The Mating Run by Leeka

Chapter 48

Thoughts

My head hurts, throbbing like a drum beaten by invisible hands.

Darkness surrounds me, a heavy shroud that muffles the world. I try to open my eyes, but they feel glued shut. Slowly, I manage to pry them open, squinting against the harsh light. I see Zeke’s worried face hovering above me, lines of concern

etched on his forehead.

“Alina, can you hear me?” he asks, his voice a distant echo in my foggy mind.

I nod weakly, unable to find my voice. Everything feels fuzzy, like I’m floating in a dream. My body aches, and my limbs feel heavy, as if they’re made of lead. Zeke’s hand presses against my forehead, and I flinch at the cool touch.

“You’re burning up,” he mutters, more to himself than to me. “We need to keep moving.”

Moving? Where are we?

My memories are a jumble of disjointed images, like a broken movie reel playing in my mind. I remember Victor, his teeth sinking into my flesh. The pain was searing, intense, but now it’s just a dull ache, a distant memory.

Zeke helped me escape, but from what?

Where are we running to?

Zeke lifts me effortlessly, cradling me in his arms. The world tilts, and I close my eyes against the disorienting sensation. When I open them again, we’re in a

―

different place a dimly lit room with a flickering lantern. Zeke eases me onto a makeshift bed, and I can feel the scratchy fabric beneath me.

“Drink this,” he says, holding a cup to my lips. I glance inside and see clear liquid. Water, maybe? I take a sip, the coolness soothing my parched throat. It’s a small victory, a step toward clarity.

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Thoughts

“Where are we?” I manage to mumble, my voice hoarse.

“Somewhere safe, for now,” Zeke replies, his eyes scanning the room as if expecting danger to burst through the walls. “You have a fever. I thought it wouldn’t get worse, but it did.”

“Oh…”

Zeke sighs, his jaw clenching.

for

to him, feeling a strange mix of gratitude and vulnerability. We walk, or rather, Zeke walks while I’m carried like a fragile doll. The world becomes a blur

mind.

Zeke lays me down on a narrow cot, and I watch as he rummages through a bag. He pulls out a small vial

ask, my

replies, his gaze steady. “It’ll help with the infection from

Victor’s bite.”

The word sends a chill down my spine. I hold my arm out hesitantly, watching as Zeke fills the syringe with a clear liquid. He finds a vein and injects the medicine. I flinch, a sharp sting coursing through my arm, but it fades quickly. Zeke watches me carefully, his eyes searching for any signs

“Better?” he asks.

the medicine come from?” I ask,

crossing his face. Zeke changes the subject, his

20

hungry?” he asks, a forced cheerfulness in his tone. “I know you are, I heard your stomach rumbling a

blush, but I’don’t deny

eat.” I admit, my stomach rumbling in

the air. I glance at him in surprise. “Where did

grins, a hint of mischief in his

my curiosity piqued. “Your ways?”

carries a

have a knack for finding things.”

he ladles the porridge into a bowl,

sources of our supplies. However, the warmth of the food in front of me is too inviting to resist. Zeke hands me the bowl, and I take a hesitant spoonful. The taste is surprisingly comforting, the simple flavors a welcome reprieve from the complexities of

I tease, trying to lighten the mood.

smirks. “I have my

clinking of spoons against the bowl. The porridge is a balm to the gnawing hunger within me, a reminder that even in the midst of uncertainty, there are moments of simple

eat, I can’t shake the feeling that there’s more Zeke isn’t telling me. The air is charged with unspoken secrets, and I wonder if the darkness that haunts us goes beyond the immediate threats of the outside

the empty bowl aside, “There’s

me, Zeke eats more of

Mating Run, I had simple dreams. Dreams of days spent with Ettie, the sun warming our faces as we laughed. Maybe even with Victor,

Her eyes, once filled with warmth, now hold a glint of something darker. I never expected that. We were supposed to navigate the challenges of the Mating Run together, support each

when it happened, the shift from trust to trepidation, but it’s there, a lingering shadow in the corners of my mind. The person I thought I knew so

gnaws at me.

betray me. His charm, his smooth words – they were a mask hiding the true nature of

a broken record. Victor’s smile, his whispered promises, the moments when I let my guard down. It all seems like a cruel joke now. How

beginning, he was a presence,

taken a different path? Would I have avoided the

Thoughts

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