It was the most afraid she had ever seen Zayne look. “Then fight against yourself, because if you do care about me, you won't ask me to endanger you.”
Pain crushed her chest. “Zayne—”
“You need to keep yourself safe. What is all of this for, otherwise? You're supposed to go live.”
Arms coming around herself, she nodded. “We can fight about this later, can't we? We'll save it for another day.”
“Yes, we can fight later about whether to get you killed or not.” Muttering curses under his breath, he finally sighed. “I know I'm doing what you told me not to. I'm forcing my protection on you. I gave you that ridiculous pill that you have no business ever using. Can't that be enough for now?”
“I guess that's progress.”
“I won't force you to do anything. You can't force me either,” he said. “I need to go into today believing you're on your way to the safest place in the empire.”
Quiet followed. “You're right. I shouldn't force you to stay in my life. You get to decide what you want.”
“It has nothing to do with what I want.” Then his voice turned gruff, eyes anywhere but her. “Two minutes. Get the cat ready.”
Kira blinked away tears. “It's okay if it hurts too much right now.”
The muscles in his jaw tightened, and Kira wanted to soothe away his fear. Instead, she picked up Pumpkin, fed her the pill pack, and helped her into the little carrier that she'd wear on her back.
CHAPTER 64
Kira
The Capital
Kallum, Ciondo
833 P.C. [Post-Collapse]
Warmth blanketed the still air of the night, a gift as Kira and Zayne quietly crawled through the grass of the prison yard. A tall wall blocked the large yard, with guard towers every twenty feet. Bright lights flooded the perimeter, spotlights cutting through the darkness.
The journey out of the prison hadn't been as frightening as Kira expected. Zayne timed each move perfectly so they walked and paused to avoid detection, relying on the cameras he took over to navigate.
Outside proved more challenging. They crawled through a natural ditch to a security door at one of the guard towers. Zayne said any other path might catch the spotlights or too much of the natural moonlight. Crawling across the ground, especially in a soggy ditch, exhausted Kira within a minute. She also worried about the movement waking Pumpkin, even though she didn't stir on Kira's back.
Zayne kept pace beside her, nudging her feet with his when she forgot to use her toes and relied too much on her knees, or encouraging her to lower to the ground if she rose too high. It made sense that soldiers spent all that time on exercisescrawling because this was brutal. Her shoulders burned so badly as she continued. If she wore the pack and gear Zayne did, she wouldn't have made it more than a few feet.
Her arm brushed Zayne's as she dragged herself forward another foot, working hard not to breathe too loudly. Still, the door looked so far away.
He put a hand up and paused. “Rest,” he whispered.
If they were going to continue to end up in these situations together, then Kira needed some serious training.
The break felt incredible on her sore muscles. She wanted to groan when Zayne started crawling again. As she pressed her toes into the ground to move, he grabbed her arm and dragged her a full foot forward. He continued like that for a minute, crawling and dragging Kira alongside him to give her an extended break.
Her eyes caught his. “Thanks,” she mouthed.
He gave a smile she hardly caught in the dark.
They continued crawling together, resting again once Kira breathed too heavily. Once again, after the break, Zayne dragged her beside him, saving her from grueling yards of a low crawl that her body had never trained for.
When they finally reached the wall, she melted into the ground. Never again. No more crawling. Even her toes hurt.
Zayne motioned for her to stay and then unlocked the door, closing it behind him. How did he have the energy to walk after that? It was probably easy for him, but Kira couldn't imagine it. Definitely time for her to work on her endurance.
She pressed her ear against the door, hearing Zayne talking. He asked a question about whether the guard saw anything unusual. But it was interrupted by a grunt and scuffling. Then quiet.
