," she instructed and I did exactly as she said, lightly tapping the underside of the shell, watching as a large crack appeared which ran about two inches in each direction from the site of impact. "Next you're going to take the needle knife and use it to cut around the aperture of the shell and stab forward into the body cavity in a circular motion to loosen the meat from the shell, then you can extract it with your fingers. Be careful not to stab into the meat itself, you're just loosening it up."

I nodded before doing as she instructed, almost perfectly, pulling the meaty body of the ammonite from its shell with a squishy wet pop as dark reddish-purple blood dripped onto the cutting board.

"Perfect," Gwen exclaimed, excitedly. "Now, Adrian, you're going to split it along the belly to remove all the guts and gross bits."

Reaching for my belt, I withdrew my survival knife and made an entry slit just behind the siphon before I continued to cut along the ammonite's body until the designated area where Gwen instructed me to stop. Taking my index and middle finger, I started at the back and scooped forward, ammonite blood getting on my fingers as I took the guts and set aside the consumable portions before cutting out the ammonite's eyes and beak, tossing the inedible pieces into the trash.

"I think I got it from here if you wanna keep going with the fish and the omelets themselves," I said to Gwen, looking back at her.

"Okay! You did a mighty fine job," she giggled playfully. "You get a kiss for that."

She gave me a quick peck on the cheek before she went back to the eggs and the fish. After I butchered and carved up the ammonite, I cleaned some shrimp for our omelets as well as chopping up some vegetables which I tossed into another sizzling pan, occasionally tossing a small raw morsel to the small raptor. We finished cooking and found a spot on her bed where Gwen and I sat together and ate the meal I had helped her with, with Gwen occasionally playfully feeding me bites which made me feel even closer to her. One thing I knew for certain after we finished eating was that the woman could cook, and she was damn good at it.