That doesn’t mean anything else has to happen.”

“It felt like you wanted more to happen when we were kissing,” she sneers.

“We shouldn’t have let it get that far. I think we’re both confused right now. We need to get back to the Delta.”

Her eyes flame at me for several seconds. “Have it your way,” she finally says. “Let’s go.”

Wanting to avoid looking at her again until she’s dressed, I turn away. Even though I seem to be able to temporarily suppress the corrupted thoughts of the wild sap, I’m never sure how long my self-control will last. After leaning down to pick up my shirt, I slip it over my head.

“Let me know when you’re ready,” I say without looking at Tela.

“Don’t worry,” she replies with so much festering anger in her voice that it shoots ice through my veins. “You’ll know.”

I spin in her direction. As I throw my arm up in defense, Tela slams a rock against the side of my head. Trying to fight off the dizziness, I stagger to the wall. The second time she smashes my skull, she knocks me out cold.

Chapter 21

I regain consciousness with jackhammers pounding inside my head. Lying face down on the ground, I reach a hand to the side of my skull. A big lump has risen from my scalp, and the hair around it is sticky with blood.

“Hell hath no fury,” I mumble. “Even in this fucked-up world.”

With a hand pressed to the side of my head, I roll over and sit up. Darkness must have ended because the waterfall has diminished in strength. The spear and flasks are gone, but one canister is still lying on the ground. Tela is nowhere in sight.

“Tela!” I shout.

The only response is my own voice careening off the cavern walls. I pick up the canister and feel somewhat appeased because she left me the one that’s full. After rubbing a handful of the red liquid on my head, I drink about half of what’s left inside.

Wobbling as I stand to my feet, I steady myself against the wall. As the sap gradually kicks in, the beating in my head recedes enough that I can walk. I hang the canister over my shoulder and step into the tunnel.

“Dark,” I say, putting an end to the dreary purple aura.

I skulk through the passage and slide my body through the crevice at the end. Static clouds hang over the terrain. The ferocious flow of water that was in the gully earlier is now nothing but a feeble stream. Once I’m out in the basin, I look up and down the ravine.

“Tela!” I angrily yell.

Turning in a circle, I wait for her to show her face. When she doesn’t appear, I surmise that she’s already on her way back to the Delta. I wrestle with the idea of returning to the transport for more sap, but I’m so incensed at how Tela blindsided me that all I want to do is catch up to her and give her a piece of my mind. I run up the ravine and splinter into the light.

Consumed by smoldering fury, I have difficulty thinking clearly and focusing on the beams. Tela’s idea about going far to the north and coming back down to the bridge by the Delta never enters my mind. I blaze a path straight to the northeast, aiming in a direction that should bring me to the river right around the Delta.

After several hours are behind me, I pause for a brief rest on top of a hill. While draining the rest of the canister, I scour the landscape in every direction. Any clarity that I felt after Tela and I kissed is now long gone, replaced by outrage at how she stabbed me in the back. I gulp down the last of the sap, rear my arm back, and heave the canister as far as I can. As the steel bounces across the rocky ground, two murky shapes flash over a hilltop a few miles to the south of me.

The first thought that enters my mind is that I’d like to ram my spear down the ugly fucking Murkovin’s throats. Then I remember that I don’t have a weapon with me. I whirl around, bolt down the hill, and surge into the light to the north. I weave through a few small hills before reaching a long, flat open space. Maxing out my speed, I jet over the land, expecting to leave the Murkovin behind. A shape of light appears at my side.

The creature arcs in front of me and partially solidifies the particles of his body. When he suddenly reduces his speed, I realize he’s trying to force me out my blend. I bring together the molecules of one of my arms until it’s almost solid, hurl my fist against his morphing body, and cut hard to the east. The second creature sails straight towards me from behind.

Focusing my vision on a few bright beams, I aim at a row of low hills in front of me. With far less speed at my command than what I had before the morrows of living on wild sap, the two Murkovin stay right on my tail. At the end of the flat ground, I shoot up a hill and catapult over the crest. As I sail through the air, I see light glinting from the rapids in the distance. Not wanting to get boxed in by the river, the moment my feet skim over the ground, I veer to the north.

I twist my neck to look over my shoulder. Less than twenty yards behind me, both Murkovin are still in the hunt. Returning my eyes to the Barrens in front of me, I yell, “Concentrate on the beams!” over and over in my head. At least an hour passes with all of us at full throttle. They don’t close the distance between us, but I also don’t gain any ground on them.

As I stream over

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