When she opened them again, she wished she hadn’t.

Standing where the Marines had been were dozens of Spiders and three of the Sentinels. They surrounded her on all sides, their heads tilted, studying her.

Scratch. Scrape. Scratch. Scrape.

The Spiders lurched at her, their claws coming within inches of her exposed flesh. She tried to scream, but nothing came out. Her eyes widened as she realized she was paralyzed.

One of the Sentinels slithered forward, flinging metal tables out of its path like a child tossing aside toys. Several of the Spiders screeched in protest, scrambling out of the way.

Sophie’s ears throbbed with pain. She closed her eyes again, desperately pleading for the Organics to go away. When she opened them the Sentinel was towering above her, licking its thin black lips with a long, blue tongue. The creature tilted its head as if it were studying her, the pair of reptilian-like eyes blinking rapidly. Then its mouth cracked into what looked like a wicked smile full of jagged black teeth.

Luke had mentioned that some of the Organics were smarter than the others. Was this one of their leaders?

Sophie didn’t know. She didn’t care. All she could think about was escape. She tried to move but she was still paralyzed, her limbs frozen against her sides. Her eyes were locked with the Sentinel’s gaze. And then something took over her mind. Images raced through her subconscious. Hundreds of them. She saw the world from above—first Paris, then New York and Tokyo, and finally Moscow. The cities were filled with thousands of glowing orbs.

New images flooded her mind: long stretches of desert, as far as the eye could see. Speckled throughout were what looked like boats, and the bones of some sort of animal.

It only took a second to recognize the skeletal outline was that of a whale. She knew she was looking at what had once been the ocean.

The image disappeared and was replaced by a mountain range. Above the tree line, the rock was dry, void of any ice or snow.

Next she saw dried-up riverbeds and lakes. She saw dying forests with naked branches pointing toward the cloudless sky. The images continued, and she felt tears welling up in her eyes, unable to blink them away.

Why was she seeing these things? Why her? Why now?

The questions were replaced with more images. More death, more emptiness—a world void of life. No humans, no animals, no trees. Nothing.

She screamed inside her mind, and the scenes finally vanished. When she opened her eyes, the Organics were gone. She was back in bed with Emanuel.

He was shaking her violently, whispering so he didn’t wake anyone else.

“Sophie, wake up! It’s just a dream!”