We couldn't go home. Couldn't go to the police. Couldn't go anywhere that felt even remotely safe.
So we drove nowhere in particular, just moving. The air inside the car was thick with tension, the kind that settles in your bones after a near-death escape. None of us spoke. Adrenaline kept us alert, but underneath that rush was the slow, creeping fog of exhaustion.
Hours passed. We couldn't keep driving forever. Eventually, we had to stop, not just to rest, but to breathe, to think, to feel the weight of everything that had just happened.
By the time we pulled into the small roadside motel, the sun had long since dipped below the horizon. The world was dark, smeared in the amber glow of tired headlights and the flickering buzz of a half-dead neon sign that read: Blue Moon Inn. The "e" in "Blue" sputtered like it was gasping for air.
The lobby was lit by a single overhead bulb. A middle-aged woman sat behind the counter, smoking like she didn't care if the building caught fire. Her eyes didn't even flicker when we walked in.
"Rooms are thirty bucks. Cash," she said flatly, exhaling smoke through her nose.
Liam peeled off a few damp notes from his wallet and passed them over. She slid two room keys toward us on a rusted metal tray.
"Room 107 and 108. No noise. No guests," she muttered, eyes already drifting back to her phone.
We didn't say thank you.
Delmar took one key and gently placed a protective hand on K'liira's back. She was trembling, half-conscious. Her skin had lost its glow, her breath shallow. As soon as Liam unlocked the door, Delmar led her straight into the bathroom and turned on the tap.
The bathtub was small and stained, probably hadn't been properly cleaned in years, but it didn't matter. Delmar eased her inside the cold water, and she slumped into it like her body had been waiting for this moment to collapse.
K'liira's eyes rolled back, her limbs twitching slightly. She was barely holding on.
"What's happening to her?" I asked. My voice came out hoarse, low, like something caught in my throat.
Liam hovered near the doorway, his expression bleak. "She's in estrous," he said. "And it's... unnatural. She needs a proper body of water, or a beta to help her through it. Without either, her body is shutting down."
Delmar said nothing. His jaw clenched tight, and he just kept watching her like he was willing her to stay alive through sheer willpower.
After a long silence, Delmar finally asked, "How far is the nearest ocean shore from here?"
I frowned, confused. Why was he asking that now?
"She won't make it unless we get her to the ocean," he said quietly, answering my thoughts before I could speak.
Liam checked his phone. "Two and a half hours. Maybe three."
"Can we drive there?"
"I don't know. HMORC has probably already alerted every nearby precinct. For all we know, we're already fugitives."
"There's an off-road route," I suggested, voice barely above a whisper. "It won't be on any traffic cams. It'll be rough, but... it's better than watching her suffer like this."
We all sat near the tub, silent. K'liira made soft clicking sounds, delirious, her head lolling side to side, her hands twitching. The sound of her distress echoed through the motel room like a dying signal. I couldn't bear it.
Delmar placed a hand on my shoulder. "Go take a shower in the next room. You need to freshen up. Get something from the vending machine outside. We'll be leaving soon."
I nodded and left, barely aware of my own feet moving.
The water was cold and sharp when I stepped under the shower. I stared down at my body now fully human again. The transition had stripped away more than skin and muscle. It had taken certainty, safety, belief. I didn't know who or what I was anymore.
I had wanted to call my mother. But I knew it wouldn't help. Her lies didn't surprise me. Dad's did.
That betrayal stung deeper than anything else.
When I stepped back into the room, Liam was sitting on the edge of the bed surrounded by packets of chips and biscuits.
"This is for you," he said softly. "Eat something while I shower. We'll leave in half an hour."
I sat numbly, chewing dry biscuits with water just to silence the ache in my stomach. Then I grabbed some snacks and returned to the other room. Delmar was sitting cross-legged on the floor beside the tub, his hand gently trailing through the water around K'liira.
I handed him a packet.
He shook his head. "No, thanks."
I hesitated. "Are you feeling okay?"
Delmar finally looked up at me. His eyes were rimmed red with fatigue, but there was something else there something softer.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "Are you?"
I didn't answer right away. Because I wasn't sure.
But I nodded anyway.
After Liam returned from his shower, looking a little more grounded but just as exhausted, we all knew it was time to go.
We checked out of the motel without a word, slipping into the night like ghosts. The truck's engine rumbled back to life, and we drove south, the darkness folding around us like a blanket of smoke. The streets were quiet, the city asleep or maybe just pretending not to see.
At a small, flickering gas station miles down the road, we stopped to fill up the tank. Liam got out, stretching, and began fueling up while I stepped inside the convenience store to grab some water.
That's when I saw it.
The TV bolted high on the wall inside the station was tuned to a local news channel. The footage was grainy, but unmistakable. My ID. Liam's too. HMORC had leaked our profiles lab IDs, full names, even grainy surveillance stills. The headline ran in red across the bottom of the screen:
"STOLEN SPECIMEN: DANGEROUS LAB MATERIALS MISSING. CATASTROPHIC RISK IF UNCONTAINED."
My blood ran cold.
I turned and sprinted back outside, heart hammering against my ribs. "We need to leave. Fast."
Liam looked up sharply, alarmed. "What happened? Did someone see us?"
"Worse," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "We're on the news. They've made us out to be thieves. If anyone recognizes us..."
Liam didn't need convincing. He jumped behind the wheel, and we sped off, tires spitting gravel. A few miles down the road, we veered onto a dirt path, following GPS coordinates on the burner phone. It was rough, the kind of road that shook the bones loose and tested every bolt in the truck. But it took us somewhere no highway patrol would be waiting.
Three long hours later, we reached the coast.
The sky was beginning to bruise with the first hints of dawn, and the wind off the Gulf was cold and sharp with salt. There were no houses nearby, no boats, no boardwalk just an endless expanse of dark water lapping against the sand.
Delmar didn't wait. He cradled K'liira's limp body in his arms and rushed toward the water. She was burning up, her body trembling in his grip.
"I have to go with her," he said, breathless. "I don't know how far the nearest Faringue settlement is. It could be miles too far for her to survive alone in this state."
I stood frozen on the shore, waves lapping at my ankles. The ocean stretched endlessly before us, dark and unknowable. My legs felt like they were made of stone.
Delmar turned back, his voice cutting through the hush.
"Kash."
I looked up.
"Do you want to come with me?"
I turned to Liam instinctively, needing someone, anyone, to help me make this decision.
"If you're worried about me," Liam said, stepping forward, "don't be. I knew what I was getting into. I have people in Mexico who can help me disappear. I'll be fine."
My eyes drifted back to the water. The ocean felt bigger than I'd ever imagined. I had never learned to swim. I had always feared deep water. And now... now it was the only place left that might accept me.
Delmar laid K'liira gently on the sand and walked toward me, slow and steady, like he knew I was about to bolt.
"Years ago," he said softly, "I lost you. I had no words then. Nothing to hold you back. But now... I'm asking. No, I'm telling you to come with me."
His voice trembled with emotion raw, unguarded.
"You thought these people were your kind. But they betrayed you. The only place I can protect you now... is in the water. Let me keep you safe, Kash. Just for a while. And if you want to return if this world is what you still choose I swear to you, I will bring you back. I'll give you whatever life you want. Just trust me... now."
The surf licked at my feet, cold and insistent.
I looked at him really looked and felt the pull of something I couldn't name.
I took a deep breath, the air thick with salt and change, and nodded.
"Okay," I whispered. "I'll come with you."
***
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