The first Mog laughed. “Perhaps we can solve both problems,” he said. “Let them out and they can hunt down the human.”
The second Mog joined in the laughter. “The creatures will never get out of here anyway. Let them die down here after cleaning up.”
They left the room, still laughing. Nemo turned to Max. “What did they say?”
“They said we’d better find that way out, and fast,” Max said. Then he translated the rest of the conversation for her.
“I don’t even want to know what these beasts are,” Nemo said. “If they’re anything like that thing in the lake, they’re bad news. And we don’t have any weapons. I say we get the hell out of here.”
They left the lab, but not before Nemo located a discarded bag that she put the jar containing the mysterious bug thing into, making it easier to carry. The Mogs were nowhere to be seen and she and Max crept down the hallway, alert for any signs that they weren’t alone.
“Lava said there’s one elevator that goes all the way to the top,” Max told Nemo. “Maybe we can get in it and just ride out of here.”
“If we’re lucky,” Nemo said.
They weren’t. When they located the elevator doors and pressed the button, nothing happened. Whether it was because the power was mostly out or because the elevator had been disabled was impossible to tell. Not that it mattered. The end result was the same.
“I guess it’s the stairs, then,” Nemo said.
They went in search of the stairway. The door to it was wide open, and they began the ascent to the next floor. They were halfway there when they heard a roar.
“What was that?” Max said.
“Nothing good,” said Nemo. “Come on!”
They hurried. Below them, the roaring continued.
Nemo reached the next floor first. She slammed her hands against the door. It didn’t move.
“Is it locked?” Max asked. He tried pushing with her. The door rattled, but stayed closed.
“Forget it,” said Nemo. “Let’s go to the next floor.”
They went up. At the next landing, they hit the door hard. Again, it didn’t move. Max beat on it with his fists, as if this might help. “Now what?” he wailed.
“Try telekinesis,” Nemo said.
They put their hands up. A moment later, the door rattled.
“Push harder,” Nemo said.
The door rattled again, and this time it buckled. But only a little. The lock was holding.
“Keep trying!” Max urged.
As if they were mocking him, the things coming after them bellowed.
Nemo shook her head. “There’s no time. These doors are too strong. If we can’t get one open, we’re trapped in this stairwell with whatever is coming up behind us,” she said. “I don’t like our odds.”
“What other choice do we have?” Max asked.
“We go back down,” said Nemo.
“What? Those things are down there!” Max cast a glance down the stairs.
“If they haven’t gotten to the floor we were on yet, we still have a chance,” said Nemo. “Once they get us in here, we don’t.”
Before Max could argue, she turned and started back down the stairs. Max gave the door one more hard shove, then kicked it angrily before following her. Going down was at least easier, but every step also brought them closer to whatever the Mogs had unleashed.
When they reached the floor they had started on, Nemo was first into the hallway. Max was right behind her, but ran into her when she came to a halt in the middle of the hallway.
“What?” Max said.
“We need to go back,” Nemo said. Her voice sounded strange.
“Back where?”
“Down,” said Nemo. “We have to go down. Now.”
Max looked around her. When he saw what was in front of them, his heart nearly stopped.
The creature was difficult to make out in the dim light, but what he could see was enough. It looked like a massive snake. Its lower body was coiled, and the top part rose up with three rows of appendages on either side, arms that ended in clawed hands. The body was topped with a grotesque head that could only be described as dragon-like. Its jaws were open, revealing long sharp teeth. Its eyes glittered a greenish yellow.
The thing roared.
Max wheeled around and ran back through the stairwell door. Nemo was right behind him. Their feet pounded on the stairs as they went down.
“I know this door is open,” Nemo said breathlessly. “I came through it earlier.”
They came to the door and Max went through with a sense of relief. Then his feet slipped on ice that covered the stairs. He slid down the rest of them and landed on the floor. Nemo was beside him a moment later, helping him up. He didn’t have time to ask her what had happened there before the sound of the monster following them filled the air.
Nemo held his hand, steadying him as they ran down the ice-slicked hallway. When they came to the first open doorway they went inside. They were in a large room filled with various kinds of mechanical equipment, all of it encased in skins of ice.
Nemo walked around, looking for something, and Max noticed that she was limping. He also saw that she was leaving dark footprints on the ice.
“You cut yourself,” he said.
Nemo looked down. “Great.”
“What if those things can smell blood?” Max asked. “Or are smart enough to follow footprints?”
As if in answer, the now-familiar roaring came from behind them. Even more disturbing, it was answered by another roar, this one coming from somewhere else. The creature was calling a companion.
“Could this get any worse?” Max wailed.
A roar answered him as a creature rose up from behind one of the frozen machines.
“Apparently,” Nemo said as the thing slithered over the machine, its claws snapping in the air.
Max and Nemo turned to run out of the room, only to find the doorway blocked by one of the other beasts. They stood back-to-back as the two creatures began to circle them. Somewhere in the hallway, the third roared its approach.
The eyes of the monstrous things glowed, as if finally cornering their prey excited them. Their mouths opened and closed as their scaly snake bodies scraped across the ice in the frozen room, filling the air with a sound like rustling leaves. Max felt the jar in Nemo’s backpack pressing against him, and shuddered. There were horrible things everywhere.
One of the creatures suddenly darted towards them, its jaws open. Max lifted his hands and hit it with a blast of telekinetic energy. It was a weak attempt, but enough to startle the oncoming monster and stop it. It stayed where it was, rising up in the air and hissing.
“That’s right!” Max shouted at it. “Get back!”
In answer, the thing struck at them again. This time Nemo and Max both held up their hands and blasted it. It fell back, then resisted and started coming at them again. The other monster began to roar, as if urging it on.
“You take that one!” Nemo shouted.
Max whirled, facing the beast. It was fewer than fifteen feet away, and its body was easily that long. If he couldn’t hold it off, it would be on him in a matter of seconds. Max tried to focus his energy, imagining a wall of power between him and the thing.
“It’s not working.” Nemo gasped. She sounded exhausted.
“Keep trying!” Max said.
The beasts surged forward. Max pressed back against them. But his energy was faltering. The monster was getting closer and closer. He heard Nemo grunting as she attempted to keep the one she was fighting from reaching them. He wondered how much longer they could continue.
All of a sudden, a scream pierced the air, a roar of pain and agony. The two creatures in the room hesitated, turning their heads. There was another roar, then silence.
“What was that?” Max said.
“You need to speak to them in their language,” a voice said.
Nine entered the room. He stood behind the monster that Max was
facing. Now the thing turned its huge body and stared at him. Nine held up his hand. “Attack your friend over there,” he said. “Kill him.”
The snake thing turned and looked at its companion. It opened its mouth and roared. Spittle flew from the jaws.
“You two might want to get out of the way,” Nine called out.
Max and Nemo didn’t hesitate, scurrying away from the monsters as the one Nine had ordered to attack obeyed the command. They stood beside Nine and watched as the thing slithered forward and sank its teeth into the other creature’s neck.
“I’m guessing they’re poisonous,” Nine said. “The one I told to bite itself died pretty quickly.”
The two creatures were writhing around, their tails wrapped around each other and their claws ripping and tearing at one another. Thick, dark liquid spurted from the wounds, and where it touched the ice, steam rose up in acrid puffs. Max covered his nose.
“Let’s go,” Nine said. “I don’t think breathing that is the best idea.”
They left the monsters to finish their battle, walking down the outside corridor. Nine seemed to know where he was going, and Max followed eagerly, relieved both to be away from the horrible creatures and to see Nine.
“How did you get away from the thing in the lake?” Nemo asked, sounding as relieved as Max felt to see Nine alive.
“Easy,” Nine said. “I tore its heart out. From the inside.”
“Wait,” Nemo said. “You mean it swallowed you?”
“Just for a minute,” Nine said. “Watch out for the blood.”
“What bloo—,” Nemo said, the word cut off as they turned the corner and she sidestepped to avoid the thick puddle on the floor. One of the snake things lay dead in the hallway. Its teeth were embedded in its own tail.
Nine pushed past it, with Nemo and Max behind him. When Max’s hand touched the scaly skin, he recoiled.
“Where are we going?” Nemo asked.
“Out,” Nine said.
“Back through the lake?” said Max, suddenly very worried.
“No,” Nine answered. “There’s another way. A friend told me about it.”
“What friend?” Nemo asked him.
Nine stopped and pointed. In the hallway ahead of them was another body. It was a Mog.
“Him,” Nine said. “He had a lot of useful information, actually, including where everyone who was here has gone.”
“Where’s that?” Max asked.
“Later,” Nine said, kneeling down beside the Mog. “You’re going to have to help me carry him.”
“He’s not dead?” said Nemo.
“No, he’s not dead,” Nine answered. He sounded offended. “What kind of monster do you think I am?”
“I didn’t mean—,” Nemo began.
“I’m kidding,” Nine interrupted. “I totally would have killed him. But he might have more information. Now, come on, before he wakes up.”
Max and Nemo helped lift the Mog, taking his top half while Nine wrapped his one arm around the Mog’s feet. Nine started walking, with the two of them struggling to keep up.
“I thought you said we weren’t going back in the water,” Nemo said as they headed towards the stairs that led to the air locks.
“We’re not,” Nine said. “Well, not exactly. We’re not swimming.”
“Then what are we doing?” Nemo pressed.
Nine stopped. He dropped the Mog’s feet, then touched something on the wall. A panel slid open. Nine looked in. “Good,” he said. “The Mog was telling the truth. Take a look.”
Nemo and Max set their end of the Mog down and walked to the doorway. Peering inside, they saw a small room. In the center was a round metal ball about six feet in diameter. A single glass window was set into the side.
“What is it?” Max asked.
“That,” Nine said, “is our way out. Now hurry up and get in. We have some friends to rescue.”
EXCERPT FROM GENERATION ONE
THE WAR MAY BE OVER—BUT FOR THE NEXT GENERATION, THE BATTLE HAS JUST BEGUN!
DON’T MISS THE START OF THE SERIES SET IN THE WORLD OF I AM NUMBER FOUR.
CHAPTER ONE
KOPANO OKEKE
LAGOS, NIGERIA
THE WEEK BEFORE THE INVASION, KOPANO’S father, Udo, sold their TV. Despite his mother’s fervent prayers for his father to find a new job, Udo was unemployed, and they were three months behind on rent. Kopano didn’t mind. He knew a new TV would manifest soon. Football season was coming and his father wouldn’t miss it.
When the alien warships appeared, Kopano’s whole family crowded into his uncle’s apartment down the hall. Kopano’s first reaction was to grin at his two younger brothers.
“Don’t be stupid,” Kopano declared. “This is some bad American movie.”
“It’s on every channel!” Obi shouted at him.
“Be quiet, all of you,” Kopano’s father snapped.
They watched footage of a middle-aged man, an alien supposedly, giving a speech in front of the United Nations building in New York.
“See?” Kopano said. “I told you. That’s an actor. What’s his name?”
“Shh,” his brothers complained in unison.
Soon, the scene descended into chaos. New York was under attack by pale humanoid creatures that bled black and turned to ash when they were killed. Then some teenagers wielding powers that looked like special effects showed up and began to fight the aliens. These teenagers were only a little older than Kopano and, despite the madness their arrival had created, Kopano found himself rooting them on. In the coming days, Kopano would learn the names of the two sides. The Loric versus the Mogadorians. John Smith and Setrákus Ra. There was no question who the good guys were.
“Amazing!” Kopano said.
Not everyone shared Kopano’s enthusiasm. His mother knelt down and began to pray, feverishly muttering about Judgment Day until Kopano’s father gently escorted her from the room.
His youngest brother, Dubem, was frightened and clung to Kopano’s leg, so Kopano picked the boy up and held him. Kopano was short and stout like his father, but well muscled where his father was paunchy. He patted Dubem’s back. “Nothing to worry about, Dubem. This is all far, far away.”
They stayed glued to their uncle’s TV day into night. Even Kopano couldn’t maintain his good cheer when the footage of New York’s destruction was played. The broadcasters showed a map of the world, little red dots hovering over more than twenty different cities. Alien warships.
His father scoffed when he saw the map. “Cairo? Johannesburg? These places get aliens and not us?” He clapped his hands together. “Nigeria is the giant of Africa! Where is the respect?”
Kopano shook his head. “You don’t make any sense, old man. What would you do if the Mogadorians showed up here? Hide under the bed, probably.”
Udo raised his hand like he would slap his son, but Kopano didn’t even flinch. They stared at each other until Udo snorted and turned back to the TV.
“I would kill many of them,” Udo muttered.
Kopano knew his father to be a boastful man and an unrepentant schemer. It had been years since Kopano responded to Udo’s big talk with anything but scornful laughter. However, Kopano didn’t so much as chuckle when his father talked about killing Mogadorians. He felt it, too. Kopano itched to do something, to save the world like the guys he’d seen fighting at the UN. He wondered what happened to them. He hoped they were still out there, fighting, turning maggot-aliens to dust.
The Loric. How badass.
The second night of the invasion, Kopano stood outside on his uncle’s veranda. Never had Lagos been this quiet. Everyone was holding their breath, waiting for something terrible to happen.
Kopano went inside. His brothers and uncle were still blearily staring at the TV screen, watching horrific reports of a failed Chinese assault on a Mogadorian warship. His father slouched in an armchair, snoring. Exhausted, Kopano collapsed onto the futon.
He dreamed of the planet Lo
rien. Actually, it was more like a vision than a dream, the whole thing unfolding like a movie. He saw the origin of the war that had traveled to Earth, learned about the Mogadorian leader Setrákus Ra, and about the brave Garde who opposed him. The saga was like something out of Greek mythology.
And then, suddenly, he awoke. But Kopano wasn’t on his uncle’s futon in Lagos. He sat in a massive amphitheater alongside other young people from many different countries. Some of them were talking to each other, many were frightened, all were confused. They’d all experienced the same vision. Kopano overheard one boy say that a moment ago he was home eating dinner, he’d felt a strange sensation come over him and now here he was.
“What a bizarre dream this is,” Kopano remarked aloud. Some of the nearby kids murmured agreement. A Japanese girl seated next to him turned to regard Kopano.
“But is this my dream, or your dream?” she asked.
Then new people appeared out of thin air, all of them seated at the ornate table in the room’s center. Everyone in the audience recognized John Smith and the other Loric from TV and YouTube. Questions were shouted—What’s going on? Why did you bring us here? Are you going to save our planet? Kopano stayed quiet. He was too in awe and he wanted to know what his new heroes had to say.
John Smith spoke to them. He was confident in a humble way. Kopano liked him immediately. He told them—the humans sitting in the gallery—that they all had Legacies.
“I know this seems crazy,” John Smith said. “It also probably doesn’t seem fair. A few days ago, you were leading normal lives. Now, without warning, there are aliens on your planet and you can move objects with your minds. Right? I mean . . . how many of you have discovered your telekinesis?”
A lot of hands went up, including the Japanese girl’s. Kopano looked around, jealous and disappointed in himself. These other kids were learning telekinesis while he was sitting around watching TV.
A glowing Loric girl at the table with a strangely echoing voice displayed a map of Earth with locations marked. Loralite, a stone native to Lorien, now grew in these places. Those with Legacies—Human Garde, like Kopano was supposedly—could use these stones to teleport across the planet. They could join the fight.
The Legacy Chronicles: Raising Monsters Page 11