Planet X
"Oh god." Hope looked down at the green goo covering her hands, eyes widening in horror. "Oh god. Oh god, oh god, ohgodohgod--"
"Hope!"
She stopped mid-panic at Gideon's shout, but still stared at her hands. She was afraid of germs, and germs were invisible. This...this was definitely visible. And gooey. And all over her hands.
Then one hand was yanked from her sight, Gideon gripping the wrist to start running. Hope would either have to run along with him to get back to the pod or stick around to get eaten, and he devoutly hoped she took the former route.
She stumbled, but she managed to make her feet cooperate as they bolted across the foreign landscape back to the escape pod. She didn't know what that creature was that had exploded in goo when Gideon had gotten it with the blaster, but it had definitely had giant teeth. Judging by the shrieking sound coming from the forest it was definitely not the only one, and it was getting closer all the time. Had they escaped the flames that engulfed their ship only to meet a still messier death on this unknown planet?
"Hey Hope!" Gideon shouted as he dragged her along at a dead sprint.
"What?!"
"Just in case we don't make it..."
"Don't say it!" she shouted after him, both of them still running as hard as they could.
"But--"
"NO!" she insisted. "I am not dying with this stuff on my hands!"
So much for making sure she knew he loved her. Gideon pushed it a little harder, his lungs burning with the effort. If he couldn't tell her now, he'd just have to make sure they lived long enough that he got another chance.