Page 59 of Rebirth

They’re trying to kill me.

As they all charge, dark veins making them look like things possessed, the fact hits me like a speeding train. They’re after me. And in the background of the fray, as I run and scream He’rox’s name as he grabs one of them chasing after me and snaps them in two in a way that should send a shiver down my spine at the fact he can do that, I see something else.

Far in the background, the woman who was traveling with Nathan stands. Watching us.

Unmoving.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

SOPHIE

“Aah fuck! Fuck! Shit! FUCK!” A frustrated scream leaves my lips as my gun clicks. Empty. “He’rox! Run!”

I dart through the trees, tempted to drop my pack so I can go faster, as too many footfalls sound behind me. The sounds of their snarling, the bushes being cut down as they run through them, and the terror at my back sends me into survival mode.

My heart’s in my throat as I run, praying I don’t fall because my life depends on me keeping ahead. Depends on me putting distance between myself and these possessed creatures until I can find a weapon to defend myself.

“Fuck!” I almost fall over a root and I stumble but manage to keep on my feet. “He’rox!” I glance behind me, but I don’t see him. I left him behind. I had no choice. If he’s hurt…

I’ll have to find a way back and find him. I’ll have to—

Another glance behind me and terror shoots through me as I see the horde at my back. But something else catches my eyes through the trees. A flash of white. He’rox?

I almost stumble again.

When my father used to tell me about the end of the world, he didn’t mention any of this. I don’t think he could have imagined it. I don’t think he could have actually lived it.

Shit. I’m barely surviving.

The more I run, the more my lungs burn, and the more it feels like my heart is about to spill from my mouth.

I glance behind me again and there it is. That flash of white. Except, it’s moving toward me with incredible speed and…

I skid to a halt, heart in my throat as I fish blindly in the pocket at the front of my pack to find a few bullets. My fingers close around three and I take them out, eyes wide, panting as I reload the gun. My hands shake as the final bullet slips in just as one of the Corrupted dashes through the bushes right at me.

Boom!

The gun goes off by mere instinct, but it only slows the woman down. I aim, ready to fire again, when something flashes before me.

A scream pierces from my lips as all I see is white and my world suddenly goes topsy-turvy.

I struggle, fear causing me to fight against whatever’s lifting me, for my feet leave the ground as something twists around my midsection, carrying me high above the forest floor.

Another scream leaves my lips as my pack falls and all I have is the gun in my hands. I lift it, ready to shoot whatever it is, when I’m finally steadied enough I can see.

And I freeze.

He’rox holds me tight in his grip…

Only, it’s not He’rox anymore. At least, not the He’rox I know.

A long thick tentacle holds me in a firm grip, wrapped around my midsection and lifting me high into the canopy, away from the snarling, hungry Corrupted intent on getting to me.

But even with the danger heading my way, I can’t pull my gaze away from the alien who has me in his grasp.

The tentacle holding me feels soft and fleshy, yet, I can’t understand how. Because three more tentacles come from that same spot in his back. He stands using two, hardening them enough that they pierce the ground below, while the other free tentacle swerves in the air.

A gasp lodges in my airway as that same tentacle swoops down on an approaching Corrupted, the end piercing right through the male, slicing him in two. I’m frozen, unable to understand what I’m seeing as my gaze flicks back to He’rox’s face.

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