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“Allright—fine.”Cadeturned reluctantly to follow her.Thecrowd of women scattered before them like a startled flock of birds, fear and suspicion written on all their faces.
Cadewished he could stay—he wanted to get to the bottom of this.Whathad he done and how many times had he done it?Whathad happened here onZo’rathThreein the week since he andAndreahad apparently crash-landed here?
Hedidn’t know and it didn’t seem there was time to find out.Turningreluctantly, he followedAndreatowards the ship.Hewas sure more memories would surface later—none of them good.
57
ANDI
Andipicked her way through theBoom-boom field, keeping a watchful eye out for the pack of wildManimals.Shewas just beginning to hope that they might be far away, ranging in the woods, when a long, liquid howl sounded and five or six of them came bounding out of the trees.
“OhGod—Manimals!” she gasped, panic squeezing her throat. “Hurry,Cade—we have to get to the ship!”
Butthe bigHybridstood his ground.Baringhis fangs he growled at the wild men racing towards them.
TheManimalsstopped short and seemed to take a moment to take stock of their huge foe.Then, as one, they turned and raced back into the woods.
Andifelt her heart start beating again.
“Well,Iguess they remembered you from last time,” she remarked with a weak laugh.
“Lasttime?”Cadeshook his head. “Whathappened last time?”
“I’lltell you later,”Andipromised as they hurried through theBoom-boom plants to the side of the silver shuttle. “Firstwe have to get you in the ship—do you really think it’s healed itself?”
“There’sonly one way to find out.”Cadeput his hand on the ship which shivered for a moment—then seemed to come to life.Thedoor opened and the lights inside came on.
Andicould have cried with relief.
“OhmyGod, it’sworking—it’s really working!”Shelooked up and saw there was no trace of the huge gash that had been in the ceiling.Andthe floor was whole too, with no indication that a meteor had ripped a hole in it.
Cadeshut the ship up quickly.Hestarted to move forward, towards the cockpit, but then he stopped, a frown on his face.
“Doyou smell something?It’slike thatEarthfruit—the red one with all the seeds on the outside?”
“Strawberries!”Andi’sstomach clenched. “Ifyou’re smellingTheScent, we don’t have long!Quick—can you run some kind of air purification program in here?”
“Wehave a contamination protocol that flushes out all outside air and filters even the tiniest particles,”Cadeoffered.
“Good—do that!Quickly!”Anditold him. “Ifyou goManimalagain, we’ll be stuck here for good!”
Hefrowned, but nodded and made his way to the front.Andifollowed him, noting how strange it seemed to be back aboard theKindredshuttle after so much had happened.Shewas just now beginning to feel the soreness between her legs—it was going to hurt to sit down and she would probably be walking funny for some time, she thought.Cade’sknot had really stretched her almost past her capacity.
Butmore than the pain she was in, she was worried and preoccupied by whatCadewas going to think when she had to admit everything that had happened between them while he was out of his mind.Itseemed that he had remembered some of it already and he was clearlynothappy.Andi’sstomach twisted in knots as she considered trying to justify herself and her actions to him.God, what a mess!
Butfirst, before they could get into any of that, they had to get out of here beforeCadewentManimalagain.SinceGoodieBo-long had been the only one who knew how to make theManimalantidote and she was dead now, there was no more antidote to be had.Therewere no do-overs here—they had to get out ofZo’rathThree—out ofOblivion—before it was too late and the spoors took over the bigHybrid’sbrain again.
Shewent up front and sat in the passenger seat, noting as she did how strange it seemed to watchCadesit in the pilot’s chair in the nude.Butof course he didn’t have time to get any clothes on—they had to go!
Hewas punching buttons on the complicated looking control panel asAndibuckled her harness.Itseemed like a million years ago when she’d pretended she didn’t know how to buckle it just soCadewould lean over her and she could smell his spicy scent.Somuch had happened to them both—so much she couldn’t take back.
“Airpurification complete,”Cadesaid and there was awhooshingsound overAndi’shead. “Alloutside air is expelled and the inside atmosphere has been completely filtered and purified.”
“Good.”Andinodded. “Socan you still smell it?Thatscent like fresh strawberries?”
Cadelifted his face and sniffed experimentally, then shook his head.
“No—Idon’t smell a thing.”
