Page 91 of The Pregnancy Pact

I was out of time. Gathering up my final reserves of energy, I dove for the open elevator. The guards’ boots squeaked on the shiny floor as they bolted towards me. Inside, I pressed the up button over and over, desperately, as if multiple hits would make the door close faster. Tears burned my eyes, tears of terror and also incredible pain.

“Please,” I whispered, jamming the button with my thumb. “Please, please.”

The pair of guards was racing right at the door. It started to slide closed.

“Halt!” one of them shouted.

The gap was closing, but they were right there. One of them, taking a chance, jammed his fingers into the crack. I didn’t have time for formulate a better plan. Acting on sheer survival instinct, I leaned forward and bit his fingers like a dog, grinding my teeth. As I’d hoped, he yelped and jerked his fingers back. The doors finished sliding shut. There was a whir as the elevator took off, and with a sob I slumped to the floor, spent.

Chapter 52

Lorelai

The reprieve didn’t last long. I wished that I could have hidden out on the elevator. I would have ridden it up and down forever if it had meant safety and the chance to rest. Unfortunately, once it reached the top, logic told me it would have to return again to the bottom. Through bleary eyes, my vision blinded by pain and tears, I saw the red light on the elevator buttons had raced nearly to the top floor. Here, I’d have to get off and make it to the skypads. I’d have to hope I could sneak aboard a ship and hide, or pray to see a friendly ship’s captain who might take me to Ellax. Anything. Anything to survive until my husband returned.

I was on the last leg of this journey. Either I managed to make my escape here, or else Sirena’s cohorts would take me, and that would be it. There wouldn’t be any second chances. No more Doctor Natusha, who’d given her life to redeem her reputation. No pity from Sirena, whose plans were coming dangerously close to being foiled. At this point, I figured she’d kill me for revenge, because I’d escaped and given her so much trouble when I was supposed to be a stupid human cow, lacking the ability to think, scheme, or fight back.

“You can do this, Lorelai. You have to do this.”

I whispered the words aloud, hoping hearing them, even from myself, would bolster my strength.

It was hard to bolster strength that wasn’t actually there. I don’t think it was the pep-talk that allowed me, by gripping the wall, to climb painfully to my feet. The primal urge to live was what propelled me into action. The tonic was wearing off at a truly alarming rate, yet I stumbled for the elevator’s open doors. My vision was swimming. My head was swimming. All I knew was weakness, pain…and the desperate need to survive.

Outside the elevator, across the hall, I saw a skypad. A few people milling about. And sunshine. I saw beautiful, warm, heavenly sunshine, such as we simply didn’t have on Earth anymore. In order distract to my mind from the searing pain, the draining loss of energy, I focused on the sunshine. It was life. It was health. It was healing. It was my reason to leave the elevator, even when I lost my balance, pitched forward, and fell, just beyond the threshold. I bit my lips to muffle the scream of agony at the jolt to my ribs, instinctively jerking my feet out of the doorway so they wouldn’t be crushed.

The floor was cold under my face. I welcomed the cold, soaking it in through the palms I pressed downward in order to push myself back up.

“Are you alright? Human? Are you alright?”

Footsteps hurrying over. Someone must have seen me fall. I was guessing an Asterion, judging by the title “human.”

“Please help me up,” I whispered. I was on my knees, my head hanging. I didn’t know if they heard.

“I will call spaceport security.”

“No, don’t—”

The footsteps were already pattering off. Whoever the stranger was, they’d decided to let officials handle the problem, rather than assist me personally. I couldn’t blame them. If I were in their shoes, and saw somebody in my condition, I’d be tempted to do likewise.

Knowing security was likely acting under Sirena’s orders, and this call would alert them to my exact location, I raised my head and gazed outside.

“Just have to make it to the ship…”

I could hide. I could beg for sanctuary. Technically, space ships were a law unto themselves. Captains were subject to the Interstellar Coalition’s laws, not the laws of the planet on which they traveled. If I could convince the captain, whoever it might be, to simply take me on board and call Ellax, I would be safe. Sirena wouldn’t dare storm a spacecraft, not without serious repercussions. Or, if no captain was present, if I could simply hide….

If, if, if.

So many ifs.

None of the possible scenarios would do me a bit of good if I didn’t get to my damn feet and walk outside.

Behind me, I could hear the humming of the elevators. That goaded me on. The pair that had been chasing me would be here within moments.

You have to get up, Lorelai. You have to get up.

The agony from my mangled torso filled my head like a cloud. Tears squeezed from eyes, but I forced myself upright.

I can do this!

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