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“Dani, let’s go!” he snapped.

She tried to struggle out of Garret’s grip as he dragged her and Myrell down the tunnel. “Wait, Kryxis!”

Kryxis looked back and their eyes locked. She didn’t have time to read what she saw there in his gaze before he turned away to face the horde which were nearly upon him.

Garret was forced to pick her up as they sprinted down the tunnelway. For a moment, Kryxis faded into the dark as their light no longer reached him. Then the air pressure dropped.

A flash of orange heat burst into the tunnel. She flinched and shut her eyes to the intensity of the firebomb, feeling the heat against her face.

Garret and Myrell didn’t stop. They rushed through the dark as bits of debris and dust fell on them, and they heard a mighty roar above a mass of shrieking, angry cries.

It felt like they ran forever, but Dani could feel Garret slowing. She looked around and saw one of the wide metal doors ahead, signaling they’d reached the end of the research sector.

Garret set her down and went for the door. He shot off the lock before wrenching the door open. Dani turned to look back for Kryxis but was pulled away, Garret leading her and Myrell through to the other side.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Dani

Dani caught herself staring at nothing. It was the third time she found herself lost in her thoughts, and she had to blink back to reality. She took a deep breath then zipped up her pack, making sure everything was secure. Nothing had been lost thankfully in the tunnels despite the chaos. She’d double checked every pocket several times to make sure. Slipping the pack on, she gripped the straps, trying to keep her hands from trembling.

They hadn’t stopped since they’d left the tunnel. Since that moment she had last seen Kryxis.

Beside her, Garret was checking his gear while Myrell was looking over her ISpad.

“It’s almost over,” she said.

The storm outside was beginning to settle. Much sooner than expected. At least according to Myrell’s weather gauge.

They had hunkered down in a small storage unit just outside the sector, finding their way back up to surface level many hours ago. After getting to safety, the adrenaline had worn off quickly,and Dani felt exhausted all over again, her muscles aching from being so tense, her ankle throbbing too.

They’d gotten lucky escaping the tunnels as they did. She only had to use one of the firebombs, taking Garret’s lighter to ignite the wire before sending the metal ball flying to the end of an infested tunnel. Once they got up to the surface and found the unit, they stayed put, knowing they couldn’t brave the storm and the tunnels would still be too dangerous, none of which led to the ship anyway.

It had been a long few hours after that. Most of it consisted of them sitting listening to the storm outside and eating what little they had left in the way of mealbars and water. Not long after, Garret prodded her about how she got stuck with the vrisha, and she told them very little. Only that Kryxis had saved her life at the bridge and had taken her to a place of safety.

“So, he was able to communicate after all?” Myrell had asked, sitting opposite. A yellow light detached from her suit was the only thing illuminating their faces in the dark.

Dani nodded. “Sort of, anyway,” she said. “He spoke in his tongue, but he understood some of my words too. He learned fast.”

“It’s a good thing I guess,” Garret commented, sitting against an empty crate with his gun in his lap. “Still, don’t know what his plan was.”

Dani glared at him. “His plan?”

“You know…if he was looking to…”

“If you say harm, I told you already, he wasn’t.”

“He’d tried to before, Dani. Don’t know his motives for suddenly helping is all I’m saying. I heard vrisha were cunning, much more than humans. He could have…wanted something from you.”

“Like what?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. But he was practically feral. You said yourself he’d been messing with you.”

“He just saved our lives!”

“Dani’s right,” Myrell said. “Why go through all that for us? He just took one for the team back there and he wasn’t part of the team.”

Dani’s heart sank. “He’s all right. He made it out…”