Page 6 of Heart of Dawn
“Eat. Evolve. Eat…”
The winged prick exploded with a mighty bang, pink goo going everywhere, the force of it shoving me back hard. Lance’s boot gave way, my body crushing his against the back of the cage.
He hissed out a curse as the goo and gore rained down on us. My God, I was covered in the shit, my eyes the only part of me spared.
The biter exploded? What the hell?
“Eat!” a speedie roared.
I tried getting up, but Lance pushed me off him. He clambered over me, cracking me in the cheek with his elbow, probably on purpose, and scurried from the cage.
He paused outside on the platform, goo running down his body. “Better run, Miko. Have fun.” He threw me a smirk then ran away.
“Eat!” the speedies cried.
Oh. Fuck.
CHAPTER THREE
ORION
Isprang into action, darting to my left, picking up speed as I crashed into the trees, running without a map or any real sense of direction. But what choice did I have? The more distance between me and these assbugs, the better.
“Dawn! Dawn! Dawn! Dawn! Dawn!” the unlucky thirteen boomed behind me.
Movement above caught my eye again, revealing nothing. I pushed myself harder, leaping over fallen trees, making a sharp left to avoid a tumble down a surprise slope.
Stars! What a close call.
“Kill the cherry fae!” the army cried in the voice of Dawn. “Kill the cherry fae!”
I glanced back, their eyes bright-pink lights in the frozen gloom. Fixed to me, close enough to never let me out of their sight. That left hiding inside a hollow tree out of the question.
Crap.
“Kill the fae!”
I came to another slope, ready to take this one head on and braced myself to slide down the snowy descent, my heart ready to burst out of my chest.
Dear stars, please let me pull this off with grace, and please don’t let me plant my face into the snow…
Clinging to faith in my twinkly masters, I hit the slope, arms outstretched like a surfer, axe balanced in my hands. My feet churned the snow as I slid with the grace I prayed for.
Wow. What a miracle.
I picked up speed, the slope a lot longer than expected. At the bottom sat more snow and forest. Stars only knew which direction I should take.
I’m ready for my second miracle now…
As if to scold me for asking for favors, I collided with a tree root. I didn’t see it jutting out of the snow until the last minute, all twisted and gnarled and cruel.
I yelped a nonsensical curse, my right foot colliding with it at full speed. My ankle twisted, possibly breaking. I wasn’t sure, but the pain burst with agonizing heat.
Wonderful.
And I lost my axe.
Curse that root!
