Dark Nine ❈ Dark Nine Universe Bk1 ❈

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I had been abandoned in the middle of nowhere on Dark Ninth when the Estori left me with the taste of my own Dark Nine instincts in my mouth.

I wandered for a whole day confused and alone, calling out for help, but no one knew I was back on Dark Ninth. And I had a feeling the Estori hadn't told Mars or Venus about my whereabouts... or I would have been found already.

So, great, the one Kor who promised to protect me and my baby – strands me out here.

And my only saving grace is a damn spider.

Although it's not so simple.

After wandering through endless ruins and low lying shrubs, looking for the outline of the Kor Prison on the horizon to no avail, I've collapsed from exhaustion by a stream.

I drink water, I pass out, and then wake up to find I've been abducted by Chonk.

The Elion Spider pet of the Kors.

Okay, okay, I lie, I lie – it wasn't an abduction. He saved me. I woke up in his creepy little web, with a purple Kor fruit plucked and peeled and placed next to my head so when I woke up, I had something nutritious to eat.

It's pretty sweet what Chonky boy does, or it's utterly creepy and terrifying, however you look at it, as he forces me to stay in his nest of webs, nestled into a corner of a dark ruin overgrown with thick vines.

Chonk and I only met briefly and I seemed to offend him with my disgust at the fact he was a giant frickin' arachnid. But that all changes when Chonky boy shifts to man.

A hairy, wild man, who brings me food and is scared of all forms of eye contact.

This man is strange, although non-threatening.

He cannot talk.

He sits away from me, brown eyes soft and gentle, his handsome face is dirty, and most of his torso is covered in a scattering of hair.

When I tried to leave and search for the Prison and Ninth Squad, the wild man would jump into his spider's skin, and block me from leaving.

Truly, the sweet thing was protecting me though, right? Right?!

As a man he'd bring me fruit and peel it open and place it on a rock for me to eat.

I had to keep my distance or he wouldn't approach.

After three days of this tedious dance of trying not to upset the sensitive Chonk, I had enough of pissing and shitting in the same corner of the ruin. There was only so much smell I could take, and I couldn't reach for the soil outside as Chonk would push me back to the centre of his web.

Very strange creature. Since he didn't eat me.

He was almost exactly the same as the Kors.

I wait for him to leave at the same dim dawn of the fourth morning, to bring me more food.

I escape then, turning on my camouflage and running into Dark Ninth.

I sprint for the creek, aiming to use the sound of the water to hide my steps.

I don't make it very far.

I sprint headlong into an invisible wall.

"Diana!"

I hear Mars call my name as he switches off his stealth, embracing me after four days separated.

"Mars!" I yell his name back to him, trying not to sob.

"We've been trying to find you, Chonk wouldn't answer our calls... so I came to see if he was dead," Mars seems surprised to have found me, "Where have you been?"