The Moon's Fangs | 1

A storm of footsteps increased in speed when Nolan fell in a tangle of drapes outside of pod nine.

Reks didn’t waste a single step. His hand fell away from my chin down to my exposed lower back, which made my stomach do a sudden flip-flop as he ushered me toward the back of the room with practiced strides. “Punk kid called the damn cavalry. Come on,” he muttered under his breath, swooping the back wall drapes over to expose a quaint balcony on the outside. “The last thing we need is our faces all over the news.”

“Why did he call so much backup?” I asked, still flustered by his earlier statement. When he assured me I wasn’t off his hook.

“No time,” he took my hand. “Up you go. On the railing then on the roof.”

My insides screamed - heck no I’m not doing that - but what choice did we have? I didn’t want to see what would happen if these alien reinforcements caught us.

An instant tremble vibrated through my legs as I stepped up on the thin railing. I squeezed Reks’ hand, reaching up towards the edge of the roof as tunnel vision took over. The edge was too far over my head. My fingers barely skimmed it. There was no way I’d be able to pull myself up on my own.

“How did you even find me?”

“Later.” Reks released my hand, then grabbed my foot. In my palm, he left a flat circular chip smaller than my pinky’s fingerprint. It looked like it belonged on a miniature Bingo board.

“Jump off and don’t lose that comm. Don’t make a sound and stay out of sight.” he boosted me up with a powerful thrust.

I held a roller coaster gasp in between clenched teeth, going airborne for a hot second. My heart hammered hard in my chest, pumping endless adrenaline as I landed on the flat-topped roof. Dear Lord, did this man mean business.

What did he expect would happen if we were caught? Nolan was the one who pulled a gun out, for goodness sake. Shouldn’t he be in trouble? How had things escalated so quickly? I wanted answers. I wanted to know more about why Nolan tricked me. I hated how easily I'd fallen for it. I wanted to yell at him. And I wanted to know how Reks found me so freaking fast. What were those weird whip things that came out of his wrists? What exactly did he do to Nolan’s crew in the other pod?

Oh. This man was in for a serious earful.

I peeked over the edge to see if Reks needed a hand up but quickly held my tongue.

From my elevated view, the tops of three armed guards’ heads pushed their way onto the confined balcony, cornering Reks. My breath caught in my throat, ducking out of view from the guards.

With the black mask hiding his features from the nose down, only his eyes and body language communicated his disposition. Those dark eyes of his gave nothing away. Yet his stance resembled a daunting wolf whose territory had just been threatened.

All three guards trained their weapons on him. “Don’t move!” one barked. “Where’s your partner!”

Reks reached behind and gripped the railing with both hands. I knew he had me in his peripherals, but he dared not glance up.

“Wait - hold fire!” Nolan ordered from somewhere inside, followed by glass being crushed under someone’s boots.

“But sir—”

At that same moment, Reks threw his weight back against the rail, driving his legs up and back into a backflip, landing against the opposite side of the bars. The veins in his toned forearms bulged, then without hesitation, he launched himself off the balcony and out of sight toward the ground.

My heart nearly stopped, witnessing him dive backward towards what I knew couldn’t be a tactfully placed foam ball pit to stick the landing. And after all the trouble I went through to get him out of cryo, he goes and pulls a wild stunt like this? The nerve!

Disarray erupted amongst the guards. “Shayd damn him!” One cursed as they rushed to the railings. They hunched over it with the full expectancy of seeing a broken man down below.

But the sound of a crash landing never reached our ears.

Nolan pushed past them and rushed to the edge of the balcony, halfway between stunned and alert. “Where’s the girl?”

The girl? My brow arched.

“Gone before we got here-”

“O-over there!” the guard yelled over the other, urgently pointing at a figure in all black sprinting through the market.

I stared disbelievingly at the figure as he generated a grand spectacle of mass disorder during his escape. Reks bumped into several citizens, knocked over a large basket of plump red fruit, along with other perishable goods. People yelled after him while others shook their fists angrily in the air. An Aladdin-inspired getaway, if I did say so myself.

Nolan cursed with the same amount of disbelief I felt. “He’s chasing after her. Capture and take him straight to the colosseum for questioning - but bring the girl directly to me, no detours. She’s blonde, blue-eyed, wearing a blue sash around her waist. That guy will lead you to her. Got it? We gotta save her before that thug gets to her first. He’s dangerous. Has some kind of advanced illegal Guide.” he gave them a serious look. “You three go chase him down the market while I try to cut them off before reaching district two.”

“Understood!” two of the three guards attempted to hop off the balcony, which ended in a loud crash and disoriented grunts before running off with a few other guards in the direction Reks left a trail of turmoil behind.

I kept my head ducked, staying completely still until the top of Nolan’s sandy blonde head disappeared back into Altered. “Nolan, what is going on?” Danika proclaimed, out of my sight. “Where’s Amelia?” then she was shushed, turning their conversation into indistinct whispers I could no longer make out.

Six guards in emerald long coats went after Reks, leaving both the civilians and I completely confused. Four ran down the same path Reks went while the other two disappeared down an alley with the intention of cutting him off somewhere.

I unclenched my hand and looked down at the comm Reks left me with. The tiny thing looked like a flattened pearl.

~I, um, believe Reks Arlen has been attempting to reach you for the past forty-eight seconds.~ Nox mentioned. ~I can connect to the commlink if you place it in the small dip behind your earlobe.~

Crinkling my nose, I placed it there. My skin prickled slightly from the contact, sending a trail of goosebumps across the back of my neck. “Um, hello? Testing, one, two…” I whispered as to not alert anyone still nearby of my position.

Rapid breathing came in the second the comm connected. “About time, Outlander. Are you still on the roof of Altered?”

“Um, yeah. Did you really just leave me on a roof, then bounce? How long do you expect me to just sit and wait here until you can come back?”

A dark laugh filtered through the comm. “No, you’re coming to me. Look past the market. Do you see the gray quartz building behind the dome?”

“What?” I whispered louder than expected, thrown off by the statement. I scanned the buildings, spotting the specified one in the distance. It was several roofs away. Surely he didn’t think... “Y-yes, but how am I—”

“By the rooftops.” he sucked in a sharp breath as if taking an abrupt turn. “The buildings are close enough on this level for you to get across.”

A big part of me wanted to yell at him and say he could stick that demand where the sun doesn’t shine. But what would happen if I dropped back down to the room instead, where Nolan and Danika might still be? At this point, I didn’t trust any of these crazies. Yet at the same time, Reks was the one who saved me from what could have been something bad. If it wasn’t for him revealing Nolan’s intentions… what would have happened to me?

I stood up, dread twisting in my gut. “Reks, I can’t.”

“She’s on the roof!” A guard suddenly yelled into his comm from ground level, sprinting back into Altered.

“Someone saw me,” my panic surged. “Reks, they’re coming for me!”

His smoky tone gained a sanguine edge. “Like hell they are. I wouldn’t have left you there if I thought you couldn’t handle this. And I promise you, your odds are far better running toward me than away from me. Understand? Now go!”

Fear spiked in my heart as I shoved myself into gear. I needed to create as much distance between me and the guard as possible before he managed to climb up on Altered. Besides, this was nothing compared to what I’ve already been through!

At least, that’s what I kept trying to convince myself as the fear-invoked adrenaline drove my body into gear.

I squealed, then leaped to the next rooftop, clearing the short distance with room to spare. “I did it!” I glanced back over towards the gap, realizing it really wasn’t that bad. Reks was honestly probably having a harder time trying to navigate through the narrow alleys.

“Good, don’t slow down.” Reks said between tight breaths. “Stay focused and don’t turn around.”

Who was he to tell the newly proclaimed roof-hopper what to do? I picked my speed back up, getting to the next building with ease. “Oh please!” I breathed out. “Just add roof-hopping to my resume, ’cause I’ve totally got this in the bag.”

“Hey, you!” the same guard who spotted me roared as he hefted himself up on top of Altered. “Stop right there!”

My blood went icy cold as I vaulted over the next gap. My foot caught against a lip on the edge. I yelped, landing against my side on the rooftop. My foot stung, but I scrambled back up to my feet, catching a glimpse of the guard chasing me. His chin-length tangle of curls whipped around in a mess as he jumped the next roof, moving at a speed that would be difficult to stop for a man his size.

Forget catching me… this man would bulldoze right through me if he caught up.

“He’s only one rooftop away.” I cringed when landing on my foot. “He’s gaining on me!”

Reks cursed, panting harder than before now as if he ran into a confrontation of his own. Muffled grunts which didn’t belong to him sounded through the comm-link, along with an undepictable crash. “How far are you from the destination point?”

“Two more - but the last jump definitely looks too far away,” I panted, eyeing the gap while running. It was easily three times farther away than the gaps I’d been crossing to this point.

A notched slate I didn’t notice jammed into my toe. I stumbled, biting my tongue along with the strew of profanity the afflicted toe wanted to scream. Tears burned my eyes as heat pooled along the new scrape along the outer side of my toe.

~O-oh my,~ Nox queried. ~I’ll have this stitched up in no time! But in the future, please wear appropriate shoes for our future excursions.~

“What? I didn’t choose this!” I barked back at the Guide.

Confusion surfaced from Reks’ side, but whatever he said was drowned out by my pursuer.

“Stop running!” the barrel-chested guard panted. “I’m here to help you! You’re under the protection of Nolan Rhosyn! Stop!”

He spoke in orleizen, I realized. Even if I wanted to respond, it would only give away that I knew their language now. If that fact got back to Nolan, he’d immediately know I lied to him from the start. All the more reason for him to attempt another stunt like he did with altered-sincerity.

I stole a quick glance at the guard to gauge the distance. He shared the same roof as me now. I leaped for the second to last roof, but both of my poor shoeless feet throbbed in pain. And my speed had noticeably decreased. Despite the guard’s labored breaths, he hadn’t slowed. The big dude was seriously gaining on me.

Either due to some weird alien ability, or because he actually wore suitable shoes for something like this. Unlike me.

The closer I reached the last roof, the more it became obvious there’d be no way I’d make it. Even if I ran at full speed, the distance was too far. And this was no cheesy action movie where the hero just barely makes that impossible jump while an explosion theatrically detonates behind them. No. I would definitely die!

“I can’t make it!” I yelled, slowing down at the edge.

“Hold on I’m almost—”

“Got’cha!” the guard exclaimed as his giant monkey paw of a hand reached out to snag me.

I screamed and jerked my shoulder out of his reach, throwing up my other arm in front of my face in a panicked twist. The movement was too sharp. He missed, but the force behind his lunge was too strong. His bulky shoulder collided into my side, and I was already too close to the edge.

The bulldozer-like guard couldn’t control his fall and neither could I.

With nothing to grab onto, my body dipped backward over the ledge.