Escape
Thea crawled as fast as she could in
an easterly direction. She knew Gren
would somehow get out. He was a Hunter
after all. She just hoped that in this
lifetime she'd get to see him again, just one last time. She hurried as she heard feet banging above
her. She shook her head and continued,
wincing as she moved.
Her head didn't hurt as much anymore
but her legs were killing her. Once she
got home—if she still had one—she would lie in bed for a month. She closed her eyes as she imagined just
lying in bed, Gren beside her just like he had been every night since she
discovered how she felt for him.
Her heart clenched as she thought
about never seeing him, feeling him, loving him again. She just couldn't bare it. She had to find a way out and then find
Gren. Hopefully he would still want her
even though she really wasn't a part of his life anymore. She shook her head. She shouldn't have married him before he
found out who he was. It only made
things more complicated.
Thea's thoughts distracted her as
she made a left turn in the tunnels, wincing against the pain in her legs. Suddenly she heard a shot behind her and
felt metal flying about her. They had
found her! And they were shooting up at
her!
Thea hurried through the tunnel, her
eyes sealed shut with the pain, tears dripping down her cheeks. A blast shattered in front of her and she
screamed…
* * *
Gren heard the scream and his heart
clenched. Thea. He made an about face
and began running in the direction of the sound. Fujikuro thought he had gone mad. "No! Gren! That's the wrong way! They'll all be over there!"
But Gren paid him no heed as he
raced in the direction from which the scream had come. The President and his men didn't know what
hit them. They were attacked from
behind just as they were about to into the rubble created by the blast to see
if the woman was even alive. But they
never got the chance. Gren came down on
them spared them no mercy.
But as the President was cowering
before Gren, Fujikuro just catching up with him, he looked about the area but
couldn't see Thea anywhere. Where could
she be? Gren moved over the President,
but just as he opened his mouth to ask him about Thea another blast erupted
sending Gren and Fujikuro flying back. Fujikuro grabbed onto Gren.
"Gren! This place is collapsing! We've got to get out of here soon! You're in no condition to be taking on so much right now. You've got the shit beaten out of you!" But even as Fujikuro said this Gren shook
his head.
Fujikuro hauled him up. "Dammit! Don't be an idiot. If she
managed to crawl with broken legs through the air duct system more than likely
she's out already. Plus, Iria already
lost you once Gren! Don't make her go
through that hell again. She's enough
of a pain in the ass already!"
Gren grinned up at Fujikuro. He was right. There was nothing he could do in this condition except get
killed. But… He looked at Fujikuro in
the eye as he said this, making sure the old friend understood him.
"We will be coming back for that
asshole."
Fujikuro grinned and nodded. "Fine! Let's just get the hell out of here!"
The two made a desperate break for
the exit. They watched the building
collapse. Gren prayed that Thea had
gotten out safely and that Iria had not been in there at all. He also hoped that the bastard had
escaped. He wanted him for himself.
* * *
Iria's eyes slowly fluttered
open. A blurry sight greeted her and
she blinked until her eyes cleared. And
became confused. She stared into the
ceiling of a well-lit room and not the dark cave where the ceiling had
collapsed on them…
Iria shot up from the bed and cried
out in pain, holding her head with agony. That hurt! Her head was pounding, but she shook it to
clear her mind, even though her temples were pounding furiously. She turned and her legs slid to the side of
the bed. She slowly got up, her head
dizzy, but her legs gave away beneath her. She cried out again and then realized her situation.
She was completely nude except for
the bandages that covered her wounds. The bandages on her legs were being stained with blood and she put a
hand to her head feeling the bandage there. She blinked and reached for the sheet of the bed. She wrapped it around herself and used the
bed as leverage to get up.
She collapsed on the bed with a
thud. She was just too weak…
At that moment Kay rushed into the
strange room and gave a cry of joy, leaping onto the bed to hug Iria. She just smiled as the little girl clutched
her, tears streaming down the soft small cheeks. Iria smiled.
"I'm fine, Kay. Just in plenty of pain and completely
nude. Be careful with my sheet will
you?"
Kay just laughed and smiled and
hugged Iria again. Iria smiled and saw
the shadow lurk over the door of the room. She turned and gazed into soft, brilliant sapphire eyes. The man leaning against the doorway was
huge. He filled the entire space and
his long, golden-brown hair, which was held back in a ponytail, hung over his
shoulder as his eyes stared at the scene before him. Behind his ear over his other shoulder hung two sets of
beads. Iria met the man's eyes and they
were locked in place.
"Wow…"
Iria wasn't sure if she had been the
one to make the comment or the man before her, but from the lift of his eyebrow
she assumed it had been her. She turned
a light shade of pink and then wondered at her reaction. She had never blushed in her life! Why in hell was she doing so now? She shook her head and turned to a grinning
Kay. Iria lifted an eyebrow at the
little girl.
"What is so funny?"
Kay burst out laughing and she
turned to the man at the door who just smiled in returned. Iria blinked at the spectacle before her and
then turned back to the girl. "Kay…"
Kay nodded and grinned. "This is Roark. He's the one who found us in the cave. He took care of us both. You had tried to protect me, so you were more injured than I was that's
why I recovered faster and got to know him. Roark's great and he's a good cook too!"
Iria bestowed a smile on the girl
and then turned to the man lounging in the doorway. She smiled at him as well. "Thank you so much for helping us out. I don't know many people who would have done this for us."
Roark shook his head. "It was no problem. I just happened to be at the neighborhood at
the time." Iria lifted an eyebrow, but
before she could say anything, he continued turning his attention to Kay. "Come on, Kay. Help me with lunch so that way your sister can get some food. She needs to get her strength up and she's
probably starving."
Kay jumped off the bed and ran after
him, giving Iria a brief way before they both left the room. Iria waved back, but as the door closed her
eyes narrowed. If she was strong enough
she would have gotten some more information out of the man, but she was still
too weak to be forceful. She'd have to
stick with subtlety in order to find out the information she wanted.
For example, since when is a deep
cavern in the earth a neighborhood any person could possibly be in? Also…if he was just someone that had just
been passing by, then why did he have the look of a Hunter? Iria hadn't missed the sharp glint in his
eyes as someone who didn't miss much and had seen most of the horrors the
universe had to offer. Plus, the
hardness of his body that spoke of long hours in training. She didn't believe for a second that he was
just a drifter or a normal guy that had just been underground at the time of an
attack and cave-in…but he didn't seem to be a psychopath or a murderer or
anything like that. He had the look of
someone that had seen plenty, but really hadn't gone out of his way to look for
it. It was more the look of a Hunter or
a member of the SPF, Space Police Force.
Her eyes narrowed. But then again, a SPF officer wouldn't have
seen as much as his eyes told. Perhaps
he was something much more dangerous than a SPF officer or a Hunter. But what in the universe…?
She didn't get enough time to finish
the thought. Kay and Roark entered the
room then with a tray of food and Iria's stomach did the thinking for her. She couldn't very well deduce anything on an
empty stomach. She had a lot of stuff
to consider with the chip she had and the identity of the man who rescued her
and Kay. Too much to think about on an
empty stomach, indeed.