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Back Containment
Chapters (48)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. ONE
  4. TWO
  5. THREE
  6. FOUR
  7. FIVE
  8. SIX
  9. SEVEN
  10. EIGHT
  11. NINE
  12. TEN
  13. ELEVEN
  14. TWELVE
  15. THIRTEEN
  16. FOURTEEN
  17. FIFTEEN
  18. SIXTEEN
  19. SEVENTEEN
  20. EIGHTEEN
  21. NINETEEN
  22. TWENTY
  23. TWENTY-ONE
  24. TWENTY-TWO
  25. TWENTY-THREE
  26. TWENTY-FOUR
  27. TWENTY-FIVE
  28. TWENTY-SIX
  29. TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. TWENTY-NINE
  32. THIRTY
  33. THIRTY-ONE
  34. THIRTY-TWO
  35. THIRTY-THREE
  36. THIRTY-FOUR
  37. THIRTY-FIVE
  38. THIRTY-SIX
  39. THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. THIRTY-NINE
  42. FORTY
  43. FORTY-ONE
  44. FORTY-TWO
  45. FORTY-THREE
  46. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  47. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  48. Copyright
Document

I’d seen death before but, for the most part, it was . . . clean. The kids who’d died on Sanctuary mostly died in the clear goop the aliens used to preserve them, no signs of visible injury. I’d seen the result of my own gunshot at Matt, and I’d seen what the aliens did to Tyler, but that was nothing, nothing, to an entire room of eviscerated people. And I’d never been great with even small amounts of blood. The carnage behind me . . . I was amazed I was still conscious.

I sat against the wall, staring at the closed door to the command center. I should go back in there. Search the bodies for weapons. Access the computer system and try to learn what had happened. Find the holding cells. Something.

But I couldn’t move. I couldn’t return. I simply couldn’t. After all, it wasn’t like their weapons did the ship’s crew much good. If I survived, it probably wouldn’t be because I’d shot my way out of the situation. And I’d hesitated on Obsidian. I wasn’t the same with guns, not anymore. Maybe not ever again.

I swallowed hard, glancing down the hall to where Dad rested behind a door: my last link to a normal life, to my family. The last person from Omnistellar I’d thought I trusted. If I left him alone here and the aliens returned . . .

But if I stayed with him, I had no hope of protecting him. At least unconscious, he’d be silent. His only hope was if I found him help.

Where else could I go? I glanced behind me, at the big door indicating the entrance to engineering. I could access the computer system there. But what if I found another massacre?

I dropped my head to my hands and forced myself not to hyperventilate. Those people were dead. I couldn’t help them. But my father and, I hoped, my friends were still alive. If the aliens had killed those people, and I had to assume that was the case, even though I’d never seen them attack like that before, then they were cleaning house, and I didn’t have much time. And on the off chance that it wasn’t the aliens, I had even less. It put a time limit on the driving need to figure out what was going on and who was responsible.

Either way, I couldn’t keep sitting here.

I willed my legs to move. At last I managed to stagger to my knees. That seemed to give me some strength. Gripping the wall, I pulled myself to my feet and then, much more cautiously than before, I opened the door to engineering.

THIRTY-SEVEN

I PLASTERED MYSELF AGAINST THE wall and held as still and silent as possible. The room lacked windows. A solid wall ran the length of the corridor, so I couldn’t even peek inside. But when nothing screamed or lunged or attacked, I risked peering around the corner.