“I think maybe we should get out of here,” Saafi replied, continuing to backtrack toward the Humvee, his gun shaking in his hands.

Sophie tried to think. She knew the orb could provide them clues about what was going on, but whatever was inside could put her team in jeopardy. It wasn’t a risk she was willing to take at this point, not without knowing more.

“Let’s get back to the truck,” she said.

Emanuel cocked his helmet toward her. “But—”

“That’s an order,” she shot back at him.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Saafi replied. He dropped his aim and went to take another step backwards, his leg hitting the bumper of a car. The impact made him stumble and his finger squeezed the trigger of the rifle before he could stop it, firing off a half dozen shots. Five of them blasted into the sky, but the sixth tore through the white skin of the orb, tearing a hole the size of a melon.

“Holy shit!” Emanuel screamed over the com, rushing to Saafi’s aid. He helped the man up and they turned back to the Humvee, where Sophie was already waiting behind the wheel.

“Give me that,” Emanuel said, grabbing the gun from Saafi’s grips.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

The Humvee’s horn tore through the silence.

“Turn around!” Sophie yelled into the com.

Emanuel saw the gaunt, pale face of what had been a man staring through the gaping hole in the orb’s shell.

“It’s human,” Saafi yelled. He took off running to help the man before Emanuel could stop him.

“Wait!” Emanuel screamed. “We don’t know—”

Saafi halted, frozen in his tracks a few feet from a puddle of blue goo that had spilled out from the orb, staring at the opening. Through the hole, a face looked back at him. Or what had been a face. It was hardly recognizable as human. The man’s skin clung to his cheekbones like a piece of plastic wrap. His eyes had shriveled into his eye sockets, and the irises were nothing more than small, black specks. Even from several feet away, Saafi could see every vein in the man’s face extending like cobwebs across his skin.

“Sir, we’re going to help you,” Saafi managed to choke out, his stomach lurching beneath his armor.

But the man did not seem to hear him. In fact, he didn’t even seem to notice Saafi. His eyes remained unmoving in their skeletal prisons.

Saafi screamed as Emanuel’s armored hand brushed his shoulder. “Jesus Christ, man. You scared the shit out of me.”

“What do you see?” Sophie asked over the com. “I can’t see anything from my location.”

Nothing but the hollow sound of her breathing echoed over the open radio channel. Saafi and Emanuel didn’t know how to respond. They stood staring at the man, oblivious to everything around them.

“What do you see?” Sophie repeated anxiously.

Saafi pulled his gaze away from the man and looked back in Sophie’s direction. “It’s a man, but he appears to be very, very sick.”