He walks fast enough that I can’t catch up to him. That I can’t put a hand on him. I want to pull on his arm and stop him, and tell him that he can keep the damn mask off. Titus is all I have here, but it’s not just that. It’s not like I’m settling for what I have. He’s all I have, and all I could really ask for. I don’t understand why he has to fight the urge–which he clearly has–so hard. Why can’t he just touch me? Kiss me? Or whatever it is he wants to do to me. Whatever it is, I want him to do it to me.

“Titus,” I finally say, loud enough that he can hear me from his ten-pace lead in front of me.

He stops and turns toward me. The stupid mask blocking me from seeing whatever facial expression he might have. It’s easy for him to claim he never smiles when I can never see his damn face.

He narrows his eyebrows at me. “We need to keep moving. If you’re tired again, I can–”

He jerks his head and looks straight up. I try to see what he’s looking at, and I spot a black shape moving across the sky.

“What is it?” I ask.

Instead of answering me, he scoops me up off the ground and grabs me, slinging me right back over his shoulder.

He moves so fast I have to clench my jaw to keep my teeth from smashing together. I dig my fingers into his back, but just as soon as I get secure, he pulls me off his back and onto the ground. He presses me against a wide tree trunk.

I look up and see that the foliage and trunks are blotting out the sky. Titus and I are both pressed tight against the trunk.

“Won’t they have infrared cameras?” I ask.

“What?” he asks.

“Even on Earth,” I say. “Helicopters–uh–things like this,” I point up to indicate the flying machine, “Can detect body heat through trees.”

“Then I have no choice,” he says.

Before I can stop him or even ask what the hell he is planning to do, he rushes forward and pulls out the gun.

I watch with horror as he runs away from the tree and onto the clear path. He steps into a shining ray of red sunlight. His teal skin gleams in the beam of sunlight, and as he looks up, his horns reflect the sun right at me for just a moment.

Then he holds his gun up, and before I can even guess what he’s going to do, a blast of purple energy explodes upward, eclipsing and swallowing the shaft of sunlight before exiting the forest entirely.

I hold my breath, but a dozen or so pounding heartbeats later, the horrible sound of grinding metal rips across the sky like thunder.

I see Titus’ eyes widen, and he runs toward me.

This time I’m not surprised when he snatches me up and throws me over his shoulder. He runs faster than ever, and this time he doesn’t stop. I hold on as best I can, but my entire body jostles painfully against his wide, muscular frame.

The rumbling sound of metallic thunder grows louder and louder as he runs, and then I see the trees in the distance–back near where we stood–ignite in a huge wall of flames.

Moments later the downed ship crushes through the trees, tearing trunks apart and blasting them apart into woodchips. I see the burning metal for only a brief moment, and then it explodes the entire forest behind us.

The shockwave of heat hits my face, and I look down, pressing my face against Titus’ back. I can still feel the heat hit my hair and scalp and back, burning me even through my thin clothes.

Titus doesn’t stop moving, and soon the heat dies down. Everything behind us is roaring flames, but I soon realize that he’s put enough distance between us and the wreckage.

Titus must realize it around the same time as me, because he puts me down onto my feet and spares a moment to look back.

“I didn’t think I’d really hit it,” he says.

“Then why did you take the shot?” I ask.

“It would have been an easy shot after they landed,” he says. “But they wouldn’t land until they’d spotted us, and they have machines that can tell the capital what they have seen. I probably killed them before they could signal the capital what they saw.”

“You mean that they saw you and me?” I ask. “That they saw Titus the bodyguard and the alien woman alone.”

He nods, then holds up the gun. He looks down at it and pulls the trigger. It whines, and an orange light flashes on it.

“If they send another ship, I won’t be able to stop it.” he says. “So we have to go somewhere they won’t find us.”

He throws the spent rifle onto the ground.