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Chapter Twenty
Tayla
I didn’t know how long we ran. It felt like hours, and we had to stop more than once to set Adreax down. Every time we fought to get him up again, I could feel the blood from his wound soaking into my clothes. Part of me thought that this might all be for nothing. He might die from his wound while we dragged him along with us.
Alec abandoned us long ago. Despite my protests, he took off running, and I worried he would get lost out there somewhere. But there was nothing I could do to help him. He refused to understand why I needed to save Adreax, and I didn’t have the energy to fight him.
After a while, I stopped feeling the burning in my legs and my lungs. I was running on empty, and it was only the momentum of our ongoing movement that kept me going. I knew if we stopped again, neither Herod nor I would muster the energy to lift Adreax again.
Fortunately, I could see the silhouette of my research camp up on the ridge. I was grateful for the little canopy that gave away its location. As long as we didn’t stop, we could make it to our shuttle and barricade ourselves inside.
Looking back at the Patrol ships, I was perplexed. There were certainly more of them than there were of us, and yet, they did not give chase. We might have taken out a lot of the guards inside the one ship, but there were other ships parked alongside it. And yet, none of the Patrol seemed intent on following the escaped prisoners. I don’t know why this was so unsettling to me, as it should have been a relief, but it gave me a terrible feeling.
If the Patrol had only been here to apprehend Adreax and Herod, they would have left as soon as they had us onboard. Instead, they had stayed, and it appeared even more ships had landed while we were being held. The Patrol was after something else, and none of us knew what it was.
Before I could ponder the possibilities much longer, I saw a shape appear up on the ridge at our camp. My heart sank, momentarily thinking the Patrol had raided our shuttle and our camp. But the shape was dragging something and running straight toward us. To my relief, it was Alec, and he had a makeshift gurney with him.
He arrived, huffing and puffing, and lowered the gurney to the ground in front of us. Herod and I worked together, slowly lowering Adreax until he lay in the center of the mat. As soon as I was free of his weight, I threw my arms around Alec and wept.
“Thank you,” I sobbed. “I thought you left.”
He took a step back and held me at arm’s length, staring at me with a stern expression on his lips.
“Tayla, I admit I do not understand why you insisted on dragging him out of there, but I could not abandon you either. Without you, none of us would even be standing here.”
I smiled weakly. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not…”
He laughed. “This Orb is our promise for the future, and without you, we may not have the ability to keep it going. And it’s not like it was your fault they took us prisoner. So, let’s just get Adreax back to our shuttle and figure out what to do next, okay?”
He took up a position at the back of the gurney while Herod and I each took a side close to Adreax’s head. On three, we lifted and continued our long slog back to the shuttle, setting a steady rhythm. With Alec’s help, it lessened the burdened, and my heart was full. It was easier to keep going now.
Soon, we reached the shuttle and had to wrestle Adreax’s limp body inside. I checked his pulse over and over, making sure that he was still with us, no matter how pale and hopeless he looked. Every once in a while, I would watch his chest rise and fall as he fought for his next breath, and my stomach knotted, fearing that he would not catch it one of these times. But each time, he pulled another long breath in, and then he would settle into an unsteady rest again.
“You stay here. I’m going to block the door.”
Alec left me sitting at Adreax’s side, holding vigil. Even Herod maintained a respectful distance and kept himself busy after he finished redressing Adreax’s wound. Eventually, he left, so it was just Adreax and I in the little cabin.
For whatever reason, I felt the need to touch him. I slipped my fingers between his and held his hand, just like he’d held mine when we were running. Over and over, I begged him to wake up, whispering the words in his ear the way he whispered to me when I thought I couldn’t go on. I ran my fingers gently down the cut of his jaw and swept my hand across the tight muscles of chest. I found it nearly impossible to keep my hands off of him.
It occurred to me how badly I wanted him then. I would give anything for him to wake up just so I could have a taste of him. Bruised, battered, and exhausted. I didn’t care. I wanted to feel his hands on me. I wanted to feel the strength of his arms as he held me and refused to let go. I wanted to hear that deep, guttural sound he made when he was getting a little irritated with me. I wanted all of those things so badly, I was ashamed I hadn’t realized what was happening before.
Now, it might be too late.
