At last she snapped into motion, sticking the revolver in her waistband. I grabbed my baling hooks. When I pulled the backpack on, she whipped her hockey stick free and twirled it expertly in her hands, the familiar little move bringing me relief I hadn’t expected and didn’t fully understand.

We ran.

I can’t tell you how long or how far, but eventually we heard no footsteps or crackling branches behind us. By the time we slowed, we were miles away, past the fork in the road and heading down the steep terrain of Ponderosa Pass.

Alex leaned against a tree and then slid to the ground, clutching her left leg. “I’m sorry. I need to rest. I was in that cage for two days.…”

I went back to her and gave her some water. Breathing hard, she sipped and sipped again. Then she lowered the bottle.

“You came for me,” she said.

“I did.”

I reached into the backpack, pulled out the black cowboy hat, and put it on. It made me feel closer to my brother. I felt like it might give me some of his strength, too.

Alex studied me, the hat. “Patrick,” she said. “Is he…?”

I realized she was taken before we’d returned from the hospital. “He’s okay. We got the oxygen tanks. He’s waiting for you.”

She tilted her head to the tree trunk and pointed her face at the sky, her eyes closed. “Thank God. And thank God for you.” When she opened her eyes, the relief was gone. “Chance, they were gonna implant me. Use my body as a shell.”

I’d never seen her look so young and lost, not even after her mom up and moved away.

“Why are they doing it?” she asked.

The sun worked through the pine needles, making the back of my neck tingle. I pictured those space suits that sealed up the Queen and the Drones from head to toe. Not an inch of exposed flesh.

“Maybe they can’t breathe on Earth or handle the environment here,” I said. “So they need to birth a new generation that can.”

She gave a faint nod, her eyes glazed. “Like there were two generations of Hosts. First the ones like Hank McCafferty who infected everyone else. Then the Mappers and Chasers.”

“Their plan keeps evolving step by step.”

“And they used our parents—my dad—to help. The people who are supposed to take care of us.” Her voice trembled. “They’re trying to live through us. Turn us into something else.” Anger burned in her green eyes. “Turn us into them.”

“Your dad,” I said. “Alex, listen—”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, standing up brusquely.