Chapter Forty
Choosing to start their hike at sunup had been a horrible idea.
They teetered on the side of a cliff, precariously high over Reva’s surface. There had been no place to rest for many kilometers, and the sun was at its highest point in the sky.
Gemma’s helmet had a lining that automatically enveloped her head the moment she put it on, but it had soaked through with sweat over an hour ago.
The urge to whip off her helmet and wipe her face was as overwhelming as the burn in her thighs.
But the moment she did, she’d let heat into her suit, and then she’d end up even more molten than she already was.
Gemma held on to the massive rocks in front of her, shaking her head when a drop of sweat rolled onto her brow. She pulled herself over boulders, her entire body pleading for one second of relief.
Hawk swore from behind her. Smaller stones tumbled down from where he stood.
“You good?” Christian called from the front of the line, his voice piping in through their helmets.
“Yeah, just can’t see a fucking thing with all this blasted sweat.”
“As soon as I see a place to stop, I promise we will.”
The loud breaths pouring into Gemma’s helmet from her teammates were the only things keeping her sane. As long as they kept going, she would push through too.
After what felt like another hour, they started their descent. Loose rocks shifted under their boots as they inched their way down the mountainside, their bodies angled dangerously to avoid a tumble.
Finally, they reached a plateau.
“Here,” Christian said, his own breathing heavy. “We stop here.”
Reva’s red surface called to Gemma like a bed. With a grunt of exertion, she slumped onto her back, the wound in her side from the Kaizen’s electroprod screaming at her and stared up at the bright sky filtering through the visor of her helmet.
Her body had never been so tired. If left here long enough, her muscles might melt into the dirt beneath her. They burned with so much lactic acid; she probably could’ve spewed the same neon-green bile as the slinger.
Silence stretched for several minutes as everyone relished in relaxation. Gemma closed her eyes, the heat a heavy blanket. If it weren’t so boiling hot, she may even have fallen asleep.
Christian piped in through the mics in their helmets. “Let’s get the shelters set up, so we can—”
His sudden silence stopped Gemma’s breaths. She snapped her head in his direction and found him slowly rising to his feet. He stared in the direction from where they’d come.
“Very, very carefully, see if you can spot a place for us to take cover,” Christian whispered. He swung his rifle around his body at no more than an inch per second.
Gemma swiveled her head to look at where his gaze was pointed.
At least ten reptilian creatures clung to the mountainside, their crimson scales blending in with the red rock of Reva’s surface. Beady, yellow eyes stared unblinkingly at them.
If Gemma hadn’t been looking for something out of place, she may never have spotted them.
“What’s going on?” Imara asked, her voice barely louder than Christian’s had been.
“Just look for a place to run to, and quick,” Christian replied.
“At your seven, there’s a cave,” Hawk said. “Not far.”
“Okay, everybody stand up as slowly as you can.”
Gemma’s heart had never beaten so fast. She did as Christian said, rising to her feet without taking her eyes off the leathery-skinned, bug-eyed creatures.
“When I say go, walk to the cave—slowly—and be careful to not make any sudden movements. Dune runners are lightning fast, and quick movements catch their attention,” Christian said.
Gemma’s hands shook. She held her breath, waiting for his signal.
“All right, let’s go,” Christian said.
She glanced over her shoulder to find the mouth of the cave then backpedaled as leisurely as she could, despite every neuron in her brain screaming at her to run.
The enormous lizards wiggled closer, their eyes flitting from one person to the next. Gemma took deliberate breaths in an attempt to keep from screaming.
A rock tumbled from behind her. Colton cursed under his breath, every pair of beady eyes snapping to him.
“Um, guys?” Imara said. “Look left.”
Gemma turned her head. More of the squirmy beasts clung to the mountainside, their unnerving eyes tracking their every move.
“All right, forget what I said,” Christian said. “Run. Now.”
As soon as Gemma took off, the sound of hammering feet roared, chasing after her. The cave seemed further away with every step she took; the clamor of clawed footsteps against rocky dirt grew too strong. Her heart banged around inside her rib cage.
They were going to overtake her any second.
Christian slammed into her from the side, knocking her out of the way as one of the beasts pummeled into him. He fell hard onto his back but flipped the creature over him with his feet, landing a shot between its eyes before it even hit the ground.
Gemma helped him up, then they were off again.
A gunshot rang from their right, and either Colton or Hawk cried out in pain.
Gemma turned on her heels to see who was hurt, but Christian yanked her back toward the cave’s mouth.
“We’re gonna need you,” he yelled, pushing her inside. “Keep your gun out but stay inside the cave. Do not move.”
Gemma ground her teeth, her nostrils flaring. But she did as he asked, tucking herself into a groove in the stone wall and peering out of the cave.
It was Hawk who’d taken claws to the arm. His sleeve was shredded, and bright-red blood shone from the holes in the fabric.
Colton’s knives tore through the throat of a dune runner nearest him before another leapt, knocking him to the ground. Christian placed a bullet in the beast’s brain before it could slam its toothy jaw around Colton’s arm.
Gemma’s heart slammed against her sternum when Christian stepped further outside the opening to the cave, sniping as many creatures as possible to clear a path for their comrades to get inside.
There were so many of them.
Imara yelped as one of the beasts scratched her calf, but Hawk caught her before she fell, and they rushed into the cave together.
Colton tossed a grenade over his shoulder as he neared the opening, body-slamming Christian into the safety of cover.
Gemma shielded her eyes when the bomb exploded, piercing squeals following in its wake. The remaining lizards roared as they crawled back and forth in front of the carcasses of their pack, their yellow eyes burning with hunger.
“Sorry, man. Didn’t want you to lose body parts,” Colton grumbled, helping Christian up from the ground.
Christian patted him on the back and stared at the creatures. “Dune runners don’t like covered areas. Usually you only see them in the desert part of the planet. Strange that they’re all the way out here.”
Now that she knew they were all safe, Gemma snapped into action. Kneeling beside Hawk and Imara, she ripped open her medical bag.
“I need you to take off your shirt so I can get to your arm,” she ordered Hawk. He said nothing and simply obeyed.
Imara, on the other hand, snapped at Gemma the moment she had Imara’s foot in her hands. “Are you trying to hurt me on purpose?”
Gemma fought the urge to roll her eyes. “No, but I can if you want.”
She took off Imara’s boot and rolled up her trousers’ leg. The claw marks from the dune runner were deep but not enough to need stitching. Thank Illari. Gemma sprayed antibacterial gel onto the wound and wrapped Imara’s lower leg with a bandage.
Unlike Imara, however, the gashes in Hawk’s tricep were deep.
“You’re going to need stitches,” Gemma informed him.
He nodded, grinding his teeth. “Whatever you have to do. You’re the doc.”
Each cleansing stroke from Gemma was met with a pained growl. But she carried on, preparing the torn flesh to be stitched.
“We should set up camp in here and move again at night,” Christian said. “Those runners aren’t going to leave if they can see us, and I could use a good break.”
“It’s about blasted time,” Imara replied. “I actually thought about stabbing you at one point, just so I could take a nap.”
Christian smiled, shaking his head. “Colton and I can check out the cave, see if there’s a wide enough spot for us to set up shelters.”
Gemma worked carefully on Hawk’s arm, thankful she’d thought to grab a bottle of numbing spray. It made sewing his skin back together much easier for both of them.
She had just finished cleansing her hands of Hawk’s blood when Colton came sprinting back. “It’s Christian. He’s hurt.”