My knees gave way, and I knelt there in the black, my hand pressed over my own mouth. The darkness, the silence, were getting to me. I was imagining sounds. Imagining the sensation of ghostly hands brushing my face. I reached out, trying for Rune’s powers, searching for a connection with the computer. Nothing. Either I couldn’t access her powers at all, or I was still out of range. Regardless, I was on my own.

You’re probably a quarter of the way through the room, Kenzie. You can do it. Come on.

I forced myself to my feet. Once I’d done that, it became easier to keep moving. I really hoped to find the emergency supplies along a wall. But if I reached the exit without finding them, I’d have to face the possibility that they were somewhere in the middle of the room. That meant stumbling through the dark without even the wall to guide me. Panic threatened to choke me, and I forced it down resolutely. One problem at a time.

I reached the med facility’s alternate entrance on the far wall. My heart beating a little faster, I pressed on. A few minutes later, I found a whole row of cupboards. I pulled the first one open and rummaged through it. Bandages. Small containers of medication. Sealed plastic crates, but none of them big enough to hold emergency supplies. At least, I didn’t think they were, and I didn’t want to mess with them in the darkness. What if they contained syringes or scalpels?

The second cupboard held more of the same, but in the third I found a large plastic crate on the bottom shelf. I eased the lid open and searched inside, my body sagging with relief as my fingers closed over exactly what I wanted: a light box with an elastic strap to fit over my wrist or skull.

But as I went to turn it on, a sound I hadn’t imagined reached my ears: the long, slow drag of something over the floor, followed by an extended hiss.

I wasn’t alone in this room.

THIRTY-EIGHT

I FROZE, CLUTCHING THE FLASHLIGHT, my heart seeming to stop altogether. Maybe the sound wouldn’t come again. But it did: the unmistakable drag of a tail over the floor.

My fingers fumbled on the flashlight. I pressed the button and light flooded the cupboard in front of me, so bright it stung my eyes and set my teeth on edge. Slowly, I released the button, not allowing it to make even the hint of a click. Just as slowly, I maneuvered into a kneeling position and turned around.

The creature stood on the other side of the med facility. It resembled the ones I’d seen on Obsidian, bigger and more menacing than the aliens we’d encountered on Sanctuary. Had they sent something stronger, darker, to hunt the monsters who stole their ship and killed the harvesters? The possibility sent chills down my spine.