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Thedrizzle as we head for the river he spotted fro for are concealed behind a soggy gray curtain Darker clouds line the horizon, and Tarver glances over his shoulder to track theiroverfor me to read in the weather patterns I si for the sources of the sounds I keep hearing I keep turning to scan the plains behind us before I remember we’re alone out here

It’s the rain, I tell rassland creatures like that thing we ate last night

But can an anie over the rain shatterfor all the world like Anna, likedownso close at hand, I al so hopelessly Head spinning and , I can barely put one foot in front of the other It’s no longer one voice--now I’ chorus My eyes blur and I stunition More than once Tarver has to come back and haul me to my feet

I despise hi this ordeal is second nature When he catches rins as if to say, Yeah, it’s no big deal, I’ve been there His eyes, though, tell a different story He’s worried Worried in a way he hasn’t been since we crashed, not when the pod started to fall to the planet, not when I told hi, not eventhe Icarus fall

And that scares e hts It has to be a structure made by the corporations that terraformed this place--but what is it? So to keep track of the colonists, should they rebel

Only there aren’t any colonists here There’s nothing to track

There’s just us, waterlogged and freezing, trekking endlessly across this planet, lives depending on finding the search parties e reach the wreck

Neither of us suggests stopping for lunch, despite our exhaustion There’s no way todownpour, no way to war I wish I’d listened to his repeated suggestions that I put on the spare ht with us froed by now and so soaked that it’s as though I’ at all Worst of all, I’m so cold and so tired that I don’t even care about the way it clings toht as a black smear in the distance Tarver stops and raises a hand to shield his eyes fro officer I drop into a crouch, wrappingnot to shiver so visibly He’ll be et there This isn’t a real break, I know But it’s all I have

I don’t opento warri from jaw and nose and brow His features have beco beivesto re to obey -quick shift of expression, and pushes y hair back fro behind us, a low, rising susurration like a thousand different voices

I’ before I re madness It’s a half a second before I realize that he’s staring in the sa with sudden hope, but he beats me to it

"More rain," he murmurs, so soft I alaze back toward the horizon, and this ti across the plains toward us More rain If there’s any ills We could swim up to the sky and leave this place with no need to wait for a rescue ship

I want nothing more than to lie down in the htens, holding me up When he stands, he pulls me with him

"Can you run?" His face is close toother than stare

"Come on, Lilac, focus Can you run for it? That rain is too heavy We need shelter"

Heavy? How can rain be heavy?

I know there are blisters on ht now I can’t feel the at hi down his face, never the saht to follow the same pattern over and over, but instead it splits and cascades and dances off his cheekbones Like it wants to touch all of hi monsoon over h to hate ain"

What? I don’t have ti his hand aroundafter hi so inside myself for one more effort