Gray (Book 3) Read Free Page A

her head and shoulders were raised. He pressed his fingers to her mouth and tucked something inside.
    Cold. A little salty. No smell. She tongued the morsel back to her molars and bit down. Ice crystals crunched under her teeth. Then the flavor came to her—raw fish. She chewed a half dozen times and swallowed, and then opened her mouth like a baby bird.
    “Just a little more right now.” He fed her another bite of the fish, and this one she barely chewed before swallowing.
    She could feel the cool lump of food moving down her esophagus. It had been so long, it felt like a brand new sensation, surprising and awkward. The sense of the food being a lump dissipated, and a few minutes later, she felt something hit her stomach.
    A moan escaped her as she began to cramp. Her knees drew up without conscious effort, curling her into a ball around the pain. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, could only lie there and try to bear it, try to get ahead of the pain. Ridiculous. It was only digestion. It shouldn’t hurt this much!
    But it did hurt.
    She forced herself to take deeper breaths, to try and relax. Forcing her legs to straighten out was a Herculean task, but the effort took her mind off her belly. Benjamin was making soothing sounds, as if to a baby. “I’m okay,” she managed to whisper.
    “Of course you are. Give it a second more.”
    She kept breathing slow and deep, and in another minute, the cramp did ease. “Wow,” she breathed, as she felt her whole body relax. “Man.”
    “I know. It happened to me too, last night.”
    She cleared her throat. “Water.”
    “Just a little.” He steadied a bottle for her as she tipped it up and drank a mouthful of clear water.
    It registered: there was not a grain of ash in the water. “Lake?”
    “Or wide patch of river, hard to tell which. I caught a big fish right at sundown. I’m sorry I didn’t make it back last night.”
    “S’okay,” she said. The cramp was backing off now. “Help me sit.”
    Benjamin pulled her back into the V of his thighs, letting her rest her back against his chest. “Did you worry when I didn’t come back?”
    She nodded, but then shook her head. It wasn’t important now. They were both safe. And there was food. “More fish?”
    “Let’s give it fifteen or twenty minutes.”
    He was right. Too much food could trigger vomiting or diarrhea, and then where would she be? Dead, probably, within the day, considering her weakened state. But now that her stomach was working at digesting, it was beginning to demand more food. “How’s your arm?” she said.
    “Fine.”
    Which is what he’d say if it were green and falling off. When she had the energy, she’d check it again. “How far?”
    “To the water? Probably no more than three miles. Two hour walk, maybe three.”
    She nodded and closed her eyes, tuning back in to her body, trying to get a sense of how it was handling the food. No urge to vomit—that was good. Diarrhea could kill her now, too, no doubt of that. As much as she wanted to wolf down the whole chunk of fish he must have brought back, she knew to wait. Good thing he was here, keeping her from gorging. Of course, if he weren’t here, there’d be nothing to gorge on.
    They sat like that, sharing warmth, barely talking, and waiting for Coral to be able to take another morsel of fish. When he gave it to her, there was another cramp, but not nearly as bad this time. She breathed her way through it.
    Benjamin said. “Let’s give it another hour before you have more.”
    “How much do you have?”
    “It was a pretty big fish, a yellow perch. Maybe a pound and a half of meat, plus the bones and head, which I left buried there for later.”
    She looked around, checking to make sure there was no new snow. He’d be able to lead them back to the exact same spot by following his tracks. “I’m the fisherman, here,” she said.
    “Yep. We had to settle for second best this time.”
    “You did great.” She struggled to