The Chapters

Chapter Twelve

I feel something wrap around me, somehow keeping up with the speed of Last Orders. The sudden halt in motion makes my neck snap up a bit. I look down at the intertwined blades of grass holding me up. Damn, how long is he growing these right now?

I prepare a scowl on my face as the plants lift me up and place me on the platform. They remove themselves from me and go back to hover off the vehicle, then quickly drop out of sight.

Ivo climbs up from the far end of the platform, where I'd left the second gate open. He gives me an exasperated look. "You're an absolute fucking idiot."

"That's rich, coming from you." I examine my hands, which are now more than a bit bruised. "So I think I'll ignore it."

"I just saved your dumb ass, dickhead. I could throw you off just as easily."

"You could, but you won't."

"Says who, you? You don't even remember anything."

"Let's not go through this again." No need to waste all the time we gave until we reach the Kin. I look down and the ledge that I'd been rescued from. "What's Amias doing down there? Can't we get any higher?"

"Karla wants him to stay low so we're a smaller target." Ivo glares at me. "What were you thinking, anyway? Climbing on the outside?"

I shrug, a little embarrassed despite myself. "I wanted to get a close look."

"They were shooting us on the side. You were climbing on the side. You were directly in their potential line of fire."

"Yeah, yeah, you don't have to rub it in." I go to the side of the platform again and look down. "Something broke off down there, probably from the impact. I didn't get to it, but I got some of the debris."

"They knocked out our cameras, too," he informs me. "So we can't get a visual. We can't get the right angle from up here, either."

"So climbing was the right and smart thing to do."

"Climbing was the stupid thing to do!"

I roll my eyes. "Moving on, we'll need to make repairs when we get to that Kin. How far are we now?"

"About fifteen minutes. We still can't contact them."

"And the visual feed?"

He just shrugs. I guess he wasn't paying attention to that.

Should I go see what the others are doing downstairs or should I keep looking for the impact on the hull? We're still shaking quite a bit. If I want to go back on the side of going to have to get Amias to lift us up a bit more.

Don't tell you're going to go kill yourself again.

I'm not going to kill myself.

Mica, just go sit down for fifteen minutes. You guys can look at the dam-

I stop reading when something hits us on the side again, the opposite from the last time. Both Ivo and I are thrown to the side as Last Orders nearly tips over from the explosion. It must be much worse this time.

"Fuck," is the first word Ivo says when he gets to his feet. He looks down at me, who is still on the floor of the platform. "Get the hell up, we have to get downstairs."

"Yeah, don't mind me," I mutter as I regain my footing. My head is killing me again. "Just an injured person here."

Ivo is already half-down the trapdoor to the stairs. "Will you hurry up?"

I'm going to need to get those pills from the kitchen, but I follow him.

Pills? You ask as I close the trapdoor above me.