Episode Twenty-Four Bow String Pulled Taut

A lliana

Mirron is a fighter. He's fought all his life. Look at him, a wall of muscle, the leader of our little pack. Deklan told me he's never known the male to make a mistake. I want to trust him, but he just admitted he knows nothing of the ways of those Up Above.

He's never seen a machine, doesn't know of laser guns or hard-shelled armor. He even lives in a world where warring factions don't kill each other. They just argue and threaten and when things come down to it, they throw poo.

He has no idea how deadly our enemies are. And they're not even our enemies. They're mine . If I was braver, I'd just run to the hover when it lands, give myself up, and leave my three mates to live out their lives without worry.

But I'm not brave. I'm selfish. Maybe I'm deluding myself, but I think if I ran to the hover to give myself up, no matter how I would explain it to Mirron right now, he'd see it as a rejection of him and the brothers. I can't do that to them.

"Since they're tracking us, we'll fight here," he says. "It's a good place to make a stand."

He points to a branch high on a nearby tree. Although many of the trees are losing their foliage, this one is still full of thick clumps of green leaves.

"You're going to hide there." He points to a spot high above. He's right, those leaves will hide me well.

It's only now that I hear the hover. His ears are a thousand times sharper than mine. Up Above they call those Down Below mutants, beasts, animals… monsters. They're not. They're bigger, stronger, and better equipped to live in the wild.

He has me set my bow and arrows on the ground and boosts me to the lowest branch, which is a good ten feet off the ground.

"Go!" he urges.

"Give me my bow and arrows," I insist, my hand out and open, waiting to feel the weight of my weapons.

"Go, Alliana. You can barely climb the branches, much less with your weight thrown off by a heavy, bulky bow and quiver."

I simply shake my head and don't move. Time is of the essence, and he knows me well enough by now to realize I'm not going to climb without my weapon.

"If we live through this, we're going to have a stern talk about arguing with your pack leader," his tone drips with disapproval even as he hands me my quiver. When it's slung securely over my shoulder, he hands me my bow.

I'm not quick or cocky. I simply climb to each branch, slow and sure, never looking down until I reach the exact place he indicated.

We're in thick woods, with no place nearby for the hover to set down. We can hear when it lands, then hear two doors open.

"Three of them," he murmurs as they tramp through the underbrush.

He's a huge male and only one of the trees in this area is wide enough to hide his bulk. He slides behind the stout tree and readies himself.

His bow in hand, he nocks an arrow, points it in the direction of the males scuffling through the leaves, and waits.

From my perch up above, bow in my hands with an arrow nocked, my gaze flicks from the approaching males to my mate. His face is a mask of concentration. He'll do everything within his power to protect me.

The males aren't stealthy.

"We know you're here, girl. We've watched your movement on our tracker. You made me lose a bet. I thought you'd be dead within hours."

It's Bleeker, the fucker.

"When we find you, you're going to pay me back, with interest, in the only way a female can."

His words are meant to shame and threaten me, to terrorize me. Instead, they make me worry about Mirron. I imagine they infuriate him. I hope he keeps his temper and stays focused.

"There's three of us, female. You'll owe all of us for forcing us to make a trip down to this shithole braving the pollution and the fucking mutants. Bitch. You were supposed to wait where you were dropped."

His words are so familiar, not the words themselves, but the tone and the complete disregard that I'm a person. Has it been only two weeks since this type of talk would have made my body quake in fear?

No fear today. Simply hatred.

My bowstring is slack. I'm not strong enough to keep it pulled taut for long. I don't worry, though. When the time comes, I'll be ready to swing into action.

Three males enter the small clearing down below. Although he couldn't wait to kick me out of the hover two weeks ago, he doesn't seem as fearful today, taunting me loud enough for half the forest to hear him. Is it because he has two men with him, or has he minimized the danger Down Below because I've managed to stay alive for two weeks?

I breathe a sigh of relief when I see none of these men are wearing armor, only their uniforms. This will make it easier for Mirron to get kill shots before they fire their laser weapons.

"Come out Alliana. You've disgraced your father enough."

This is Hendricks. My father's head of security. Hot shards of hatred shoot through me when I think of the times he barged into my room and demanded I suck his cock. He wasn't subtle, not after the first time. He just threatened to report me for a punishable infraction to my father if I didn't obey.

Self-loathing sparks through me as I wonder why I didn't argue, didn't fight, but I forgive myself immediately. He just would have hurt me more, then gotten me in trouble anyway. There was no way to win, no way to stay safe in my father's household.

"The poor male has lost a small fortune because of this," Hendricks says. "Your price on the bride market has been cut in half. Who wants to pay for a cunt who might refuse and have to be muscled into compliance?"

"Some like it that way." This is Bleeker. "I don't mind having to hurt a girl a few times to get her mind right and her thighs spread." His derisive laugh makes me shiver in repulsion.

I hate them all. Hendricks was the one who spent hours teaching me how to breathe with a throat full of his cock. My fingers itch to release the bowstring and kill him dead.

"Trust me," says Hendricks, "your cocksucking skills left something to be desired. There's nothing special about you."

My eyes dart to Mirron as I fear he might leave his hiding place and try to kill them all. Good. He's waiting for the perfect moment.

"Now come out before we get even angrier."

The third man says, "I don't know much about the monsters down here, but if she's still alive they must be too dumb to even know how to procreate."

This brings a hearty round of laughter from the other two.

Dek and Luka told me Mirron never makes mistakes. They were right. Any other male would have revealed his hiding place by shooting too soon. Mirron is holding his fire until the right moment. This just makes me respect him even more.

While I wait, I contemplate if I have the courage to shoot a human. I couldn't kill that furry little bunny today. He'd done me no harm. It broke my heart to think about that cute little thing being skinned and cut into pieces and thrown into the stew pot.

These guys? Oh yes. I can imagine them bloody and dead and lying on the ground at my feet.