Page 38 of Fall

The Hosh, the Kroo’s nearest neighbor and not nice people at all.

They stared at Lenna with a look that terrified her more than anythingshe’d ever seen.

“We’re still in no-man’s land,” Desh said in a hushed voice, slowlyreaching out to take Lenna’s arm. “We’re going to need to run.”

Lenna didn’t need to be told this twice. She could see danger in theirfaces, in their stances. She and Desh started off in a synchronized motion,racing in the direction of the cave.

If they could make it to Kroo territory, they would be safe. No othertribe would cross the boundaries.

In no-man’s land, they were vulnerable, but no tribe on this planet wouldrisk war by entering another’s territory.

She and Desh were both fast runners, but they were tired from walking allday, and the Hosh hunters were bigger and stronger than them. They caught up injust a couple of minutes.

Lenna squealed as she felt a big hand grabbing her shoulder, pulling herdown to the ground.

Desh stopped immediately, turning around with his spear. While Lenna waskicking and scratching at the man who had pulled her down, Desh was advancingon the other one.

Desh might have been a nerd growing up, but he’d learned a lot sinceliving on this planet. He was no weakling, and he wasn’t going to let Lenna gethurt.

He didn’t have a chance, though.

The man on top of her hit Lenna hard across the face, dazing her, almostknocking her out. Her stomach roiled and tears filled her eyes, but she couldsee enough to know that the second man was going after Desh too. Even with hisspear, Desh couldn’t fight off two of them.

Lenna screamed when one of the men managed to get Desh’s spear out of hishand and turned it around to stab him with it.

Desh went down in an ungainly sprawl, blood soaking his tunic.

As soon as Desh hit the ground, the first man scooped her up and slungher across his shoulder. Then both of them were walking quickly—away from hercave, away from her tribe, away from safety.

She’d been told more than once that tribes occasionally didthis—kidnapped women to refresh their gene pool. Her head pounded, and there wasblood on her cheek, and Desh was probably dead.

And as soon as they crossed into Hosh territory, no one would be comingto rescue her.

Not even Rone was going to risk war among the tribes.

Not for her.

The blow to her face had been so strong that she couldn’t think clearly,and she definitely couldn’t move. She hung over this smelly monster’s shoulder,nauseated and disoriented—knowing vaguely that she was being kidnapped, thatshe was going to be raped over and over again, that she wasn’t likely to everget away.

She could kill herself.

Her mind was so pained and confused and terrified that she actually tookcomfort in that thought. Maybe she could find a way to kill herself.

She lost track of time and place, but in the back of her mind she wasaware of the men occasionally talking. They spoke the same language as hertribe—with a different accent and in a different cadence. She could understandsome of what they said.

So she understood when one of them said, “Safe.”

They must have entered Hosh territory. Any hope she’d had was now dead.

No one was coming to rescue her.

Survival of the tribe was more important than any one individual, and nothingwas worth risking war over.

She had no idea what time it was or where she was, but she was vaguelyconscious of being dropped from the man’s shoulder onto the ground. She lay onthe cold dirt, staring up at this human being who looked more animal than manat the moment.

And then she realized he wasn’t going to wait to get her back to the restof the tribe. He was going to rape her right here.

Despite what felt like a concussion, she wasn’t going to let that happenwithout a fight.