with me. After the question I just asked him, I don’t really blame him.
I turn away, trying to busy myself from the humiliation I just put myself through. I walk farther into the woods, hoping to at least give Ky three options in case both my berries and mushrooms aren’t any good.
“The guy back at the cave,” I stop a few yards from him and turn around, “do you like him?” he asks in an indifferent tone.
I completely stop pretending to search for food now even as my stomach growls in protest. I look at him, but he’s still leaning against the tree, wiping his hands as if uninterested in my response.
“Ayden?” His name strikes a subtle pain against my heart. This is the longest I’ve ever gone without speaking to him. “Of course, I do. He’s my best friend. My only friend, really,” I say honestly. If I only have one friend my entire life and it’s Ayden, then I will have been lucky to have known such an amazing person.
Asher nods as he chews his lip. A gesture so human I almost tell him so, but he looks too deep in thought to interrupt.
“So there’s no deeper emotion there?” He’s casual with his questions. He tucks the rag into his back pocket. “Just a lifetime of friendship?” He looks at me now like he’s trying to understand a missing emotion his kind doesn’t have. His crystal-like eyes shine against the streams of sunlight passing through the leaves above.
A small smile tugs at my lips, remembering the few times Ayden kissed me. He wanted to save me from my future in the camp. I would have drug him down and he would have let me just to save me. Maybe to Ayden, I’m more than just a friend. He’s a friend I don’t deserve, but just a friend all the same.
“Just friends,” I say quietly.
He gives a genuine smile at my words. It confuses me and distracts me all at once. He pushes off the tree and walks slowly toward me, leaves crunching lightly under each step.
“What happened to your neck?” he asks when he’s only one step away.
We’re so close I can see flecks of red against his white shirt. The small detail doesn’t distract my eyes from the rest of him; the out-of-place detail is smothered by his simple presence. My nervous breaths have become uneven and my heart hammers to free itself, but my face doesn’t give away my anxious feelings.
“I got caught in a vine of berries. I was actually going to ask Ky if they’re edible.” I look away from his intense eyes long enough to pull two dark red berries from my satchel. I hand them to Asher, and he inspects them. His brows dip low as he takes a closer look at one between his thumb and index finger, considering the small fruit.
I don’t have the slightest idea where Asher is from, what he was doing before he was locked away at Compound 186, but the gravity of the look he’s giving these berries right now fires my restless nerves through my body. I shift on my feet and fold my arms over my chest to stop myself from touching the dried scratch at my neck.
“Do you think they’re poisonous?” I ask in a nervous voice.
He gives a long sigh, his lips thin and turn down slightly.
“Most definitely,” he says, nodding his head slowly.
He takes another worried look at my neck. I try to take deep breaths as his intense stare seeps into me. His concern transfers right through me, wedging into every crevice of my mind, but I continue to focus on my breathing. He pushes loose strands of hair off my neck, and the small cut stings when his fingers brush against it.
“Do you think the cut is anything to worry about?” I ask, starting to panic internally while the forest around me remains silent.
His steel eyes glance from the scratch to my face. He tilts his head to better inspect the affected area of my neck. My mind is racing a mile a minute at all the thoughts of infection and bites I’ve seen over the years within our camp.
“It’s hard to say really.”
My mouth is dry and I’m still sweating, but I can’t tell whether it’s from the intense heat or whether it’s a symptom of the deadly poison racing through my bloodstream.
“We could always give you an antidote just to be safe,” he says, looking at the