CHAPTER 7

She knew they’d only been running for a few hours, but it felt like days. Hard to gauge the passing of time once they got into the actual mines themselves.
And running wasn’t the complete truth. They hadn’t actually ‘run’ at all in an effort to avoid the ASF.
Leaving the mutilated bodies of both friend and foe behind, Richard led her through a variety of dark hiding places. Slowly, quietly and as unobtrusively as possible. But never running. Hell, they didn’t even break a sweat.
With her small hand in his large one, he took her through all the little used areas of Dee 7. Only using more well traveled areas when absolutely necessary.
Watching had been an education into the mind and abilities of one the most feared men ever hunted.  He hadn’t hesitated at one corner or any corridor. He knew, instinctively or from experience, exactly how and where they were going. She kind of thought it was instinct. Unless he’d been a very busy boy in the few months they’d been on Dee 7, there was no other way he could know all the back ways.
He loved the dark areas the most. She could tell. It was like he was a dismembered piece of mercury and the dark was his mother glob. He rushed towards it smoothly and determinedly. Mingling his senses with the whatever else inhabited the shadows. Comfortable in the knowledge that he was more scarier than any other boogie monster they could run into.
And after seeing him dispatch the two men in the alley way, she could only agree. She had a deeper understanding now as to why he insisted he was unredeemable. He took life with no equivocation. If it was a threat to him or his, it was dead. Simple as that. No hesitation, no mercy, no conscience. He dealt death quickly, efficiently, resolutely.
It made her very glad he was on her side.
There hadn’t even been time to think. Just keep moving. She wasn’t sure Richard was doing it on purpose, to keep her from thinking about how their lives had gone to shit. Or if he was just so used to running that the emotional trauma of it no longer occurred to him.
If it was the former, well, it wasn’t working. The tears that had been hammered down due to shock were threatening mightily. It wasn’t the idea that they were stuck on an asteroid being hunted by a ruthless military. It was the fact that more friends, more people she’d opened her heart to, were gone. Those important to her, it seemed they must disappear. Her parents, Lloyd, Beth, Audrey, Jack, Hill, Amy...they all were permanently lost to her.
The one constant in her life was Richard.
A voice whispered in her ear as she made her way behind him in the dark service tunnels that led to the unused mines. If everyone left, either through death or distance, how much longer would she have him? They’d managed to survive Brenner and Gonzalez, and the bloody attack just hours ago.  But she couldn’t escape the feeling that the clock was ticking.
She felt his warm hand clasping hers. His step never faltering through all the twists and turns. His strength both comforting and mocking her. Like her, he never had any long term friends or family. Some of it was of his own choice. Some of it enforced by his past and the lifestyle it thrust upon him.
Whatever the reason, it made him stronger. While she felt herself getting weaker with each loss. Losing her grip on the secret inner core of steel that had always been there for her through each tragedy. The rod that would let her bend, but not break. It was getting wet with blood and tears, making her grip slippery and unsure. The abyss of...Hell...whatever was down ‘there’ under the steel rod, looming.
Threatening...and...beckoning.
Great shudders began to rip through her as walked. Tears, desolation, rage and hopelessness twined together to form a sharp weapon of tearing  and destruction. Coming up from a hard rock in her stomach to sit in her aching throat.
Unable to go any further with the turmoil inside her, she let go of Richard’s hand. Too wrapped in her own little Hell to think about getting separated from him in the dark. With his eyes, he would find her anyway.  Feeling the wall at her back, she slowly slid down to sit on the ground. Her control over her emotions gone.
He knew the exact moment she started crying. He could smell the salt of her tears wafting to him on the small eddy’s of air that accompanied them in the tunnels. Felt the tremors of her hand in his. Her skin grow cold as the minutes, and the distance, passed.
He’d gone on a few feet after she’d let go of his hand. Unable to handle her grief. Refusing to let himself touch her while in his current state in his mind. The consequences could be painful for her. Lord knows he’d hurt her before when enraged at others.
The heady adrenaline-releasing mixture of escape and killing making him edgy and pumped. The familiar blend bringing back old habits and attitudes. The instinct to viscously dispose of any weakness pounding through the back of his mind. He knew her shock was wearing off, but fuck, they didn’t have time for this! 
They were coming. He could feel it in the air. The hairs on the back of his neck raising in warning. His eyes keyed to see any tell tale movement. Nothing had shown up, but he knew the ASF was on it’s way. Those assholes hadn’t been communicating with Santa Claus, that was for fucking sure.
He thought that if she was going to break, it would’ve been when both of their lives were in immediate danger, or facing the sight of Esker’s and Amy’s cruelly mauled bodies. Not when they were relatively safe. But it didn’t come as a complete surprise. He’d seen soldier’s face down the scariest shit ever, then go nuts once their blood pressure, and the danger, went to a lower level. Strong at the time of the greatest pressure, but weak later on.
He recognized that under the annoyance was also a little bit of uneasiness. Had his life finally caught up with her? Broken her? Had the essence of evil that seemed to pervade his existence wormed it’s way into her heart and soul? Was the strongest person he’d ever known brought down by one loss too many? The straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Coming to a stop, he leaned on the wall and rested his forehead against it. Confident she couldn’t see him. The night, Hell, the weeks!... catching up to him. Zar’s break down the catalyst for the cracking in his own heart.
Her soft weeping was getting to him.  The mild anger and impatience evaporating in need to comfort and console the woman he loved.
In the moment outside the cantina when he decided to run, with her, he knew it was going to be rough. And to be honest with at least himself, the idea of leaving her behind had popped up. Old habits again.
He’d had harder escapes. But with only himself to think of. Now he had Zar. A very emotionally beaten Zar. She was as much a target as he was judging by the tactics of the two killers. Anyone and everyone giving him the least advantage had to die. The message was clear.
Being emotional now just wasn’t going to cut it. Wasn’t going to get them out this situation. Time was running out. They had to get to the mines. Once there it would be easier to hide. Take advantage of the hidey holes the ran through out the various tunnels.
The wall where he was resting his head vibrated slightly. Unnoticeable to most, but a dead giveaway to his Profearaben enhanced senses.
They were here.
Crouching down, he rested his finger tips against the floor. Slow seconds ticking by as he tried to gauge how close, how much time.
Maybe ten minutes behind he and Zar. Way too fucking close for comfort!
Moving silently to her softly weeping form he cautioned himself not to just yank her and run. Though that was exactly what his instincts were screaming at him to do.
She looked so defeated slumped against the wall. Knees drawn up to her chest, head held in hands while soft sobs tore through her.
But there was nothing he could do now. Just hope to keep them alive long enough to deal with her grief later.
“Zar, we have to go. They’re coming. Come on...get up!”
She knew he was trying to be gentle as he raised her to her feet. Snapping her out of her tears with a soft shake. Could feel the barely held in check desire to run vibrating through him. And loved him even more for taking the precious seconds to let her get her bearings.
“Okay. I’m ready.”
Linking hands, they started to run. The need for distance out weighing the need for quiet. His long strides forcing her to run twice as fast to keep up.
She could hear them behind her. The sound of soldier’s boots slapping against the corridor floor. They too had given up stealth. The knowledge that their prey was within minutes of being captured encouraging them to push harder.
Suddenly Richard took a sharp left. She could see a lighted set of bars at the end of the corridor. Beyond it she could just make out the rough walls of a mine entrance. It was unmanned, which meant it was abandoned.
Reaching the bars, Richard yanked futilely. Swearing at the endurance of the old bars. Spotting a control panel to the right he quickly punched it. Bloodying his hand the smashed cover. His fingers danced as they tried to bypass the locking mechanism. Knowing there were only a few precious minutes before the attack team was on them.
A part of his mind contemplating the impossible as he feverishly worked. He might have to kill her. Better him breaking her neck than being torn apart by the ASF. And that would only be after she was forced to watch his equally ugly death at their hands. Would she hate him for it in her last seconds of life? Or would she understand?
The questions became moot because suddenly the bars slid back. A smile of hope crossed his lips. The first in hours. It felt good to have hope. Something his woman had taught him.
“We’re in. Hold on a minute. I’m going to leave a little surprise for them.”
He didn’t notice that she didn’t respond.
Going through the doorway he again smashed open a cover to the matching control panel on the other side. Fiercely concentrating on the wires. Knowing he had little time.
Zar watched him from where she still stood on the finished side. 
She loved him so much. He’d brought, by far, more good into her life than bad. At least she felt so. He probably didn’t.
It would rip her heart from her chest to leave him. But it would be only a temporary pain. Death by the ASF would ensure it’s brevity.
Because she knew as surely as she breathed that she would get Richard killed if she stayed with him. They could die painful death’s together, or she could give him time to get away and die by herself. She refused to lose another loved one. For once, she would die for them. Maybe that was the breakdown in the corridor had been about. Her heart convincing her soul what needed to be done.
As she walked towards the open doorway, Richard flashed her a quick determined glance.
Her hand shook as she gently pushed at the closing mechanism.
The bars separated them now. The living and the soon to be dead.
Richard cursed as the door slammed shut, “Fuck! I’ll get you out, just hold tight.”  Thinking he had somehow tripped the closing mechanism, he worked frantically at the panel’s wires. Grateful for Zar’s calmness.
The panel suddenly exploded in sparks and smoke. Small flames shooting from the charred wires.
Panic set in his heart instantaneously. She was trapped!
Going to the bars he grabbed them in a frenzy, yanking with all his great strength. Praying to God and whoever else wanted a piece of him to let the doors fucking open!
Just don’t leave her at the mercy of the ASF!
Her small hands closed over his stilling his efforts. Meeting her eyes was one of the hardest things he ever remembered doing.
But they weren’t filled with fear, they were filled with love.
It was then he knew. She’d done it on purpose. Cut them off from each other so that he could escape. Setting herself up as a bloody distraction for the ASF.
“God! Why?! Don’t you trust me to get us out of this? I’ve been through fucking worse Zar!”
She could hear the soldiers now. They had maybe five minutes before they arrived.
Reaching her hand through the bars, she carressed his face. Glad to be able to touch one last time. Promising herself that as she drew her last breath, it would be with the memory of this moment in her mind and heart.
“It has nothing to do with trust. I’m not stupid Richard. I know I’m going to get you killed if I stay. You can get away so much better with out me. If you’re honest with yourself, you know I’m right. And I’d rather die than help them kill you. Other than Beth, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me. And I wouldn’t have traded the last two years for anything. Thank you, my love.
“Now, go! Get out of here. There’s nothing you can do. And I don’t want to you to see...”
Silent tears began to fall from her eyes. Ripping him apart so that he leaned his face into her hand. His chest heaving, burdened with unshed tears that would never come.
She was sacrificing herself for him. Just like Carolyn Fry. What could he possible be worth for two people to be willing to make the ultimate offering? When Carolyn had died he found a chance of redemption. If this was God’s way of moving him further along into the human race, he didn’t want the fucking favor.
A part of him said stay. Die with her. But another part of him, the part that managed to keep him alive through numerous missions, escapes and attacks told him not to be a fool. The part that had made him survive even when he thought he wanted to be dead. It told him ‘Don’t let her death be for nothing.’
Reaching through the bars, he brought her face to his. Kissing her violently. Hoping to seal the taste and texture of her on his brain forever.
The soldiers were at the end of the corridor. In thirty seconds they would be at the doorway. He had a few precious moments to fill up with memories for the rest of his God forsaken life.
She pulled her face from his hands as she felt the soldiers running approach. “Go! Richard, for pity’s sake, go!”
“Stop! Don’t move by order of the Alliance Security Forces!”
Like a ghost he drifted back from her. His shining eyes never leaving her face as the darkness ate him up. He back stepped until he was sure the blackness would be impregnable.
Stopping only to watch as they swarmed over her. Her precious body surrounded by black uniforms, soon disappearing altogether.
Only closing his eyes and turning his back when he heard her scream.
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CHAPTER 8