Kate
Behind us, Rune pushes forward and gestures for us to move. He’s right. The shouting is getting closer. We need to get out of here and find someplace to hide quick. I can’t have Pious find me. I just can’t. But we’re running blindly down corridors not knowing who’s closing in from behind or what’s waiting up ahead of us. And even though Rune is carrying me, I can barely breathe from the anxiety of it all.
At the next uploading station we pass, Tore shouts for us to wait and taps wildly at the screen. Rune lowers me to my feet and I shiver and hug myself watching Tore’s actions.What is he doing? Why are we stopping? I can still hear the hurried stomping of the Caelum’s boots closing in.Why am I standing here watching him? Doesn’t he get it? I don’t want to get inseminated with that idiot’s jizz!I glance over my shoulder, positive I will see Pious and his small mushroom dick coming for me. I knock on Tore’s armor like an idiot. “Tore, seriously we have to get going. They’re catching up to us.”
“Not for long,” he says, steadily.
My face heats with anger. “Ugh. It’s easy for you to be so nonchalant about this, you’re not the one with a fully loaded alien penis chasing after you. Come on!” I say bouncing on the balls of my feet.
Tore shakes his head and chuckles.
I’m about to tear out of there and leave them all to deal with it themselves, when I hear a soft click and my attention is pulled up to what Tore is actually focusing on.
A small square in the docking dashboard opens, filling the hallway with a glittery beam of faint blue light. Tore shoves the small tracker into a cylinder that floats and bobs in the glowing shaft. It spins around, makes a loud suction noise, and vanishes. The flap closes with a low zipping noise, emptying the hallway of its bluish glow.
“What did you just do?” I ask.
Tore’s face turns to mine and a small gear lifts at the edge of his lips. “I sent your tracker on a tour of the ship, in the opposite direction of where we are now.”
“Really?” Well, now I feel awful for thinking he was just wasting time. “Thank you.”
“You saved my life before, Kate. I won’t ever forget that. You could have left me to die and you didn’t. My allegiance is to you, not Pious.”
My first thought is to ask about his allegiance to Rune, but I don’t want to stay out in the open in the corridors any longer and I’m truly not sure Rune will like the answer Tore gives. I’ll keep the question to myself, for now.
“That’s brilliant, Tore,” Rune says, grabbing my hand and gently pulling me forward. It’s warm and strong, sending tremors through my still cold body. “Now we must find a doorway into the passageways and head back to the core, where it’s safe.”
It’s easy enough to find a hidden entryway, Jex seems to know every secret inch of this chumped-up aluminum foilflying saucer. But once we step through and slide back the panel in place behind us, we are instantly enveloped in complete darkness and I feel even less secure.
“Why are there no step lights here?” Rune snaps.
“I’m unsure,” Jex replies, moving forward. “I have not been through these tunnels in some time.” His voice hesitates for a moment before adding, “If at all.”
Rune squeezes my hand.
I don’t care about the darkness. I’m not scared in the cover of it, but as we walk, I can’t help to dart cautious glances back at the way we came to see if Pious’s face appears in the blackness behind me. The hairs on the nape of my neck bristle and stand on end like something or someone is there, fanning hot breath into the middle of my shoulders.
A hot burst of adrenaline explodes in my chest as a hand presses against the small of my back. I rush forward, but the hand remains, hot on my skin.
“Kate?” Rune’s voice is warm in my ear. “What’s wrong?” The hand slides up gently and pulls me in. I let out a loud sigh, it’s only Rune’s hand, protecting me, leading me to safety.
“Nothing’s wrong,” I whisper. “I just feel like he’s right behind us in the darkness, ready to grab me.”
His movements still and his hands slowly slide up my arms, over my shoulders and cup my face. “If you do not realize by now, I will keep you safe here, at all costs.”
My hands lift up to cover his. “You have no clue how surreal this all is to me. I just want to get out of here and go back home. I need to find Claire. Promise me, Rune,” I say, stepping closer to him until our bodies almost touch. “Promise me, you’ll still help me get back home.”
For a moment he says nothing.
“Please, Rune,” my voice catches on the words and break. “Please.”
“Will you let me take you both back here?” he whispers back.
I drop my hands and step away from him, hitting my back into the cold metal of the darkened hallway’s walls. “What? I don’t—”
“The near future of your world is a horrible one, where outbreaks of plagues and diseases will outnumber the humans there. If you stay…” he takes an audible breath. “If I leave you there, it’s a guaranteed termination of your life.”
How am I supposed to believe that’s what’s really going to happen? And how do I make this kind of a decision right now? My only goal is to find Claire. I can’t think about anything beyond that until she’s standing next to me again. And what about my father? Who will help him?
