Chapter 8: Ride

When they get to the communal kitchen, a one-room building with primitive cooking set up, they line up in the short queue and take the bowls of thick soup with unidentified chunks the man hands out to them, all the utensils made of wood of course.

"So thick," Kisung whispers, raising the spoon and watching it gloop back down.

"You're new here, right?" asks the man with a faint Indian accent. "The ones who got in yesterday?"

"This is May," Ian says, gesturing to her before pointing down the line. "Then June, July, August and I'm October."

He man's brows furrow. "What happened to September?"

Vincenzo crosses himself, looking up at the sky.

"Oh," the man says quietly. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Marcus blinks rapidly. "I'm sorry, don't listen to them. They're actually retarded, it's quite sad. Anyway, my name is Marcus and I'm the leader here."

Vincenzo is not the only one who scoffs but he is the loudest.

"Would you happen to know where the alien who just came in is?" Marcus says with a fake smile.

"Um, yeah, out the back where there are outside tables." The soup kitchen man looks between them, not nearly as friendly anymore.

"Thanks," Marcus says and immediately walks off.

They rest follow with their food and circle around the small building to the back where picnic tables have been set up. A few people are sitting there, more probably in their houses instead.

"You must be the new guy – person," Marcus greets when they walk up to the clearly alien dude sitting alone at one table.

It's a large alien person with strong, uncomfortably bulging arms and three legs with joints that rotate all the way around judging by how it's sitting with two hoof feet on the floor and one scratching the back of its head.

Vincenzo clears his throat, trying very hard to not say something as Marcus takes a seat without invitation and everyone else also sits down because this has started, and they can't go back.

"I heard you speak English before," Marcus continues. "I hope that's okay, I only know one language."

"I speak okay, mother is human," the person says.

"Really?" Ian asks in a strange tone of voice.

"How was the ride here?" Marcus says quickly before Ian can say anything else. "We were thinking about heading out too, just to the next town with a human population."

"I pay from help deliver," the alien explains. "They friendly, I don't think they speak no to you."

"Could you introduce us after we finish here?" Marcus asks politely, gesturing to his soup that none of the teenagers have tried to taste yet.

The alien nods easily enough.

(The soup doesn't actually taste that bad.)

---

The beavers use a clicking language that the alien also seems to know part of and they play translator. The beavers are totally okay with carting people around, but they split off at this town and go around a loop in opposite directions, so the teenagers need to pick which way to go.

Marcus already had this talk with Amelia and tries to sound out the town name, Xhinali, big enough but also relatively calm, with humans they can stay with. It's the third town the beaver they're riding with is going to and she (it's a female) just asks they help with unloading when they pass by towns. The beavers are leaving in two days so they'll just meet by the gates.

It's all very calm, no problem, don't need to get past customs at all. It must be common to move around by hitching rides.

So basically they spend the next two days learning a few words from the alien in the clicking language that's common around here, gathering supplies from Amelia (and learning how to use it), and figuring out the shower system – that's just a bucket you heat up and wipe yourself down with.

It sucks.

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The back of the cart is packed full with crates and wrapped cloth tied down with ropes and nowhere to really sit. They play Tetris for a bit and manage to re-stack it so there's flat trunks in a short row at the back.

Still, there's only room for four people to sit in the back of the trailer and Kisung gets there last. They all stay quiet, Marcus cross-legged leading back against the left side with Ian, May and Vincenzo side by side facing out of the back, their legs dangling off the edge.

There's about half a foot's worth of cart edge to use in front of their seats and Kisung dismisses the thought of standing precariously for the entire journey.

Instead, Kisung comes to a stop in front of Ian with narrowed eyes. "Either you sit on my lap or I sit on yours."

Ian drags his gaze up and down Kisung's body. "I can take you, big boy."

Kisung sits down and Ian wheezes quietly. The driver glances back from her place at the front of the cart, having to lean almost horizontal to see around the luggage, and once she confirms everyone is in she sets off with a clicking call and an odd sort of beaver swagger.

Ian lasts until the circulation is cut off in his legs and then breaks. Kisung sits down but Ian stays standing, balanced on his toes on the small ledge which is actually impressive considering how bumpy the road is. He crosses his arms and properly considers the situation.

"May," Ian finally begins. "Sweetheart, I don't want to be that person, but you are in fact the smallest here."

May clings to the trunk underneath her, unwilling to lose her place.

Marcus cuts in. "Is she going to sit on you?"

Ian frowns. "Well, no, I get a boner every time a strong enough breeze rolls by. My poor dick can't handle actual ass from a girl."

May clings to the seat even harder.

"Then who do you think she'll sit on?" Marcus continues. "Just get on Kisung or Vin."

Vincenzo raises an eyebrow. "Oh? And what will you be doing during the lap dance portion of this adventure, Marc?"

"I'm brittle, I can't handle the weight."

Ian waves a hand imperiously. "May will sit on my leg, and she can also share Vinny's leg."

Kisung sighs. "I can just stand, it's fine." He starts to get up but groans dramatically the whole time.

"Fuck," Vincenzo complains. "You bunch of pussies." He sits upright, pushing as far back into the wall of luggage behind him as possible and then spreads his knees out.

May is then detached from her chair and dragged over Vincenzo's lap before being sat on the small portion of bench showing between his legs.

"Everyone sit the fuck down," Vincenzo orders.

May throws up her hands. "This is still clearly a step down for me!"

"No one gives a fuck about you," Vincenzo points out lazily, resting his chin on top of her head. "Shit, are all girls this high-maintenance?"

Kisung scoffs. "I'm no expert but I think people usually get upset when they're molested." But Kisung noticeably does sit back down and relax, as does Ian.

May pauses. "If I say I'm uncomfortable, do I get my seat back?"

"No," Marcus says simply.

He's just being realistic here, because May is the smallest and logistically speaking this is the best seating arrangement. Even if she was genuinely uncomfortable, she'd just have to suck it up.

No one here is going to pretend to be a gentleman.

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