Dirt and fallen twigs scraped against her face as Sarah was pulled across the rock strewn ground. By some miracle she was able to keep hold of the stick she’d grabbed onto earlier. She tried to strike out and use it to wedge herself into place, but she couldn’t get purchase. The slimy thing wrapped around her foot yanked, and she flipped over and was pulled quickly along her back rather than on her stomach.

She beat at it, hitting her leg more than the ugly, slimy black arm wrapped around her. Suddenly, they stopped and Sarah lurched forward. She pulled herself back just in the nick of time. Another tentacle flew toward her, curling briefly around the thin trunk of a young tree before letting go, leaving a trail of dark slime in its wake.

Sarah tried to scurry back, but the tentacle might as well have been made of solid iron. She could barely move her leg from side to side, and she couldn’t inch backward or forward. She grasped her stick and tried to wedge it between the black, sucker coated skin and the red material of her jumpsuit. She sucked in a deep breath and gritted her teeth as the wood dug deep into her calf, bruising her.

Goddamn, it hurt.

But she kept going. She didn’t know why they’d stopped and she didn’t want to go any further. That was it. The second she got free she was going to run back to the beach and sit next to Nyxant until Sky Chaser 4 found them or they ran out of food. Either of those options was better than being eaten—hopefully only eaten—by an alien tentacle monster.

The stick slid under the tentacle and she let out a little gasp in success. It turned into a dejected yowl when the tentacle rippled and started to move up her calf, the pointed end leading the way in a very, very gross and suggestive march.

Nope. She’d cut her leg off before she let it get any further.

If only she had a knife.

Sarah tried to kick, and when that failed, she tried to use her heel to push the creeping tentacle down. It didn’t work, not exactly, but the arm did stop its crawl. It didn’t retreat, though. One of its suckers latched onto her shoe.

Why had she been so insistent on coming here alone? She should have talked this through with Nyxant. Maybe if she had waited five goddamn minutes, he would have come around. Or maybe he would have convinced her to stay.

Something glinted in the oozing black mass of tentacle as a wickedly sharp stinger slowly pulsed out of the shiny skin. It grew, centimeter by centimeter, until it was as long as Sarah’s hand and as thick as one of her fingers. Something bright green seeped from the end, and she knew that it couldn’t bury that thing in her. If it did, she was a goner.

But her eyes were transfixed. The tentacle reared back, though it was long enough that it could still wrap around her leg tightly. It didn’t strike quickly, almost like it could sense her fear and savored the taste.

She couldn’t watch. Even as she struggled, she got nowhere. Sarah slammed her eyes closed, as if not being able to see the attack would save her from it.

There was a loud thump beside her and the tentacle on her leg went slack.

Sarah opened her eyes and saw Nyxant crouching beside her, a wickedly long knife in his hand covered in green goo. Without waiting for his command, she pulled her leg, the tentacle a heavy dead weight around it. She reached forward, peeling it off until she was free. Nyxant crouched beside her, looking deep into the bushes where the creature had to be lurking.

“Can you run?” he asked, voice pitched low.

“Yes,” she answered, heart hammering in her chest.

Something rustled within the trees. Sarah scampered to her feet, hissing in pain when she put weight on her right leg, the one the tentacle had been wrapped around. Something felt wrong with it, but they had to move.

Nyxant threw his arm around her shoulders and they were off. She had no idea which direction they were going in, but she let Nyxant lead. He seemed to intuitively understand the lay of the land.

Every step was agony. Sarah had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. When that didn’t work, she tried to control her breathing through her mouth. She didn’t know if the monster had crushed something or if she was merely severely bruised, but she couldn’t go on for much longer.

The jungle was too dense to run fast for long. After a few minutes, Nyxant slowed to a light jog, dodging under low branches in a fluid motion and taking her with him, guiding her as if she were boneless.

She didn’t know how long they walked. The pain in her leg grew and grew until time lost meaning, and all Sarah could do was focus on the step in front of her. She was terrified that if they stopped, the thing that had grabbed her would take her again. She wanted to ask Nyxant how he’d found her and why he’d come, but opening her mouth at all would let the whimper she was holding back escape.

Nyxant’s arm was a constant presence, propping her up and keeping her grounded. If he hadn’t kept moving, she doubted she would have been able to. But he moved in silence and without complaint. She could do the same. She had to.

Finally, after what seemed like years, she heard the distant lapping of water against the shore. The beach. They were back to the ship. It took a few more minutes, but they made it through. The trees gave way to sand and sun.

Nyxant dropped his arm from around her shoulders. Sarah tipped forward, not even caring that she fell. She was safe.

When Nyxant fell right beside her, she knew something was terribly wrong.