Spectator

Chapter Forty-one: Now

"We need to get moving. Now." Nari said to break the silence when they were all caught up. Jae didn't say a word, but his skin was so pallid he might as well have been a ghost. He kept glancing at the body as if willing it to get back to again, as if Kali could be saved from her death sentence. But it didn't, and she couldn't. It was over. She was surprised by Nari's determination and maybe more than a little touched, but it wouldn't really matter. There was no saving her now. The Sentinels would be coming. They likely kept out of this sector because the Hazanti did but they would definitely be on their tail.

"It won't make a difference." Kali started, but Nari cut her hands at her.

"No martyr bullshit, Kali. We're not losing anyone else. We don't know how much time we have, and we need to use every last second of it." She turned to Sh'an, speaking in rapid Hazan. "You need to stay with her. Maybe you can confuse their sensors somehow. You have blood coming out of you everywhere, slap some on her."

"Nari..."

"No buts Kali. No arguing. Get your ass in gear. Now."

It was pointless. Nari had to know it was pointless. But Kali began to move anyway, Sh'an close at her side. He might not believe as they did about what would happen to Kali. But he also wasn't willing to take that chance.

Jae molded to her other side. His expression was grim, and he still hadn't said anything. His fingers outstretched towards Kali, as if wanting to take her by the hand, then thought better of it, with Sh'an limping on the other side but still as imposing as ever.

Zakariah's silent stupour didn't last quite as long. "What is the point?" He demanded. "We should be splitting ways. The Sentinel could be coming at any moment. Who's to say that it won't kill all in its path, including us?"

"It didn't last time," Jae shot back, but there was no humour in his tone.

"Because we were hiding. It's not like we were anywhere nearby."

"It would have detected us," Jae insisted. "The same way it detected Augus and Kadent."

"You're just talking shit," Zakariah snapped. "You'd risk all our lives without knowing a thing."

"You don't know anything either."

"I know what I saw. And that was Augus, dead before he could run. Why the fuck would I want that to happen to me?"

"He's right," Kali interrupted, because for once, he was. "We should split up. I'll put you in danger. I don't need anyone hurt because of me." Anyone else, she amended.

"Stow your heroism, Kali," Nari said airily, cutting off Jae as he opened his mouth in protest. "This area is off limits to the Hazan. I assume they are too, or at least don't patrol it, or you'd probably be dead already. So maybe they're not aware of what happens in here. We don't know until we test it."

There was a stretching silence. Kali wanted to argue some more, but damn it if Nari of all people hadn't given her a kernel of hope. But how selfish was she to risk the others, to risk Jae? Sh'an was stiff at her side, close enough for their arms to brush as they walked; she knew she could never convince him to leave her.

"Do we risk sleeping, or what?" Zakariah asked. "Because my vote is yes. We've already walked all day."

Kali didn't really want to spend her last hours sleeping, but the Sentinel would come regardless. The others should be well rested.

"No," Nari said, and there was no point in arguing. "We get as far as we can as fast as we can. We need to reach the outpost before the Sentinels find Kali."