Page 48 of Ruined Omega

The other Farlander takes one last sniff and bolts.

Baen starts to go after him, but he loses his footing on the wet grass and slips. It’s a matter of seconds before he recovers, but in that time, the Farlander, loping away on all fours, has managed to get a head start of several hundred yards.

Baen starts after him again, but Tal shouts to stop him.

With all of the Farlanders dead or fleeing, I assume it’s safe to come out of hiding. I run down the hill, keeping to the pavement so that I don’t slip in the mud.

“I told you not to intervene,” Tal snarls.

His face is a dark mask of rage, grooved with wrinkles and shot with veins. He looks more terrifying than I’ve ever seen before.

“You told me to stay put,” I answer in a trembling voice. “That’s what I did.”

Tal drags a heavy breath between his clenched teeth, holds it, blows it out again, along with some of the tension from his muscles.

“The Farlanders have smelled you now,” he growls. “When the one who escaped tells his brethren, they’ll be after us in droves. They won’t let an omega like you slip away.”

“I can go after him.” Baen gestures toward the fleeing Farlander.

Tal shakes his head, swinging his dark, muddy hair.

“You’d never catch him before he makes the woods,” Tal says. “And there’s no telling how many Farlanders are waiting there. Could be too many for you to take on by yourself.”

Baen scowls. His muscles twitch like a poorly trained hound eager to give chase. I half expect him to whine like an impatient dog.

“Besides,” Tal goes on. “We need to stay together. We need to protect Hines.”

Baen casts one last glance at the fleeing Farlander, who is now little more than a distant speck, pale against the backdrop of the forest’s darkness in the distance. His shoulders drop, and he nods reluctantly.

“What about her?” I ask.

The young, feral omega is standing a little way off. Her naked, mud-smudged body is trembling with adrenaline. Her face is pale, but her lips and chin are vibrant with blood from where she bit that Farlander. Her dark eyes are wide and glassy with animal apprehensiveness.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

The omega just stares and trembles. Her dark eyes are fearful but inquisitive. God, she can’t be older than eighteen, if that.

Tal places a big hand on my shoulder.

“Careful, Hines.”

I take one slow step forward, dropping my head like I would with an injured animal. I slowly turn my hands palms up, making myself as non-threatening as possible—which isn’t all that hard for me.

“Don’t worry,” I say. “We won’t hurt you. We want to help.”

“Thank you,” she rasps.

Then, quick as a wild hare she turns and bolts. Her pale legs are a blur, and her small feet barely seem to touch the muddy ground. I let my hands drop.

“Don’t worry about her,” Baen says. “We saved her. Now she’s on her own.”

“Yes,” Tal agrees. “And it’s time for us to start running too.”

He stares off down the converging lines of the old highway where they lead into the dark forest in the distance. His eyes squint, not so much with focus as with thinking. After a moment, he speaks.

“We can’t keep going straight ahead. The Farlander went that way, which means the rest of his tribe is in that direction.”

From the east, electricity grumbles like a hungry stomach. The thunderhead is darkening, expanding, swollen and black with rain.