Suddenly, a rustling in the vegetation behind them had them both spinning. He couldn’t see anything but the sound grew louder with every passing second.
“Go!”
They started running, swinging their machetes in a quick and deadly rhythm.
Justyn’s blood was pounding. He kept his gaze focused on the direction they were heading, while keeping Nissa in his peripheral vision.
Behind them, he heard the plants rustling wildly.
Something was coming. And it sounded big.
Nissa leaped over a large vine, then slashed through a wall of smaller, intercrossed ones. “How much farther?”
He took a quick glance at the mini-Sync. The screen was fogged but he could still see the glow. “Just over halfway there.”
They kept moving. The rustling grew louder.
And louder.
The entire jungle around them seemed to be vibrating.
He saw the pinched look on Nissa’s face.
They weren’t going to make it.
Suddenly, a vine the size of his arm exploded out from the undergrowth. It circled around Nissa’s thigh.
“Fuck.” She tried to hack at it, but the angle of her swing was awkward and ineffective.
He swung his own blade. The vine reared backward, the part he’d lopped off falling at Nissa’s feet.
But with lightning speed, another vine came from the other direction and circled her ankle.
Then another around her wrists.
She struggled, trying hard to pull away. More vines of varying thicknesses swarmed in from the trees, constricting around her like snakes.
“Fuck off!” He kept swinging the machete, but for every vine he cut, three more were already winding around her arms, legs, and body.
She let out a frustrated yell, her clothes drenched from her struggles. The vines lifted her a meter off the ground, pulling at her limbs until she was spread like a star. Then, the vines stopped moving. An eerie silence fell.
Finally, Nissa stilled too, her chin on her chest. The only sound was her harsh breathing.
She raised her head. “You have to keep going.”
“Like hell.” He slashed at another vine. Two more slithered out to take its place.
“Justyn. Go.”
“What the fuck happened to never give up?” A rock had settled in his chest. “I’m not leaving you here.”
“You have to set the beacon. Then come back for me.”
He ground his teeth together. They both knew she wouldn’t be here when he got back. “No. Fuck, no.”
“I’m sorry about reporting back to the admiral. I never thought anyone would use that to attack us or sabotage our hunt.”
“Nissa…just concentrate on getting out of there.”
