Chapters (48)
- Cover
- Dedication
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Copyright
She glanced at me, at the closed door, at Matt, but her expression never changed. “Engineering is right across the hall, but it’s big and full of hiding places. It’s safer once we have reinforcements. We’ll stick to our original plan and check the armory. If nothing else, we can upgrade our weapons.” She raised a hand, forestalling my objection before my lips even formed the words. “We’ll head to engineering after.”
It looked like she expected me to argue, but she wasn’t wrong. Part of me didn’t know where I wanted to head first, anyway. My father seemed like my last link to my old life, but my friends were my family in so many ways now. It was almost a relief to have the decision about who to save first taken from my hands. “All right,” I said. “But let’s hurry.”
No sooner did the words leave my mouth than a shriek filled the air. The floor exploded into jagged metal and, not ten feet in front of me, an alien leaped into the room.
FORTY-ONE
IT CLAWED ITS WAY THROUGH the scattered remnants of the floor and vaulted easily into the office, howling and snorting. In the same instant, Hallam opened fire. Bullets tore past me and I instinctively dove to the side. Matt must have done the same because we wound up lying on the floor shoulder to shoulder, arms thrown over our heads.
The bullets tore through the creature in a messy, horrific display. It screeched at the top of its lungs, flying against the wall, a mess of holes and goo and sinew, before crumpling in a heap.
“Almost out!” Hallam shouted, checking his ammo count.
Alien screams echoed below. “Run!” Priya ordered.
The door wasn’t locked, and I didn’t need to scan the card to open it. We bolted, Matt in the lead, me on his heels, Priya and Hallam bringing up the rear. I heard her squeeze off a few shots and an answering scream. More of the creatures must have attacked. They weren’t even bothering with subtlety now. They were literally tearing the ship apart in an effort to destroy every last one of us. And from there—what? Mars was closest. But Earth was undoubtably next. I pictured everyone I’d left behind, Anya and my cousins and Jasper’s family, and my blood ran cold.
It wasn’t enough to survive this. We had to stop them.
“Kenzie, come on!” Matt grabbed my arm and dragged me after him, and I realized I’d slowed, turned toward the creatures. Three of them stalked into the hallway. Priya and Hallam weren’t firing, only running, and they shouted for us to do the same. But where were we going? What could we do? What possible hope did we have?