A crack came from her right. She knew that sound. She’d been stepping on dead branches for days and recognized the sound immediately. Her breath caught in her throat and heart fell to her stomach. She peered between the trees, looking for whoever, whatever stalked them.
“Steady,” Ben whispered over his shoulder. “Stay close.”
“Don’t leave me, okay?” She clutched onto her damp shirt as she begged.
Her fears came rushing back. On his own, Ben could easily make it through the levels and home lickity-split. Esme was the dead weight of the pair.
“We’re a team,” he confirmed with a hard stare.
She nodded because she felt his affirmation. Ben turned and walked, picking up his pace. Esme followed on his heels, keeping a watchful eye on her right. All was quiet for about another mile.
Crack. This time the sound came directly from behind her.
Esme whimpered.
Another crack. This time closer.
“Should we run now?” she asked.
He waved a hand in front of himself. “After you.”
Esme took off down the path. Ben was right behind her. She jumped over fallen tree limbs and dodged tree branches. If anyone followed them, she couldn’t hear. The sounds of blood thundering past her ears and her hard breaths drowned out everything else.
Abruptly, Ben tugged her to the left, taking the lead off the path. As they ran, branches scratched her face and arms, stinging and irritating. She kept going, running as fast as she could to keep up with Ben’s long legs.
Without warning, Ben pitched forward and stumbled. She scrambled to catch up.
“Stop!” he yelled, outstretching his hand.
Esme skidded to a halt. She couldn’t get her breathing under control. She leaned over, bracing her hands on her knees. “Why are we stopping? They’re right behind us.”
Ben let out painful grunts. He rolled to his butt and held his thigh to his chest. “It’s a trap,” he said through pained breaths.
She studied where he’d tripped. There wasn’t anything there. She frowned. “What is it?”
“It’s a wire or something.” Dark red seeped through his pants leg. He sucked breaths between his teeth.
But that wasn’t the only thing she noticed. “Ben, your collar.”
“What about it?” He lifted his pant leg. Blood spilled from an open wound.
“It’s blinking green.”
He opened his eyes wide and grabbed his collar. “What the hell does that mean?”
“I-I don’t know,” she cried, grasping her collar. “Xrez didn’t mention anything about the collar and what the colors mean.”
Crack. Crack.
Esme glanced behind her. Fear rose in her belly and bile pooled in the back of her throat. They’re coming.
“Come on, Ben. You have to get up,” she begged. She glanced behind her again. We aren’t going to escape in time. “We have to go.” She shuffled her feet along the ground. If she could find the trip wire, then she could step over it.
“Esme, stop. It won’t do us any good if we’re both hurt.”
Crack. Crack.
Closer this time.
Chapter Fourteen
Esme whimpered. If she got to Ben, they could call a pod. Together.
Ben looked up at her. There was pain and sadness in his eyes.
She didn’t want to hear what he was going to say next. She shook her head. “No, no, no, no. You promised not to leave me.”
“Esme,” he said softly. “You’re going to have to go without me.”
Esme shook her head faster. Tears overtook her eyes and spilled continuously down her face. “I can’t. I won’t. We do this together.” She shuffled along. “Almost there.”
“Esme, you’re looking for something really sharp, meant to stop us in our tracks.”
“Mine!” a voice deep and guttural yelled from behind her.
She could feel the alien at her back. A cry burst from her lips. She couldn’t stop her body from shaking. “B-Ben?” She wanted to run to him.
Ben glared over her shoulder. “Esme. You need to go now, sweetheart.”
“I-I c-can’t leave you,” she cried. This was it. This is where she would get caught. She lowered herself to the ground accepting her fate.
“Activate your escape pod!”
She knew that voice. She looked over and through tear-filled eyes spotted Xrez. He was just as she’d remembered him, tall, thick and imposing.
Next to him were the two aliens who she’d encountered before. The praying mantis alien was on the ground in a fit of seizures and the other, more massive alien, was down on one knee. He was grasping his collar with one hand and holding onto a tree with the other. Every muscle in his hard body was strained. He was fighting against the shock.
“Esme,” Xrez said, grasping her attention and pulling her eyes away from the other aliens. “Leave. Now. While you still have a chance.”
She reached out to Ben. Her hand shook uncontrollably. “I-I can’t leave him here. Not like this.”
“I claim her for myself!” The alien with the kilt yelled out.
A shiver ran down her spine. “I’m not going anywhere with you,” Esme screamed at him.
“I can escape,” Ben yelled. “But I won’t leave until you go first.” Ben’s eyes pleaded with her. “If you don’t go we’ll both get caught. You have to, Esme.”
Sensing that she was about to escape the alien pushed to stand and he sprang toward her, landing less than ten feet away. Xrez ran toward him and tackled him to the ground.
“Esme! Leave now!” Ben’s voice bordered on hysteria.
“Do you want to be his mate?” Xrez asked. Xrez’s massive hand was curled around the other alien’s neck, pinning him to the ground.
No!
Esme turned back to Ben and cried. “Be there for roll call.”
As the other alien tried to scramble out of Xrez’s grip, Esme pressed her comlink and dropped into the ground to the sound of a yell.
Esme fell into a see-through round ball. The ground above her slid back into place and the pod lurched forward, propelled on a track. Esme wiped her eyes to see clearly. There were tracks everywhere. As she whipped along another transparent ball came barreling toward her on a different path. She pushed herself to her knees and pressed her face against the inside wall, peering out.
Who is that? Did Ben escape in time?
As the other ball hurled past her, she caught a glimpse of Yesenia. Her braids were wild with leaves. Tears made tracks down her dirt-stained cheeks. Yesenia banged on her wall and yelled something Esme couldn’t understand. Then, just like that, Yesenia was gone. Her pod veered in a different direction and out of sight.
Esme slumped against the wall and cried.
After a few minutes, the pod stopped, and the top slid open. What felt like a rush of air pushed on her butt and propelled her up and out. There was a second of weightlessness then hardness as she fell to the ground.
“Oomph.”
Footsteps sounded on the jungle floor. Before she could scramble away, Payton burst through a thicket of high brush with Jack running at her side.
“Hey,” she said as Payton neared.
Payton didn’t slow. “Stay where you are if you want to be an alien’s mate.”
Esme watched her back for a second. “Huh?”
More footsteps followed in the direction Payton had come from. Louder. Heavier.
Esme pushed her comlink. Nothing happened. She pushed it again. Nothing.
Crap! She’d forgotten about the time limit.
Esme scrambled to her feet and took off after Payton. Payton glanced behind her. “I’m not responsible for you if you get caught,” she said through heavy pants.
Esme ran faster and huffed out, “I can take care of myself.”
They ran through the jungle until Payton skidded to a halt then backtracked. Esme followed without question. Payton jumped over a ledge and held open her arms for Jack.
Esme crouched then lowered herself down the six-foot drop.
It was evident Payton worked out. She had the formed muscles of someone who probably did cross-fit three times a week. But Esme had to be careful not to break bones or sprain muscles that weren’t used to strenuous activity. Esme made it to Payton just in time to see her guiding Jack through a narrow crevice between two rocks then followed him. Esme did the same, sucking in her gut and squeezed through.
They were in a cave no bigger than her bathroom at home. The only light came from the entrance, and it made ominous shadows grow in the dark corners. Esme’s nose tickled from the dank and musty smell.
“How did you know this was here?” Esme whispered.
Payton slapped her hand across Esme’s mouth. Heavy footsteps were overhead. Esme pressed her lips together and pushed Payton’s hand away. Payton glared at her and Esme pointed to her closed mouth. Satisfied, Payton went to the far dark corner and sat down. Jack followed and curled up next to her. Esme went to another corner and sat.
After a quiet and nerve-wracking hour, Payton finally spoke. “We can’t stay together. I can’t let you be the reason I’m held up in Level One.”
“Don’t worry. As soon as I can call a pod again, I’m leaving and going to look for Ben.”
Payton rolled her eyes and snorted. “Did he finally come to his senses and leave you?”
Esme pulled her knees to her chest and refused to look at Payton, afraid there may have been a little truth to what she said. “That’s not what happened,” she whispered.
“Humph.”
The escape pod button on her comlink appeared again. “Well, it’s been real. I’ll talk to you at roll call.”
Payton rolled her eyes again. “Pft. Whatever.”
Esme pushed the button. Nothing happened. She pushed it again, same result. “I don’t understand. It should be available to me now.”
“It’s the cave.” Payton slapped the ground. Dirt billowed up revealing rock underneath. “I guess the transport pods only work on soft surfaces.”
Esme glanced up and around the space. “This is all rock. You mean to tell me I can’t leave unless I go back the way we came?”
“And the lady gets the prize. Jack, what does she win?”
Jack grunted, and Esme ignored the sarcasm Payton threw her way. If being the youngest kid at a University had taught her anything, it was how to ignore American sarcasm. “So why did you lead us here if you knew we wouldn’t be able to call a pod?”
“No one made you follow me.” Payton let out an irritated breath. “Because if it doesn’t work for us, then it can’t work for them, sweet cheeks. They don’t like to stay on the rocks for too long.”
Esme didn’t like the idea of being stuck and cornered. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to sound bitchy.”
“Last night one of them followed me to the rocks and the evening alarm rang. A few seconds later he was seizing like he was getting electrocuted. He was in some serious pain, man. I watched him crawl half a mile to the dirt where a pod finally got him.” She leaned her head against the wall and smiled. “It was awesome watching him in pain.”
If it meant the hunters wouldn’t hang out here, then maybe Payton was better at this surviving thing than she was. “So we’re safe here?”
Payton hugged Jack close to her. “We’re not safe anywhere, Esme. All I’m saying is that they don’t like being out of a pod’s reach. They’ll search this area, but they won’t stay long.”
“So this is where you’ve been hiding out these last few days?” Esme grunted. “We’ve been out there in the heat, walking for hours and hours at a time with no clear destination in sight.”
Payton gave Esme a thoughtful look. “It’s about surviving, right?”
Esme nodded. Her chin hit against her knees as she did.
“I’ve been sticking close to the area. I try to stay out of sight during the day when they’re active. At night I search for all the possible hiding places, never going to the same place twice. If you want to survive, you have to be smarter than this game and smarter than them. Use the rules to your favor.”
Why hadn’t she thought to hide and rest during the day and move through the night? Why hadn’t Ben? Probably because he’d been so worried about all the extra baggage he was carrying—her.
Esme let out a tired breath. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. You just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
Hard footsteps stomped on the roof of the cave. Esme shut her mouth.
* * *
Xrez shouldn’t have attacked the Scraislaes. The penalty was a shock so intense that it made his muscles convulse and bones to lock. A combination that proved extremely painful. But to see her escape had been worth it. Xrez could’ve lived without the shock, but it made him appear legitimate.
The Scraislaes loomed over him. The plates on the side of his face and neck flared, an indication of aggression for his species. “I should kill you. She was mine. I claimed her.”
The shock waned. Xrez finally had control of his body again. He rolled to his butt then pushed himself to stand. “You can definitely try. If you hadn’t hurt the male and suffered the consequences, you might’ve been in the processing center and paying your bill by now.”
“Why are you here, Dar’E?” The Threecax glared at Xrez, looking him up and down.
“Why are you here?” Xrez asked him. “You’re in the wrong compound. Shouldn’t you be with the other segmented bodies?”
The Threecax jaws unhinged, revealing inner clamps. “I want to try something new and different.”
The Scraislaes pushed forward. “The Dar’E is right. You need to go to your appropriate arena.” Then he turned toward Xrez. “And you need to wait to hunt until the prey reaches Level Two. You don’t look like you want Level One prey.”
Xrez straightened his clothes. “I’ve got my eyes set on her. That one will make it to Level Two.”
The Scraislaes barred his teeth. “Not if I get her first.”
A flare of something ripped through him. Jealousy? Protectiveness? “She’s mine.”
The Scraislaes took a step forward. Xrez stretched his neck. He hadn’t planned to fight any of the other hunters, but he welcomed the release of the excess tension. Bradliix would understand.
The Scraislaes stopped his advance, finally coming to his senses and grunted. “When this is all over, Dar’E, I will make you pay.”
“That will never happen. Now run along and try to catch another Level One prey. You’re running out of time.”
The plates on his neck vibrated, making a loud clacking noise. To maybe a smaller being and one who hadn’t trained to fight since he was an infant, the display might have appeared menacing. For Xrez, it was just annoying.
Xrez flicked a hand toward him. “I think it’s impressive that your kind can blow air through your plates and make them dance like that. But from what I hear, when broken off they make great art displays. Especially when painted in bold colors and hung in direct sunlight.”
The Scraislaes squinted and backed away slowly. “Soon, Dar’E.”
“I’ll have my assistant add it to my calendar.”
Xrez glared at the Threecax and Scraislaes until they disappeared into the jungle. When he was sure he was alone, he tapped an option on his comlink, and a virtual map displayed. It was another perk of the executive package. The map, although it wouldn’t give a precise location, showed the underground emergency pod network.
Xrez looked for the track servicing the place where Esme had dropped and followed it across the Level One compound, forty clicks away. He knew the area she was in for now. If she left and took another escape pod, he might lose her forever.
With determination, Xrez started in her direction.
Chapter Fifteen
Awareness tugged at Esme, more and more until she could no longer ignore the sunlight penetrating her closed eyelids. She forced one open to a squint, peering through the slit of
the cave. She couldn’t see much but blurriness. She blinked a few times to clear her vision. She saw pink fluffy clouds set against a sky painted with swirling hues of purple.
Yup. Still on an alien planet.
Her ribs ached. Her hip throbbed, and her back was on fire. The sleeping bag hadn’t helped much against the hard ground that she’d slept on all night. Esme rolled to her back and threw an arm over her face. That simple move made her groan in pain. Her back was knotted in all the wrong places.
“Shhh.”
Esme turned her head toward Payton, suppressing another groan as burning pain danced around the muscles in her neck. Payton and Jack sat in the exact spot they’d been the night before—furthest corner from the cave opening, leaving Esme with a face full of bright sunlight. Payton bit into her protein bar then pinched off a piece and fed it to Jack.
“Hey, how were you able to get food in here?” Esme whispered. “My stomach is eating itself.”
“I don’t know how much longer these aliens are going to be generous, so I’ve been stocking up.” Payton pulled a bar from her bra and tossed it at Esme. “Don’t eat it all at once. I’m not going to give you my entire stash.”
Esme swiped it from the air. “Ew, gross.”
Payton gave her a matter-of-fact look. “Then give it back.”
“Never.” Esme bit into it. It tasted like chicken and sweat. It was the best thing she’d had in a long while. She took another bite, and the hunger pains subsided. “Thanks.”
“Survival of the fittest.”
“Mental note. Stock up on food and water.” Esme chewed and tapped the side of her head, adding to the list she’d started yesterday with Ben.
Don’t make a noise.
Don’t leave a trail for anyone to follow.
Be stealthy.
Stock up on food for later and for emergencies.
“I thought you would be gone when I woke up,” she whispered.
Payton took another bite. “I thought about leaving you. You snore.”
Esme pushed to sit up, and every muscle in her back screamed in pain. She winced as she tried to straighten and unkink the knots. “Why didn’t you?”
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