Page 31 of Captured By The Alien (Starbound #2)

The wild ride had taken her further north into the forest and she was now about eighteen kilometers from the rendezvous point. Given the terrain, it would probably take her two hours to cover. If she hustled, she could make it before sundown.

She checked on the others’ positions. None of them were heading for the finish line, they were all still roaming in the forest. She saw with a start that Layahn was now much closer to her, probably only a couple of kilometers away. She’d be sure to give that bitch a wide berth.

She was even more concerned when she saw Vysh was still circling in a grid pattern. Unease pricked at her. What if she didn’t find a sphere? It would be awful if she failed at the first challenge. Her father sounded like a first rate asshole and he’d never let her live it down.

She plotted a new course, one that brought her into contact with Vysh. It would add precious time to her journey but she could afford it. She’d tell Vysh how to find the spheres and still be at the finish line by nightfall.

She set off, sticking to a nice, easy pace that wouldn’t exhaust her. Her time on Minerva-6 had honed her muscles and given her a level of fitness she hadn’t achieved even as a soldier. All that constant exercise. Climbing and hunting and running from predators.

And the sex. Don’t forget about the endless sex. Never mind aerobics, those marathon sessions with Vahn had sometimes lasted for hours.

She fell into a reverie as she ran, reliving some of their most precious moments. It wasn’t until her throat was parched and sweat was dripping down her back that she allowed herself to stop for some water.

She checked the map as she regained her breath and saw Vysh was just up ahead. She started to move in that direction and paused. Something had snagged her attention, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.

She watched the dot marked ‘4’ for a moment but nothing jumped out. Vysh was just circling as she had been for the past few hours. Poor woman must be knackered. Stowing the map, she went to find her.

Vysh was, indeed, exhausted. Fatigue pulled at every muscle and tiredness weighed on her feet. Only force of will kept her going.

So when she saw Kara materialize from the trees in front of her, she nearly fell over from the shock.

“ Drek’aa beresh and all the fiends of Xesh! What are you doing here?”

“Bloody hell, Vysh. You look terrible. Here, sit down. Drink some water.”

“I’ve drunk plenty of water. I’m not a moron. I knew I had to collect it before it started raining.”

“Good for you. What about food?”

“I ate the tin of meat.” She looked shamefaced. “I know, I should have kept some of it.”

“You shouldn’t have eaten it at all. Here. I have a leftover leg of… whatever the fuck this thing is.”

Kara pulled out the meat she’d roasted earlier. Vysh stared at it in astonishment, then fell on it ravenously.

“How did you find this?” she said, chewing furiously.

“I didn’t find it. I caught it. All the tools for a snare are in the rucksack.”

“ Zift. I didn’t even think of that. Though to be fair, even if I had, I don’t know how to set a snare.” Her shoulders drooped forlornly. “I’m useless. I can’t even find a xantha sphere. And I used to be so good at it when I was a hatchling.”

“About that.” Kara opened her rucksack. Vysh’s eyes widened as she saw Kara’s prize.

“Fountain of Zandarr. How did you find it?”

“With this.”

She retrieved the handheld and showed her the map. Vysh’s jaw dropped.

“Vannla’s Sword. Of course. We’re all wearing GPS trackers. You’re so clever, Kara. Are the red markers the spheres?”

“Yes. And the black ones are us.” The subconscious alarm sounded again. Kara frowned at the map, and finally realized what the problem was. Vysh said it first.

“That’s weird. Where’s Layahn’s marker?”

The dot numbered ‘1’ was no longer showing. The hair rose on the back of Kara’s neck.

Even if Layahn was injured or dead, her tracker would still show her location. The fact that it no longer appeared on the map could only mean one thing.

She’d taken her bracelet off and destroyed it.

If she’d done that, it meant she’d figured out how to recalibrate the map and didn’t want her location showing up on it.

Which in turn led to an unsettling conclusion. Layahn could see where everyone else was, but no-one could see where she was.

Fuck.

Kara opened her mouth to tell Vysh the bad news when something smashed into her skull from behind. Stunned, she fell forward, landing on her hands and knees.

Groggily, she looked up. Layahn was holding a laser-blade to Vysh’s throat, smirking triumphantly.

“Took me a while to figure out,” she said. “But you’re not the only one with technical know-how.”

“What the fuck are you doing? You’re supposed to be hunting a sphere, not us.”

“Wrong. I don’t need to find a sphere. I just need to find someone who already has one.”

“You piece of zift, ” snarled Vysh. “That’s cheating.”

She tried to twist away but Layahn tightened her hold, bringing the laser-blade so close to her throat it almost singed her skin. Vysh swore but stopped moving. Layahn grinned unpleasantly.

“No rules, remember? Now give me your rucksack.”

“Piss off,” snapped Kara. “There’s no way you’d kill another Potential. That’ll get you a one-way ticket to the deepest dungeon on Vraxos.”

“Who said anything about killing? I’m not going to hurt her. Not badly, anyway. Maybe I’ll just burn her throat. Or scar her face. She won’t be so pretty then, will she? And my uncle will make sure there’s no real comeback. After all, my family are much more important than hers. That’s how it works here.”

“Don’t listen to her, Kara,” urged Vysh. “She won’t dare hurt me.”

“Won’t I?”

Layahn touched the blade to her exposed neck. Immediately the skin bubbled and blistered, and Vysh moaned in pain. The nauseating odor of burned flesh filled Kara’s nostrils.

She staggered to her feet, ignoring the bolt of agony that shot through her head.

“Leave her alone, you bitch.”

“I’ll leave you both alone as soon as you give me your rucksack.”

“Here. Take it, shit-for-brains.”

She hurled the bag towards Layahn, who caught it one-handed.

“See you at the finishing line,” she said gleefully. Then she shoved Vysh bodily into Kara.

The pair of them went down. Kara was still dazed from the blow to her head and by the time she managed to get to her feet, both Layahn and the sphere had gone.