“Be quiet!” He said to her harshly, but he made sure to keep his voice low. “I never liked this plan.”
“Let me go.”
“They will kill me if I do that.”
Oh, but he didn’t sound too sure. She kept at him. “We can escape together. All we have to do is trail further and further behind.”
“They’ll notice.”
“You can tell them that you are taking it easy on me, because I’m a weak female.”
“I don’t know.”
“Just slow your steps, I’ll match them. Once we fall far enough behind, we’ll make a run for it.”
“This will get us killed.” Even as he said it, he began to slow his steps.
Sharon actually thought for a moment that they might be able to get out of there without drawing anyone’s attention.
“Where’s the female?” the Morin commander yelled out.Well, it almost worked.
She jerked her hand from the warrior and made run for it. The warrior must have had the same idea and passed by her as he ran for his freedom. As she was running, she smelled something like fuel. When she glanced over to the drainage pipe, she saw liquid dripping down from it. They must have some of the fuel from the trading post leaking down there.
A grunting noise ahead of her caught her attention. A few seconds later, she saw a body on the ground. She didn’t have time to slow down before she run straight into a wall. Not a wall...a body. She raised her fist to attack.
“Wait, Sharon, it’s me.”
“MarIK?”
“Yes.”
She heard the others coming up behind her. “Do you have a gun? A phase ray or something?”
He pulled it out. “Yes.”
“Aim and shoot at the pipe over there.” She pointed in the direction hoping he had better eyes than she did. It was very dim in the tunnel.
Without hesitation, he aimed his phase ray and shot a blast.
“We need cover!”
He took her in his arms and shoved her back against the wall of the tunnel where there was a small alcove. It was just in time as his phase ray blast struck the pipe and ignited the fuel. She was temporarily blinded by the flash of fire explosion and she felt heat. Oh God, were they going to be burned alive? Remembering that her body was being protected by MarIK, she reached up and pulled his head closer to her trying to offer protection to the back of his head.
“Sharon, what are you doing?” he whispered against her cheek.
“You’re protecting me. I’m going to protect you, too.”
She wasn’t sure how long they were there but when he moved away from her, she missed feeling him there close to her. “Is it safe to move?”
He took a step out of the alcove. “Yes, we need to get as far away as possible in case they survived.” He reached down to untie her hands. Then he offered his hand for her and she didn’t hesitate to take it.
Stepping out of the alcove, she glanced back and saw a wall of fire still going strong. Hopefully, that would give them enough time to get away.
“Are you alone?”
“Yes, I sent the rest to the shuttle. I told them to not wait too long for us. I don’t want to take a chance that…”
He didn’t finish saying it but she knew what he meant. He didn’t want to take a chance that he would be too late to save her or that they would never make it back. He couldn’t risk the others getting caught and killed too. He really was a great commander. She just wished that he wasn’t putting himself in danger just for her. She was only one person and wasn’t worth it. She must have said that last bit out loud because he suddenly turned and took her into his arms.
“You are worth everything, Sharon.” He leaned down and kissed her.
“So are you. Let’s face it; you’re more important than I am. If it comes to it, you need to leave me behind.”
“Never!”
“I mean it…”
He cut her off with another strong kiss. He pulled back and took her hand in his again. “No more talk. We need to get moving.”
She didn’t argue any more with him but she meant what she said. MarIK’s survival was crucial to the Katierans defeating the purist rebels. She was nothing but a pawn in all this and she had known that going into it. Sharon was determined that she would protect MarIK even against his own wishes. He was just too important to her.
