Down Deep

Chapter Eight - Zdana

Everything hurt. The soles of her feet to the roots of her hair felt swollen and broken. She had not felt this miserable since she had been nine and lay on her bed bleeding and mangled. Opening her eyes, she could tell that the fire Grant had made had burned out long ago. Looking over to where he had set his bed roll she found the man still sleeping.

Zdana closed her eyes and geared herself for the pain she knew was to come. It took every fiber of her being not to scream as she sat up. The muscles of her back felt as if they were ripping with every movement. Her leg, a constant burning ache, was twitching and spasming as she forced herself to put her brace back into place. She had to use the wall to help get to her feet and could not stifle the whimper that escaped her lips. Looking to Grant worried she found he was still fast asleep.

Zdana sighed and grabbed the water skins. Her momma had warned her yesterday. She said it would be the worst pain she had ever felt and was not too far from the truth. As she moved however, it lessened to a more bearable level of discomfort. How her momma had known would remain a mystery. All of the people of the Deeps were legendary for knowing things they should not, then never speaking of how they knew other than to say it was in the stone.

At the stream, she stripped off her clothes and washed up. The movement was painful but well worth it as she washed away the grime of digging yesterday. She jumped when stone scraped behind her and she was bathed in light. She turned to find Grant at the cave entrance. His eyes were wide and full of shock and his face had gone pale as death. He turned fast taking the light off of her.

'I,' he stammered 'I am sorry. I did not know.' He was limping as he walked away fast. She wondered why he had reacted so strangely. She could not be the first woman he had ever seen naked before. Zdana then remembered the scars on her back. She had never seen them herself, however her last lover could not look at them. Her father who helped her by rubbing oil on them nightly to keep them soft and stop them from stiffing, said they were fading. Grant's reaction told her otherwise.

When she finished her bath and filled the water skins, she went back to their camp. There was another fire going with a pot sitting beside it. Grant had already put a ration pack in it and she just needed to add the water. She could hear he was already back in the tunnel digging, so she went to work at making them a good meal. Once it was ready she poured them each a bowl full and called Grant's name. He came out of the tunnel a moment later and sat down without a word. Zdana handed him a bowl and noticed his hands were rubbed raw from the pickaxe. Hers were as well but the cool water of the stream had helped once the stinging pasted.

'You should go take a bath after you eat.' She suggested. 'It will help you loosen up.' He nodded wordless and ate fast. He waited until she was finished and took both bowls with him. Zdana eased to her feet and tried to do a few stretches. The movement caused too much pain however. Instead, she grabbed her own pickaxe intending to keep her promise to her momma.

By the time Grant had rejoined her, she was again struggling as each time she hit the wall pain tore through her back. He frowned to her worried, however did the intelligent thing and kept his mouth shut.

By the time they stopped, she had just been going through the motions and could not tell through the fog of agony wither they had even made any progress. He said something to her that she was sure was about eating, but that was the last thing on her mind. As soon as she was able to make it to her bed, she lay down and allowed the darkness that had been edging her vision take her.

When Grant shook her awake she wanted to strike out at him, however she had no strength left in her to even raise her arm. It was not Grant's strange mismatched eyes that greeted her when she opened her eyes. Sanson nodded and offered her water.