My adrenaline slowly reveals itself for what it is — fear. Why did I tell Ransom to go? What was I thinking? Hoping they won’t notice, I take small steps backward. If I can get a head start while they’re quarreling, then maybe I can escape. I take another step, then another. The guys’ voices raise and they move toward one another.
“Maybe I should take out your Pandora,” one says to another. “You’ve always been a pain in my ass.”
“Oh, so you’re a tough guy now?” the guy responds. “Try it and see what happens.”
“Both of you shut up,” a new voice growls.
“Don’t tell me to shut up. You’re the one always running your mouth.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah!”
I steal another few steps. Then two more. Then three.
Finally, after enough verbal threats, someone throws a punch. Before I can think, the guys are rolling over one another in the sand, growling and kicking and throwing blows. I don’t wait. I know I have to bolt.
Right.
Now.
Spinning around, I manage four long strides before I slam into something solid.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Titus whispers. He jabs his knife toward my stomach. The point breaks the skin and keeps me from moving for fear of making it worse. “If you’re smart, you won’t say a word. You’ll just circle around me real slow-like and start walking.”
Even though I’m a few paces from the fire, there’s enough light to see Titus’s face … and the grizzly bear looming behind him. I nod my head like I understand what he’s telling me. My heart feels like it’s going to explode as I circle around him. I arch my back when I feel the knife slide between my shoulder blades. And then we walk.
Titus forces me to travel quickly, almost at a jog. It isn’t long before I can’t see anything at all. My terror builds until I can hardly stand. Titus doesn’t want me dead. He wants me to join him in this race. Titus doesn’t want me dead. I repeat this over and over in my head, though it does nothing to slow my pulse.
Below me, I can hear Madox whining. He must have changed back into his fox form. I know he wants to do something to help, but he must realize how risky it’d be to try anything while there’s a knife pressed against my back.
Titus talks to me the entire way, though I don’t start listening until now.
“I know you understand what I’m saying,” he coos. “This will only work if we’re alone. Those morons wouldn’t know how to find the Cure if someone sewed it to their foreheads.”
His free hand brushes the back of my neck, and I shudder.
“You’ll see that this is for the best. Just you and me, Tella. Just me and my girl.”
I hear something. It’s a rhythmic sound. The sound of something hitting the ground over and over. Footsteps!
Titus’s knife pulls away from my back. I spin around and my arms flail. Then fire floods my vision. In that moment, I see three things. A lion. A sociopath flat on his back.
And Guy, vengeance burning in his eyes.
The flames vanish and I hear the unmistakable sound of fist meeting muscle and tissue and bone. Titus screams and calls out for his Pandora to help. Another bolt of fire shatters the night and I see Madox biting into Titus’s flesh, releasing built-up fury. I grab my fox around the middle and pull him away. Before the light vanishes for the second time, I also see Titus’s bear swiping his enormous paw at M-4. In the pitch-dark, I hear the bear’s roar.
What I don’t hear is Titus.
“Guy?” I ask, setting Madox down.
Two strong arms pull me into an embrace. He says quickly, “Tella, you have to run. Base camp is on the other side of the rocks. I know it.” He pauses. “Have you killed one yet? A Pandora?”
“Why would I do that?” But as soon as I say it, I know. My teeth snap together.
“It’s a requirement to get into base camp. To continue the race.” Guy sucks in a sharp breath. “We’ll figure out something for you. But for now I need you to go. The Triggers are following Titus. And I have to hold them off.”
“I won’t leave you,” I say, tears breaking my voice.
“Yes, you will. If you stay, I’ll be too busy worrying about you to defend myself. And I’ll get hurt. Do you want that?”
I shake my head.
“Tella, you have to answer aloud. I can’t see you well enough.”
“No,” I say through my tears. “I don’t want you to get hurt. But I don’t want to be away from you again.”
That’s not all I’m thinking, though. I’m also thinking, This is a race. What if Guy is making choices based on saving his cousin, and this is one of those choices? And then I think, Cody. I don’t know what to do. My head is spinning and I don’t know what to do. Stay or go, stay or go?!
And then —
Guy pulls my face close and searches for my lips. When our mouths find each other, my body explodes with pleasure. I don’t ever want him to stop kissing me. I don’t ever want him to let go. But he pulls away. And I soon learn why. I can hear the sounds of approaching footsteps. The same sound I heard when Guy was closing in, but this time, it’s louder. There are more of them — five of them — and two of us.
“Go,” Guy says. “Go now.”
“Promise I’ll see you at base camp.” I grab his hand. “Swear it.”
“You will see me. Now run. Hurry!”
I turn and race into the desert with Madox at my side, my heart breaking with every step. Behind me, I can still hear the sounds of a lion and grizzly in battle.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
When I wake up, my body feels broken. Like maybe I swallowed glass, lit myself on fire, and leapt off a bridge. Though not necessarily in that order. Reaching a hand out, I find Madox and pull him against me. His body wiggles side to side and his ears press against his head.
Pulling myself up, I realize Guy would be disappointed in how I slept — sprawled out in the middle of the sand. No fire. No foliage bedding. But last night, I couldn’t help it. When Guy told me to run — I ran. I ran until I couldn’t feel my legs. Until I was sure my lungs would implode. And then I collapsed.
My eyes burn as I think about Guy. About how he saved me from Titus. And how he took on the rest of the Triggers once I fled. Though I know he’s right, that I may have gotten in the way, I feel disgusted with myself for leaving him, even if it was for Cody. When I think about how he may be back there, hurt, it’s all I can do not to scream.
“Maybe we should go back,” I tell Madox.
Though I know he doesn’t understand me, my fox grunts like I’m crazy. And maybe I am, because I’m seeing a flashing light that can’t be real. Pressing a flat hand against my forehead to shield my eyes, I look closer. There it is again. A quick flash — flash, flash — flash.
When Madox cocks his head in the direction of the light, I know it’s not a mirage. Standing up — and nearly buckling from pain and dehydration — I move in the direction of the sparkle. I try to imagine what I’m seeing and decide it must be a Contender. That perhaps it’s the glint of a knife in the sun. Or even a canteen.
Finding someone with a canteen is more than enough motivation to start hiking, but then I remember something else. Something Olivia said at the start of the desert race:
This canteen could be used as a signal to each other. Wouldn’t that be cool?
Once the seed of hope is planted, it starts to grow. And grow. And grow, until the legs beneath me begin moving faster. Could it be one of the Contenders from my group? Do they remember what Olivia said, like I do? Soon, I’m running toward the glinting light, my boots kicking up clouds of sand. Madox trots beside me, jaw hanging open as he pants.