A trickle of dread burned his throat. “Shit. We’re on our way.”
Eos ran her hands down her thighs. “We need to secure the mummy?—”
“No time. Sandstorms move fast. They can turn you around, blind you. We could end up lost in the middle of nowhere and they can last days.”
She straightened. “You’ve been caught before.”
His jaw tightened, dark memories he tried hard to forget rose up. “On a desert planet called Sha’ra.”
She gnawed on her lip. “Can we carry the body? He’s important. He deserves better than this.”
Dathan shook his head. “But we can carry the shirt.”
“No. I can’t desecrate him that way.”
“Fine.” Dathan crouched and withdrew his knife. Before she could protest, he cut out the logo from the shirt.
“No!”
Standing, he shoved the knife away and carefully folded the logo fabric into his pocket. “We have to go, Eos. No time to argue.”
Back stiff, she headed into the corridor. They walked in silence, and then he helped her climb out of the crevasse and onto the street.
“The sky’s still blue,” she noted.
But he saw it. The dangerous smudge of red on the horizon. It was growing bigger every second. “Let’s move.”
They jogged through the streets. The sound started as a distant whoosh but soon grew louder. A dull roar echoed through the ruins.
Dathan looked over his shoulder. Swore. He gripped her arm. “Run.”
“What?” Startled, she looked over her shoulder.
A billowing wall of sand was bearing down on them. It swirled in all shades of red, orange, and brown.
“Move it.” He yanked her forward.
They ran, dodging obstacles and trying to stay on the direct path to the ship. The wind picked up around them, a small spray of sand hitting his skin like tiny pinpricks.
“Dathan? Eos?” Niklas’ voice was almost lost to the roar of the wind.
Dathan didn’t slow down but lifted the communicator. “En route. Not sure we’ll make it.”
Eos stumbled, but he kept her upright. He knew what a sandstorm could do. He wouldn’t let it have her. The sand was already hurting. The full blast of the storm could flay the skin off their bodies.
He looked ahead. He saw the hull of theInfinitasbelow the dune ahead. But the sand in the air was growing, covering his view like red mist.
“Shit.” They weren’t going to make it. His fingers dug into her arm. “We need to find somewhere to take shelter.”
He cast around, searching for somewhere, but the part of the colony they were crossing was mostly destroyed. There were only knee-high walls and foundations.
He swore again, but this time the words were whisked away by the encroaching sandstorm. It felt like rough hands were scraping at his skin.
Eos shook his arm and pointed. Through the swirling sand, he spied a small opening in a building with its bottom story still intact.
Together, they sprinted. In seconds, the world turned into a red haze. Eos opened her mouth to speak but then clamped her lips shut. She lifted a hand to shield her face.
Dathan pushed harder against the growing wind. The howl was like a scream in his ears. Old horrors reared up, closing his throat.
