by Caryn Lix
On the feed, Alexei glanced directly at the camera, and a slow, unpleasant grin crossed his face. A moment later, flames engulfed the screen, so vivid and distinct we all jumped. The rest of the vid was a mess of static.
Priya approached the cells. “The lock’s melted on this one,” she announced grimly.
Great. The others were wandering around the ship somewhere. “We have to reach them.” And not just because I needed Reed to help Dad. If they didn’t realize what they were dealing with . . . My friends had powers, courage, but these aliens were stronger and more terrifying than the ones on Sanctuary.
“No argument here. Where do you suggest we start looking?”
Matt and I exchanged careful glances. “Rune can access the system,” I said at last. “I think they’d head straight for the armory.”
“Then we’d better find them,” Hallam replied grimly. “Because that’s on the first floor, where you think the attacks originated. And there’s a hallway of aliens between us and them.”
The four of us hesitated momentarily, none of us in a hurry to move despite the need for haste. Were the aliens lingering outside? I wondered if I could use my new powers to help us. The others seemed to be out of range, but Priya, Matt, Hallam—they had abilities too.
Priya’s words echoed in my head: for now. I sized her up, debating how far to trust her. She’d turned on me before, the second we escaped the aliens. Chances were she’d do it again. I set my jaw. If it became a matter of life and death, I’d reveal that my powers were changing too. Until then, the less they knew about my abilities, the better.
Priya sighed and nodded to Hallam, who withdrew a laser rifle from its holster across his back. “Ever fired one of these?” he asked me.
I stared at it for a moment, then set my jaw and took it, my hands only trembling a bit. No more regrets, I reminded myself. Make your choices and move on. “I can manage,” I said, carefully avoiding Matt’s gaze even as it burned into my neck. I didn’t need telepathy to know where his thoughts must have traveled.
He nodded. “Shoot at one of us, even by accident, and I will kill you.” The emphasis on “accident” made it clear it wasn’t a casual reference. “You got it?”
A thousand replies sprang to mind, but I settled for, “Yeah, I hear you.”
“Good.”
We turned to face the door, and Priya grinned unpleasantly. “Then let’s kick some alien ass.”
FORTY
I LET LEGION TAKE THE lead as we stepped into the hall. Say what you wanted about them, they were good. Professional. They’d lost two teammates in as many hours, but you’d never know it by Priya’s and Hallam’s expressions. Matt hadn’t quite mastered their inhumanity, and twitches of emotion kept clawing their way into his eyes, but he resolutely stanched them. Trying to live up to his new friends, muttered a sarcastic voice inside my head.
Hallam crept into the hall first, big gun at the ready. He glanced both ways. “Clear,” he whispered.
We followed. Finn’s body was nowhere to be seen, but a massive splotch of red marked where he’d fallen. I tried not to stare.
The aliens had left the bodies where they’d dropped in the command center. Why drag Finn away? He was an anomaly, of course. Maybe they continued to harvest after all? But even as the thought occurred to me, I dismissed it. Anomaly or not, no way Finn had survived four sharp blades through the chest. His lungs, his heart, all must have punctured instantly. They’d taken the body for some other reason, even if only to mess with us. Had they done the same to the bodies on Obsidian? Or were they piled together somewhere like the command center, someplace they’d thought was safe and gathered for protection? I shuddered at the thought.
Priya and Hallam ducked into the medical center we’d recently cleared, swinging their lights around before leading us in. The alien bodies remained motionless on the floor. “Looks clear,” Priya whispered. “But no guarantee it’ll stay that way. Keep close. Hallam, grab a med kit from the cupboard, just in case we need it before we find the healer.”
Hallam had given me a shoulder light like the ones Legion wore. Strapping it to my body left my hands free to hold the laser rifle. I gripped it tightly, terrified of dropping it. More terrified of having to use it, in spite of my new resolve. Matt lingered behind me, and I was very conscious of his gaze.
We advanced carefully through the facility, no aliens in sight. Where were they? They must have known we’d gone into the holding cells, but they hadn’t followed us. Because the holding cells were reinforced more strongly than the rest of the ship? Because we didn’t represent enough of a threat? Or because something had distracted them?
My feet itched to run, but I let Hallam and Priya set the pace. They moved as silently as Mia, their training impeccable and absolute. I glanced at Matt. “Hey,” I whispered, barely more than a breath. It was still enough to earn me a glare from Hallam.
Matt hesitated, then drew a bit closer. “What?” he mouthed, his expression not inviting confidence.
I lowered my voice even further. “I’m starting to understand things a bit better. None of us are in normal circumstances. So, whatever Legion did to you, whatever Omnistellar did to you, I just want you to know that I forgive you for turning on us.”
He gaped at me in disbelief. “You . . . forgive me?”
“Yup.” I forced a smile. “I’m not blaming you or saying we didn’t deserve it. I’m just saying that I get it. You made a choice. You protected your family. You survived.”
Matt scrubbed a hand over his face. “They ripped me apart, Kenzie,” he said quietly. “In just a few weeks they dismantled my body and my mind. I was unconscious until a day before we arrived at Obsidian. I hardly know what happened. But when I woke up, all I could remember was that sense of betrayal . . . and Legion. Somehow, they’d been fused in my head. I know it’s not real. I know I’ve only known them for a few hours. But . . .”
I nodded. “That’s how Omnistellar works. They need you loyal, so they go into your brain and make you that way. Just be glad they didn’t make you loyal to them.”
He met my gaze, his eyes wide and wounded, for the first time without even a trace of anger. “Why didn’t they?”
“I don’t know. Not enough time, maybe? Too much of a stretch? They needed the others physically present to bind you? We can ask Priya about it later.”
“We?”
I shrugged. “If you want. You’re not on your own, Matt. You don’t have to forgive us. You don’t even have to like us. But if you need us, we’ll be here for you.”
“Look, let’s just . . . let’s get through this, okay?” He bit his lip, clearly shaken, and something in me jostled loose. Whatever Omnistellar had done to him, they hadn’t destroyed him. And that meant that neither had I. “We can talk about it on the other side.”
I appreciated his confidence that there would be another side. “Deal.”
“Will you two shut up?” hissed Priya over her shoulder.
We shut up. But I felt better. Whatever happened, whatever he’d been through, the Matt I knew lingered beneath the new facade. It gave me hope that everything would be okay, that we’d find the others, save my dad, get off this ship alive. How, I didn’t know. There had to be shuttles. Where had the aliens come in? Maybe we could escape the same way.
We reached the opposite side of the med facility without incident. Priya and Hallam carefully eased the door open and, finding the hall empty, beckoned us through. All four of us crowded onto the circular lift, although Hallam had to lean against Priya and angle his gun upward to make it fit inside the tube. We ascended in the same total silence, even without risk of the aliens hearing us. In the enclosed space, our lights seemed intensely bright. I closed my eyes against them, not wanting to have to readjust to the darkness when we arrived at the top.
The disc settled into place, and I opened my eyes. The upper corridor looked exactly as I’d left it. “Where’s the armory?” Priya murmured.
“Opposi
te corner.” As far from us as possible. “My dad’s in an office right down the hall.” I knew we needed to get to Reed fast, but it had been a long time since I’d left Dad. I kept seeing him in vivid detail, limp against the carpet. “Can we check on him? Make sure he’s stable before we find the others?”
Priya hesitated, exchanging glances with Hallam, then nodded to me to take the lead. She stayed right on my heels, and for once I appreciated her presence. Legion had an imposing, competent air that made me feel we might have a chance.
Of course, they’d already lost two of their members. That was worth remembering. Who else was dead? I spared a thought for Obsidian. Alexei’s uncle Grigori, Cage’s contact and her people, the little girl I’d seen in the marketplace, Liam . . . was everyone on the station gone? Horror raced through me as I imagined their last moments, especially Liam’s. I’d never figured out who he was or what he wanted, but the aliens were his worst nightmare come to life. If he had died, I hoped it was quick. If he hadn’t, I hoped he’d escaped, no matter what he’d done to us.
My skin crawled as we passed the closed command center. I suspected other areas of this ship, areas with large concentrations of people like the downstairs dormitory, were equally gory. I had no desire to find out firsthand.
We reached the office without incident. I swiped Dad’s omnicard, stepped inside, and stopped short.
Dad was gone.
“I left him here,” I said, panic lending volume to my voice. “Right here. He was hurt. He couldn’t have moved far, not by himself.”
Matt gently pushed me aside and crouched where I pointed. “There’s blood on the carpet,” he said to Priya. “No trail or anything, though.”
“He couldn’t have moved without help,” I repeated, staring at the empty space as if I might will him into existence. “I never should have left him. I should have . . .”
“What?” Priya demanded, her tone gentler than I expected. “Sat here with him in the dark and waited for a monster to attack you?”
“I don’t . . .”
“If the aliens got him, there’d be more blood. He probably woke up and dragged himself to a more secure location.” She glanced around the room. “Nowhere to hide in here. Our best bet is to stick to our original plan. Find your friends. The girl who talks to computers can locate your father.”
My head jerked up. “Matt,” I said. I hated to ask him for any favors, but . . . “Does your power still work the way it used to? I mean . . .”
“I know what you mean,” he said softly. “I’ve been looking for other human life off and on since we discovered the command center. That’s how we found you.”
“And? Do you sense anything now?”
He frowned. “Yes. Something. Someone. Farther along this corridor. I can’t tell how many or who, though. The aliens always messed with my abilities.”
“That’s it?”
“No,” he replied, but very slowly. “Kenzie, I really can’t say for sure. I think . . . there’s someone in engineering.”
Hope sparked in my chest. “It was empty when I checked earlier.”
“And now it maybe isn’t. I don’t know.”
Something clattered in the hall, and we all jumped to attention. Hallam jerked his heavy gun toward the exit and scowled. “This is getting us nowhere. Priya, what are your orders?”
She glanced at me, at the closed door, at Matt, but her expression never changed. “Engineering is right across the hall, but it’s big and full of hiding places. It’s safer once we have reinforcements. We’ll stick to our original plan and check the armory. If nothing else, we can upgrade our weapons.” She raised a hand, forestalling my objection before my lips even formed the words. “We’ll head to engineering after.”
It looked like she expected me to argue, but she wasn’t wrong. Part of me didn’t know where I wanted to head first, anyway. My father seemed like my last link to my old life, but my friends were my family in so many ways now. It was almost a relief to have the decision about who to save first taken from my hands. “All right,” I said. “But let’s hurry.”
No sooner did the words leave my mouth than a shriek filled the air. The floor exploded into jagged metal and, not ten feet in front of me, an alien leaped into the room.
FORTY-ONE
IT CLAWED ITS WAY THROUGH the scattered remnants of the floor and vaulted easily into the office, howling and snorting. In the same instant, Hallam opened fire. Bullets tore past me and I instinctively dove to the side. Matt must have done the same because we wound up lying on the floor shoulder to shoulder, arms thrown over our heads.
The bullets tore through the creature in a messy, horrific display. It screeched at the top of its lungs, flying against the wall, a mess of holes and goo and sinew, before crumpling in a heap.
“Almost out!” Hallam shouted, checking his ammo count.
Alien screams echoed below. “Run!” Priya ordered.
The door wasn’t locked, and I didn’t need to scan the card to open it. We bolted, Matt in the lead, me on his heels, Priya and Hallam bringing up the rear. I heard her squeeze off a few shots and an answering scream. More of the creatures must have attacked. They weren’t even bothering with subtlety now. They were literally tearing the ship apart in an effort to destroy every last one of us. And from there—what? Mars was closest. But Earth was undoubtably next. I pictured everyone I’d left behind, Anya and my cousins and Jasper’s family, and my blood ran cold.
It wasn’t enough to survive this. We had to stop them.
“Kenzie, come on!” Matt grabbed my arm and dragged me after him, and I realized I’d slowed, turned toward the creatures. Three of them stalked into the hallway. Priya and Hallam weren’t firing, only running, and they shouted for us to do the same. But where were we going? What could we do? What possible hope did we have?
The answer appeared in a blast of flame and light as someone shimmered into view right in our path. “Get down!” Alexei roared. We threw ourselves forward, and a burst of fire lanced over our heads. An alien yelp answered.
Wind rushed past me: Cage. I twisted just in time to see one of the aliens’ heads fall from its body, and Cage appeared on its far side, now with a long, sparking ionic blade in his hand.
The other two aliens were badly burned but still standing. They shrieked, and Cage burst into action again, but this time when his blade struck home, the alien braced its arms, shielding itself somehow. The blade clattered from his hand and Cage, with nothing to check his speed, smashed to the floor and skidded at least twenty feet. Alien claws clashed down behind him, missing him by inches.
Mia and Jasper appeared in front of Alexei. The sudden illumination from the emergency lights strapped to their shoulders almost blinded me. Mia held a laser cannon almost as big as Hallam’s gun, and her eyes narrowed in intense concentration. Jasper raised his hands and chunks of wall came loose. The light spaceship material wasn’t enough to damage the aliens, but he swept it around them, striking them, knocking them off balance, interfering with their senses. At the same instant, Mia opened fire. The force of the recoil knocked her off her feet into Alexei’s arms, but her aim was true. Both aliens screamed as the laser roasted their flesh and shriveled their bones.
And then, as suddenly as it had started, it was over. We were alone. I was on my feet before I’d even fully registered that the aliens were dead; I raced down the hall and collapsed at Cage’s side, rolling him onto his back. “Cage!” I shouted. “Cage!” Memories assaulted me: Cage, bleeding and unconscious on the floor of Sanctuary, the gashes in his stomach angry and red, and the utter terror of facing the creatures without him.
He moaned and opened his eyes. A strangled sob escaped my lips, and I collapsed against his chest. His arms surrounded me, hesitant and weak but gaining in strength every second. I pulled him to a sitting position and cradled him against my shoulder, and he cupped the back of my head. Every second we’d wasted flooded back to me. Why had I doubted him, doubted myself? “This wh
ole thing has been so stupid,” I whispered, pulling away to stare into his dark eyes. “Cage, I’m so sorry. I never—”
He cut me off by kissing me, apparently indifferent to our audience. His hand was firm against my neck, and I dragged him forward, returning his kiss with every ounce of passion and strength inside me. After weeks of near touches and awkward silences, the walls crashed down between us, a crescendo of something I’d never felt sweeping me against him with almost terrifying power, as if we were one person clamoring to rejoin our shattered halves.
“Oh God,” announced Mia loudly. “You two realize you’re making out in a pool of alien goo, right?”
We broke apart and grinned at each other, but a veil of tears blurred my vision. I blinked them back. An encounter with death has a way of prioritizing matters. “I’m sorry,” I repeated.
“You have nothing to apologize for.” He brushed my hair behind my ear where it had come loose from its braid. “If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. I owe you explanations. I—”
I kissed him again, just once, quickly. “Let’s do this later.”
“That might be a plan,” he agreed, and I helped him to his feet. As we rose, he snatched the ionic blade from the batch of alien goo and swept it into a sheath along his back.
We turned to face the others. Priya, Matt, and Hallam had picked themselves off the floor and faced off against Alexei, Mia, and Jasper. No one lowered their weapons—or, in the case of Alexei and Jasper, their hands, which shimmered with energy. Flames sparked at the edges of Alexei’s fingertips. Rune, Imani, and Reed stood behind them, their relief palpable. Seeing everyone again brought home how desperately I needed them. I’d always thought I could do everything on my own. Not anymore. And the weird thing was that I didn’t even care.
Of course, before I could fall over myself and tell them I loved them, I had to stop everyone from killing one another. “All right, children,” I announced loudly, forcing my unfamiliar rush of emotion beneath my more characteristic Omnistellar mask. “You want to put the guns down before someone gets hurt?”