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.

in one place for long. We

feeling a strange mix of gratitude and vulnerability. We walk, or rather, Zeke walks while I’m carried like a fragile

mind.

I watch as

I ask, my voice shaky.

medicine,” Zeke replies, his gaze steady. “It’ll help

Victor’s bite.”

liquid. He finds a vein and injects the medicine. I flinch, a sharp sting

“Better?” he asks.

I ask,

gaze falters, a flicker of unease crossing his face. Zeke changes the subject, his eyes

20

tone. “I know you are, I heard your stomach rumbling a few seconds ago.”

blush, but I’don’t deny

admit, my stomach rumbling in

reaches for a small pot beside him, and the aroma of porridge fills the air. I glance at him in surprise. “Where did you get that in the middle of the forest?”

grins, a hint of mischief in his eyes. “I have my ways.”

eyebrow, my curiosity piqued. “Your ways?”

a sound that carries

a knack for finding things.”

a bowl, I can’t help but

Zeke hands me the bowl, and I take a hesitant

cook,” I tease,

smirks. “I have my talents.”

our makeshift meal, the silence between us filled with the 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

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

bowl aside, “There’s

me, Zeke eats

would be like this. At the beginning of the Mating Run, I had simple dreams. Dreams of days spent with Ettie, the sun warming our faces as we laughed. Maybe even with Victor, his cocky grin and charming words filling the air. But now, everything is different. The twists in the road have taken me places i never imagined, places filled

friend, now scares me. 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 other. But as the days passed, something changed in her. Maybe it was the pressure, the competition for survival. Or maybe it

don’t know 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

gnaws at me.

would have believed that he would betray me. His charm, his smooth words – they were a mask hiding the

like 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 could I have been so blind? How did

betrayal; it’s a betrayal that cuts deep, that leaves scars on my soul. I never expected Victor to be the one to turn against me. In the beginning, he was a presence, a force that seemed untouchable. Now, he’s a threat, a reminder that even the ones who seem the least likely can be

would turn out, would I have taken a different path? Would I have avoided the Mating Run altogether, chosen a simpler life with Ettie and

Thoughts

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