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.

one place for long. We need to

air cool against my skin. I cling to him, feeling a strange mix of gratitude and vulnerability. We walk, or rather, Zeke walks while I’m carried like a fragile

mind.

in a cramped space that smells of musty wood. Zeke lays me down on a narrow cot, and I watch as he rummages through a bag. He pulls out a small vial and a syringe, and my

ask, my voice shaky.

replies, his gaze steady.

Victor’s bite.”

as Zeke fills the syringe with a clear liquid. He finds a vein and injects the medicine. I flinch, a sharp sting

“Better?” he asks.

come from?” I ask, my voice a

his face. Zeke changes the subject, his eyes searching for a

20

cheerfulness in his tone. “I know you are, I heard your stomach rumbling a few seconds

blush, but I’don’t deny it.

eat.” I admit, my stomach rumbling in

of porridge fills the air. I

of mischief in his eyes. “I have my

raise an eyebrow, my

chuckles, a sound that carries a trace of playfulness.

I have a knack

a bowl, I can’t

front of me is too inviting to resist. Zeke hands me the bowl, and I

decent cook,” I tease, trying to lighten

have

a balm to the gnawing hunger within

me. The air is charged with unspoken secrets, and I wonder if the darkness that haunts us goes beyond

the empty bowl aside, “There’s more to this,

eats more

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

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

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.

At the start of this twisted journey, I never would have believed that he would betray me. His charm, his smooth words – they were a mask hiding the true

let my guard down. It all seems like a cruel joke

expected Victor to be the one to turn against me. In the beginning, he was a presence, a

path? Would I have avoided the Mating Run altogether, chosen a simpler life with

Thoughts

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