Page 31 of Treasured By the Hunter

“Yes, that counts.”

“But when Pip got angry with me, Shuttle didn’t. I asked it why, and it said it was following its programming. It also said that Pip suffers from errors in logic while it does not.”

Sam chuckled. “Errors in logic are right. These are good signs. So far, the effects are pretty benign. On another note, what’s your friend’s name? Maybe I can listen through the grapevine.”

“Riley.”

“I will keep a lookout for any lone travelers who might match that name and description,” she said.

“Thank you.”

Chapter 14 : Harb’k

Of all the times for my communicator to be vibrating repeatedly, now was one of the worst. Not only were my hands full of cable, but there were spitters and a centicreep in the area, and they were looking diligently for something.

My only respite was that my shuttle wasn’t too far away. Zoey had located the closest place that would have the supplies we needed since she’d expected to be the one making the trip. I was glad now that I convinced her not to. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her out here on her own; she had survived for years with the scourge on her planet already. But humans worked in groups, and very few survived alone. I suspected that even her group would have done this as a team.

Zoey would’ve needed to hunker down and wait out the scourge while I could return to the shuttle with some finessing. The hunter in me wanted to stay and fight the scourge, and I resisted the instinct. Fighting them now would defeat the purpose. More would come, and I needed to get back to the shuttle.

Suddenly, the centicreep that had just passed my hidden spot froze. It looked up at the sky, its eyes locked on a flyer that hadspotted something. They both turned and headed toward my shuttle’s location.

Shit! They’d located their prize. And they were going to get there before I did.

Thinking fast, I pulled the fist-sized lure from my harness.

With the creatures’ backs turned, I dashed out into the concrete lot, turned the lure on, and threw it away from the shuttle as far as I could before ducking back into the building. Our lures worked by mimicking the cries of a queen, which was beyond both Xarc’n and human hearing range. I hoped it was enough to distract the scourge long enough for me to get to the shuttle. With luck, every scourge in the area would lock onto that sound now.

It worked. The scourge all turned, the synchronized motion eerie and unnatural.

The communicator in my belt vibrated again as I waited for the centicreep to pass by me. Since I couldn’t run yet, I checked the screen. It was Pip with a four-word message:Zoey is a traitor.

I stared at the words, my stomach sinking, but the sudden dread filled me only for a moment because something didn’t feel right. I wasn’t particularly good at reading humans, but there was no reason for me to believe Zoey would betray me. Also, according to my communicator, my shuttle was still where I’d left it.

I peered outside again. The scourge were now fighting over the lure.

I raced toward my shuttle. As I neared, the shuttle landed by the container and uncloaked. Then Zoey was running out toward me.

“What are you doing? Get back in the shuttle.”

She launched herself at me, ignoring my words. “You made it! All the bugs turned and headed in your direction, and I was so worried.”

That rumbly feeling returned to my chest. She was worried for me? Did that mean she was starting to care?

“They were coming toward the shuttle. I set a lure to distract them.” Then, as I tried to usher her back into the safety of the shuttle, I sniffed her, trying to see if I could detect any deception. There was none. What had Pip meant?

“Not so fast. We need to attach the cables to the four corners of the container, and two sets of hands are faster than one.” Before I could reply, she was already taking the cables from me and laying them into separate piles. “Use these two for the top. Thread them through the holes in the corner.” She shoved two of the cables at me. “I’ll get the bottom.”

Not fully understanding, I watched as she made quick work of the nearest corner. Soon, we had a cable tied to each one. As I tightened all the knots, she connected the cables, and we’d turned the container into a large bucket attached to my shuttle.

Her plan was becoming clearer to me now. All we had to do was get the Object of Doom—I still thought it was a horrible name—into our makeshift bucket. We lifted off just in time to see the centicreep barreling to our position through the shuttle’s external feed.

There were several flyers after it and a spitter, but no scuttlers.

“Crap! This won’t work. We can’t hold the flyers or centicreep. The spitter, maybe, but it’s the slowest one, and that centicreep is almost here.” Zoey paced my shuttle. “Think, Zoey, think.”

“I can go fight them and leave the spitter.”

She turned to my nav screen. “Shuttle, what are the odds of that working?”

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