her other hand on his chest, feeling the thud of his heartbeat under her fingers. Sometimes, he shuddered and gasped. Her heart would fly into her throat as she waited for him to settle down again.
The future she had envisioned with him seemed to be slipping through her fingers. She clutched onto his shirt and silently willed him to fight. Please hold on, Terror. Don’t leave me. Not now. Not after everything we’ve survived together.
The minutes ticked by and turned into hours. She left the men briefly to descend into the energy bay to check the fuel cell. It was down to two percent. They had less than an hour of oxygen. The carbon dioxide scrubbers would give out before that which meant they were going to suffocate slowly.
Maisie returned to the cockpit and checked on Devious. He also had a fever now, not nearly as high as Terror’s but high enough that it worried her. She could feel his ragged breaths under her hand, and his heartbeat felt thready under her fingertips. He was decompensating and quickly.
Terror’s condition hadn’t changed much. He was still burning up with fever, and his skin was covered in the expanding rash and a sheen of sweat. The dark lines swirling out from his belly wound had stretched a few more inches across his torso and back. The gash in his thigh had clotted and the bandage seemed to be working well.
Not that any of that would matter when the life support systems failed. She might have been imagining it, but she thought it was harder to breathe. Her brain felt a little fuzzy, but whether that was from the rising level of carbon dioxide or the exhaustion sapping the life out of her, she couldn’t tell.
I have to get them into the pod. It’s our only chance. Not that it would be much of a chance. The pod would only have enough life support for maybe twelve hours with three people in it. It had been designed for two passengers at the maximum. Even if she could dial down the life support to the bare minimums, twelve hours with three people would be pushing it.
The ship suddenly shook violently. Maisie shifted Terror’s head from her lap and slowly climbed to her feet. She looked out of the cockpit window and swallowed anxiously at the much larger ship that had clamped onto their aircraft. It was part of the Alliance fleet, but it was possible the men onboard weren’t friendly.
Accepting that there was nothing she could do about that now, Maisie crouched next to Terror in a protective stance. She wished for a weapon, something, anything to defend herself and the men. With nothing available, she took hold of Terror’s limp hand and held tight.
The ship vibrated and shuddered as the larger ship connected a gangway. The escape hatch panel in the ceiling was wrenched open, and a heavy black bag was thrown into the cockpit. Seconds later, a man in a Sky Corps uniform dropped through the hole. He landed with the skill of a gymnast, and she almost cried with relief when she recognized him as the nice pilot from the rescue team Terror had organized for her.
Hazard, she remembered. His name was Hazard.
As soon as he caught sight of her, he put a finger to his mouth and then pointed to a storage compartment near the navigational console. He mouthed the word, “Hide.”
She didn’t have to be told twice. She scurried to the cabinet and squeezed herself into the space. For once, her small size was useful. The cabinet door was solid metal so she couldn’t see what was happening. Why had Hazard asked her to hide? What was going on? Should she not have trusted him?
After what felt like hours, the compartment door opened, and Hazard crouched down in front of her. He gestured for her to climb out. When she was on her feet again, she noticed Terror and Devious were gone. There was medical waste on the floor, wrappers from syringes and slick paper backings for the sticky sensors that gave readouts to the tablets medics carried.
Maisie grabbed her parents’ files from the chair where she had left them and prepared to evacuate the ship. She made it three steps before Hazard stopped her. She tried to shake off the gloved hand gripping her arm, but he was too strong. She met his burdened gaze and wondered what the hell was wrong now.