With a thump the Jackal head falls out of my clawed exosuit's hand. In spite of the creaks and twitches due to the lack of adequate repair tools which Adel was responsible for, I bring home another kill.

"How darling!" Malithe cheers. "Now we just have to cure it to remove all the toxins."

"Malithe?" Saana quietly asks. "When should we tell her?"

Malithe looks back at her for a few seconds, sighing, then hanging her head.

"I-" she stammers. "Ach, we will have to tell them eventually," she mutters reluctantly.

As its doors open, flailing about, I exit the suit."What's the matter?" Adel and I ask in near synchrony.

Malithe takes a deep breath in, seeming very reluctant to say what she's about to.

"Much to my chagrin, we do not have the resources to accommodate the residency of all three of you."

"Even with our latest harvest?" Adel looks towards the bales and bales of Corsus stalks out the window.

"Yes," she shakily adds. "Primarily because of Lorianne."

I feel the blood rush out of my face.

"She simply eats too much, we cannot feed her."

Adel's stomach grumbles. She's losing a lot of the muscle she used to have.

"I don't know if this eases the sting," Philip enters the room, with the small gashes I left on his face still there, "You're a feisty lass. I still won't apologize for what I did, but you certainly humbled me. Have this," he hands a necklace of Jackal teeth. "We'd love to see you three again when our farm grows."

~~

"Lori," Adel mutters as I sit in the corner of the room.

"Why can't anyone understand?" I shout. "I guess science is beyond people, and I'm the fool to expect otherwise!"

"Look, that's beyond your control," she groans.

"So where the fuck do we go next? Back to Cauldron? And what are we going to do about the guns pointed at us?"

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"Who and why would anyone be after us?"

"The queen bitch Elin certainly would at least detain me, do you not think?"

Adel grabs me by my shoulders. I try to shake loose, but of course, fail to, before she throws me down to the ground.

She's not the gorilla she used to be, but still beyond me in might. Or maybe I just decided to give in.

"Lori, I love you more dearly than you probably love yourself, but look," she grabs my thin arm and places it to my face. "Does this look like the fighting arm you had just 7 months ago?"

I look back and forth at her and my arm, leaning my head back in defeat.

"Unless you have any ideas on how to tweak our genes or some shit, we need to find something to eat."

"What's stopping us from eating jackals?"

"So now you want to go back to that?"

"Better than going to Cauldron like a bunch of finicky cowards!"

I try to get up only to get slammed back down.

"Hey!" Philip barks.

As Adel and I wrangle with some kind of disorderly hand-grabbing game, Philip grabs me by the hair and pushes Adel to land on her ass. "I know yer' all upset but at least be so a bit more quietly, please?" He then lets me go. "Sorry we've not much to get ya back to the city. Perhaps bring a message to the leadership there that we could set up some kind of trade."

"We... kind of burned that bridge," I embarrassedly shrug.

"How so?" he asks.

"Used to be a TV celebrity. Left the job. Caused a big ruckus on my way out and cost the city a lot of money."

"In case you forgot," Adel quips, "Elin said you were welcome back whenever."

"I don't trust politicians."

"Money talks, otherwise she would have gotten rid of you already."

"No, she's leading me into a trap. I escaped this lifestyle for a fucking reason," I growl.

"Shh!" Philip snarls. "Both'a ya! Whatever plan ya makin', bickering like juveniles won't get ya there."

"This was all my plan, and she wants to backtrack!"

"Lori, you know how negotiable everything is there."

"I've negotiated with fate my entire fucking life!" I shout back. "What the hell do you expect to change if I go back there?"

"You'd be a highly regarded Chosen."

"Back into the expensive, comfortable prison we just worked to get out of."

"If you're so afraid of where I want to go, then I'll go the fuck alone," Springing up a bit too quickly from the floor, I grumble and stare her dead in the eye. "Even if I die trying." I blink as a headache rushes over me and I nearly faint for a split second.

Adel slowly sits down in surrender from the shouting match. Philip turns around and walks out of the room.

they both had enough of your shit, and aren't even bothering to tell you.

A stomach cramp sends me back down to my knees.

"Lori, I'm hungry too, I don't have the calories to squabble with you anymore," Adel groans.

I'd rather die than be weak, I suddenly remember saying.

Now it looks like I'll get both.