Monsters' Prize by Alana Khan

Author:Alana Khan [Khan, Alana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Temptation of the Horizontal LLC
Published: 2023-01-14T23:00:00+00:00

Episode Twenty-Four: Bow String Pulled Taut

Alliana

Mirron is a fighter. He’s fought all his life. Look at him, a wall of muscle, the leader of our little pack. Deklan told me he’s never known the male to make a mistake. I want to trust him, but he just admitted he knows nothing of the ways of those Up Above.

He’s never seen a machine, doesn’t know of laser guns or hard-shelled armor. He even lives in a world where warring factions don’t kill each other. They just argue and threaten and when things come down to it, they throw poo.

He has no idea how deadly our enemies are. And they’re not even our enemies. They’re mine. If I was braver, I’d just run to the hover when it lands, give myself up, and leave my three mates to live out their lives without worry.

But I’m not brave. I’m selfish. Maybe I’m deluding myself, but I think if I ran to the hover to give myself up, no matter how I would explain it to Mirron right now, he’d see it as a rejection of him and the brothers. I can’t do that to them.

“Since they’re tracking us, we’ll fight here,” he says. “It’s a good place to make a stand.”

He points to a branch high on a nearby tree. Although many of the trees are losing their foliage, this one is still full of thick clumps of green leaves.

“You’re going to hide there.” He points to a spot high above. He’s right, those leaves will hide me well.

It’s only now that I hear the hover. His ears are a thousand times sharper than mine. Up Above they call those Down Below mutants, beasts, animals… monsters. They’re not. They’re bigger, stronger, and better equipped to live in the wild.

He has me set my bow and arrows on the ground and boosts me to the lowest branch, which is a good ten feet off the ground.

“Go!” he urges.

“Give me my bow and arrows,” I insist, my hand out and open, waiting to feel the weight of my weapons.

“Go, Alliana. You can barely climb the branches, much less with your weight thrown off by a heavy, bulky bow and quiver.”

I simply shake my head and don’t move. Time is of the essence, and he knows me well enough by now to realize I’m not going to climb without my weapon.

“If we live through this, we’re going to have a stern talk about arguing with your pack leader,” his tone drips with disapproval even as he hands me my quiver. When it’s slung securely over my shoulder, he hands me my bow.

I’m not quick or cocky. I simply climb to each branch, slow and sure, never looking down until I reach the exact place he indicated.

We’re in thick woods, with no place nearby for the hover to set down. We can hear when it lands, then hear two doors open.

“Three of them,” he murmurs as they tramp through the underbrush.

He’s a huge male and only one of the trees in this area is wide enough to hide his bulk.

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