Murraya koenigii

<Snip>
"I don't see you forcing Seymour to degrade himself!"
"To be fair" Jay said "Seymour doesn't need any help doing that...look, PLEASE!"
White Wolf sighed.
"Alright" he said "But, is it REALLY necessary for Mr Febuggure to put a dog lead on me?"
<Snip>

Jade began by walking along with everyone else, Jay and Phil up ahead with WhiteWolf, a band of rag tag survivors in various states of disrepair. There was a constant murmur of talk, interspersed by the odd exclamation of indignation by Seymour. She moved up to the front of the line and approached Jay.

"You really should let me take a look at that." She gingerly reached up and went to examine the lump brewing on the back of his head.

"I'll be fine. We can't afford to stop now." Jade pulled a face that only Doctors can make at men being stubborn.

"Well, let me know if you get a headache, nausea, balance or co-ordination issues, double vision, or light sensitivity." She frowned looking at him.

"Sorry what was that, I forgot most of the list?" He said with a sly grin.

"Well, don't blame me if you end up in a coma with an intracranial haemorrhage, intra-axial hematoma or subdural hematoma." She smiled sweetly back. "On another note, you must tell me about this 'nano-phage' some time soon." It was Jay's turn to pull a face, somewhere between anger and resignation.

"Now's not the time Dr Black." He said, some of the cheer seeming to vanish from him briefly.

***

Slowly, after the first few hours, like everyone else, Jade began to trudge. To amuse herself, Jade began to note all of the plants around that were like Earth herbs, ones she'd use in her herbal remedies. She bent down to examine a particularly fragrant clump of green looking plants.

"Yo little lady. You need to keep going or you'll get like, all left behind and stuff." Jaxx loomed over. Jade looked around having pulled up several of the plants.

"Wild Garlic! And some wild onions as well" She exclaimed, holding out her prize to him.

"Most righteous... What's that?" He said, his slow surfer drawl just on the edge of irritating.

"It's... Garlic. You eat it; it's a seasoning for food. Adds flavour."

"Is it like, tasty?" He grabbed the small bunch and shoved it in his mouth. Jade grimaced; everyone would be regretting that later. "Yeah! Strong taste like dude! And sweet and crunchy. You should get more for when we need to eat!" The shark-man said, a waft of now extremely evil smelling breath wafting over Jade.

"That was the idea... Why don't you help by gathering it as well?" Jade said, it was like looking after a small child.

***

The day and the group carried on. The murmuring quieting down as the march pressed onwards. Even Seymour was beginning to space out the complaints slightly.

"I've got some tarragon and parsley, Yes sir I know my herbs. But there aint no taste, In the whole of space, Like good old..." She stopped singing and looked at the tree in front of her. "Oooh! Murraya koenigii!" Alex was unable to stop in time and the makeshift wheelchair that had been cobbled together for Seymour toppled over onto Jade.

"Get off me you infernal woman!" Seymour commanded.

"Pardon me, your Royal Ambasadorialness, but you crashed into me." She grumbled, twisting out from beneath the paraplegic complainer. "If I can get enough of these leaves, we might at least eat well tonight. So leave off and shut up." She hoisted the wheelchair upright and then Seymour into it. She dumped the collection of onion, garlic and now a branch or two of leaves into his lap. The small band hurried to catch up, Alex grateful for the break of pushing Seymour, Seymour indignant at being used like a carrier bag.

"They went in here." WhiteWolf said, indicating the caves in the hillside. There were snarling noises from deep inside the caves.

"We should wait here. She's a resourceful girl, she can find her way back to us." Seymour suggested.

"No, we go in." Jay fixed a look and started forwards. "Stay sharp, and stay quiet."

They hurried onwards, guided by WhiteWolf. The flickering torchlight left by whoever hunted in these tunnels, showed signs that whoever had passed had also been hungry. Clumps of mushroom and fungi had been grabbed in passing. Jade did the same adding them to the now decent sized pile of food in Seymour’s lap.

***

It was dark by the time they were out of the other side and far enough away to not been seen or heard by the caves. Routine set in and camp was set up again, fires lit and water boiled. After another hour or so, Jade piped up.

"Well, anyone hungry? I got mushroom curry here."

<Tag! We are on the otherside.>