Safe foods

Morris reached out only for his trembling hand to stop a few inches short and hover in mid air. The fruit had a purplish hue and was swollen and ripe.

"I'm sorry you were the one who drew the short straw, but it's for the greater good." William said.

Morris's stomach let out a pained rumble seconds before he took a large bit of the mysterious fruit. He held his mouth open, black pulp stuck between his teeth but there was no doubt he had swallowed it.

"It doesn't have any taste, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not." Morris smiled, looking at the remains he still had clutched in his hand.

William, pulling his black greasy hair back from his face, muttered something and then turned away. As far as Annabelle could tell Morris was still breathing and he hadn't lost his dark complexion. A crimson trail ran down his face between the pock marks. She traced it back up to his bloodshot eyes and felt her stomach sink.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as Morris collapsed into the long grass.

Large drops of rain began exploding upon the leafy canopy overhead. Annabelle's dry throat ached as the liquid ran over her wrist and down her arm. The survivors had learned to their cost that whatever fell from the sky was undrinkable.

"There must be some kind of bacteria or pollutant in the air..." she muttered.

"That's a problem for another time..."

William looked gaunt even before the crash. In fact, Annabelle couldn't remember having ever seen him eat. Not that it mattered now, hunger united them all.

"We should bury him before an animal comes across..." Annabelle looked back at the flattened area where Morris lay.

"We don't have time, besides we might need..." William flicked the water from his brow. "Sorry, it's not a pleasant thought but we are running out of options."

"I know, but surely the...meat...is tainted." if her stomach wasn't empty, Annabelle would have been sick. All she could manage was a retch followed by a pained sob.

Something invaded her personal space and Annabelle instinctively took a step back. William threw his hands up, fingers spread wide. He was looking at her with a mixture of concern and shame. She couldn't tolerate being touched, especially by strangers, and the two of them had shared maybe a dozen words since they met.

"I'm sorry, I'm just, I'm not big on..." Annabelle hugged herself, rubbing her arms in an attempt to make it look like anything other than what it was.

"It's fine, I shouldn't have..." he trailed off. William pushed past her and jumped down into a trough that ran a few hundred yards into the much thicker forest.

"I would be lying if I said it was our lucky day but," he said, pulling a clutch of faded silver leaves from the ground. What came out looked like a decaying limb. He scraped away a layer of mud revealing a greying root vegetable beneath.

With a little effort William snapped it in half. The crack echoed around them like a gunshot. Inside looked like a festering wound. A light brown meat was filled with flecks of red and purple. Annabelle took her half with a small grimace.

It was her turn to eat. The order was decided upon setting out that morning. Annabelle had never had much luck, but she hoped Morris's having less meant she would live another day. William was watching her, she couldn't throw her piece away and talking him into going first wasn't happening.

Before she could change her mind Annabelle took a bite. Grey juices buzzed on her tongue and flooded her mouth. She almost spat it out but the dusky aroma enticed her into swallowing it.

She wiped her chin clean and waited, expecting to start choking at any moment. Her skin didn't blotch. Her temperature stayed the same. Annabelle allowed hope to bloom. It was like the tiniest spark in a colourless sky.

"My parents called them my safe foods," Annabelle, forcing a smile, let her eyes drift over the smothering tropical tree line, adding "You know, things that I could get anywhere and that, usually, always tasted the same. Like fries or bananas. I could even tell the difference in the brands they feed us intravenously during stasis."

She could feel William examining her face, his eyes taking in every minor twitch and inflection.

"We should have started a timer, how long has it been since I..." Annabelle stopped. William was examining his half of the root, turning it over in his hand.

"I hate solid food, always have done, as far as I was concerned no food was safe...of course I was just a fussy little bastard rather than..." William gestured to the strange planet surrounding them.

It was as if he was holding a bomb, one primed to explode at any moment. Annabelle wanted to comfort him by taking another bite, only she wasn't brave enough. She could force down strange foods if needed, a skill developed through her teenage years, but the reason needed to be better than making someone else feel better.

If they had found a food source that could be ingested by humans, it would have to be rationed and shared. Assuming it could survive for any length of time once it was harvested.

A scream shattered the shared contemplation. The intensity was such that both of them pressed their hands against the ears. Another poor soul having the misfortune of consuming something fatal. At first Annabelle thought of it as some kind of planetary defense mechanism, now she had come to believe it was an act of spite.

"We should never have left Earth," William said, as if reading her thoughts.

Prior to the crash she would have told him he was wrong or short sighted or even ignorant. Now Annabelle could only stare at the root William was supposed to be eating. Her attention drew his. He looked surprised to find himself holding it.

"Time it." William said, biting up to the crown, and making a concerted effort to chew it rather than just swallowing it. Annabelle could tell he was trying to not breathe through his nose, or for that matter close his lips. Entranced she watched him masticate the mass of beige pulp. Purple and crimson flecks made it look like the inside of his mouth had started to bleed.

"It tastes like a decaying Turkish delight," William's sharp Adam's apple rose and fell as he gave her a look of pained defiance.

They watched the jury rigged time-keeping device. Numbers accumulated faster and faster. One minute became two and two became five. After a full fifteen Annabelle tried and failed to smile. Instead she began to cry. Her tears mixed with the rain on her face, leaving a strange salty acidic taste upon her lips.

"I really hope one of the others found something that tastes better" William said.

Annabelle turned into a bout of lightheadedness, almost toppling over. William grabbed her arm. His fingers dug into her skin, the proximity worse than the pain. Tilting her head, he looked into her eyes, searching for a false positive.

"I'm fine...I just turned too fast that's all." Annabelle pulled herself free and began marching back towards the crash site. William hadn't moved, his back was to her, his head leaning to one side. He must be staying behind with the new food supply Annabelle told herself and turned away.