The boy looked up at them, sniffling. “You can’t hide from them. They’ll find you. They always find you.”

Sophie slipped into the brightly lit house behind Overton. She removed her helmet and peered up at the high ceilings, admiring the metal beams zigzagging across the living room. The entrance branched two ways, with a hallway leading to the rest of the first floor and a staircase leading to a second floor.

A middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair stood at the entrance to the hallway, scanning his guests through a pair of black shades. At his side was an evil-looking submachine gun with a banana clip extending halfway down his right leg.

He waited for Finley and Bouma to enter the house before he strolled over and closed the massive oak door behind them.

Overton took a step forward, offering his hand. “Thanks for sheltering us, sir. I’m guessing you’re the one who sent out that distress beacon?”

The man ignored the question, instead shaking Overton’s hand with a strong grip. “Welcome,” he said in a flat, monotone voice. “The name’s Luke, and this . . .” He waved his other hand, indicating his house. “This is my modern bunker.”

When he let go, he reached for his glasses and stuffed them in the breast pocket of his tan army fatigues.

“Forgive me for my earlier behavior. It’s been twenty-four hours since I’ve seen or heard from anyone. When those things first showed up, a few people escaped undetected. Mostly kids, but a few adults who found shelter. One of them caused me some grief, but I took care of him,” he said, glancing down at his firearm.

“What do you mean when you said they went ‘undetected’?” Sophie asked.

“Are you the NTC scientist?”

“Yes. Dr. Sophie Winston,” she replied, offering her hand.

“Well then, you should know, Doctor. Those things are here for our water. When they first came, they used some sort of device to suck the surface water up into their ships. I saw it myself; watched the sky turn a weird turquoise blue from my rooftop before I retreated into my granite bunker. It was the oddest thing I’ve ever seen, like it was raining but in the opposite direction. When I emerged, I investigated the frontage road and found one of those spheres. Inside was my neighbor, Hal Greene. I’m no biologist, but I put two and two together and figured they aren’t just here for surface water. They are here to exterminate us.”

Sophie stepped forward and looked the man directly in his hazel eyes. “Actually—and I mean this with all due respect—they aren’t here to exterminate us in the sense you may think. They aren’t just after our surface water. They’re after the water inside of us.”

Luke’s eyes widened and he swallowed the lump forming in his throat. “Shit. It all makes sense, then.”