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get home,” I said, trying not to sound hysterical.
    Darrios just nodded. “Okay,” he said soothingly, “Let’s get you safe first. Then we’ll figure out how to get you home.”
    I nodded, wondering how long it would take us to get where we were going. We walked in silence for quite some time, and then I remembered something.
    “Darrios,” I said quietly, knowing he was listening for an impending attack. “You told me about the...scabras, I think you called them. What about the vico, vio—”
    “The viocomen.”
    He hesitated, and then he explained, speeding up his gait as he spoke. “The viocomen are...well, they look more human, but they’re not. They’re savages. They’re bigger than humans, like the scabras, but they have human features except they have no body hair; no eyebrows, no eyelashes...nothing.” He hesitated again before continuing. “If one gets you, it will eat you...but not before...” He took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. “It’ll torture you first...for fun. And then it will eat you alive.”
    I stopped dead in my tracks. I didn’t even know how to wrap my head around this...around any of this. I swallowed and nodded, halfheartedly.
    “Trust me, Maggie, if they get anywhere near us, either one of them, we’ll know it. Stealth is not their strong suit.”
    Darrios took a step toward me and looked into my eyes. He squeezed my hand. “I won’t let them hurt you, Maggie...any of them,” he promised.
    “Why?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. “You don’t even know me. Why would you risk your life to save mine? Why did you?”
    Darrios stared at his feet, obviously uncomfortable with the question.
    “Why did you save me instead of that other woman...the blonde woman?” I asked.
    He looked into my eyes with such intensity I had to look away for a second. He answered me in a voice just above a whisper. “It’s what I do. I saw that thing running toward you and I couldn’t let you die. Not when I knew I could save you. I couldn’t save you both...and I was closer to you.”
    He shook his head and started walking again. I had trouble keeping up.
    “I don’t get it. Why risk your own life to save strangers? That sounds kind of foolish to me.”
    “Foolish? Maybe it is, but let’s not forget, you wouldn’t be here right now if I had your attitude. And I’m really good at it.”
    “Yeah, thank you for saving my life. You said you would keep me safe. I appreciate that and I get it. It’s what you do. I just want to know why you do it. Is it lucrative? Do you get paid a lot of money?”
    He laughed. “No, it’s definitely not about money.”
    As he turned, facing me, something flashed in his eyes for a second. I don’t know, rage maybe, regret? Then it changed to a raw pain.
    “Let’s just say I owe it to someone to kill every last one of those motherfuckers if I can.”
    The look on his face told me the conversation was over. We went back to walking and not speaking. The silence hung over us like a cold, wet blanket.
    I longed to hear something; birds chirping or insects buzzing, anything to make things a little less crazy, a little more regular. Something to take my mind off of my current circumstances.
    Darrios startled me when he spoke. “So, how old are you?” he asked.
    “Wow, that’s kind of rude, isn’t it?”
    Darrios laughed. “You’ve already mentioned that you thought I was rude.”
    “Fine, I’m twenty-five.”
    “Where are you from?”
    While it seemed strange to make small talk when strange, murderous beasts lurked in the shadows waiting to attack us at any moment, it soothed me somehow to speak about everyday things, normal things that didn’t involve monsters or death.
    “I’m from St. Louis, Missouri. Well, I was until we had to move to...well it doesn’t matter where. It’s a place where time stands still.”
    “You sound kind of bitter. It isn’t like you were kidnapped, right? I mean, you weren’t forced to move...”
    “No, of