Married to Krampus - Marina Simcoe Page 0,65

fescod, his expression dark. I worried that seeing his enemy in person again might trigger something inside the war hero.

“Shall we go?” I asked quietly, touching his arm.

“Yes.” He turned away, heading toward the exit.

“They shouldn’t have him here,” he said as we walked down one of the narrow walkways toward the parking garage.

“Because he is a sentient being displayed like an animal in the Zoo?” I asked.

“No,” he bit off. “Because it’s not safe for the public.”

“Oh.”

“Fescods’ intelligence is in their Common Mind. Once cut off from its signal, they aren’t capable of processing problems or creating solutions. The debate about whether they’re even self-aware is still ongoing. That must be what allowed the Zoo to organize this exhibition in the first place.”

“So, without their ‘mind,’ they aren’t intelligent enough to attack?” I asked, hurrying next to him down the walkway.

“Oh, they attack any chance they get. An individual fescod is not much more than a mindless robot, unable to plan or organize without the Mind. His inherent aggression, however, still makes him very dangerous. The barrier they have is not adequate to contain an enraged fescod. He’s aggravated by it. It’s only a matter of time before he gets angry enough to break through it. I’ll need to talk to Drustan about this. As the Governor, he would be able to put a stop to this.”

A sudden noise came from behind us. Screams of panic and the thundering sound of hooves rushed in our direction.

“What’s going on?” I turned around to look back.

“Come.” The Colonel promptly grabbed me by my arm, dragging me toward the end of the walkway, which still was quite far away. “Faster.” He broke into a jog, forcing me to keep up, Olvar running beside me.

The crowd around us thickened, nearly blocking the narrow passage.

“Fescod! Fescod broke loose!” Voranians screamed, rushing to the exit along the walkway and sweeping us with them.

“Oh no!” Just what the Colonel had been worried about. And it had happened even faster than he’d predicted.

“Keep moving, Daisy!” the Colonel shouted.

I concentrated on not losing the sight of his carved horns as the crowd spilled between us, separating me from him. In the chaos, I didn’t even realize when Olvar’s hand had slipped out of mine.

“Olvar!” I screamed in horror, noticing that he was gone. Peering through the mass of panicking people, I searched for the little boy. “Come back! Where are you?”

“Daisy.” The Colonel made his way to me. Wrapping an arm around me, he half-carried me to the exit then finally out of the tunnel and onto the parking platform. He then pushed me to the wall around the corner, away from the Voranians rushing by.

“Olvar!” I fought his grip, desperate to run back inside the glass tunnel. “He’s back there. Olvar!”

Pure horror flashed through the Colonel’s expression, then his calm focus returned.

“Here.” He took Zun off his shoulders, handing him to me. “Take Zun to the aircraft. You two get inside and lock the doors. Stay there, until I come back. Don’t get out, no matter what happens. Understood?”

I nodded rapidly several times, clutching Zun to me. “Oh God, please find him.”

“I will.” He rushed off, heading back into the tunnel against the rushing crowd.

“Come, baby,” I muttered to Zun.

Holding him to my chest, I ran, keeping close to the wall for as long as was possible. I refused to set Zun down, even as he seemed to grow heavier in my arms by the minute. Dodging the people who dashed all around us, I turned toward the centre of the parking platform where our aircraft was located.

“Here we go.” I clicked the doors open as soon as I reached the aircraft. “You come right here, honey.” I put Zun into his seat and buckled him in.

“Where is daddy?” the boy’s voice was so tiny, it made my eyes swell with tears as the inside of my nose prickled.

“He’ll be right back, sweetheart. He’ll just need to—”

Something enormous slammed at me from the side. The air was knocked out of my chest. Every single bone in my body seemed to crack and shutter as I crashed to the ground.

“Zun! Lock the doors, baby!” I screamed.

A huge, shapeless, gray mass moved over me, blocking my view of the boy...and the world around me.

GREVAR

“Olvar!”

Shoving people out of his way, he moved against the current of the panicking crowd. A few of the Zoo security personnel joined him, trying to make their way back to the fescod exhibit.

They should’ve been