Day twenty-five began in darkness.
Owen woke to Jorik shaking his shoulder. "She's close."
Owen sat up immediately. His CE sense flared. Extended outward.
There.
A massive signature. Tier 2, two-stars. Moving through the jungle. Two kilometers north. Heading directly toward their position.
Raxka.
"How long?" Owen asked.
"She's been circling for an hour. Getting closer each pass." Jorik's bioluminescent veins pulsed faster—anxiety. "The tracker. She's homing in on it."
Tessa appeared from another chamber. Already armored. Ready. "We move. Now. Staying here makes us sitting targets."
Vren was packing supplies into crude sacks. "South. Toward Zone 18. The ruins. More cover. More places to hide."
Owen stood. His CE had recovered overnight. 4,800. Better but not enough.
"She's faster than all of us," Owen said. "Running only delays the inevitable."
