Chapter 2

Karlie stared at the twisted metal pinning her calf to the dirt. Her breath hitched as she gripped the cold, jagged edge. With a guttural cry, she wrenched the shrapnel free, the sound of tearing flesh echoing in the quiet cave. Blood flared, hot and sticky, but she was no longer anchored. She dragged herself across the dirt floor until her back hit the cave wall again. The movement sent a fresh wave of agony through her leg, but she bit down on her lip until she tasted copper. She couldn't afford to pass out.

She focused on the blinking blue icon in her vision. With a thought, the Nexus interface expanded, filling her sight with holographic menus and inventory lists. Most of it was grayed out-locked or empty. But in the basic supplies folder, she found what she needed.

A single vial of basic nutrient fluid materialized in her palm. It was small, barely the size of her finger, and cool to the touch.

"Better than nothing." she whispered.

She fumbled for the injector cap, her hands shaking. She pressed the tip against her inner arm and hit the release. A burst of icy liquid shot into her vein. It spread through her system like weak tea, not enough to fill the gaping hole in her energy reserves, but enough to stop the trembling in her hands and clear the fog from her head.

She let out a long breath and turned her attention to the unconscious man.

Gavin hadn't moved. His chest rose and fell steadily, but his skin was still too pale. Karlie crawled over to him, her nose wrinkling at the smell of his wound. That purple-black discoloration was spreading, albeit slowly. It looked like a venom or some kind of necrotic infection.

She didn't have anything for that. Not yet. She pulled out the small first-aid kit from her inventory-some gauze, antiseptic wipes, and a bandage. It was primitive, but it was all she had. Before turning to Gavin, she hastily pressed a thick pad of gauze against her own puncture wound, securing it with a strip of medical tape. It was a messy, temporary fix, but it would stop her from bleeding out while she worked.

She then worked quickly on Gavin, cleaning the blood and dirt from around his wound as best she could, then wrapping it tightly with gauze. It wouldn't cure him, but it might slow the bleeding.

As she tied off the knot, Gavin stirred.

A low groan rumbled in his chest. His head turned on the dirt floor, his brow furrowing. Karlie froze, her hand still resting on his leg.

His eyelashes fluttered. Then, his eyes snapped open.

They were clear. The crimson was gone, replaced by a deep, dark brown. But the clarity lasted only a second before pain flooded in. He gasped, his body jerking as if he'd been electrocuted.

He tried to sit up, but the movement wrenched his injured leg. He fell back with a grunt, his hand shooting out to grab his thigh. His eyes darter around the cave, wild and confused, until they landed on Karlie.

He stared at her. His gaze traveled from her face, down to her torn shirt, to the bruises darkening on her shoulders and arms. The color drained from his face.

"I..." His voice was a ragged whisper, like sandpaper scraping stone. "Did I..."

He couldn't finish the sentence. The horror and self-loathing in his eyes were so raw that Karlie felt her own chest tighten.

She pulled her torn shirt tighter around her, instinctively shifting back a few inches. The fear was still there, a cold knot in her stomach, but it was mixed with something else now. He looked as broken as she felt.

"You were out of your mind." she said. Her voice was steady, which surprised her. "You attacked me."

Gavin closed his eyes. He swallowed hard, his throat working. "I'm sorry," he breathed. "I didn't... I couldn't..."

"It was the drugs," Karlie said. It wasn't a question. She had seen the signs, the fever, the loss of control. This wasn't natural. "Who did this to you?"

The question hit him like a physical blow. His eyes flew open, the pain shifting into something hard and cold. "Caprice," he spat the name. "My... former fiancée. She slipped rut-grass juice into my water. And when I was injured and vulnerable, she broke our contract."

He paused, his jaw clenching. "In this world, males experience a 'rut.' A period of intense biological drive. If not... calmed... by a female's energy, it drives us mad. She knew that. She left me to die raving."

Karlie listened, her mind racing. Unit 9 chimed in, feeding her data streams about the local biology.

Update confirmed. Host has arrived on Eden Prime, a high-energy primal planet. Society is female-centric. Males require energy symbiosis to stabilize during rut.

"So, I was your anchor," Karlie said flatly. "Your life raft. How lucky for you."

Gavin flinched. "I would not blame you if you left me here to rot," he said, his voice hollow. "What I did... there is no excuse."

Karlie studied him. He was lying on the dirt, battered and poisoned, looking at her with the eyes of a man who had already condemned himself. She thought about the leg wound, the unnatural color of it. Someone had tried to kill him, not just abandon him.

"Get up." she said.

He looked at her, surprised.

"I said, get up." She forced herself to her feet, her left leg buckling for a sickening second before she locked her knee. She hissed through her teeth as her own leg protested the sudden weight. "We can't stay in this cave. What's the nearest settlement?"

Gavin struggled to sit up, his face twisting in pain. "The Eastern Flame Settlement. It's about fifteen kilometers southeast. But..." He looked down at his leg, then back at her. "I am crippled. And you are... an outsider. They will not welcome us."

"Then we'll make them," Karlie said. She held out her hand to him. "Can you walk?"

He stared at her hand for a long moment, as if it were a lifeline thrown to a drowning man. Finally, he reached up and took it. His grip was weak, trembling.

"I will try." he said.

She hauled him to his feet. He swayed, throwing an arm around her shoulders for support. He was heavy, and the heat of his body was stifling, but she held firm.

"Let's go." she said.

They moved toward the cave entrance. The morning light was brighter now, illuminating the strange, red-tinged forest outside. The air was thick with the scent of alien flora and the sounds of unseen creatures.

Karlie looked out at the vast, unknown world. Fear coiled in her gut, but beneath it was a spark of determination. She had survived the end of one world. She would survive this one, too.

Beside her, Gavin took a limping step forward, his weight heavy on her shoulder. He looked at her, his expression a mix of wonder and gratitude.

"You are not afraid." he observed quietly.

Karlie snorted. "I'm terrified," she admitted. "But fear doesn't get you anywhere. Moving does."

She adjusted her grip on him and stepped out of the cave, into the blood-red light of Eden Prime.

As Gavin drifted back to sleep from exhaustion just outside the cave's threshold, Karlie reached for the corner of her vision, opening the Nexus interface again. A new, golden tab blinked, drawing her attention. The Trading Hub. A message from Unit 9 scrolled across her mind: Trading function unlocked. Scanning local environment for tradable assets to acquire high-level medical supplies. Karlie's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. She needed better medicine to fully cure that necrotic rot in his leg, and now she had a way to get it-if she could find something valuable enough on this alien rock to trade.