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I was so scared and confused, not knowing what was going to happen to me. Much the same as when I woke up chained and naked on the scary, red planet. Now I'm here, stranded on an alien moon with no way home. Lost again.
Mordox takes a deep breath before answering. "I don't know. I've been stuck on Zune for so long, I never thought leaving was an option. For now, we continue on our journey to the lab, find your friends, and decide from there."
I nod numbly. "Okay. Sounds like a plan."
We finish our meal of dried alope and nuts and refill the water skin. Tris leaps onto my shoulder, making herself at home in the crook on my neck. I tilt my head, nuzzling her, and she immediately starts her rhythmic humming.
Abandoned on the forest floor, she was lucky to have been found and adopted by Mordox. Luckier than I ever was. We're a motley trio of lost souls. Outcasts, unable to return home, well except for Tris, since Zune is where she was born, but she’s estranged from her family all the same.
I resume my place wrapped around Mordox's front. This time I hold him tighter, my arms wrap around his neck, clinging to him like I had my raggedy bunny.
Mordox is as lost to his world as I am mine. Neither of us can go home, and that realization only strengthens the strange connection I feel growing between us. We're both adrift with no place where we belong.
Grateful for Mordox, with my body wrapped around his, he exudes a sense of comfort and safety. He's fast becoming a steady presence in my life much like the girls have.
As we make our way deeper into the forest, I can't help but feel a sense of unease. The trees are thicker here, casting long shadows on the ground. The only sounds are the rustling of leaves and the occasional chirping of a bird. It's almost too quiet. Eerie and haunting.
Despite my melancholy, I keep a sharp eye on the receding forest for any creatures that might be following.
We've been traveling for a while when a flash of black catches my eye. I squint at the foliage, straining to see what's moving within the breaks in the thick vegetation.
"Mordox, I think I might see something behind us," I utter, still not certain I trust my eyes. I've been staring so hard at the forest around us, my vision is starting to blur.
Mordox's body tenses. He tilts back his head and pulls hard at the air then he turns to look behind us. I can sense his unease, and it only makes me feel more anxious.
"Are you picking up a scent?" I ask, worried about what might be lurking in the shadows.
Mordox sniffs the air again. "Yes, just a hint. It's a lab creature following us," he replies, his voice low and ominous.
Suddenly, Tris screeches and leaps off my shoulder for the safety of the trees. My blood turns to ice, my heart hammering inside my ribcage.
"We're still another full cycle and then some from the lab." Mordox accelerates his pace, running faster and faster. The foliage and trees around us become a blur, smacking against us as we pass by. "Hang on, lula. I'm going to try and put some distance between us and the creature."
CHAPTERSEVEN
Mordox
I can barelyscent the creature trailing us. The insectoid abomination following us is smarter than I've given it credit for. It's found a way to mask its scent and was able to get too close. I underestimated my enemy.
Thankfully, Zoe spotted it when she did. I push myself harder; I must outrun it and reach the sunken steps of the lab before it catches up to us. My horns shift forward, the deadly points aiming out as my natural instincts ready me for a fight. Adrenaline ripples through me in fevered waves, raising my scales down my back and across my shoulders.
"Ouch," Zoe sucks back a gasp and pokes at the hard edges of my scales across my shoulders. "Wow. These things are like metal plating."
"Sorry." I duck low under a jutting tree branch, never slowing my pace. "Natural armor. Can you still see the creature?"
"Only glimpses. You seem to be putting some distance between us and it."
"Good. Keep your eyes open and let me know the second you see anything."
"I will."
There's no safe place on the ground, not with those things out here. Every fiber of my being screams for me to get my female someplace secure, but it's too late to return to my home high in the trees. The lab is my only hope.
I could easily use my claws to scale to the top of a tree, but it would only be a temporary escape from the creature which cannot climb. As tenacious as I've found these abominations to be, it would simply wait us out below, and stuck in a tree with no way down is not an option.
With the creature tight on my heels, the irony of our only option isn't lost on me, seeking refuge in the very labyrinth of horrors where the altered Ziarian was created.
I force my legs to pump harder, determination surging through my veins as adrenaline rockets through me. My muscles burn to slow, yet I keep pushing onward with the need to get Zoe to safety.
