“They just saved our lives, Sergeant, and I don’t see any other option. Do you?” Sophie asked. She knew that sometimes the best way to convince a hard-headed person to do something was by putting the question back on them. If he didn’t have an answer then he would have no choice but to agree.

“Shit,” Overton said in a defeated tone. “You go first, I’ll close the lid.”

She didn’t argue, and began the descent. Overton watched her go, stealing a glance over his shoulder. “I don’t fucking believe this,” he mumbled under his breath. “Saved by ankle biters.” He chuckled and shut the lid, blinking his night vision back on as he descended into the darkness.

Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

THE boys led Overton and Sophie down some sort of maintenance tunnel that jutted out in several directions. They followed one of the passages to what appeared to be a dead end. It wasn’t until the larger boy trained his flashlight on a door clearly marked Storage that Sophie realized this was where they had been hiding.

The room was littered with empty cans and trash. Several filthy blankets sat bunched up in the corner next to a stack of bottled water.

Sophie eyed the precious liquid curiously, wondering how the children had survived so long without being captured by the Organics.

They had beaten the odds—odds so stacked against them that their survival was more miracle than luck. In a mathematical equation, their chances would have been called statistically insignificant.

Overton shut the door behind him and broke the silence. “Who are you?”

“You first,” the larger boy said. He rested his flashlight on the ground and slid his gas mask off, revealing a face no more than nine or ten years old.

“I’m Marine Sergeant Ash Overton, and this here is Dr. Sophie Winston with the NTC.”

The boy eyed them both suspiciously before turning to help the smaller child remove his gas mask. “I’m Jeff, and this is my little brother David.”

“Are you here to rescue us?” David asked, his brown eyes full of hope.

“Actually, we came here for another reason,” Sophie said. Checking the radiation gauge on her HUD, she unclasped her helmet straps and pulled it off, managing a smile. “We came for the spaceship.”

“I told you, it’s gone,” Jeff snapped.

“Yes, you did, but do you know where it went?”

“What’s it matter?”

Overton slid off his helmet and approached the boy, stopping less than a foot away. The Marine towered over him. “Just answer her question.”

The boy held his ground. “You don’t scare me.”

“Really? Because this is me being nice.”

Sophie put her hand on Overton’s shoulder and gave him a slight tug. “They saved our lives.”

“That doesn’t give him a free pass to show me attitude,” Overton said, but he retreated a few steps.