Page 17 of The Price of Peace
Xyrox huffed a laugh before he groaned and gave a wet coughs. I refused to think about how bad that sounded.
“Almost there!” I gasped, pushing forward, ignoring the way my legs burned from exertion. I knew we only had seconds before the iceworms caught up again.
Xyrox’s movements were sluggish, his steps faltering as blood loss sapped his strength. “We ... need to stop … them,” he panted, his words slurring.
I scanned the tunnel ahead and spotted a section of the ceiling where chunks of ice and rock were hanging haphazardly, broken loose from the tremors caused by the worms’ relentless attack.
That was our way out.
“Brace yourself!” I warned, dragging us past the unstable ceiling and propped Xyrox against the wall as I reached for my blaster.
The iceworms slithered closer, their bodies writhing and undulating like a living nightmare, jaws snapping greedily. The closest worm shrieked, its mouth yawning wide, ready to devour us.
I pulled out my blaster, prayed, and fired.
The blaster bolt struck high, splintering the already fractured ceiling. With a thunderous crack, the ice groaned and shattered. A cascading avalanche of rock and ice collapsed, crashing down in a brutal, earth-shaking roar. The lead iceworm screeched as it was crushed mid-lunge, its shrill cry abruptly silenced beneath the onslaught of debris.
Chunks of ice rained down, bursting upon impact. Dust and frost exploded outward, engulfing the tunnel in a swirling storm of white and blue. Then … stillness.
I coughed, leaning into Xyrox, my vision slowly clearing as I took in the destruction. The tunnel behind us was completely sealed, buried beneath tons of ice and stone. The iceworms were trapped, at least for the time being. We had won. But at a terrible cost.
Turning to Xyrox, panic stabbed through me as he sagged against the wall, barely conscious. Blood seeped heavily from his side, soaking his tattered coat. His breathing was shallow, unsteady.
“Hey! Stay with me.” I dropped to my knees, pressing my hands against the wound, trying to stem the bleeding. The warmth of his blood sent a fresh wave of panic through me.
“We did it,” he rasped, lips barely forming the words.
“Yeah, but we’re not done. And you’re notdying on me, got it?“ I growled in his ear, mustering my strength. We were getting out of here,alive,together, even if I had to carry him all over this fekkin ice planet. The real battle was now keeping Xyrox alive.
12
PEACE
“Leave me,” Xyrox groaned.
“Nope, not gonna happen.” I gritted out, lugging his big body down the hall, refusing to acknowledge how my legs shook with fatigue.
“I’m too heavy,” he pointed out, his voice weak.
“Shut up.” I shrugged my shoulders, readjusting his weight, and plodded on.
Dragging our exhausted butts around another bend two hours later, I saw a series of doors and hallways that looked like we’d reached some sort of facility. I nearly sobbed in relief when I saw a door with large red letters that said MEDIC.
“Thank the goddess! Look, Xyrox. Med bay.” I gently set him on the ground to give us both a moment’s rest.
His head came up and he stared at the door for a beat before his chin dropped again. “It’s biometric,” he rasped.
Fekk!“It’s okay. I can blast it open.” I hated the way my voice got higher and panicky.
Xyrox’s head shook. “No, that’s blast-proof metal. If you shoot at it, your energy charge will ricochet back at you.”
“You’re being a fekking ray of sunshine right now, you know that!” I said, stomping away. I paced the hallway while I tried to find a solution. I always thought better when I paced.
The red MEDIC and the matching red of Xyrox’s blood mocked me as I moved back and forth, yanking at my braids snarling in frustration. “Fekking blazing suns!” I screamed smashing my hand against the biometric sensor next to the door that sought to torture me.
To my utter shock, the door slid open and the room inside lit up in front of me. “Oh my goddess! It opened!”
Throwing my pack in the doorway so it couldn’t lock us out, I grabbed Xyrox and pulled, deliberately ignoring the red trail he was leaving on the floor behind him. As soon as we crossed the threshold, a pleasant female voice sounded from all around us, like a divine being. “Welcome back, Peace Thorsdóttir.”
