It wasn’t the same explosive thunder the bombs made; this sounded more like something heavy crashing to the floor in the distance.

But we’re alone on this level.

We’re supposed to be alone on this level.

We creep to the door leading out of the bridge—the last locked door on the cryo level. It opens from this side, but Elder’s smart enough to cram a chair in the door so it doesn’t lock again.

The hallway’s empty, the other doors all closed and locked. My stomach lurches—what if someone’s down here messing with the cryo boxes? What about my parents? I force myself to think despite my rising panic. My heartbeat is thrumming in my ears, urging me to race down the hall. But no—I take a deep breath. The chambers would make a glass-on-metal cracking sound, not that thunderous boom of metal-on-metal.

The cryo area is empty—except for the far wall. Black dirt and debris from the explosion litter the floor near the elevator. The doors have been blown off; they lie like fallen soldiers on the floor. But the elevator shaft is blocked off with another set of heavy, seal-locked doors.

“The gen lab door is open,” Elder whispers.

I nod. The four of us creep forward slowly. Elder steps around in front of me when I reach the door. I want to yank him back—I don’t need him to play the hero—but he stops dead in the doorway. I crash into his back.

“Doc?” he asks. His voice is surprised, but I notice the way his neck tenses and his fists clench.

Doc turns around slowly as Victria, Bartie, and I pile into the room behind Elder.

Behind Doc is the source of the crashing sound we heard earlier—Doc opened up the cryo tube Orion was frozen in, and the metal frame smashed against the floor.

“What are you doing?” Elder asks. I try to move around Elder so I can get a clearer view, but he throws his arm out, keeping me behind him.

“I knew you were here,” Doc says, tossing a floppy at Elder. Elder scans it and hands it back to me; Victria and Bartie look over my shoulder. The screen shows the wi-com locator map. Blinking dots indicate each of us on the level—Doc, Bartie, Victria, Elder . . . and Orion.

My mouth feels dry and tasteless. Orion. That’s my wi-com. Doc gave it to me just so he could keep track of where I was going.

“What are you doing, Doc?” Elder asks again. His tone is even, unnaturally calm.