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 need

and we’re outside, the night 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 doll. The world becomes a blur of shadows and muted sounds, my senses dulled by the fog

mind.

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

that?” I ask,

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

Victor’s bite.”

He finds a vein and injects the medicine. I flinch, a sharp sting coursing through my arm, but it fades quickly.

“Better?” he asks.

did the medicine come from?” I

of unease crossing his face. Zeke changes the subject, his eyes

20

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

but I’don’t deny

my

and the aroma of porridge fills the air. I glance at him in surprise. “Where did you get that in the middle of the

hint of mischief in his eyes. “I have

raise an eyebrow, my

that carries a trace

just say I have a knack for finding things.”

ladles the porridge into a bowl, I can’t help but wonder about the

the bowl, and I take

a decent cook,” I tease, trying to

smirks. “I have my talents.”

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 uncertainty, there are moments of simple

air is charged with unspoken secrets, and I wonder if the darkness that haunts

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

Zeke eats more of his

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 with fear and betrayal.

were supposed to navigate the challenges of the Mating Run together, support each other. But as the days passed, something changed in

the gut. Ettie, 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

gnaws at me.

smooth words – they were a

memories replay in my mind like a broken record. Victor’s smile, his whispered promises, the moments when I let my guard down. It all

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

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

Thoughts

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