“Can’t we speak to them? Get help? Why are we avoiding people?” She shielded her eyes from the sun’s glare and gave him a long stare, her slender arms dwarfed by the loose overalls she wore
Heath shouldered his backpack. It was tempting. Every muscle in his body ached. Dirt abraded every pore where his skin was exposed to Resu’s harsh climate. His joints were heavy with liquid exhaustion that resisted movement. He wanted nothing more than to let someone rescue them and offer him a bed with cool white sheets where he would sleep for a week. He hardened his jaw, hoping it would transfer to his resolve. If he wanted to preserve any financial hope from this situation, he needed to deliver Isa to Buke. By himself.
“No one’s coming to save us. Outside of Ixoth’s city walls, there are no laws. It’s a no-man’s-land. A brutal and violent one.” His tone was intentionally abrupt. If she kept questioning him, his doubts and sense of decency would overwhelm him. He couldn’t afford that.
He grabbed her elbow, keeping his grip firm this time so she couldn’t escape, reminding himself she’d be dead in a matter of hours on her own. Anything to salve his conscience. “Come on. They’ll be looking for crash survivors.”
She wrestled against his grip. “Exactly. Let’s speak to them.”
His jaw was rigid as he spoke. “They don’t want to help us. They’re looking for fun. For the hunt. Everything out here is fair game.” He raised an eyebrow. “Hunters don’t just hunt the animals here. If they run into other hunters, there’s no law. Do you understand?” That much was true. But also, if it was the authorities, they’d take Isa. He’d have lost his only leverage, his only opportunity to make good out of this mess.
She stared up at him, searching his face. “How do I know you’re not lying?”
Heath looked away, sure if he maintained eye contact she would read the guilt in his eyes. “You don’t, but taking you makes my life one hundred percent more difficult. I can walk faster than you and be where I need to be in half the time. Believe me, if I could leave you, I would.” Who knew he could lie so easily?
He risked a glance. This time Isa looked elsewhere, blinking in rapid staccato.
He ignored his conscience and continued. “We’ve crash-landed on the playground of the elite. We have no permissions or documentation to be here. If that’s not hunters, it’s militia. Resu’s militia is a law unto itself. If they catch up with us, they’ll put me in a cell and have fun with you. There are few women on Resu, apart from the ones in Brothels.” He allowed his last comment to sink in.
Her eyes glittered, but she swallowed and lifted her chin. “I won’t slow you down. Tell me what to do.”
12
Isa forced herself not to look over her shoulder to see if the dust cloud was gaining on them, but within half an hour, it didn’t matter. They were lost in a maze of increasingly tall jagged rock formations that formed a dangerous brace around red mountains that loomed ahead. Under the crimson glare of the sun, the rock glowed as if doused in blood. Appropriate for Resu, a hunter’s planet.
Heath walked ahead, his long legs making an easy rhythm. His stride never faltered, eating up the distance.
She wanted to trust him. He had a kind face, intelligent eyes. But something was off, even if she couldn’t put her finger on it exactly. And, her head still buzzed with how she had gotten here in the first place.
They had been on the ship together, but he’d appeared genuinely surprised about that. If living with Karl had taught her anything, it honed her sense of when people were telling the truth. She was sure there was more, another layer that he was keeping from her.
God. Karl. Homesickness tugged at her heart. Not for him, even though his duplicity hurt like hell, but for Earth and people and her home. Just without Karl.
She’d already had enough of here. The red dust and rock were never ending and enormous buzzing insects the size of bananas kept lurching past her face on improbably tiny wings. Her overalls were sticking to every inch of her skin and the thick cotton grew heavier with every step.
Finally, she ground to a halt, licking her dry lips. “We are lost, aren’t we?”
Heath turned and studied her, his dark blue eyes cool. How did he do that while she was a perspiring mess? She swiped irritably at loose hair plastered to her face.
He walked back to her and offered her his water bottle. “We’re not lost.”
“Thank you.” She took a drink and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I just thought with this being a giant nature reserve for hunting and all that we might have seen some animals?” She swiped at another clumsy insect. “Beyond bugs that is.” She gestured at the empty rocky landscape. “Maybe you’re mistaken about what planet this is? You said we crash-landed. Your field pad might be on the fritz. It’s not like there are signs, we could be anywhere.”
He arched an eyebrow. “This is Resu. Be grateful you haven’t seen any local wildlife.”
Heat pounded up through the soles of her boots from the baked rock underfoot. “Okay. We’re not lost.” She scanned the arid landscape, shading her eyes. God, even her fingers were sticking together with sweat. She shrugged her shoulders, trying to dislodge the damp fabric from her skin. Waste of time.
He stepped up close, and her pulse skipped.
His gaze raked over her. With two fingers he tipped her chin up. “You look hot.”
Her mouth went dry and her brain short-circuited. She worked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “I am.”
“Shall we make you more comfortable?” A knife flashed open in his palm.
“Shit.” She stumbled back, her heel skidding on scree and landed on her backside with a jolt. This was it. This was what he’d been hiding. He was a murderer. He’d brought her out here to kill her.
“Hey.” He pointed the blade away from her. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He grasped her wrist in a firm grip and pulled her to her feet in a swift tug.
Upright, she collided with a mountain of man. Her fingers splayed across the rise and fall of his chest as he brought the knife around more slowly.
“This is what I meant.” A flicker of silver and he’d sliced one sleeve of her overalls off. The dense fabric fell to the ground and air hit her damp skin. God, it felt good.
He was still holding her wrist, his hand dwarfing hers. His touch rose through her arm, spreading tingles throughout her body. With another jerk of his knife he’d repeated the motion on the other side and both her arms were bare.
His gaze sharpened on her, stalling the air in her lungs and then the moment was gone and he bent to kneel at her feet. Isa exhaled, unsure where to look.
He slid his hands to the tops of her boots, the pressure of his touch powering a delicious wave that made her knees loosen. She blinked. Must be heatstroke. That would explain why her heart was beating so hard.
“May I?” His voice was a low rumble.
She nodded, not trusting her voice to dissolve into a squeak as he ran his hands up her right shin and then her thigh, the rasping slice of his knife following. He paused a few inches from the top of her legs and then slashed horizontally, cutting one leg off. He tugged the fabric free, grazing her bare flesh.
Heat, long forgotten and suppressed, uncurled and stretched in her belly. Whoa. Where did that come from?
A short lock of his hair had fallen across his forehead as he worked. Unable to help herself, she brushed it to the side. His skin was hot to the touch, even though he looked calm and unruffled.
He froze, still kneeling and tipped his head to look at her. His eyes had darkened to the blue of an unfathomable pool.
Then he caught the other leg of her coveralls. A few more quick slices and she was standing in ragged shorts, embarrassed at her own forwardness. What was she thinking? She knew nothing about him. She snatched her hand back and curled it in a tight fist at her side where it wouldn’t get her in trouble.
He sprang back onto his feet and took a step back to admire his handiwork. He made a sees
awing motion with his hand. “Not bad, but the sun will burn your skin. Wait here.”
Like she was capable of going anywhere. Her skin was ablaze where he’d touched her. Her legs jelly. She released the breath she’d been holding and gave herself a mental shake. This was ridiculous. She was still reaping the fruits of her relationship with Karl and she was in no hurry to repeat herself.
He reappeared minutes later out of a small clump of bushes holding a dripping stem. He cupped one hand under the torn end, catching the leaking liquid. “Here. Rub this on. It’s natural sunscreen.”
She stared at the fluid. It was pink, like everything else on this goddamn rock.
“Unless you want me to rub it in for you?”
Her pulse spiked as he waited for her reply. Was that amusement in his eyes?
“What? No.” Heat bloomed in her cheeks. “I can manage.” She took the branch and swiped the liquid against her skin. It was surprisingly cool and somewhat jellied like aloe vera. She sniffed her arm. It smelled faintly piney. Not too bad. She slathered the remainder over her legs and neck, enjoying the cooling effect.
She was about to throw the branch away when he caught her wrist. “You forgot.”
“Sorry?”
“Your face.” He gently smoothed liquid across her forehead and the tops of her cheekbones, so close his breath brushed her temple. She stared at the expanse of his chest soothed by the soft rise of his breathing. Only a whisper of air separated them and her thoughts scattered in a daze
Then, just as abruptly, he stepped back and tossed the branch away, leaving her reeling on unsteady legs.
“You’re good.” His tone was dismissive but he glanced over his shoulder as if debating whether to return to her. Then his expression cleared and with a shake of his head he headed away, up a scrubby incline, his legs eating up the gradient with fluid strides. “Come on. Clock’s ticking.”
Relief stabbed at Isa and a lick of disappointment too if she was honest. She scrambled after him, dismissing her errant mind. “Ticking about what?”
Darkness laced with secrets flickered across his eyes. There was definitely more going on here than he was admitting.
He pointed to a faint orange peak. Clouds scudded close to the summit. “That’s the closest hunter’s cache.”
And he was evading her questions.
Joining him at the tip of the incline, she rested her hands on her thighs as she caught her breath. “You can’t be serious. That’s a mountain.”
“Resu is a challenge.”
“But we’re not equipped for going up a mountain.” She spun around, loose rock sounding sharp under her feet. “There must be somewhere else. Somewhere closer?”
He indicated the faint blue blip on his field pad. “It’s the only one. Besides, Jack and Angie are on the far side of this peak. Either way, that’s the direction we’re headed.”
“Jesus.” She huffed and scrubbed at her cheeks with the heels of her hands. “I keep hoping that if I rub my eyes hard enough, I might wake up and this will all have been some awful nightmare.” But he was already out of earshot, sliding down the hill, stone following him in a rattling shower.
Isa took a deep breath, steeling herself, bracing her hands on her hips. She’d survived worse than this. Damn, she’d crash-landed on an alien planet in a coffin. She clenched her jaw and took after him, descending haphazardly as rock shifted and slipped under her heels. When she made it to the bottom, she jogged to join Heath, wiping dust from her backside.
“I only fell once or twice…” She craned her neck to get a better view. “What—”
“It’s a totem.”
A skeletal tree rose dead and pale from the unforgiving ground. The bark had been stripped from the trunk, the wood smooth and polished as if by hundreds of hands, but the branches remained, bare and devoid of leaves, their thin lines arching in futile supplication. The upper branches were wrapped with red silk that fluttered in the dry breeze, supporting bleached skulls, their form unfamiliar and alien.
Isa touched the elongated canines extending from the nearest skull. They were over four inches long, unlike anything she had seen before. She withdrew her hand, wiping it on her thigh.
Heath’s fingers gripped her shoulder. “We should go.” His voice was reverent.
“What the hell is this?” Despite the heat, her hands were clammy. Isa rammed them in her pockets not wanting to touch anything else.
“Hunting totems. When the hunt’s complete and the prize has been claimed, each hunter displays his trophies.”
“This is all one hunter?”
He nodded. “Most likely.”
She turned her back on the gently bobbing skulls, no longer able to stomach the view. Acid rose bitter in the back of her throat as she spun in a tight circle, taking in the austere wilderness that surrounded her in all directions. Whatever was hanging in the tree was also out there. Living and breathing. Her limbs suddenly were unsubstantial, as if a gust of wind would tear them apart.
Heath gripped her elbow and steered her away from the totem, his tone abrupt and commanding. “We have a lot of distance to cover before dark. We don’t have time to waste here.”
Isa allowed him to lead but fear of the unknown chilled her blood.
For now she would follow. There was strength in the set of his shoulders and out here, she was in need of all the help she could get.
But deep down?
Could she trust him?
13
Sweat blurred Heath’s eyesight. It was so damn hot. As they navigated the rugged terrain that rose higher with every step, the temperature of the ground increased in tandem. Fissures appeared, yawning cracks, wide enough for a man to fall down and disappear forever.
He guided Isa around the gaping ruptures in the bedrock. Sulfurous steam belched, obscuring the path in dense clouds that played tricks with his vision forcing him to rely on the digital mapping of his field pad.
What were the odds Angie and Jack would stay beside the escape pods? Low, if he were honest with himself. If they had survived, the chances were high they would have left the crash site and headed for Ixoth. If they survived. He said a silent prayer.
This was his fault. He’d made the deal with Buke.
He had to find them and make this right.
Somehow.
Rock vibrated under his feet. Something shifted underground, a deep vibration becoming more insistent. His heart hammered against the rigid confines of his ribcage. What the hell was that? He stopped dead, every nerve in his body straining for a sign of what was beneath.
Isa stilled behind him, sensing the apprehension flowing out of him in a torrent.
“Heath.” She pointed.
A drone powered by four circular engines zoomed toward them. It tilted so that the square space between the four engines was visible. The cube of air blurred and shimmered before a man’s coiffed head came into focus. He was about sixty with over-tanned skin and too-perfect teeth.
“He just winked at us,” Isa whispered. She gripped his upper arm and squeezed hard.
“Ignore it.”
“What?” Steam stuck tendrils of hair to her forehead.
Heath ricocheted from wanting to escape the deadly cracks to wishing one of them would swallow him up whole. “He’s a Games Master.”
“Games Master?”
How much longer till they were free of the volcanic plain? It was impossible to tell, steam was rolling in thick and fast, hugging the ground, cloaking the landscape. The drone circled, looping as low as his boots and then over the top of his head, creating a momentary draft. “Games Masters track the hunts on Resu. Entertain the crowds. Rack up the bets.”
“We’re on TV?” Her voice rose several octaves and her grip contracted around his arm.
“Yeah, but not in a good way.” The drone settled in a humming hover directly in their path, too far away to swat but close enough for the murmur of the Games Master’s voice to be audible. “They use the visuals for es
timating our chances of survival.”
“Bets on how long we’ll live?”
“Yes.”
“Good grief,” she muttered.
Heath ignored the whirr of the drone and focused back on the ground. “There’s something underneath. Tracking our footsteps.”
“What?” Isa straightened. “Are you kidding me?”
“No, definitely not.” As he spoke, the ground ruptured. Heath flinched as a glossy bubble of lava blipped and burst, spattering molten rock only feet from his boots. “We need to get out of here fast.” He snagged Isa’s hand. “I need you to keep pace and whatever you do, don’t let go. Understand?” He squeezed her fingers, waiting for her acknowledgment.
Her voice was tremulous, her eyes widening as she scanned the shifting landscape. “Okay—”
Heath pulled her into an awkward dash, hopscotching across fragmenting rocks in the opposite direction of the Games Master’s drone. It was an odds game. Take longer with careful steps, or get the hell away faster with a run more likely to raise the beast below.
It broke the surface on his left. A swelling that lengthened into a raised line and pushed upwards. The nearest end bulged and burst. Molten rock gushed out, slowing to a trickle as a long snout emerged, lava streaming from pebbled scarlet skin. The mouth split, into killer jaws, double lined with wicked teeth, angled backward to snare prey. A red tongue pierced the air, unbelievably long. It whipped through the air, missing Isa by inches. She screamed and stumbled.
Fuck.
Heath reacted like lightning, snagging her close into the shelter of his body
The creature was hauling itself out onto solid ground. Heath gripped Isa even tighter as the crimson-skinned crocodile emerged, revealing the full extent of its enormous glory. It was at least fifteen feet from top to tail.
“Oh my God,” Isa gasped as Heath shoved her behind his back.
Goddamn, he didn’t have time for this.
The creature roared and snapped at the drone, its tongue recoiling in the feverish confines of its mouth.
Hunted Page 6