Forcing my heart to beat through my panic, I belly-crawled along the floor, the flashlight clutched in one hand. I dragged myself toward a nearby bed and wiggled into the space beneath it. The aliens screamed their horrible shrill cry. Hunt it. Contain it. Kill it.

I was pretty sure I’d liked it better when I didn’t understand them at all.

I sank my teeth into my lip and drew myself into a tight ball, folding my limbs in on each other, clutching the flashlight to my chest with trembling hands. I shook so hard the light cast the recesses of my hasty hiding place into sickly shadows, but I stayed completely still otherwise, even holding my breath as long as possible before drawing slow, silent gasps.

A tail swished past me. Then one on the other side. Their cries grew more agitated. They knew where I’d been, where I’d vanished, but they couldn’t find me. Not yet.

But they would. Sooner or later, I’d have to move, and these things were relentless. . . .

There was a soft swish. It took me a moment to register it as the sound of the door sliding open. Both creatures froze, their muscles tensing in anticipation, and an even brighter light than my own cut through the darkness. “Hey!” a man called. “Over here!”

The creatures screamed and leaped into the light. Gunfire ricocheted, so loud I dropped the flashlight and clamped my hands over my ears. That wasn’t a single gunshot. It was the sound of automatic fire, and maybe a laser blast mixed in for good measure.

It lasted less than a minute. Everything went quiet, and the light flickered around the room. “Come on out,” he called. “They’re dead.”

I closed my eyes. I recognized the voice now. My mind raced, searching for an alternative method of escape. I almost preferred the aliens.

“Keeeenzieeeeee,” Hallam sang, his voice teasing. “I know it’s you. Come on, girl. You really want to face more of those things on your own?”

“Don’t make us come after you.” That was Priya, clipped and tense.

I hesitated another moment, then shrugged. I didn’t really have another exit. If they came in here, they’d find me and arrest me. “Okay,” I said, surprising myself with a reasonably solid voice. “I’m coming. Just don’t shoot me.”

Hallam chortled. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

I didn’t take a lot of reassurance from that, but nonetheless, I rolled the flashlight onto the floor so I could keep my hands visible and crawled out after it. Arms spread, I picked up the flashlight and got to unsteady feet.

Hallam and Priya stood shadowed in the doorway, both wearing bright lights clipped to their shoulders, almost blinding me until they angled them away. Hallam held the biggest gun I’d ever seen. It looked like a rocket launcher, but something resembling ammunition dangled below it. Priya held a laser rifle. That I did recognize. It was one of the newer and deadlier models. Two other people hovered behind them in the hall. Finn and Matt, I guessed.