Book 2. Nine - The secret base 1

Book 2. Nine - The secret base 1
Zun and I spend a couple of hours by the waterfall, eating some granola bars, making small talk, and bathing before we put on our clothes and continue our search for Cax and Xak.
The tunnels and caverns seem endless, and we mark the ones we pass through, not wanting to go in circles. Hours pass, and we don’t find anything. We don’t run into more Yethari, which I’m grateful for, because those bastards are hard to kill, and a confrontation in one of the tunnels won’t end up good for Zun and me, but we also don’t find any clue that might help us track down Cax and Xak.
I’m getting more and more frustrated. Then the frustration turns into fear, and I hate this feeling. Fear makes people do stupid shit, and I need to keep my head clear so I can find my other two men. But I’m starting to get scared for Cax and Xak. Where did the Yethari take them, and why haven’t they shown up by now? I even urge Zun to leave messages for them on the stone walls, in the hopes that they will see them and track us down before we do.
Zun and I only stop walking when we are too tired to keep going. We take turns sleeping, not wanting to risk being caught off guard by Yetharis or any other creatures inside these tunnels. We have encountered some small creatures—some reminding me of moles, others of rabbits—but none were a danger to us. We even found some sort of berries, which Zun declared were safe to eat—spoiler alert: if you are a human on Azuron and find berries in caves, don’t eat them; it will feel like some nasty bug crawled up your ass, and you’ll spend hours hidden behind a rock in a dark tunnel, cursing the moment you decided to eat the damn berries, before almost having a meltdown because you ran out of toilet paper and used the last of your water to wash your ass. Zun, on the other hand, was perfectly fine. The berries only decided to make me their target. He spent hours telling me how sorry he was and that he would be more careful in the future, and that he would consult Lexi and Julia about what I can and can’t eat.
Despite the berry incident, I still think he’s cute. Especially when he randomly presses me against a wall and kisses me until we are both breathing hard. Each time he does that, my stomach fills with butterflies. Is it wrong to think that I’m falling in love with him?
I don’t know how long we roam these underground tunnels for, but we run out of food and fresh water, and we’re really hungry and thirsty by the time we find something that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“So’oks,” I hiss to Zun as we duck behind a passage that leads to a very large cavern.
From where I’m standing, I can see perfectly well the So’oks buzzing around in the cavern. They are building up a secret base here, on Azuron. The fuck they will. I’m going to make them watch as I destroy it, then kill them, one by one. If I feel generous, I might leave one of them alive and send him back where he came from with one message written clearly on his forehead—Stay the fuck away or you will be next.
Zun and I keep an eye on them for a while, until he proposes, “We need to return to the base and let General Radaalx know about the So’oks.”
That would be the logical step, but I’ve never been a logical person.
“What about Cax and Xak?” I inquire.
Zun hesitates before replying, “They will have to wait.”
He’s not wrong to say that, but it still angers me. Maybe because I need to find them, to know that they are alright. Not knowing if they are fine, alive, is driving me crazy.
“They can’t wait,” I hiss, sounding just as angry as I feel. “They come first, always.”
Zun clenches his jaw before nodding, agreeing with me. “What’s the plan then?” he asks quietly.
The time we’ve spent together, roaming like sailors from port to port, has allowed Zun and me to talk about ourselves and get to know each other better. I told him about my life on Earth when I was part of the Valkyries. It took him a bit to understand what a street gang is, but once he did, he reluctantly admitted that I might not need saving all the time. He still thinks I’m a damsel in distress, but we are making some progress.
He also told me about his home world and how men there are always taking care of their women. If you ask me, I think they are infantilizing the women, but if it’s what makes them happy, and as long as they are not harming anyone, there won’t be any judgment from my part.
I take my time replying to Zun because I don’t have a plan while I keep observing the So’oks. They haven’t spotted us, but we can’t stay here forever. Sooner or later, we will be discovered, and armed only with prehistoric weapons, as we are, we will for sure be captured, and this time, I don’t have Ziki to help me escape. I haven’t seen the little shit since I woke up on Azuron. I took care of him, gave him a name, shared my food with him, and he abandoned me. He’s probably found someone else to befriend. Whatever. It’s not like I wanted a pet in the first place.

I am about to tell Zun to turn back when several So’oks start wheeling in two metal cages. In one of them are three aliens that I don’t recognize, but in the other cage—
Nausea hits me.
Cax and Xak.
“No,” I hear myself say hoarsely.
My body moves before my brain can catch up with what’s happening, but Zun wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me away from the cavern.
I don’t fight him. I’m too shocked to do that. But inside, I’m raging. Screaming and kicking. Demanding Zun release me so I can save my other two men, but my mouth refuses to cooperate.
I might be in shock.
Zun takes me to a small chamber that we discovered not long ago. He gently sets me down and starts rubbing my back.
“All will be well,” he murmurs, but he doesn’t sound very convincing. “Just breathe for me, Kelari.”
It takes several minutes for the shock to wear off and for my body to finally start reacting, and I push Zun’s hands away as I jump to my feet. “We have to save them,” I croak.