Page 26 of Treasured By the Hunter

Unable to resist, I hauled her up onto my lap.

“Hey!”

“I am helping. You can reach better now.”

She twisted around to narrow her eyes at me. “Fine. But only because this really is easier.”

She reached for my screen and started navigating it; she must have learned just by watching me.

Again, as before, my shuttle obeyed, letting her scroll across the map. I wondered if my shuttle started being more autonomous after spending time with Pip. Could interaction with a PIP model affect other shuttles’ behaviors? Pip had mentioned that he enjoyed spending time with my shuttle more than some of the others.

When the map passed over the bright orange marker, I said, “I’m sorry we never got to your last safe house.”

“Don’t worry about it. Corey is an asshole, but this is more important. We don’t need more stinking mutations. The centicreeps are bad enough.” She marked something on the map, then scrolled over to the location where we were supposed to bring the fragment before twisting around in my lap to look at me. “I still need to go to Sanctuary, though. I need to know that Riley is all right.”

This meant that after this detour was over, we’d still have to say goodbye.

I closed my eyes, trying to memorize the feel of her in my lap and the scent of her in my lungs. The soft purring started up again, but this time, there was a slight aching I’d never felt before. I didn’t have the time to process it, though, because Zoey had finalized her idea.

“Alright. I think I have it figured out. This is what we’re going to do.”

Chapter 12: Zoey

“No. Absolutely not.”

I’d known this would be Harb’k’s response. Despite having only known him for such a short time, I knew his protective instincts would rebel against me traveling on my own to find the supplies we needed to make a trap for the next scuttler that got its claws on the Object of Doom.

It was the old shipping container on the side of the road that gave me the idea. If we couldn’t touch the Object of Doom, then why not let one of the bugs do it for us? A scuttler, to be precise. Once the creature had it, we could chase it into the shipping container.

But first, we had to attach cables to the container so the moment the scuttler was inside, we’d lift the container off the ground, and it’d be stuck like a crab in a bucket. Transporting it would be as simple as hauling the container behind us at a distance.

“But it will totally work!”

“You are not going alone.”

“Well, someone has to stay back and keep the other bugs off it. Just because they haven’t shown up yet doesn’t mean they won’t.”

The fact that no bugs had shown up yet was surprising. I’d almost expected the bugs to come rushing in to claim their prize, but they hadn’t. It wasn’t for lack of trying either, because they were definitely looking. It seemed they couldn’t detect it unless they were close. We just had to make sure to keep them at bay until we were ready, then we’d invite a sacrificial scuttler to help.

“You will stay with my shuttle, and I will retrieve the cables.”

I gawked at the hunter. “Surely you don’t trust me that much.”

“My name is not Shirley.”

I was about to correct him until I realized he was grinning back at me.

I rolled my eyes. Of all the warriors that had landed on Earth, I’d ended up with the one cracking dad jokes. Ugh! But I couldn’t stop the corners of my lips from lifting in amusement.

“And I do not believe you will steal my shuttle.”

“Okay, so we do it your way and I stay back with the shuttle to keep the bugs off the Object of Doom.”

Harb’k scowled. “I do not like that name.”

“Fine. The Doom Object.”

“That is no better.” Harb’k turned to his screen. “Shuttle, please calculate the odds of success for this plan.”

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