Page 69 of Cozy Prisons
“Here?” he gasped. She felt more than heard his voice
“Here,” she said with a nod of her head.
The ground under them fell suddenly, making her scream and clutch at his neck, but nothing more happened. No crevice formed under them, nor did a sea of dirt rise up to swallow them. She heard what sounded like an avalanche of boulders falling and a final scream of moving earth.
Then everything went perfectly silent. They both remained holding each other and breathing hard.
“Is it over?” Daxus asked, looking around as if waiting for the next disaster to strike. Nataly didn’t answer right away. She let her feelings come to her, checking for anxiety or any other out-of-place feeling that urged her to do something.
Nothing.
No urges to run. No need to be somewhere else. No push to warn people. No sense of impending danger.
She let go of his neck and sat back so she could look up at him. He started purring, the sound seeming startlingly loud in the sudden quiet.
“It’s over,” she whispered, then gave him a giant, smirking grin. “I told you I wasn’t crazy.”
“I will never doubt you again,” Daxus agreed, hugging her back to his chest. She relaxed into his hold. They needed to figure out how to get to the others eventually, but for now, she allowed herself to enjoy Daxus’s embrace.
It wasn’t every day you survived a major natural disaster that happened right at your front door. She deserved the snuggling.
Chapter 22
Daxus
It wasn’t long until predawn light illuminated the changed world around them. He could see the massive, yawning crevice that not only swallowed the village but also a large swath of surrounding forest and some of the field they were huddled in the middle of.
Looking around, he realized why she’d been so adamant that they stop. At the other end of the field were mountains of rocks and boulders. The earthquake must’ve caused a massive rockfall from the mountain beyond. If they’d continued, both of them would’ve died.
If they’d stayed, they would’ve died.
If they’d gone north or south, they would’ve been swallowed by the growing crevasse and died.
There had been only one path to safety for the two of them, and Nataly led them unerringly through.
“If not for you, all of us would’ve died in our sleep,” he murmured.
Nataly yawned, then gave him a tired smile. “I feel weirdly vindicated. Not that I wanted any of this to happen, but it’s nice to know that my brain wasn’t going haywire. I was sensing danger but couldn’t make sense out of it until it was almost too late.” She sighed and rubbed her face. “If only I’d figured it out sooner. It would’ve been nice to grab more stuff.”
“Things can be replaced, people can’t,” he commented as she yawned again.
“That’s a nice thing to say, but not necessarily accurate,” she countered, snuggling her head against his shoulder. “We might’ve all survived the initial disaster, but we still need to survive until help comes. The next scheduled ship isn’t for a long time.”
“The moment Palathum’s office lost contact with the satellite in orbit, it would’ve sent out a distress signal. Someone will show up soon.”
“Someone?”
“According to Talin law, any nearby ship is required to deviate from its course and offer assistance. It could be military, civilian, commercial, or private. There’s no way of knowing.”
She wrinkled her nose. “We’re all going to have to pretend to be good little human pets for whoever gets here.”
“At least they’ll be Talin,” he said. “We don’t have to worry about a Hamlershin showing up and trying to exploit us for passage to the nearest Talin station or outpost.”
“I guess that’s a positive," she agreed. Her words were quiet, and after a moment, he realized she’d fallen asleep.
He wasn’t surprised. They hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. Not to mention, she’d been living with fear and anxiety for some time. She had to be exhausted.
He shifted her a little so he could stretch his legs out. She didn’t wake up at all. He didn’t even know she could sleep this soundly!
