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.

can’t stay in one place for long. We need to keep

vulnerability. We walk, or rather, Zeke walks while I’m carried like a fragile doll. The world becomes a blur of shadows and muted sounds, my senses dulled by the fog

mind.

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 heart quickens with unease.

I ask,

steady. “It’ll help with the infection from

Victor’s bite.”

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

“Better?” he asks.

I ask, my

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

20

tone. “I know you are, I heard your stomach rumbling

but I’don’t deny

I admit, my

a small pot beside him, and the aroma of porridge fills the air. I glance at him in

a hint of mischief in

raise an eyebrow, my curiosity piqued. “Your

a sound that carries a trace of

I have a knack for finding things.”

a bowl,

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

cook,” I tease,

“I have

a balm to the gnawing hunger within me, a reminder that even in the midst of uncertainty, there

I 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

begin, setting the empty bowl aside, “There’s

eats more of his porridge.

never thought it 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

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

who was supposed to be my ally, has become a threat. I 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 knew so well has become a

gnaws at me.

then there’s Victor. Oh, Victor. 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

in my mind 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

was a presence, a force that seemed untouchable. Now, he’s a threat, a reminder that even the ones who seem

had known how things would turn out, would I have taken a different path? Would I have avoided the Mating Run

Thoughts

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