Page 28 of Stranded

Chapter Nineteen

Adreax

We were so close. I could see the wide bay doors up ahead, and Herod was already working on the control panel, trying to get them to open. But the last few feet to the door felt impossible. My legs were heavy and my head was swimming. The agony from my wound was becoming too much for me to ignore, and I could tell I’d lost a lot of blood during our escape. My mouth felt dry and my eyes wanted so badly to close. It was hard to even hold my head up any longer.

The one thing I could still do was hang onto Tayla. I kept my fingers wrapped tightly around her palm, and when she tried to pull away, even for a second to help Herod with the door, I resisted. I could not let her go again, not now.

“Adreax? Are you okay?”

I could hear Tayla’s concerned voice through the fog of my brain, but I wasn’t sure I could respond. I tried nodding, but that only made me dizzier. I settled for mouthing the word yes, however unconvincing it may have been.

“We have to get him out of here,” she cried, tugging on me to keep me upright.

I felt my head roll from side to side, and I struggled to hold on to consciousness. As long as she was touching me, I would hang on. For her.

I tried wetting my lips with my tongue, but it was dry too. My voice came out in a harsh rasp.

“I’ll be okay,” I insisted. “Just need rest.”

The doors screeched open, and I heard Herod shout in triumph. Good. They would make it to safety.

“He can’t walk. We have to help him,” Tayla insisted.

“Tayla,” Alec barked, and there was something in his voice I didn’t like. “Tayla, we have to go. We can’t save him.Youcan’t save him. We just need to make it to our ship, and then we can be out of here.”

There was a long, anguished pause. I imagined her running out into the deserted land with Alec, grateful to be rid of me, and I thought my heart was breaking.

Then I felt something, and when I dragged my eyelids open enough to see, Tayla was kneeling beside me, trying to pull my arm up around her shoulders to lift me. Herod was on my other side. They did not speak to one another, but with a nod and a grunt, they both lifted at the same time, and they hauled my body off the ground. I wanted so badly to help them, to put weight on my feet and walk on my own, but every time I got a foot under myself, I stumbled and fell forward again, only throwing them off balance.

“Stop struggling and let us handle this,” Herod growled at me, and I did as I was told. He was right, again. I should listen to him more often.

I don’t know how far they dragged me, but I lost consciousness somewhere along the way. I would wake up only long enough to see that the desert looked about the same, and then I would pass out again. But they never stopped, or if they did, they always started moving again as soon as they could catch their breath. Best of all, Tayla never left my side. She was always there, determined to do whatever she had to do, and even Herod admired her willingness to survive, even if he still distrusted her.

I gave a weak smile, grateful for the both of them. I knew Herod would not have left me, but Tayla did not have to stay. She could have gone, but she didn’t. That meant something to me. I hoped it meant something to her too.

I lost consciousness again, still pondering Tayla’s motives and relishing the way she fought to stay close to me.

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