Page 29 of Ruin

On instinct, she reached out to steady him. “What’s wrong?”

He let out a muffled curse, the skin over his brow furrowing. “Fuckin’ cyborg must’ve dosed me with somethin’.”

“What do you mean ‘dosed’? As inpoison?” she gasped.

Raising his left arm, he squinted at the sub-dermal implant. “That rotten fuck.”

Fear twisted her stomach into a hard, painful knot. “Is it- is it bad? What do we do? Is there an antidote?”

“Easy, bird. S’gonna be okay.” He swayed just then, negating any reassurance his words might’ve inspired.

Lira didn’t bite her lip in time to keep an anxious whimper from escaping.

Draping a heavy arm over her shoulders, he murmured, “Ssst. Won’t kill me. Gonna knock me out for a while, then I’ll wake up an’ be… ”

“Be what?”

The tips of his ears turned purple, and he shook his head. “Nothin’. It’ll be fine, bird. Just need to hurry back to the hideout.”

Relief that the poison was non-lethal almost brought tears to her eyes. Would’ve if she wasn’t so focused on making sure he didn’t sway too much and draw attention, or bump into somebody.

Determined not to let him down when he needed her most, she tightened her grip around his waist and grit her teeth against the strain of trying to support someone so much bigger.

With every step, he leaned on her a little more, his eyes glazing over, feet beginning to drag. The muscles in her arms and back felt like they were on fire, but she pushed the pain to the back of her mind.

“Almost there,” she grunted, guiding him through a gap in the foot traffic and off the thoroughfare.

Panting, sweat beading on her forehead and down the length of her spine, she tried to split her concentration between putting one foot in front of the other and ensuring they weren’t followed. She was also pretty sure someone could’ve been ten steps back and she wouldn’t notice.

Gods, he was so heavy. Her arm felt like it was going to break under the strain.

After what felt like a lifetime, she spotted the half-hidden hatch they’d come out of earlier and let out a breath of relief.

Propping him against the wall, Lira tugged on the hatch, expecting it to open easily. Except it didn’t. She tried again, growling under her breath as she struggled to pry the stupid thing open far enough to squeeze his big frame through.

When they’d come through earlier, Ruin had no trouble, opening and closing it effortlessly. She knew he was strong, but hadn’t realized justhowstrong.

By the time she got him inside and the damn hatch closed again, she was panting, lightheaded, and coated in sweat.

Propping her hands on her knees, she blew the damp strands of hair out of her face and looked at Ruin… just in time to see him list to the side.

She lunged forward and tried to catch him, or at least slow his fall. All she managed to do was grab his arm and damn near toppled with him. He hit the ground with a loud, painful-sounding thud.

Wincing, she rushed to crouch on his other side. “Ruin! Are you okay?”

He blinked sluggishly, his usually bright yellow eyes hazy and unfocused. He tried to reach for her.

“Mine Lira.”

“I’m here. I’m right here.”

He groaned and let his head fall forward, squinting one eye at his sub-dermal implant. “Need’ta call… for… backup.”

With great effort and a lot of head-bobbing, he tapped something into the interface, then sighed with what sounded like relief and went limp.

Her heart kicked hard against her ribs. “Ruin?”

Nothing.

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