Now there was nothing to catch her if she fell except the ground.
You can do this, Ava, he told her, nothing but confidence filling his deep voice.
I can do this, she seconded.
Jak’ri fell silent again. She didn’t know if he did so to allow her to concentrate or because he needed the quiet to concentrate himself.
Some of the leapers returned and clambered around her on the tree trunk.
Ava’s fingertips soon grew raw from tucking them into the grooves and gripping the rough bark. The rubbery substance Jak’ri had coated her feet with began to wear away. And by the time the ground grew close, she was sweating.
When at last her feet touched soil, she leaned against the tree, weak with relief. I did it.
I knew you could, Jak’ri said, a thread of tension woven through his voice. Grab your pack and start toward the west coast.
She straightened. What?
Moss grows on the east side of trees here. So just head in the opposite direction. Move as quickly as you can and—
I’m not leaving without you. Ava jogged toward the cave. As soon as she shimmied inside, she grabbed both packs and began the arduous process of getting the damn things back through the slim passage and out into the open.
I’ll catch up with you, he said.
Ava made it outside the cave and set the bags down at her feet. No. Just get your ass here. I’ll be waiting for you.
He muttered several words her translator balked at revealing. But she did manage to catch the word stubborn.
She smiled over his disgruntled tone. Yeah, but you still love me, right?
Yes, he grumbled.
Laughing, she faced the direction of the escape pod and readied her weapons.
Long minutes passed.
A breeze wafted through the forest, rustling the sparse undergrowth and tickling her hair.
When it did, a familiar scent filled her nose: the stench of stagnant water.
Ice filled Ava’s veins as she recognized its source.
Gathendiens.
They were getting closer.
Jak’ri returned to Ava as quickly as he could without risking a fatal fall. He wanted to be angry with her for not going on without him, but… vuan it. If he were in her position, he would’ve done the same thing and insisted on waiting for her.
When he reached the tree they’d scaled earlier, he saw no sign of her.
It took a few minutes for him to make his way safely down to the ground. As soon as his feet touched the soil, Jak’ri ran toward the cave.
Ava stood in front of it, O-rifle at the ready, scowling in the direction of the pod.
She swung around at his approach, her expression lightening when she saw him. “Finally.” Leaving the rifle to dangle on its strap, she hurried toward him and hugged him tight. “The Gathendiens’ stench is so strong now I’m practically gagging on it.”
Alarm struck. “They’re that close?”
“I don’t know. I’m still learning how to use my new heightened senses, but… Yeah. I think they’re close.”
He grabbed his pack and thrust his arms through the loops.
Ava did the same with hers.
Then they raced toward the coast.
“If the packs slow us down, we’ll have to discard them,” he murmured.
“Not the medic pack,” she said.
A peek into her thoughts revealed her fear that she might need it to patch up any wounds he received. But—remembering the way she had thrown herself into battle back on the Gathendien ship—he worried she would be the one who needed it. Don’t sacrifice yourself for me, Ava, he told her telepathically. If the Gathendiens were as close as she estimated, the two of them shouldn’t speak aloud and give the sedapas more to track.
Ditto, she replied.
A moment later, Ava halted.
Jak’ri stopped beside her. What is it?
She turned troubled brown eyes up to meet his. I’ve lost their scent.
Readying his O-rifle, Jak’ri warily surveyed the forest around them.
A breeze caught a few strands of her dark hair and dragged them across her face.
Her eyes widened. Oh shit. The wind has shifted.
And it would now carry their scent directly to the sedapas.
As one, they burst into motion, running in the direction of the coast they still couldn’t see.
Hoots erupted from the trees some distance away.
Their eyes met.
The leapers had found the new intruders. And drek, they sounded close.
Drop the packs! he blurted in her head.
Slowing, they shrugged off the straps.
As Jak’ri’s pack hit the ground, a sedapa burst from the undergrowth to their right, jaws open wide, exposing three rows of jagged teeth and a forked tongue.
They skidded to a stop.
The sedapa’s twin tails twitched as it hissed and scampered toward them.
Jak’ri raised his rifle.
Ava moved in a blur. In the brief moment it took her discarded pack to hit the dirt, she circled around and came up behind the beast. Drawing her dagger, she drove it deep into the back of the sedapa’s neck.
The animal jerked, its mouth snapping shut. Then it collapsed to the ground, twitched a couple of times, and fell still.
Jak’ri gaped at her.
She stared at him, eyes wide. I didn’t know how far ahead of the others it was and thought a quiet kill might benefit us more. When she tried to withdraw the blade, it didn’t budge. Grimacing, she carefully braced a foot on its back between the sharp spikes, and yanked harder. It required so much strength that she stumbled backward and almost fell when the blade finally slipped free of the thick flesh.
Ava had barely regained her footing when her head swung in the direction from which the sedapa had come.
Drek, she blurted. They’re here.
Jak’ri nodded toward the tree beside her. Get behind the tree. Use it as a shield.
He backed toward a second tree and did the same.
Another sedapa scrambled into view. This one bore a leash and moved so swiftly it nearly dragged the Gathendien clutching the other end behind it.
The creature stopped and hissed when it spied the dead one. Its spikes stiffened and rose as it whipped its head around, forked tongue flicking as it tested the air.
The Gathendien’s eyes widened. He dropped the leash.
Jak’ri fired his O-rifle in three quick bursts.
A scorched hole appeared in the center of the Gathendien’s chest and pierced his armor, dropping him where he stood.
The sedapa didn’t even look back. As soon as it saw Jak’ri, it lunged toward him, jaw gaping to expose sharp teeth glistening with poisonous saliva.
An e-blast struck it in the back of the head.
The creature collapsed.
Jak’ri stared at Ava.
The ammunition may be different from Earth’s, but it’s still just point and shoot. Swinging to the side, she sought cover behind the tree again and readied her O-rifle. More are coming. Not the whole group. Maybe ten or twelve.
The racket they’d created firing their weapons, however, would swiftly draw the others.
I have an idea, she said and met his gaze. Keep them busy and don’t let them shoot you.
His stomach sank. Ava…
In the next instant, she bolted away in a blur.
Jak’ri cursed as the drekking Gathendiens trotted into view.
Their eyes went immediately to the slain sedapas and the dead warrior.
Jak’ri fired his weapon before anger even had time to flash across their features.