the door and followed the trail of blood down a long hallway. There wasn’t a Jetutian in sight. In this part of the vessel, it almost seemed deserted.
The blood led him to a white door, but the blood trailed left, down another corridor, which took him to a grey door.
Behind the grey door was a storage room.
“Erin,” he called out, but the room was empty. He turned, frowning, peering at the walls, the ceilings, the floor, wondering if there was a hidden entrance somewhere. It was only after searching the room a second time that he saw a latch in the floor and he scrambled for it, lifting it open.
Cool air whistled up to meet him and without hesitation, he jumped down, landing on his feet, on Luxirian soil.
All that way just to end up in the forest again, he thought.
It didn’t take him long to get his bearings. He was at the back of the vessel, far away from the fighting, which had seemed to lessen considerably, judging from the sounds ringing through the air.
That was when he heard it. A soft cry, barely discernable, from within the thickness of the forest looming in the distance. But he recognized it immediately.
Jaxor sprinted for it, his heartbeat pounding in his throat.
Nix, nix, nix, let her be safe, he prayed. I will give anything as long as she is safe.
Erin cried out when Po’grak managed to take hold of her ankle and yanked her back down to the ground.
He found me, he found me, was all she could manage to think. He must’ve seen her leave the medical bay, had followed after her.
The force of hitting the ground knocked the air out of her lungs and, panicking, she gasped, desperately trying to breathe. She was already so weak from her captivity in the Mevirax dungeons. She was winded and her limbs felt like they weighed a hundred pounds each.
“Give that to me,” Po’grak hissed, reaching for the needle gun in her grip half-filled with the vaccine.
The only reason why she wasn’t dead already was because he was injured himself. Tavar had stabbed him in his side. That same blade was in his grip now as he crawled towards her on the ground, lime green blood gleaming on its tip. There was a trail of the blood inside the dark forest. It seemed to glow in the low light.
Still gasping for air, Erin drew back her leg with whatever remained of her strength and kicked him as hard as she could across the jaw. Erin heard a snap, heard his hiss, but she was already scrambling up from the ground, her fingernails clawing at dirt and moss, all while keeping the needle gun in her grip.
She only made it a couple strides away—her heartbeat felt like it would beat its way from her chest or simply burst from the exertion—before Po’grak slammed into her, using the overwhelming bulk of his body to take her down to the ground again.
“No!” she rasped. “No!”
Po’grak clawed for the vaccine but she struggled against him, kicking her legs beneath him, trying to get free. His claws raked down her arm as he grappled for it, icy hot blood spilling. Her blood this time.
Po’grak’s bellow of anger and rage almost made her eardrums burst.
“You are not worth this!” he yelled.
Then she gasped, feeling pain explode in her chest. Time seemed to still. Even Po’grak stilled over her. When she looked down, disbelief and shock raced through her, seeing the blade jutting from her chest.
Po’grak grabbed for the vaccine and he easily pried it from her loose fingers this time. In her shock, she released it.
“Now I must find another,” he cursed, looking down at her, but not really addressing her.
In the whirring, frantic state of her mind, she knew he meant another human. Another human woman. Because that was all she was to him. Cattle for slaughter. A prize to be won. There was no difference in his eyes. He’d wanted her for the Pit, nothing more.
Another bellow rang out through the clearing, one achingly familiar. Erin felt the trickle of her own hot blood leak out from the wound and she lay perfectly still, strangely calm, knowing she shouldn’t move too much, in case her movements pushed the blade deeper.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement, but her vision had begun to blur, her eyelids growing heavy. She felt something wet track down her cheek. She thought it might be blood too because