she have to do this for every dead thing that washes up on the beach?” Flordeliza asks in a low voice, leaning in toward Sam.
“Fuck if I know.” Sam watches Devi, her lip curled slightly as the other woman picks at the thing in the sand. “You tell her to stop.”
“But then I have to look at what she’s dissecting,” Flor says with a shudder. She reaches out to me. “You go tell her, Hannah.”
I glance over at the other women that I’m standing near, incredulous. “Me? Why me?”
“Just do it,” Flor hisses at me.
I don’t. In fact, I don’t move from my spot on the beach. I thought it would be safe to stand here with Sam and Flordeliza, staring out at the cold, icy waves of water as they roll in, but it’s hard to lose yourself in the serenity of your environment when the women near you keep gossiping.
Well, that and Devi walked up and started cutting up some dead scorpion-looking thing a few feet away, right before our eyes. Just walked up and started hacking away at the damn thing, pulling it apart and studying the bits. Sam, Flor and I have been staring at her in horror for the last few minutes, hoping she would stop, but she just keeps going.
It’s kind of like watching a train wreck in action. I keep hoping she’ll stop and part of me wonders what piece she’s going to pull free from the carcass next.
“Oh gross, she’s moving on to another,” Flor whispers, hugging her fur wrap closer to her chest. “Is she going to do this all day?” She shoots me a look. “Go stop her, Hannah. She’s obviously having a psychotic breakdown.”
Sam and Flor both look at me, the sea breeze ruffling their hair. I open my mouth to protest, but then Devi pulls another dead creature toward her and starts to slice it open with her knife, studying it as she crouches at the edges of the waves. All right, it does look a little Dexter-ish. “Where’s she getting all the dead things from anyhow?” I ask.
Sam shrugs, brushing a lock of hair away from her face. “Raahosh and Taushen say that the beach is too cold.”
“No shit,” Flor says, giggling.
Sam nudges her, a hint of a smile curving her mouth. “I’m serious. They said the water never ices up and look at it.” She gestures at one of the waves that rolls in, and she’s not wrong—it’s so full of ice that it looks like a wave made entirely of Slurpee. “They said the weather’s weird and that’s why all the dead animals keep washing up on the shore.”
“Is that why she’s dissecting them?” I ask. “She wants a snack?”
“Don’t be gross,” Flor says. “Just go make her stop, all right?”
“Why me?”
“You came up last on the beach,” Sam says. “Last in first out. That’s the rule.”
There’s a damn rule? I stare at the other two women, my brows furrowed together. I came to hang out with them on the beach because I’m avoiding camp, not because I wanted to nag someone else. But…the other girls intimidate me. I’ve never exactly felt like I fit in around them. From the beginning, I’ve been no one’s favorite. It’s been a stressful situation, and in times of stress, I try to control the situation. I might have been a little bossy to a few people. And a few aliens. And like, maybe I got a little stern with people when they hit up the food supply while I was trying to count things. It’s how I cope.
Plus, I’m fat. I can’t hunt or swim or hike or anything super athletic. I have no coordination whatsoever, and no applicable life skills. I don’t know how to cook, or sew, or weave, so I figured I could be in charge of supplies. That was obviously the wrong tactic to take, though, because I irritated everyone and now I feel like a leper. Even the aliens don’t like me because I’m not constantly humping on J’shel or something, so I’m even more alone than ever.
I stare at Sam and Flor, hoping they won’t ask me to go up to Devi and lecture her. Flor’s pretty and cute, but Sam looks like a damn movie star. She’s utterly gorgeous, with porcelain skin and beautiful waves of reddish blonde hair. And she looks at me expectantly too, and I feel the same intimidation around her that I always felt around the pretty