Learning to Dance

dead weight in his arms. Lowering her gently to the ground,
he carefully pulled aside the torn pant leg.
The snake had bitten her in the thigh, a deep, oozing
wound, bleeding profusely and turning greenish at the
edges.
“Venom,” she said, leaning heavily against his chest.
“Isn’t it?”
“Yes,” he said, and tore her pant leg off completely,
using it as a tourniquet around her thigh. Reaching into his
pack, he reached for the first aid kit and cleaned up the
puncture as best he could. Taz grit her teeth and threw her
head back as he dabbed at it with a disinfectant. “The
doctors on the Cazadora could whip you up an antidote, no
problem.” But I can’t. Who knows how long you have until
the venom takes hold?
“Well,” Taz said, and he knew she was trying to sound
brave for him. “We’d better get back to the Cazadora,
then.”
Their fight was forgotten. Though she was in no
condition for it, her only hope now was to keep moving
toward those mountains. To Up's relief, the alien snake's
venom didn't seem to be doing its job properly – by all
rights Taz should have been dead within hours – but
perhaps the venom was not intended for human victims.
They continued late into the freezing night, her leaning on
his arm, listening for snakes, feeling their way through the
darkness, until finally she stumbled one time too many, her
knees buckling under her. It killed him to see her in so
much pain.
“Sleep,” Up said, hoping desperately that what he was
saying was true. “Sleep will give you strength.”
This time when he pulled her close it was her skin that
was burning up, though she shook more violently than ever.
She tossed feverishly, not-quite-sleeping. He held her as