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“That’s exactly right.” Abby nodded. “Rogers could have at least assigned you to a family suite. The largest ones have three bedrooms and two baths. There’s an office space, too, that could have worked as a fourth bedroom.”
“Shut up,” Tellis groaned.
Drak noticed the male had opened his eyes, and his skin looked unusually white. Even his lips were pale.
Gnaw crawled to him. “What hurts? I’m not a medic but I’m good at dealing with wounds.”
“Everything.”
Gnaw turned to Drak. “I need to remove his suit to evaluate him.”
“No!” Tellis protested. “Just shoot me. I won’t be food.”
Drak knew it was up to him to decide what to do. He’d asked Gnaw to join him in rescuing Abby. That made him responsible for the tough decisions.
“Do it, remove the suit. He doesn’t look healthy. The risk is necessary. He needs medical attention more.”
Gnaw took off his backpack and opened it, removing a scanner and a small med pack they each kept. Then he reached for Tellis.
The male rolled away. “No!”
His shout was loud.
A rumble sounded in the distance, and Drak tensed, reaching for his weapon. Dirt broke away from the section of packed earth above them that made the roof of the small room. Abby grabbed hold of his arm, and he met her gaze.
All of them held still, being quiet, and the rumbling noise stopped.
The silence didn’t last for long. More sounds came, accompanied by dirt crumbling along the walls, and Drak could pick up vibrations under his body. The Cadia were moving around in the earth surrounding them, burrowing and digging.
The terror he saw on Abby’s delicate features tore at him, and he leaned in close until their face plates were pressed together, speaking softly. “The hole you fell into didn’t scent strongly of Cadia. This cavern may be one they don’t use to reach the surface anymore because it’s collapsed deeper. Just be still and quiet.”
She clutched at him tighter and nodded.
“I won’t let anything hurt you. My vow.”
The tears in her eyes made him want to do just what Gnaw had taunted. He’d love to pull Abby onto his lap to hold her. It wasn’t the time. She was in danger. They all were. The Cadia were awake and hunting for food.
He lifted his head, motioning to Gnaw. He nodded, adjusted his body away from the human male slowly, making no sound. They both raised their weapons to target the two holes.
If any Cadia tried to enter, the fight would be on.
Chapter Seven
Abby woke to darkness and fear, memories of the night before returning instantly. They were in the cavern still, her headlamps were off, and no one else had turned theirs on.
Somehow, she’d slept.
It amazed her.
The evening before had been terrifying as Cadia had dug around them, above them, and even below. At any second, they could have been attacked.
At one point, Drak had motioned for her to lie down. She’d tried to resist but he’d put his hand on her shoulder, gently pushing her until she lay against him. It probably would have been appropriate to put a few inches between them, but she hadn’t. Just the feel of his leg and hip at her back had made her feel secure enough to relax, and she shockingly drifted to sleep.
She tried to roll over but his solid body was pressed up against her. She was pinned between Drak and a large piece of rock wall. The big Veslor had put her there, or she’d moved in her sleep. Either way, he’d remained close. It was sweet.
Her bladder screamed, since she had to pee badly. The evening before, she’d ignored it. The last thing she wanted to do was go inside her suit. It made her groan.
“Shush,” a familiar voice rasped. Drak moved behind her, and she sat up.
The helmet lights blinded her when she turned them back on, but she blinked a few times, adjusting to it fast. Gnaw still sat where she’d last seen him, holding the deadly weapon at the ready. Tellis remained down, on his side with his back to them, across from her and Drak. A thin layer of dust and dirt covered his still form.
She lifted her wrist and tapped her gloved finger on it, staring at Drak.
He frowned.
“How long did I sleep?” She breathed the words, even though she couldn’t hear any rumbling and no more dirt fell from the ceiling or walls. It was eerily quiet, as if the creatures weren’t moving around anymore.
“Seven hours,” he informed her, also barely making a sound.
It would be near morning on the surface. Darkness only lasted approximately eight hours during the planet’s current season. She’d looked up the information when she’d been checking the shifts assigned to the Veslors.
Abby was miserable. Her bladder felt ready to burst and her stomach grumbled from hunger. Even her lips and throat were aching. Thirst was a terrible thing. The worst of it was, she had water and energy bars stashed inside her suit but couldn’t get to them without cracking it open.
Then she’d have to remove her helmet, too. She didn’t need a scanner to know the air quality had become bad after all the dust and dirt that had come down on them in the night. The filters had kept it all out of her helmet but even the air she breathed inside the suit felt heavier than it should.
Drak reached out and took her gloved hand with his. She stared into his eyes and arched her eyebrows.
“Are you well?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“We need to climb.” He jerked his head toward the hole they’d all fallen from.
“How far do you think it is to the surface?”
Drak hesitated. Then shook his head.
He wasn’t sure. She understood that. There’d been a lot of sliding, slamming into things when the tunnels turned, and it felt like forever until she’d come to a halt where they’d landed. What if they’d fallen so deep that the surface couldn’t be reached even if they climbed all day?
“The drone will find us and they’ll send down ropes.”
She nodded, his words giving her hope. Her gaze went to Tellis, and she pointed at him. He still hadn’t moved at all. She was worried about him.
Drak nodded and released her hand, shifted positions to get on his hands and knees, and crawled over to the fleet team member. She watched as he hovered over Tellis, then suddenly rolled the male onto his back. He bent forward, closer to Tellis’s face mask, and made a low growl.
Gnaw set down his weapon and moved fast, crawling closer.
Abby’s heart pounded, wondering what was wrong. She knew something was. Both Veslors were blocking her view now and she couldn’t see much…but from what she could see, Tellis hadn’t moved, even with Veslors hovering over him.
Gnaw sat back on his ass first, and then he turned his head, looking at her, anger clear on his face.
Drak carefully rolled Tellis back onto his side, facing him away from her, and then he backed up, returning to Abby. He took a seat next to her and gripped her hand.
She peered up at him, her stomach clenching. “What?”
Drak looked angry, too. “He sealed his helmet vents.”
It took her seconds to understand, and when she did, Abby knew the color drained from her face. “No…”
Drak gave a grim nod.
Abby reeled from the news, unable to believe it.
The helmets had two vents on the sides to allow in oxygen, and they also worked as filters from dust and contaminants. If the vents were manually sealed, no new oxygen got into the suit. Tellis would have had minutes of trapped oxygen before it ran out. Her gaze went to the still body.
He was dead.
“Why?” Tears flooded her eyes.
Drak remained silent.
She knew, though. Tellis had been so sure rescue wouldn’t be coming, and even if they made it to the surface, the other teams would kill them under orders from Rogers.
He’d chosen to die his own way.
There was no way to accidently seal the vents. She reached
up with her free hand and touched one on the side of her helmet. There were three pressure points to push, and then the vent slats had to be manually shoved down about an inch and a half to seal them completely. They were designed that way in the event of toxins in the air. The vents could be sealed to give the wearer time to find breathable oxygen.
After several minutes of silence, Gnaw caught her attention when he got to his knees, looked from her to Drak, and then jerked his head toward the hole.
Drak released her hand and nodded. “Time to go, Abby.”
Her gaze lingered on Tellis’s body.
“We can’t take him with us,” Drak said gently. “We don’t have ropes to drag him behind us and the weight would be difficult.”
She hated that, but he was right. Tellis had made his decision. It had been a bad one, in her opinion, but there was nothing to do about it now.
Abby got to her knees and crawled toward the body.
Drak grabbed hold of her booted ankle and she twisted, looking at him.
He frowned. “I wouldn’t lie to you, Abby. He closed his own vents and died.”
She lifted one gloved finger to indicate she wanted a moment. “I know that. I trust you. It’s a human thing…something I need to do.”
Their gazes held for long seconds before he released her. She faced forward and crawled the rest of the way to Tellis, crouching behind him. Abby was glad she couldn’t see his face. She sat on her legs and gently placed a gloved hand on his shoulder.
“I hope you’re united with your parents now. I’ll do my best to make those bastards pay for making you so afraid that you gave up hope. I promise. Rest in peace, Parker Tellis. You were a good man who tried to save me. I’ll never forget that.”
She let him go and turned, crawling back to Drak. Gnaw had gone to the hole and holstered his weapon. He started to climb, and she saw dirt falling, but he must have used his claws to stab deep enough to find purchase because he slowly started to move upward.
Drak motioned for her to go next. She crawled over, reached the hole, and put her gloved hands on the slanted dirt, attempting to climb. Her hands slid. She stabbed her fingers deeper into the soil but it still crumbled in her hands. She couldn’t get a good grip.
“Move aside.”
She did as Drak ordered, getting out of his way. He got on his knees in front of the hole and lifted his hands, claws sliding out from the tops of the gloves. The sharp tips were at least a few inches long. He turned his head, meeting her gaze.
“Climb onto my back and wrap your arms around me. One over my shoulder, one under the opposite, and lock your fingers together.”
She realized the hole was wide enough to allow it, but that would mean all her weight would be on him. She hesitated.
“I’m strong, Abby. You’re small. Do it.” He leaned forward, reached up, and stabbed his claws into the dirt. They sank in deep.
Abby had to crouch since the roof was low, but she put one of her arms over his right shoulder, slid her left hand under his left arm, and interlocked her fingers together tight at his chest. Then she pressed she her body to his back tightly. He had ditched his backpack the evening before, which was a good thing. With the suits on, it wasn’t exactly comfortable or easy to hang onto him as it was.
He lifted himself, going deeper into the hole, and began to climb. Her feet left the ground, and she was thankful that the Veslors had turned on their headlamps. She’d forgotten to turn on her own. She watched over Drak’s shoulder as he stabbed higher with one hand and pulled them up, then repeated the movement. His strength amazed her. He almost made it look easy, though she knew it couldn’t be.
She looked down after a while, staring into pitch darkness. Fear swamped her, thinking about how one of the creatures could sneak up behind them. She tore her gaze away, looking up. That was where she’d find hope.
They made it to a turn, and Drak had to roll a little, leaving Abby almost crushed between a buried boulder and his body. He found better handholds and pulled them higher.
He grunted and growled often. For her part, Abby tried to be very still and quiet. Her arms ached and her hands hurt but she ignored the pain. She certainly wouldn’t complain when Drak was doing all the real work.
The tunnels were like dirt slides, slanting just slightly in some places but more steeply in others. Dirt rained down on them from Gnaw climbing ahead. She could glance up and see his light. If he fell, he’d slam into them. The could all end up back where Tellis’s body remained.
Abby’s fingers suddenly slipped, and she gasped, sliding about six inches down Drak. He quickly lowered one arm to grab her suit and stopped her from falling farther.
She panted, terrified. The last thing she wanted to do was fall back to where they’d started.
“I’ve got you,” Drak assured her.
“I’m sorry.”
“Abby,” Drak said quietly. “I want you to slide under me.”
She wished she could see Drak’s face. “Under?”
“Yes. Under. That way if you start to fall again, I can pin you in place. Maneuver under me and grip my shoulders.”
“I’m so sorry…I’m tired and my hands slipped.”
“You’re not built for this. I just wish we had ropes. I’d tie you to me. Climb under me and cling to my shoulders. If you slip, I’ll use my weight to pin you to the wall.”
It was difficult to maneuver to his side, gripping his shoulders for dear life, and then he lifted enough for her to slip under him. She adjusted her hold, grabbing the tops of his shoulders, and found herself facing his chest. It took a lot of effort to pull herself up him until her helmet bumped Drak’s.
Their gazes met when she was level with him, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
He smiled. “I might smoosh you a little but the suit’s armor should protect you from my weight.”
“Thank you.”
“Hold on.”
She nodded, also wrapping her legs around his hips to keep them out of his way. It wasn’t easy to do with the suits on.
He looked up, his helmet next to hers, and dug his claws into the dirt over their heads. Some of it rained down on her helmet but she said nothing as he pulled them higher. The back of her suit dragged against the loose dirt, creating noise.
Abby closed her eyes and just clung to Drak. Their suits bumped together with every movement he made, but they were climbing. Slowly, but every foot mattered.
They finally rested in a less steeply angled part of the tunnel. Poor Drak just crumpled over her. The suit did keep him from crushing her, but she could feel how tightly she was pinned between him and the dirt.
His breathing sounded a lot less rough when the break was over. He met her gaze.
“How are you, Abby?”
“I’ve got to pee.”
His eyes widened.
She bit her lip. “I know. Go in the suit. It’s just…”
“I’ve gone in my suit. They are designed for that.”
“You have a super-sensitive nose,” she admitted.
He grinned slightly. “The filters keep dust out and seal scents inside. I wouldn’t know unless you told me. Empty your bladder, Abby. All of us have during longs shifts.”
She nodded. “I realize it’s a natural body function. And the suit has a containment area for that reason. I get it. It’s just…the grossness of it. You know? I wasn’t trained to do this kind of thing. Plus, I wore undies under my suit.”
“Undies?”
“Forget it. My problem.”
She had to silently admit, it helped when she released her bladder. She immediately felt relief. It was just disgusting knowing she’d peed through her underwear, and now they felt wet against her skin.
A growl came from above. Drak looked up at Gnaw then back at her. “Hold on. It’s time to move.”
Guilt returned that Drak was stuck hauling her up the tunnel. “Where the hell is that drone? One should have been here by now.”
“I’m
aware. The sun has been up for hours. We haven’t heard any rumblings from a shuttle setting down from above, either.”
“You think you could hear that?”
He nodded.
Fear began to trickle in. What if Tellis had been right?
She shoved that possibility aside. Howard would raise hell, ensuring every effort was made to rescue her and the Veslors. He knew she and Rogers didn’t get along. Commander Howard Bills wasn’t a fool. He wouldn’t take Rogers’s word on anything where Abby was concerned, or leave her fate in the hands of a man she didn’t trust.
The Veslors kept climbing. Abby’s arms ached and she fought back tears. Between hunger, thirst, and aching muscles, the situation was pretty miserable. The only thing that kept her from bursting into sobs was Drak. He wasn’t complaining, not even a little, so she wouldn’t either. Abby refused to give in to her emotions.
From one second to the next, she heard a weird noise—and Drak froze. The dirt from above them stopped falling, too, indicating Gnaw had stopped climbing. Fear froze the breath in her lungs. Had they made enough noise to wake a Cadia, and now it was coming? She wanted to ask Drak’s opinion on what that sound was, but she kept quiet.
He suddenly barked a quiet laugh. The sound startled her.
“What?”
He lifted his body from hers and gave her a tired but wide grin. “Drone.”
Gnaw confirmed his words. “I see it!”
“Thank god,” Abby murmured, tipping her head. She couldn’t see the small drone but as it came closer, she identified the slight engine noise.
“Thank fuck!” a familiar voice cried. “Is Abby Thomas with you?”
Gnaw answered. “Yes. We’re three survivors. Send down ropes.”
“Who is that?” Drak kept his voice low.
“Commander Bills.” She blinked back tears. “He came himself. I knew he wouldn’t just trust our rescue to Rogers,” she said softly. “I had faith he’d send someone he absolutely trusts who isn’t on one of the tactical teams. But he came down himself.”
The sound of the drone withdrew, fading away.
It returned soon with a rope, as requested, but they had to be hauled up one at a time. Gnaw tied himself first, since his body blocked a good portion of the tunnel above them. Drak kept her pinned under him as dirt rained down when Gnaw was hauled out quickly.