Page 23 of Saving the Space Pirate

Chapter Seven

Killian

What the hell?

I was upside down, and I was moving, but not under my own steam. If I wasn’t mistaken, I was tossed like a sack over Zak’s shoulders, and he was running.

I tried to open my eyes, but pain flashed through me, and I screwed them up tight. My brain hurt as I tried to piece together what had happened. We’d been running away.

In the palace.

Zak and Ruby.

Then I must have been hit. And I passed out.

I cracked open my eyes. We were out of the palace and racing through the city. It was still dark, though dawn couldn’t be far away.

Zak was clearly here, but where the hell was Ruby?

I tried to peer behind me, but I was bouncing around, and it was impossible to see more than a few feet in the narrow twisty streets. I thumped Zak on the shoulder. He grunted but didn’t slow down.

I shouted in his ear. “Where’s Ruby?”

“She’s just behind us.”

I needed to see her, to know she was okay. But everything was blurring. If I could just see her, know she was safe, then I could give in to the weakness and close my eyes and…

I forced them open as Zak slowed, then kicked open a gate, and we were outside the city walls. I squinted into the darkness. Presumably, we were heading for the rendezvous point with theHelldiver. We’d arranged it at the start of all this. Dawn each day, Creb would bring the ship here. Wait for half an hour, and then get the hell out of there. For one month. After that, she could take theHelldiverand do what the hell she liked. If we weren’t back in a month, then we were dead.

Would she come?

It had been just under two weeks. Maybe she’d already given up. I liked Creb, but I wasn’t sure I trusted her. And I also wasn’t sureshelikedme—she claimed to hate all men. But somehow, I doubted she’d abandon us.

Maybe we were going to get out of this after all. And me and Ruby would live happily ever after. And we’d save the Earth, and then we’d come back and save the slaves on Groth. And we’d be heroes. Maybe we’d have some little baby heroes and Zak would be an uncle and…

Where the hell was she?

“Ruby?” I yelled into Zak’s ear, but he still didn’t slow. I started to struggle, but I was weak, and he held me with ease as he kept running. I felt for my pistol; I’d shoot him if I had to, but the pistol was gone, and I swore under my breath.

Finally, he halted and dropped me to the ground.

“Where is Ruby?” I gritted my teeth and glared up at him.

He glanced away. “She’s bringing up the rear. She’ll be fine. There’s no one after us.”

I tried to calm down but my heart was beating too fast, and my skull felt as though it had been cracked in two. “What have you done?”

“Nothing. Everything is going to be good. Just relax.”

“I’ll relax when I see Ruby.”

He ignored me, gazed at the sky. “Come on, come on,” he muttered. “Fuck it. Where the fuck is theHelldiver?”

A slimy sick feeling was crawling up my throat, threatening to choke me. “Where the fuck is Ruby?”

“She’ll be here.” But he couldn’t look me in the eyes, and I knew he was goddamn lying.

I tried to push myself up onto my feet. I had to find her. Something was wrong. I got as far as my elbows and then collapsed back to the ground. Coldness was spreading from my middle.

---