The creature’s head exploded into pieces, speckling his visor with chunks of blue skin and meat. Overton’s mind hardly had time to register the sound of gunfire. He hit the ground with a thud, still wrapped in the creature’s limp arm.

Crawling out from under the heavy limb, he pulled himself up and wiped the goo off his visor. Standing twenty feet away was Sophie, still gripping the pulse pistol tightly in her shaking hands. Overton considered yelling at her for taking the risky shot, but changed his mind. The doc didn’t have much sense when it came to keeping her ass safe, but she had moxie. Instead he scanned the area for more contacts. His HUD revealed no heat signatures.

He hunched over to pick up his rifle and strolled over to her at a leisurely pace. “Guess the device doesn’t work after all,” he said.

“Not necessarily. They didn’t attack until they saw us. I believe they also pick up on movement. When you stopped the Humvee, the drone disappeared. The device appears to distract and confuse them, but it only works if we aren’t moving,” she said, her hands shaking. “You know, I did just save your life. Some sort of thank-you wouldn’t be out of order.”

“Thanks, Doc,” he said sincerely, placing his hand over hers and slowly forcing her to lower the pistol.

“N-no problem,” she stuttered.

“Where did you learn to shoot?” he asked.

“My dad taught me when I was a kid,” she said. “He, uh, liked to take me to the . . . gun range.”

Overton ignored the obvious lie. “I thought I ordered you into the tunnel.”

“You did, but when I got there I realized I’d lost my gun. There was no way in hell I was going down there without a weapon.”

Overton cracked a grin and chuckled. “You continue to impress me, Doc.”

“Call me Sophie.”

With a nod Overton said, “All right, Sophie. Now let’s get the RVM and Alexia. We have a train to catch.”

Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

JAMIE stood on the metal bench next to Holly, attempting to braid the psychologist’s blond hair. “Why did the monsters come?” Jamie asked, so softly that Holly almost didn’t hear her.

Owen, leaning against Holly’s side, answered, “My dad said that there’s no such thing as monsters.”

“Your dad was right, Owen. There is no such thing as monsters. The things outside are just animals, but from another planet.”

“Animals? Like cows?” Jamie asked, her eyes wide and full of curiosity.

“Sort of like cows,” Holly agreed.

“Cows that want to eat us?” Owen said.

Holly bit her lip and scooted forward, searching for some way to salvage the explanation. “Well, we eat cows, and cows eat grass . . .”

“I’m hungry,” Jamie said abruptly, changing the subject as only a child could. She jumped off the metal bench and clutched her stomach.