Nashatyr

      Zoya crashed through the undergrowth with the grace of a young hippopotamus. She was out of breath, barely dragging her belongings behind her. It had been naive to think the Hunter would help carry her stuff. The woman had initially foolishly assumed that after that intimate moment in the tent, the stranger's attitude toward her might change somehow, but on the journey he once again became irritable and unapproachable.       Nashatyr, as Zoya sarcastically dubbed him to herself due to the characteristic ammonia scent that wafted around the Hunter, moved through the wilderness with extreme ease, speed and stealth. Despite his size, he felt quite confident in the trees. At times he simply walked above through the mighty branches, then briefly descended, but either way he far outpaced the tired woman. Sometimes she lost sight of him and started shouting - then he would seemingly reluctantly respond with a disgruntled growl, but didn't slow his pace. She had to catch up with her last ounces of strength. Apparently, waiting wasn't in his rulebook. Without rest or break, they walked like this almost all day, covering in fact about two kilometers, but it felt like much more. A lot of time was spent pushing through bushes and crossing all the ravines and streams they encountered. Unaccustomed to such forced marches, Zoya could no longer feel her legs. Only the fear of being left completely alone spurred her on, forcing her to move forward. Forward, towards the fear of being alone with a monster...       With the approaching rainy season, an unexpected chill descended on the selva. The weather had started to deteriorate even before Zoya's group was kidnapped. Everyone expected rain, but no one was prepared for it to be so icy. Instead of the tropical humidity and warm stuffiness typical for this time of year, a European-like autumnal dampness reigned in Colombia.       A light rain was falling. Zoya zipped up her windbreaker to her throat and pulled the hood over her face. Mosquitoes buzzed all around, getting into her eyes and nose. But the Hunter, apparently, couldn't care less. He plowed straight through the forest, seemingly tireless. He moved purposefully, as if knowing exactly where to go. Finally, feeling that she was completely losing her strength, Zoya shouted after the receding broad back:       "Where are we going?!"       The answer was the usual silence.       "Hey, you! Where are you rushing to? Just stop for a minute, let me catch my breath!"       Silence again in response. And angry snorting from under the mask. The mysterious guide didn't even dignify Zoya with a turn of his head.       "That's it, I'm not going any further! Go to hell, you stinker!" the woman got angry and demonstratively plopped down on some hummock. Nashatyr didn't react, disappearing into the thicket.       Left alone, Zoya clutched her head and began to ponder what to do next, painfully rubbing her temples with her fingers. Maybe it was for the best that he left... What could she have expected from him? Maybe he would have killed her anyway, just a little later? Or done something even worse... After all, he was a completely alien organism. What was his logic, his manner of behavior, his morals? On one hand, it would be interesting to find out all this, on the other - did she really need to? He had recently almost killed her in the most sophisticated way just because of a nod of her head. If something inexplicable seemed to him again, he would surely bump her off, God knows he would...       Somewhere right above her came a prolonged and muffled dejected sigh. The researcher flinched and raised her head. Nashatyr's emotionless mask was staring down from a branch. How had he snuck up so unnoticed? And from the opposite direction he had recently disappeared in. And why on earth did he come back?       The Hunter descended and squatted in front of Zoya, peering into her face. She stared back at him uncomprehendingly. And suddenly it dawned on her. Just think, he had just... given up! He couldn't leave without her! Could it be his conscience was troubling him? Did he feel her trust and not dare to let her down? Hmm, don't flatter yourself too much, big guy, there can be no trust in you! But thanks for not abandoning me...       Well, one way or another, she had achieved a break. The Hunter was clearly not thrilled, but for some reason submitted to Zoya's hysterics and settled on a nearby tree. He refused to stay on the ground no matter what. To hell with him. Now she needed to think about minimal comforts. Apparently, they were going to stay here for the night.       Zoya couldn't remember how many attempts it took to light a fire, but finally her efforts were rewarded, and timid tongues of flame began to gnaw at the damp sticks. To start the fire, she had to sacrifice her favorite field notebook as kindling - it was the only dry fuel in the whole area. The rainwater had miraculously not seeped into the bag where Zoya had previously packed her papers. So now their time had come... Smoke began to curl; very soon there was much more of it than flame, but the biologist understood that she would have to put up with this for now. At least maybe the gnats would back off a bit...       Nashatyr, who had retreated to the upper tiers, hadn't shown himself all this time. Zoya had long lost sight of him, but had given up - if he left, he left, no need to keep tabs on him... Suddenly his magnificent person appeared before the researcher again, falling noisily from somewhere above. Growling irritably, he destroyed the feeble fire in two counts and loomed threateningly over the woman. She quickly tried to crawl backwards, but her back hit a tree trunk, cutting off her retreat. The mask's lenses continued to stare at her with their deadening gaze, but the brute didn't move from his spot. After standing in a "hunting stance" for a couple more seconds, he straightened up and stepped away, apparently absolutely satisfied with the impression he had made. So, no fire allowed... Maybe to avoid attracting attention - they hadn't gotten too far from the camp yet, even though they had been trudging for many hours straight. Although it's unlikely that the smell of smoke could spread far through this thoroughly damp forest...       Meanwhile, the rain intensified. Soon it was pouring as if from a bucket. You needn't have bothered, the woman glared angrily at the alien, everything would have gone out without you. But he seemed not to notice her angry looks, concentrating on entering some combinations on the device built into his bracer. Both he and his equipment were obviously indifferent to the rain.       Zoya sighed and hugged herself. She was starting to shiver from the cold. Despite the fact that the hapless traveler had put on almost everything she found in her backpack - and the clothes were taken with the expectation of returning to autumn Moscow - she continued to freeze, as she was soaked through. Of course, there was still a change of underwear and a clean T-shirt left, but in order to change, she would first need to take off her wet clothes, and doing that here in front of an incomprehensible type didn't seem like the best idea; besides, in ten minutes she would be soaked to the skin again.       It was getting dark rapidly. Zoya sat on her backpack, leaning against a tree with her eyes closed. She didn't know how much time had passed, the minutes dragged on endlessly, the woman was no longer aware of herself and what was happening due to cold and exhaustion. She wanted to sleep, but couldn't - the chills and growing hunger prevented it. Water kept dripping from above. The downpour had subsided, having managed, however, to spoil everything possible: the weather, well-being, mood. Mosquitoes were crawling from all sides. Nashatyr, who had gone back up to the treetops, didn't appear.       To avoid freezing, the researcher forced herself to get up and walk back and forth, but her body completely refused to obey. Finally, abandoning these pitiful attempts, Zoya plopped back down under the tree, chattering her teeth and with a last effort of will restraining the growing desire to howl. Here she was, miraculously saved from violence and death, sitting alone in a dense forest. Alone, because her savior seemed to not care about her and had no intention of helping her any further. By morning she would be guaranteed hypothermia and probably even pneumonia... She had nothing to eat, no communication, not a single landmark... This was apparently the end. But how absurd! After nearly being stabbed several times, to simply freeze to death... And where - on the equator!       Lost in such sorrowful thoughts, she didn't immediately notice some movement above. It was her mysterious companion, apparently concerned with the thought of whether she was still alive down there. Nashatyr hung down from a lower branch and rewarded the woman with another long, studying look, slightly moving his head. At the sight of him, Zoya involuntarily flinched and shivered. She had gotten used to his existence, but wasn't yet accustomed to his sudden appearances.       "What are you looking at?" she whispered, barely audible, sniffling. "How haven't you frozen yet yourself, half-naked as you are?"       Zoya knew that, as always, silence would be the answer. Well, what to expect, after all, he doesn't understand a word... Nevertheless, to the researcher's indescribable surprise, Nashatyr suddenly made some attempt to communicate. He jumped to the ground, came up to Zoya almost close enough to touch and squatted down in front of her again. Raising a clawed index finger and nodding his head for emphasis, he pointed upwards. Then he stared at the woman again - now, it seemed, questioningly.       "No," she shook her head, "I'm not going up there, it's slippery. And I'm not good at climbing in general."       He didn't understand. Of course, he didn't understand.       Nashatyr repeated his gesture with only one difference - he first pointed at Zoya, and then upwards. Apparently, in his brain it didn't compute how one could sit in a puddle and not want to go up a tree? Zoya again responded with a refusal. The Hunter didn't give up. With the agility of a monkey, he climbed onto the lower branch and beckoned her from there, using a completely human gesture. When this didn't help either, he gave up and climbed back down himself.       Then something completely unexpected happened. Nashatyr, muttering something under his breath, moved closer to his involuntary companion, squatted down and... suddenly pressed against her. Leaning down and hunching over, he propped one elbow against the tree trunk above the earthling's head, and placed his other hand on the backpack, thus limiting the space around the woman. Zoya instinctively leaned back and looked up in horror, once again meeting the cold gaze of the mask framed by a mane of hanging appendages. While the worst guesses were racing through the researcher's mind, she suddenly felt a growing wave of heat emanating from her companion. And he just froze like that, not moving.       A minute passed, then another, and a third... Nashatyr didn't take any further action. He just sat in this strange pose, probably uncomfortable for him, forming a living warm roof over this stupid and weak frozen human being. What was this? Sympathy? Mutual aid? Care? Was it really familiar to the brute?       Slowly coming to her senses, Zoya slowly averted her gaze from the mask and looked at the broad chest almost touching her, partially covered by armor and a black mesh with large diamond-shaped cells. Nashatyr's sides moved barely noticeably from side to side, steadily and smoothly - he, it seemed, wasn't worried at all, being confident in what he was doing now. His rare breathing rustled in the filters right above her ear, no other sounds were heard. It was getting hotter and hotter.       But the body of a living creature couldn't produce such crazy heat! Especially when it was cold around - the vascular reaction should have, on the contrary, prevented excessive heat loss. And since morning, it didn't seem to radiate such heat... Overcoming her fear, Zoya reached out and touched Nashatyr's torso, slipping her fingers between the mesh cells. The alien reacted very calmly, simply tilting his head more and observing with obvious interest what she was doing. To the touch, his skin was warm but not hot, quite elastic and slightly moist. About like the paws of a young crocodile, Zoya noted to herself. Closer to the sides, denser horn plates of irregular shape and different sizes were visible, darker than the general background of the skin. Emboldened completely, the herpetologist touched them too. Hard, slightly rough. Here her fingers encountered something hot. Thus, there were no doubts left: both wanderers were being warmed by Nashatyr's strange body mesh. Carefully hooking it with her finger, Zoya pulled slightly - it resembled something like synthetics or even plastic... Like a wire with insulation. And it warmed like a very powerful heating cord, feeling like it was giving off about fifty degrees...       A muffled warning growl came from under the mask. Zoya quickly let go of the mesh and pressed her hand to herself. Clearly, the big guy was willing to tolerate some liberties, but everything has its limits. Apparently in retaliation, Nashatyr took his paw off the backpack and poked the woman in the stomach with a claw, as if to say, would you like that? Understood, better without too much initiative for now. She froze, and Nashatyr made himself more comfortable, practically collapsing on top with all his enormous mass and burying his forehead against the tree.       God, how he stank up close! It was difficult to describe this bouquet unambiguously: something like a mixture of the smell of sweaty feet and the secretions of a frightened snake with a distinct ammonia note. Potent stuff... Although after the fight it smelled even stronger, it even made your eyes water... No wonder Zoya came to her senses just from the reptoid's approach. It was as if someone had shoved a bottle of ammonia under her nose. Perhaps the intensifying smell in these creatures was a signal of aggression?       Zoya turned her head as delicately as possible, trying to breathe to the side. What can you do, every living creature smells of something. And the smell of an organism of another species is rarely pleasant. And considering that the new acquaintance had been wandering through forests for who knows how long, he was unlikely to have had the opportunity to take a shower with fragrant soap... Perhaps she should try to understand his situation. To tell the truth, for the past week Zoya had been persistently pursued by the smell of her own armpits. Although at the moment it had undoubtedly faded and been forgotten...       On the other hand, it was a pleasant discovery that mosquitoes didn't fly closer than a meter to the Hunter. As the supply of already ineffective repellents was running out, Zoya thought this was very opportune. Apparently, in the near future she would have to stay closer to the big guy... Well, just not as close as now.       Meanwhile, the warmth gradually played its role. Zoya began to nod off, and recent reasoning gave way to whimsical sleepy thoughts. It looked wild, of course, from the outside - to fall asleep practically in the embrace of an alien monster - but by that time she was so tired and frozen that she really didn't care anymore. Moreover, there was no threat emanating from Nashatyr, he didn't even touch her with his hands: either he didn't want to scare her, or he himself didn't find it particularly pleasant. Maybe in his understanding she stank even more strongly? Or did her appearance disgust him? Who knows. Nevertheless, he took pity on her. He saw that the little animal was about to die from the cold and took pity. Just like hiding a stray puppy in his bosom. Only in what way, one wonders, did he understand that her condition was close to critical? Did he notice the trembling, hear the chattering teeth? Did he detect the rapidly falling body temperature? After all, snakes have thermoreceptors on their faces, maybe he has the same?.. Or... Well, actually, who cares. Now everything was irrelevant...