Survival Of The Fittest

Kai let gravity finish its work and allowed his head to come to rest against Cali's. "Yeah." His hand found hers, and he squeezed it.

It felt like there was something more he should say, but he didn't have the presence of mind to come around to whatever it was. Maybe that was for the best. He didn't want to ruin what little peace they could find. "We're gonna stick together." There, that was the best he could do.

Time stretched on. It felt like the whole day crawled by and passed in a blink at the same time. The three of them lounged as much as they could in these surroundings and let the joint burn down and the campfire with it. Eventually, the cold and clarity seeped back in. Kai tried to hold onto the scraps of the high for as long as possible, but he did begin making some attempt at cleaning up the items they'd scattered on the ground.

He lingered over Ren's handgun for longer than necessary after bundling the rest of the weapons back up. The sluggish pace his mind was moving at probably doubled the time his already long consideration took.

It was the smallest of the guns and probably better suited for Cali's hands than his own. That felt like something else to bring up when they were both sober. For the time being, he slipped it into his jacket pocket, separate from everything else.

It was a problem for later. For now, he laced his fingers back into Cali's and huddled into her warmth. There had been so few good moments in the last ten days. He wanted to remember this one for as long as possible, even if that meant only one more day.

((Kai Rosado-Prince continued in To Skin A Cat))

When Kai squeezed her hand California felt the heat rise up into her chest, catching her breath as it moved through her lungs. She adjusted her head against Kai's and didn't say anything. Instead, she let the the moment wash over her, each wave of excitement at odds with the serenity her brain was perceiving. But it wasn't unpleasant, the opposite really, California felt at peace for the first time she since had woken up in the woods by the cabin over a week earlier.

They couldn't stay all day, California knew that, but she allowed herself to savor everything she could about the time they had been given. She took in Kai's heat, the feeling of his hair rubbing against her head, the sound of his breathing, the way he smelled. She greedily grasped at all of it, not wanting any part of the experience to escape her memory.

So she savored it, every last morsel.

((California Fox continued in To Skin A Cat))