Tyr followed Janet through the woods. She was some distance ahead of him, moving quickly, occasionally looking back to see if Harper and Tyr were keeping up. He admired how swiftly and sure-footedly she was moving. Janet was surprising him more and more every minute. She could switch from being open and honest to being reserved and secretive in a blink of an eye. Tyr was very wary of his feelings towards Janet. Part of him was saying he didn't know anything about her pride or her lineage and that he was a Nietzschean, he didn't believe in love and he didn't feel love. So what was this feeling he had every time she looked at him with those piercing sky-blue eyes?
Before Tyr could answer his own question, Janet stopped ahead of him and waited for Harper and Tyr to catch up. "Here we are", she said when they reached her and disappeared into the opening of a cave set in the hill. Tyr and Harper followed. Janet took off the jacket she had been wearing ever since she came to the Andromeda, rolled it up and put it on the ground. She lay down and rested her head on it saying, "I don't know about you guys but I'm exhausted so I'm gonna sleep now and no one dare wake me up unless we're under attack or something or else you're in serious trouble." With that she fell asleep. Tyr moved towards the entrance of the cave and settled down. He planned to stay awake in case of attack. Harper looked around him then sat down opposite Janet. He was tired too, he felt his eyes gradually closing and he drifted into an uneasy slumber. Tyr was the only one left awake. He listened to the gentle breathing coming from Janet and Harper behind him and drifted off lost in his thoughts.
********************
Janet sat up. She wondered where she was. Then she remembered. She was in one of the caves in the hills. They had reached them quicker than she had thought. She looked around her. Harper was fast asleep on the opposite side of the cave. Tyr was near the entrance. Janet stood up and stretched. She was stiff from the beating she had taken over the last two days. She heard the sound of birds singing. That must have been what had woken her up. She saw that the area around the opening of the cave was a purply-blue colour. 'The sun must be coming up soon.', she thought. She decided to go watch the sunrise. She crept past Harper and Tyr as silently as a cat, as she was passing Tyr she glanced at him. She smiled, even though he was asleep he looked ready to take on anything the universe threw at him. He had put himself at risk to help her and her feelings towards him were growing stronger every minute she spent with him. She didn't like that though for she knew those feelings could never be returned. Tyr had been raised as a Nietzschean. She hadn't. Tyr believed in the Nietzschean philosophy which said that love didn't exist. She didn't. She believed love existed. He could never love her and Janet knew it. She shook her head sadly.
She walked out of the cave, up the hill and then looked towards the horizon. The sky was becoming a beautiful mixture of reds, golds and yellows. She stood staring at it. Then a small piece of the sun appeared. It was a deep orange. Janet was so wrapped up in the sunrise that she didn't notice someone walking up behind her. They put a hand on her shoulder. Janet jumped and whirled around to see who it was.
"Damit Tyr! What the hell were you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?" she exclaimed.
Tyr opened his mouth to answer but Janet cut in saying, "That was a rhetorical question."
"I see."
Janet turned away looking once again towards the horizon. She didn't know what to do. She was very embarrassed. She didn't like being caught off guard.
"You have a very human name for someone of Cougar Pride." Tyr said.
"My father gave it to me." Janet replied keeping her back to him and then the rest of his sentence registered in her mind. "Wait a minute. What did you say? Cougar Pride?"
"Your father?" Tyr asked ignoring her other questions.
"Well he raised me. He wasn't my biological father." Janet mentally kicked herself. Why was she saying all this?
"And your real father?"
"I don't know. Dead probably. Anyway what's this you said about Cougar Pride?"
"Your tattoo is a dead give away. I knew you were Cougar Pride the moment I saw it." Tyr said putting a hand on her right shoulder where the tattoo was. The jacket that had covered it was in the cave and Janet's shirt slashed diagonally across revealing her right shoulder blade. Janet looked at his hand and then turned to look at Tyr. Didn't he know what he did to her when he touched her like that? It was like sparks of electricity surging through her. "Oh. I've had that since before I can remember." she replied, clearly not knowing what to do. Her tattoo was of a cougars head and shoulders, the cat appeared to be growling. Janet was very proud of it but she had never thought it was anything special.
Tyr stared at Janet. It was clear to him she didn't know what he was talking about. She looked bewildered and stunned. He decided to take advantage of it. "Who was your mother?", he asked.
"I never knew her." Janet said, her voice sounding dazed and confused.
Tyr frowned. He wondered what to do next. He never thought he would run into someone from Cougar Pride. They were all supposed to have been wiped out by Drago-Katzov. "How did you survive the attack?", he asked.
"Attack?", Janet asked. She was starting to come to her senses. She shook her head.
"The attack on your family", Tyr said.
"I'm a Nietzschean. My basic instinct is to survive." Janet had regained her composure and was starting to dance around questions, just like she had done on the Andromeda. Tyr stopped and thought for a moment. He knew he wouldn't get anywhere now, she was prepared for any questions he threw at her. Except maybe...
"You don't know what I'm talking about, do you?"
The expression on Janets' face became a mixture of confusion, fear and doubt. She was backed into a corner. There was no way out. "I... I... don't remember very much." She said and turned away so Tyr wouldn't see her face going red. That always happened at the worst times. Tyr crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for her to say something else. He never got a reply, for two shots were fired in their direction from the woods.
Tyr and Janet jumped and looked around. Tyr pulled out the gun he had been carrying and started shooting back. Ten Nietzscheans came out of the forest coming towards them. Tyr fired and hit two of them. The rest reached the top of the hill and attacked. Janet punched one of them and kicked another. The bone spurs on her arms shot out and she slashed one of the men across the face with them. He pulled back blood streaming down his face. She looked over at Tyr, he had shot another two of them and was currently fighting off another two. His weapon had been lost in the undergrowth. Janet was kicked and she fell to the ground. She rolled over and was just barely missed by one of the mens spurs. She looked up and saw that it was Thor. His eyes burned into hers filled with anger and hate. She kicked him in the face causing him to jump back. She leapt to her feet, kicked and punched him for all she was worth and took a few hits aswell. Two hands grabbed her from behind, she kicked back again and again until she was free. She turned and kicked the man in the face causing him to lose consciousness. There was now only three of Coyote Pride left. Tyr had managed to knock one of his attackers out. Two went after Tyr and Thor went after Janet. She kicked and punched, dodged and blocked but to no avail. Thor was being driven by anger and he wasn't going to give up. He landed some good hard punches that knocked Janet to the ground. She was crawling backwards desperately looking for a way out when she heard a weapon being charged and a single shot fired. Thor fell to the ground beside her, dead. She looked up and saw Tyr holding a gun he had taken from one of Coyote Pride. He walked towards her. She got up and faced him utterly speechless. "Are you all right?, Tyr asked.
Janet nodded. "You?", she said shakily. Looking at Thor's body thinking that if Tyr hadn't shot him it might be her lying there right now she added, "Thank you."
