Haven 6 by Aubrie Dionne

Author:Aubrie Dionne
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: 2 Read Next SFR
ISBN: 9781937044855
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Published: 2012-09-11T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Odd One Out

The jungle blurred around Eri as she hurtled through the swamp, toss­ing away an end­less slew of leaves and vines as they whipped in her face. Her wa­ter­logged boots and pants slowed her down, mak­ing each step awk­ward. All she’d ever dream about from now on was murky wa­ter and muck.

Ri­ley and Striver scouted ahead, lead­ing them through the densest patches of jungle to mask their es­cape. Litus dragged in the back, slow­ing so much the last time Eri looked over her shoulder that he wasn’t there at all.

“Litus!” Eri shouted, not caring if the Law­less heard her. The jungle hung si­lent and still be­hind her. Even the waves from her own slosh­ing foot­prints had dis­persed.

“Litus!”

“I’m here.” His voice soun­ded so weak, it squeezed her heart.

Pant­ing to catch her breath, she pushed through the thick ferns un­til she saw him, stooped over like he’d just thrown up.

“Don’t stop for me. I’ll make it just fine.” Litus wiped his face and waved her back. Sweat dripped from his fore­head, and his cheeks paled whiter than the hull of the Her­it­age.

“You’re sick. I can see it.” Eri put her arm around his waist. “Let me help.”

He slumped down against her, al­low­ing her to take some of his weight, and her knees al­most buckled un­der the pres­sure. Eri winced and grit­ted her teeth, stand­ing straight.

Jeez, he’s heav­ier than he looks.

“Come on, Litus, the oth­ers are just ahead.”

Eri stumbled through deeper wa­ters, thick vines wrap­ping around her boots. They couldn’t have gone this way. A long, slither­ing worm that looked like some mon­ster’s tongue slid un­der­neath the sur­face and she kicked it away.

Litus coughed be­side her. “Don’t take time for me. I’m fine.”

She didn’t have the heart to tell Litus she’d lost her way. “Just give me a mo­ment to get my bear­ings.”

Litus put up his fin­ger, the tip shak­ing in the wind. “Wait. I hear voices.”

Voices from our party or voices from the Law­less?

Eri forced her­self to calm down enough to strain her ears and listen. A wo­man’s deep voice cut through the ming­ling of men’s whis­pers. “Enough talk. We have to de­cide.”

“It’s Mars.” Eri never thought she’d be so happy to hear her voice.

They pushed through the ferns into a clear­ing sur­roun­ded by a circle of gi­ant trees so tall and thick noth­ing could grow in their shad­ows. Mars, Ri­ley, and Striver stood in the cen­ter of the man­groves, ar­guing softly.

Eri helped Litus to a rock and joined the semi­circle. “Why are we stopped?”

“They’re gain­ing on us.” Striver shook his head. He whispered near her ear, “With Litus in that con­di­tion, there’s no way we’ll lose them.”

“So we’re just go­ing to give up?” Eri threw her arms in the air. “We have to keep go­ing.”

Ri­ley’s hand tightened on the strap of his ar­row bag slung across his chest. “It’s not that simple. They have teams cris­scross­ing. We’ll run right into one of them if we’re not care­ful.”

“Then we split up.” Mars put her hands on her hips. “At least some of us will get away.

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