“Wait,” my father called, holding up a hand to halt him. “Why don’t we give it what it wants?”
The statement, the casual expression on my father’s face, was so reminiscent of when he had taken Bethan that a black wave of rage swept over me. I swung and struck the guard on my left, catching him by surprise. He fell to the ground.
I turned on the other one, attacking him viciously with an elbow to his nose and a fist to his throat. He went down with a groan. I lunged toward Luna, but didn’t make it two feet before other soldiers were on me, pinning me to the ground.
My father’s voice fell hard with command, fast as an arrow. “The girl,” he snapped. “Take her. Give her to the dweller.”
I watched as they dragged Luna toward the approaching dweller. She struggled, digging in her heels, landing a few blows, but it was useless. They overpowered her.
I screamed, spitting up dirt and saliva. I screamed until I was hoarse, my throat shredded.
I screamed even when I was struck repeatedly in the head and shoulders and cursed to stop. The dweller’s movements became anxious, rapid and jerky as it smelled the humans approaching.
My father’s voice sounded in my ear, breaking through my screams. “What do you think is going to happen? It’s always interesting to guess, isn’t it? Will it stop and eat her right here, right now? Or will it take her below and save her for later?”
I bowed my head, salty tears scalding my throat and rolling down my face. A sob choked me, shaking my shoulders as I gazed up at the man who’d given me life. “Father,” I choked out, addressing him as I had done when I was a child. “Please . . . don’t.”
“Oh.” Cullan squatted before me. “You really care for her?”
I had survived this before, but this time I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. He might as well feed me to that dweller, too.
“Such weakness. How are you my blood?” My father fisted his hand in my hair, yanking hard on the strands, forcing my head back up. “Watch this. You don’t want to miss it.”
The soldiers stopped a yard in front of the creature and tossed Luna to the ground at its feet. In seconds it was on her, its taloned hands wrapping around her.
Her scream shattered the air, shattering me.
Broken, I sobbed, calling her name as the creature turned and headed in the opposite direction, dragging her with it. I watched as together they faded into the darkness. I watched until I could see nothing anymore.
THIRTY-FOUR
Luna
I WAS BELOWGROUND again, trembling in the wet cold. Except this time I wasn’t here to rescue anyone. I was the victim and no one would be rescuing me.
Fear coated my mouth in a wash of copper, and bleakness rolled over me. My muddy hair dangled in my eyes and I swiped at the bothersome strands with my free hand. My other arm was held in a death grip.
It was only Fowler up there, and he couldn’t do anything for me. The sound of his screams and cries echoed inside my skull and the bleakness faded to a hollowness inside my chest. I had never heard him like that. The sound of him hurting . . . hurting for me . . .
I had to get back to him. No one was coming for me, so I had to get myself out of here.
Whimpering, I jerked against the grip on my arm. My boots slipped and skidded as the dweller dragged me, its talons digging through the fabric of my sleeve and scoring my arm. Everything was dripping earth and slimy ground and crumbling walls. The metallic stench of blood and death filled my nose. The dweller dragged me down earthen tunnels, its moist breath rasping beside me. The receptors at the center of its face writhed on the air like hissing serpents. Inhaling, I smelled the tinny sweetness of toxin.
I stopped fighting, fearful of getting poison on my skin.
The air suddenly opened up and I knew we were in a wide space. Dozens of dwellers roamed the area and I shrank inside myself. The dweller started leading me over a honeycomb network of holes. I could hear other humans in pain, trapped here as I was. Their cries vibrated through me, rooting deep into my bones.
A screech shattered the air. I jumped, my heart clenching painfully in my chest before galloping ahead.
I’d heard that cry before. I heard it when I was belowground with Fowler. It belonged to something huge, sitting just beyond the stretch of honeycomb. The scream faded, and then there was its sloughing breath, similar to the other dwellers except louder, deeper. It rumbled on the air like building thunder.
The dwellers froze in response. The people down here weren’t as easy to silence. They started crying out in earnest, sobbing and shouting as though they had a hope for rescue.
All at once it released a long, shrill, earsplitting call. The dweller holding me started moving again, dragging me forward.
In the distance, in other tunnels, I heard more dwellers moving toward the nest where I was, answering the call.