People frowned, glared, and swore as she slipped by, but she didn’t slow. She found herself both thankful for having never been claustrophobic and cursing her overly sensitive nose. The stench of sweating bodies and exotic perfumes and spices was amplified in this tight space.
“I can smell you, terran,” said the azhera from somewhere behind her. “No more running.”
He couldsmellher? Even amidst all this? How bad did she stink despite her shower this morning?
And does nobody in this city see a problem with a big ass azhera chasing me down right out in public? What a bunch of assholes.
A chiming series of notes sounded overhead—the tram was about to depart. Shay turned her head; she was near one of the tram car’s central doors. Beneath her feet, the tram’s antigrav engines began to hum, creating barely perceptible vibrations.
This was her last chance. If this didn’t work, she was done—she’d be caught.
The double doors began to slide shut.
Shay charged toward them, grabbing onto the people in her path to haul herself forward. The passengers’ protests undoubtedly caught the azhera’s attention. Heart racing, she flattened her arms against her sides and darted through the narrowing doorway.
The doors whispered shut mere centimeters behind her.
Shay’s skin felt like it was ablaze, and she was itchy fromhead to toe on top of her other discomforts. Breathing heavily, she slowly turned as the tram’s hum intensified.
The azhera forced his way to the doors and met her gaze through the view windows; this time, he was the one caged, not her. Oddly, she felt no satisfaction at that. The tram began its smooth forward motion. The azhera pressed his hands against the doors as though to pry them open, his green eyes, hungry and burning, fixated on her.
Shay’s heart leapt into her throat, and she stepped back. He was powerful and driven; she’d put her money on the azhera over the doors any time. It was frightening, but she still couldn’t deny that thrill, that flare of eagerness. She knew the hunger in his eyes—it said he wanted to devour her in all the right ways.
Right ways? Wrong, wrong, wrong, Shay!
He wanted revenge. He wanted blood. What the hell was wrong with her?
The tram continued forward. Baring his teeth, the azhera slammed a fist against the doors. They shook, briefly warping the reflections on the glass. The vehicle’s motion carried him out of Shay’s view. A few moments later, the last tram car vanished into the tunnel.
Everything inside Shay felt heavy as she stood there with her chest heaving. She wanted nothing more than to allow her body to pool on the ground and give her screaming, trembling muscles a break, but she couldn’t. Not here. The tram station was no safer for her here than it would’ve been on Earth were she to let her guard down.
Though the tram was the quickest route back to her apartment, Shay didn’t wait for the next one, opting to take the long way back. She couldn’t chance running into the azhera again. She didn’t have it in her to make another run for it.
She slowly climbed the stairs out of the tram station, following the crowd of disembarked riders, and pretended herbody wasn’t in agony. Keeping to the busier streets and well away from all the dark alleys, Shay wound through the Undercity. Every step shot needling pain through her legs. She’d overdone it today at work, and that chase had pushed Shay beyond her limits.
Neon lights and flashing holograms blared down at her, advertising products, drugs, sex, and food. Her stomach growled for the latter. When was the last time she’d eaten? With no small amount of guilt, she realized it had been on her way to work hours ago. She’d been so focused on handing out those stupid flyers so she wouldn’t get reamed by Yorgaz that she’d skipped her lunch break.
She rubbed her belly in apology. “Sorry, Baby.”
And now she had a murderous azhera to worry about. She’d honestly thought she’d never see him again. What were the odds of it in a city of billions?
“Apparently pretty fucking good,” she grumbled.
Though it was late, and her body was screaming for rest, the savory smell of food lured her toward a food stall. She ordered a noodle-like entrée filled with unknown vegetables. She knew for sure the ‘noodles’ were totally unrelated to human pasta, but she hadn’t allowed herself to ask what any of the food in Arthos actually was. She had a sense that knowing the answer to that question would make her never want to eat again. Best to remain oblivious when it came to alien food.
Besides, she thought as she slurped a ‘noodle’ into her mouth and found a place to sit,it tastes good.
After she’d finished eating and had won the arduous battle of standing back up, she resumed her slow trek back to her apartment. Her feet objected to every step, and she was occasionally struck by sharp pains in her groin. She couldn’t lie to herself—those pains scared the hell out of her.
Her life on Earth had always been almost nomadic, movingfrom one score to the next, sprinkled with quickies here and there with her then-boyfriend, not realizing the jerk had been two-timing her—or more likefive-timing her—for their entire relationship. She’d been so busy during all that, her thoughts so occupied, that she’d forgotten that she’d been overdue for another contraceptive implant.
By the time she’d realized her mistake, it had been too late. She’d already been nearly three months pregnant—which she’d learned from the one doctor she’d been able to see, a shady bastard who didn’t ask questions about why his patients didn’t want to use IDs and paid only in cold, hard cash. A month later, she was kidnapped by alien pirates and promptly sold to Murgen. She hadn’t received any prenatal care after that diagnosis… Not that she would’ve gone back to that doctor, anyway.
Now, Shay was alone on an alien world with no one to turn to. She couldn’taffordany help because she knew the credits she’d taken from the azhera wouldn’t last long—not at the rate the scumbags in this city were sucking her dry. But she was doing the best she could.
“But I got you,” she whispered, settling a hand on her stomach, and was flooded with relief when she felt an answering kick against her palm.
It took Shay an hour and a half after her meal to reach her apartment building. An hour and a half of pain, discouragement, and constantly looking over her shoulder and expecting the azhera to be breathing down the back her neck at any moment. She was exhausted to the very marrow of her bones when she reached the entry doors. She opened her jacket and swept back one side, exposing the blaster at her hip to settle her hand on it.