I whirled as Valrea jumped at me, my body automatically going into a defensive position until I realized she was trying to push me away.

With a crack and a rumble, the tunnel we had been in collapsed, blocking our way back towards the sea.

It was my own damn fault. I'd been so focused on figuring out what to tell her, how to phrase my mission that I hadn't paid attention to the warning signs.

None of that mattered now.

What mattered was Valrea, laying in my arms, her face covered in blood from where the falling rocks had cut her scalp.

Carefully I ran my fingers through her hair, checking for injuries, but didn't find anything serious.

Or at least, anything I’d consider serious.

I'd never been particularly concerned about the frailty of full humans before.

Holding her body, I could hear her heartbeat, watch the pulse in her throat strong and even. Could smell her bewitching scent. Could feel her enticing curves.

What the hell was I thinking? If she was a member of the Compound, once I gained the codes to lower the dome and the Pack attacked, she'd be a target.

Just like anyone who had been responsible for the attack on the Daedalus, the carnage on the Star.

Even if I didn't want her to be involved, she was here, seemed to have the freedom to come and go.

She had to be involved.

With a slight moan, her eyelids fluttered. Seeing me she scrambled away, wrapping the long brown coat, now grey with dust, tightly around her.

“Why do you keep touching me?” she gasped, then shoved her hair back from her face, wincing at the cut. She turned her head, searching until her eyes fixed on the small handheld light she had carried.

It had fallen too far for her to reach but when she stood to retrieve it she wobbled, would've crashed if I hadn't caught her again.

“Right now, don't think of it as me touching you, but as keeping your ass from hitting the ground.”

But I sat her down carefully, went to retrieve the light and handed it to her.

“I know. Thank you," she said quietly. "Just, no one touches me. I'm not used to it."

“What the hell are you talking about?” I dropped down next to her. Maybe she'd been hit on the head harder than I realized.

“It's nothing, I'm just not used to it.”

“Why would no one touch you?” A terrible thought came to mind. “Don't tell me you've got some sort of contagious disease that I'm going to need shots for. I'm really not a good patient.”

As I'd hoped, a tiny smile caught the corner of her lips.

“I've noticed. No, I'm not sick. At least I don't think I am. I'm just different,” she finished softly.

I stood over her, hand stretched down for her to take if she wanted the support.

After a long moment, she reached up, wrapped her fingers around mine and let me pull her up.

“Believe it or not Val, different is good.”

Rubble completely filled the tunnel. It would take days to clear it out and I wasn't even sure how far the collapsed section went.

"We'll have to go forward," I said. Val's face looked pale and strained. "Everything all right?" I might have wanted to wrap an arm around her shoulders, but I didn't.

She bit her lip, nodded her head. "This is something new. Something I haven't tried before. That should be good, right?"

"Sure." For something she thought was good, she seemed pretty worried about it. "Let's see if finding the water shows us the way out." I tasted the air again. "We're close now."

Within minutes I could hear it. But when we reached the water it only solved a few of our problems.

A good-sized trickle of water flowed from the crack between two rocks and then down the cave wall and into a shallow depression formed by years of constant erosion before flowing away through another small crack.

We wouldn't be getting out that way.

"Here, let's get you cleaned up." Using the smallest rocks around, I partially blocked the crack that the water had drained out from. Slowly the shallow basin started to fill.

Valrea stood back, eyes wide. "I thought you wanted a wash."

"I can wait." The sight of her bloodstained face set my teeth on edge. I needed to do something about it, now, and punching the cave wouldn't be on my list of brilliant plans. I knelt by the makeshift basin and wet my hands, waiting for her to come near me like a wild feral creature.

She slid off the enveloping long coat she wore, revealing a long lush body before she sat beside me.

"Lean back a little, okay?" I scooped up her hair and laid it carefully on her chest, so it wouldn't trail into the water, then with my damp fingers gently wiped the blood away. Her wide eyes never wavered from mine.

"Will anyone be looking for you?"

"They won't need to."

I froze. "You have a tracker in you." There was no reason to feel betrayed, but I struggled to keep my voice flat.

Her brow wrinkled. "Not that I know of. I'd be surprised if they bothered."

Interesting, but didn't get me any closer to the information I could use. I tapped the knife hilt, thinking.

"Do quakes like that happened here often?

"Recently, seems like all the time."

I dried my hands on the remnants of my pants and brushed the last of the water from her face.

"Then we'll keep angling up, keep exploring. There's fresh air, it has to be coming from somewhere.”

I leaned away from her and she scooted away, turned her back and began to braid her hair.

"All right," was her only answer.

Annoyed with myself for missing the feel of her skin I sloshed water over my chest in handfuls and scrubbed.

She was scared. She was quite possibly the enemy.

Freezing water was my new best friend.

* * *

This time Valrea followed closely as we twisted through the labyrinth. In the back of my mind, I built a map of the places we've been. At some point, it would be useful. Everything was. I took a deep breath, caught the scent of the sea. "There we are."

I grabbed her hand and this time she didn't pull away, just ran forward with me towards the growing light.

And then suddenly we ran out of tunnel.

Valrea pressed her face to the small opening in the cliff wall and we stared out at the sea, waves crashing into the dome, where it curved towards land, just out of sight to the left.

"I still don't feel like going for another swim," I joked, but she watched the waves below and for the first time since I'd woken, looked at peace.

It was hard to tell from under the dome, but the faint light above must've been a moon, maybe two. It spilled through the hole, lighting the last few meters of the tunnel.

"Hey. You look like you're homesick for it. Trust me, it's not any place you want to be."

Her eyes glistened, and she dashed it away. "I like the ocean. Out there, it's an escape. No games, no punishments, just nothing."

I could feel the needles of the creature wrap around my chest again at her words. "Is that what you're trying to do? Escape? There are easier ways, you know."

She turned back from the sea, her face composed once more. “I can't, not yet. But I know where we are on the island, so that's a start.” She took a deep breath. “We found water and now we found fresh air - don't you think it's time you tell me why you're here?”

I stepped back, her shift in mood hard to follow. But she was right. I'd stalled long enough.

"My job is to collect information. There's something going on here, on this island, under this dome. And it's hurt a lot of people.”

She didn't look surprised by my words, so I barreled on.

“When I'm done, there’s going to be retribution for the things that have happened here.”

Her face remained closed, a mystery.

I'd never been a betting man, but I had to take the chance.

“You said you wanted to escape. Come with me. Be safe.”

With a quick motion, her hand cut the air in front of her, dismissing my hasty words.

“Can you stop it? Stop him?”

Damn the mission. Without even being sure what, who she was asking about, there was only one possible answer.

“Do you want me to?”