Minutes ticked by and the silence in the forest became ominous.
How long should she wait before she assumed the worst?
“Keh-reh-nah?”
Kerena jumped before she realized the sound had come from the watch on her hand.
She fumbled to press the button.
“Ajos? Did you find anything?”
For a few moments, there was no response and it sounded as if the connection had cut out.
“Yes.” His voice came back in.
He sounded so strained, Kerena felt an icicle begin to form at the base of her spine.
Something was wrong.
She could feel it.
“I can’t be certain—” His voice cut out again. “—sure I have the right thing. It is scrambling my comms.”
“Is everything all right in there?”
Kerena bit her lip again as she waited for a reply.
“Yes…” he grunted. “…and no.”
Fear spiked within her.
“Wh—what’s wrong?” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Are there bad guys in there?”
Ajos grunted again but didn’t answer.
She could hear him breathing hard through the receiver.
Kerena gulped as she crouched some more in the bushes, her eyes wide as she stared at the enemy ship.
“Tell me what to do,” she whispered, glancing around her for anything she could use to defend herself should she need to.
“There are no Hedgeruds,” Ajos rasped. “But you need to do something for me.”
“What?” she whispered. She was prepared to do anything.
“I need you to…” His breath came hard and the beginning of a rumble changed his voice to something feral.
“…run.”
His words pushed fear deep inside her.
But he’d said there were no enemies.
Why would she need to run?
Ajos made a tortured sound and then there was a loud crash as if he had fallen.
“Ajos?!”
“Go!” he growled. “Get away from here. Head back toward the ship. Contact V’Alen. He will find you and get the qef out of—”
The transmission crackled and his voice cut off.
Kerena rose slowly, her heart beating hard as she stared at the huge enemy vessel.
“Run, Keh-reh-nah.” His voice was beginning to sound like he was possessed by something, and there was another loud crash.
Her heart was slamming so hard against her chest now, she could hardly think.
He’d said there were no enemies in there with him. Yet, it sounded as if he was in combat with someone.
It hit her then.
That was right because he was in combat.
He was fighting with himself.
“Ajos—”
“Go!” he snarled. “Do not let V’Alen return for me till you are safe on the base.”
Fuck.
This was just like last night.
His fever was overwhelming him again.
Kerena stood, her fists clenching and unclenching.
She needed to make a decision.
She could either run as he said and use those markers he’d set down to help find her way back…
Or she could put on her brave hat and head into the enemy spaceship to find and help him.
Kerena began running.
Someone wise once said, “You are only one decision away from a totally different life,” and somehow, as she ran, that thought echoed in her head.
The enemy ship grew even larger the closer she went toward it and, in any other situation, she’d be terrified of it.
Heck, she was terrified of it now, but that wasn’t going to stop her.
“Keh-reh-nah.” The voice that said her name sounded livid. “My comms must be really qeffing scrambled because—” his voice cut out “—that you’re coming toward me.”
Something else crashed.
“Tell me you are not so stupid.”
“I am,” was all she said, and a vicious snarl sounded over the comms.
“Don’t…”
“Why not? I told you last night, I can’t let you die on me.”
“You don’t understand…”
“You’re ill. I understand that.”
The connection cut out.
She was out in the open now and the wind pressed against her face as she ran toward the huge structure.
She was doing this. She was heading in there to help him.
Something sliced her leg and she hissed in pain, only glancing down to look at the thin line of her blood.
It was only a thin cut caused by a jutting piece of bark she’d ran too close to.
It hurt like the dickens, but she didn’t stop. She’d just have to be more careful.
“—stubborn female. You don’t understand.”
Anger filled her.
Why was he resisting her assistance so much?
“I don’t understand what?!”
The line cut out again and she didn’t think she was going to get an answer.
“All I want to do…” whatever had possessed him took complete control of his voice “…is qef and kill.”
Kerena’s mouth fell open a little and her steps slowed.
“I want to qef you…” it wasn’t possible for his voice to get harder, lower…yet it fell even more decibels “…and I want to kill anyone who even looks your way.”
Kerena skidded to a halt not far from the huge alien ship.
She’d heard those words right, she was sure, but she was having a hard time believing he’d actually said them.
“If you come in here…”
He left the words unsaid and Kerena gulped.
Her body heaved with the exertion of running and she took in deep breaths as she tried to calm the burn in her lungs.
“Ajos, I—”
The words stopped in her throat.
Even if she wanted to complete them, she wouldn’t have been able to.
One moment, she was standing and the next she was pulled to the ground as someone attacked her from low on the ground.
No…it wasn’t someone…it was something.
Something firm, sinewy, and strong wrapped around her leg and brought her down.
A scream barreled from her breast as she hit the ground hard.
Pain rocketed into her back as her body kept colliding with the rough earth beneath her.
She was moving.
It was pulling her.
She was moving so fast, she could hear the vegetation around her swish by, and the last thing she was able to shout, before something sealed her mouth shut, was his name.
It pierced the air as her singular plea.
“Ajos!”
18
She was being pulled across the terrain fast. So fast, she could hardly see where she was going.
Whatever had gripped her had wrapped itself around her almost completely.
Her arms were wrapped within it, her legs…it had even wrapped itself around her neck and mouth, sealing her lips shut.
It felt as if she was within the
