His question was met with silence.

Finley jumped up and rushed toward the monitor. “Hey, do you see that?”

“What?” Bouma asked.

“That,” Finley said pointing at a slowly moving dot on the screen.

“Bouma, zoom in,” Overton ordered, pulling his chair over to the monitor.

In the middle of the screen, a Humvee was racing down the cluttered highway, zipping in and out of the graveyard of empty vehicles. The headlights tore through the darkness, illuminating hundreds of blue glowing balls.

“What the hell are those?” Finley asked.

“Fuck, I thought those were emergency lights,” Overton said, squinting to get a better look.

“Well, what are they?” Finley asked again, anxiously looking over the sergeant’s shoulder.

“Guess we’ll find out,” Overton replied. He scanned the grainy image for some sign of his squad. They had to be out there. An entire squad of Marines didn’t just disappear overnight unless they wanted to. And if he knew General More like he thought he did, the man wouldn’t just leave him in the bunker without orders.

“Bouma, download a map from the mainframe before that generator burns through its juice. We’re busting out of this death trap.”

The skinny Marine grinned, his crooked teeth protruding out of his mouth. “Yes, sir!”

CHAPTER 11

THE Humvee tore down the gravel road, a cloud of dust exploding from under the massive off-road tires. Sophie gripped the steering wheel as if she was holding onto a buoy for life. She steered hard to the right to avoid an empty minivan parked in the middle of the road and roared past it.

“Where are we headed?” Saafi asked.

“Haven’t figured that out yet exactly,” Sophie said.

“I want to check out the orbs,” Emanuel shouted from the back seat. “That’s our first objective.”

Sophie took a left and slid out onto the highway that led to Colorado Springs, kicking up another cloud of dust. “All right, keep your eyes peeled.”

The truck zipped over the street, its headlights illuminating the empty vehicles on all sides.

“Must have been a massive evacuation,” Saafi said, staring out the window. The empty streets reminded him of Somalia, where it was common for the government to shut down entire roads.

“But from what? I don’t see any sign of fires, and radiation levels are still minimal,” Sophie said. “In fact, I don’t see a sign of anything or anyone.”

The emptiness was eerie. She’d hardly had the time to think about it after they left the biosphere. But now it was beginning to eat at her, and as Cheyenne Mountain slowly shrank in the rearview mirror, she felt a sense of uneasiness crawling through her.

Sophie tore herself away from the mirror and stared ahead, admiring the silhouettes of downtown Colorado Springs. The outlines were oddly beautiful. Without lights, the buildings looked like metallic pyramids.

“There!” Emanuel shouted. “Watch out!”

Sophie slammed on the brakes, narrowly missing one of the floating orbs. The smell of burning rubber filtered into her helmet.