been taken captive. She would do everything in her power to get Terror back home. Signing and mouthing the words, she said, “I promise.”
He studied her face for a moment, as if trying to read the truth in her eyes. He must have seen what he needed to because he finally nodded and rose from his crouched position. The doctor quickly took his place and produced a capped syringe from his pocket. She shook her head at the sight of it, but he insistently said, “You’re going to be jostled around and dropped while you’re in this box. I can’t risk that you’ll make any sounds. Please,” he implored, “take the sedative.”
She didn’t want to take it. She didn’t like feeling woozy and sleepy. She didn’t want to be vulnerable if something happened while the sedative was still active. Yet, she understood the doctor’s concerns, and she reluctantly consented to the injection. He swabbed the port of the IV attached to her hand and injected the sedative. The cold sting of it raced up her arm, and she sank back into the nest of blankets at the bottom of the bin.
As she fought to stay awake, the doctor placed a mask over her face and fiddled with a bottle on her right. A blast of air shot into her nose, and he adjusted the flow until it no longer made her nose twitch. The general appeared next to the doctor, and they began to pile bags of biohazardous waste on top of her. The bags weren’t heavy, thankfully, but they made her feel claustrophobic. The sedative now taking effect eased the fear from her mind, and she let her eyelids drift together as the general sealed the box with her inside.
It seemed as if she had only just closed her eyes when someone gently shook her awake. Groggy and confused, she blinked and tried to make sense of her dimly lit surroundings. It came back to her in waves—the run through the forest, the trip to the Valiant, the interrogation, the biohazard box. The hands that had shaken her awake moved from her shoulders to her neck and then to her face.
She glanced up and found Terror gazing down at her with an expression so soft it made her heart ache. He tugged the mask from her face and reached down to shut off the oxygen tank that had been providing life-sustaining air. He placed the almost empty IV bag onto her lap and then lifted her out of the crate.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and gripped the fabric of his shirt. A thin layer of dust covered his skin and hair. He smelled of sweat and something slightly musty. Had he crawled through an air duct to reach her? Considering she had stowed away on this ship in a box of hospital waste, she figured his trip to join her hadn’t been any easier.
Feeling woozy, she relaxed in his arms and rested her cheek against his shoulder. He held her a little tighter, silently telling her that she was safe now. He traversed a maze of corridors until he reached an elevator that carried them upstairs. When he stepped off the elevator, he turned right and walked the length of the hall. He reached a door and used a keycard to open it.
She lifted her head to peer around the room. It looked like a crew bunk. It wasn’t the worst room she had ever seen, but it wasn’t the nicest either. There were two bunk beds attached to the left wall, a small eating area and tiny kitchenette on the right, and an entertainment console and built-in couch next to the door. There didn’t appear to be a bathroom which meant there was probably a communal locker room somewhere on the deck.
“Stay here,” Terror ordered after placing her on the couch. “I’ll be right back. Don’t open the door for anyone. Understood?”
She nodded dutifully and watched him leave. After the ordeal she has suffered, she was too tired to move anyway. An ache in her hand garnered her attention, and she opened her clenched fist to find the emergency beacon. She must have fallen asleep holding it because it had left a mark in her skin. She wondered if she should show Terror what the general had given her. The realization that the general would have given it directly to Terror if he had wanted him to know about it sealed her decision. She tucked it