Page 18 of Survivor
Sitting up makes the world momentarily spin. I need water. I stagger to the kitchen and hydrate. Two glasses of water and my head feels clearer. How could I have been so neglectful? I should have disinfected the wound better, then cauterized it. I should have been more vigilant. The knowledge that I fucked up grates.
This is my forte. Medicine and science are my strengths.
“Rogue?” I call out, even though my instincts tell me she’s not here.
My body is attuned to her presence, knowing where she is in the building at any given time. Right now, there’s an emptiness where that awareness should be. Unease prickles across my scalp. What’s this? A note? It’s folded and propped on the table. It’s Rogue’s cursive writing. My oral English is good, but written not so much. It takes a few minutes to comprehend what she’s written, and then my heart is pounding too hard in my chest.
Tide agreed to this? To take her to the Cogs and enter some gauntlet? What the fuck was he thinking? No. Tide doesn’t do anything without thinking it through. This is about us losing our jobs. This is about credits and getting off this rock.
Staying here much longer means increased risk.
Tide’s made the logical decision, and Rogue … Rogue’s a fighter. Still, my pulse is hammering too fast. I need to find them. Boots on, I head toward the exit and freeze.
Someone is out there. Danger.
The knowledge flares in the back of my mind a moment before an explosion rocks the ship.
* * *
XAVIER
“Shit.” Vex curses again.
We are so screwed. There’s no way we can go back to the dump. Leather face warned us, but only because he owes me. I covered two shifts for him when his life partner was sick. The others don’t owe us shit, and no doubt the owner will be eager to cash in. We’re compromised. The ship will be the next place the bounty enforcers look. We need to get Rogue, Tide, and Lore and get out of here.
“Where can we go?” Vex asks the question I’ve been avoiding.
“I don’t know.”
We are seconds from being in view of the rusted carcass of our temporary home. I pick up the pace, and Vex’s stride lengthens.
We round a hunk of metal and step onto the walkway to the ship just as an explosion rocks the world.
Vex and I exchange shocked glances and then break into a sprint. We clamor across the walkway and through the smoldering hole that was once the metal entrance. Smoke stings my eyes, but I’m in fight mode.
Someone grunts. There’s the smack of fist to flesh.
I spot a flash of blue in the corner of my eye. It’s Lore pressed to the wall by a mammoth hand. Lore slams the heel of his hand into his attacker’s face and then slides down the wall, suddenly free, as his attacker staggers back clutching his face.
To my left, Vex is grappling with another figure.
Lore’s gaze locks on mine and then whips to a spot behind me. My scalp prickles.
“Watch out!” Lore yells.
I spin in time to block a punch.
There are guys on our ship. Uniformed, hulking guys.
No time to think.
Time to fight.
10
Tide was down. He was hurt.
I was up on the platform in a blink. “Up! Bring me up. Now!” My eyes were on the screen above. Tide wasn’t moving. Was he breathing? Shit, shit, shit. My heart hammered against my rib cage. “Bring me up, dammit!”
