Red Run by Viola Grace

Sophie Redding is one of the few humans to have dodged the evacuation of the shapeshifting Sethen . She is on a journey to the Northlands, in a ridiculous outfit and on foot, leaving a trail a mile wide.
    Commander T'bir is in charge of cleaning out the towns and villages to let his people's city rise from the ground. When a detachment of trackers is unable to capture the human in the red dress, his interest is piqued and he goes on the hunt. Capturing this human may be the tipping point for his people, and her own.

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    Red Run
    Copyright © 2011 Viola Grace
    Cover art by Martine Jardin
    All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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    Red Run
    A Trapezium Exclusive
    By
    Viola Grace

    Sophie Redding carefully darted through the open space between ruined buildings. The Sethen had returned and the planet’s lease was up. The colonists were being evicted by a race that only existed in legend.
    Despite the reports that everyone had been rounded up in the north country , there was still a chance that her grandmother was safe. Sophie was on her way to find out.
    She took a deep breath and cursed the fates that had her in a risqué red party dress that her roommate had nagged her into just before the attacks started. Her body must stand out like a flare in the darkness to anyone who saw it. Hopefully, there wasn’t anyone looking.
    * * * *
    “ Oy , T’bir . We have a loose human in sector six.” N’lien chuckled. “Based on these scan results, she is female, fairly young and moving very fast for a woman on foot. Shall I send out a hunting party?”
    “For a woman alone? Send out two men.” Commander T’bir frowned at the screen. It read heat and scent, nothing more. “Have them report to me when they have her.”
    “Jos and M’dal will be happy to track her. Do you want her back here alive?”
    T’bir sighed. “Of course. We are evicting these humans from our prime hunting grounds, not killing them outright. They are to take all precautions.”
    N’lien nodded and relayed the order to the trackers. “And bring her back alive. We don’t want any more accidents. ”
    The trackers confirmed the orders and set out. T’bir watched the monitors when he could, in between filing reports and making arrangements for the colonists to either leave Harosh or be confined to a large island in the western hemisphere.
    The Sethen had returned to their hunting world only to find that the humans had ignored the warnings and beacons and colonized anyway. It was a good thing they had only been here a hundred years or so. They had barely had time to make an impact on the eco system.
    The trackers were nearing the runner now. She would be caught and that would be one less human in their territory.
    T’bir sighed, he was getting a premonition that it would not be that simple.
    * * * *
    Sophie gasped and tried to still her breathing as much as she could. She was being followed, hunted. The howls that were following her were unnerving to say the least,