90 DEADLY DAYS (WEEKLY UPDATES RETURNING THIS DECEMBER)

Chapter 11

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Chapter 11

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We run until the bottoms of my feet bleed, leaving an easily followed path of scarlet. I bite my tongue hard to keep from crying out and fresh tears snake down my cheeks. The shrieking and sinister hoots behind us gradually fade. I guess Kerry's efforts wore the Raiders down.

We run for a few miles longer and then stop at a muddy stream lazily trickling through shadowed jungle. I collapse in the warm mud on it's banks and plunge my face into the cool water. My tears flow away with the current.

When I come up for air Kerry sits next to me. My face warms despite the coolness of the water dripping from it.

"Are your feet okay?" He grey eyes flick to them tucked underneath me. I turn, eyes widening at the large pool of fresh blood surrounding them. After a jolt of fear travels from my toes to the tips of my fingers, I swallow and flash Kerry a seemingly unaffected smile. If I appear scared he'll worry.

"I think so. But if they aren't, there's nothing we can do. Usually, I just wait till the blood dries and--"

"Usually?" He repeats. "You get wounds often enough for you to say usually."

Guilt slides onto his face, like it's his fault that my feet weep crimson. Like it's his fault that pain finds us so often.

"No," I lie. I shift my gaze from his penetrating eyes to his left ear.

"Then where did you get that wound?" My hand immediately flies up to the scar traveling from my ear to my hairline and my cheeks burn. The Fynx's lasting mark.

"A tree branch."

Kerry shakes his head disbelievingly, though the disbelief fades to extreme guilt quickly.

"I'm sorry I didn't find you sooner," he says, jaw stiffening like it always does when he's upset. "I'm sorry you had to go through all this."

He looks at the woods behind us.

"And through the Raiders."

I've been through worse, much worse, I think. Do you remember Cuth? That Protectorate you hated? Forcing myself to smile, I gently brush Kerry's shoulder.

"I'm fine, Kerry."

The sound of bubbling water plays as Kerry looks at me. I note the worry edging in the pools of silvery gray.

"You aren't lying to me, Phoenix?"

You wouldn't understand.

"I'm not." I sigh and casually look away, hoping he didn't notice the shiver of pain roll up my back. "I'm truly fine."

He hesitantly let's it go and absently watches the dark foliage across the water. A patch of yellow moon reflects in the stream, like a large round of Gouda.

"Tomorrow we find Jewel," Kerry says.

Heart jolting at the thought that we'll all be together soon, I grin.

"I have a hunch on where she might be."

"Where?"

"The city."

I sit up straighter. "There's a city here?"

"Was. It's nothing more than what Helion is now. Only it has a few more standing buildings and vines choking it like arms."

"Are there any people?"

"Yes, refugees. The Raiders haven't found it yet so it's become sort of a safe hub for Graduates."