He held Norah tight, as tight as possible against his chest, and increased his internal heating technology to dangerous, uncomfortable levels. Just to make sure her soggy clothing remained warm.
Her exhaustion was evident. She couldn’t go on much longer without rest and Stryker didn’t have the heart to keep pushing her forward, out of the danger, out of the weather, when her willpower was down to its last straw.
He knew she would fight it against her own health even in just the short amount of time he had known her.
The wind and rain remained steady as the night deepened into a hard darkness around them. He kept his night vision on.
Stryker surveyed their surroundings: the giant leaves that provided them protection, the lightning that shot off as curses in the distance, and the water that continued to rise below them. He saw it all, he heard it all. The world blared his senses.
The creatures, many and unknown to them, the ones that dwelled in the jungle that hunkered around their tree in wait...he had seen them, andstillsaw them. Waiting, wanting, and not-quite-right. His shots had startled the haggish monsters but it had not hurt them.
And then there were the bugs, which he could do nothing about.
Their numbers continued to grow as he stood sentinel. His eyes searched everywhere, everything, but his mind was on the girl.
She shivered in her sleep and it worried him.
Stryker had never held a woman so close before, had never hugged the lush curves of the opposite sex. He relished it. This was his purpose. But he knew better, he was a machine, a malformation made by men to be used by men. He wasn’t made for women. Especially beautiful ones like his scientist.
He pulled her closer.
I’m going to keep you safe. I’m going to keep you alive.
I never fail.Stryker wanted to tell her. He wanted to see relief in her eyes, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t make promises he wasn’t sure he could keep. It would hurt his record. His perfection.
His frenzy to be something he’s not. The metal band over his mouth felt heavy and hot.
He rested his head back against the trunk and made up promises in his mind where no one could hear him, where his record meant nothing.
And nothing was error.
Chapter Five:
***
Norah woke up uncomfortably warm, warm and dry.
She processed the lack of water sliding along her skin before she acknowledged anything else. Not even her existence or the events that had led her to think, being dry, could be taken for granted.
Her toes wiggled and the fresh air over her bare feet felt like heaven.
Heaven because they weren’t wet.
Norah’s eyes snapped open. A band of arms held her up, tight and secure, and she stiffened as she realized how high up she was. Her eyesight blurred.
“Calm down.”
Norah gasped and jerked against the familiar voice.
“Calm down, I’ve got you. You won’t fall. Not while I’m around. You'll never fall. Not while I'm here.”
She took those words in as everything returned to her with a horrible clarity.
“Stryker?” she slumped back into his arms.
“Yeah.”
Norah twisted in his arms as the mist touched her skin. She leaned back and took in the Cyborg, as was necessary for a man who had sacrificed himself for her. For nothing at all. Her body ached but she was warm, dry, and the patter of rain was as low as a crinkle compared to the drums of the night before.
