Last night was his team’s fourth turn at cleaning the bathroom, marking the beginning of their fifth hellish week of training. It felt like a year had passed. Sometimes, he wished the damn Anunnaki would come so he could fight them, then they could all get some rest.

Shane huffed for air, leaning over with his hands on his knees. They’d just lost the flag-capturing game to the Israeli team. He was glad they’d won—it was their first time, and it was great to see them cheering and laughing. Winning had become relatively common for his team, and they didn’t celebrate anymore like they did in the beginning.

Petrov limped through the briars covered in paintball splatters, way more than was required to take him out of the game. People just liked shooting the dude, and everyone was becoming a better shot each day. Shane had learned the Russian wasn’t all bad, even though Shane still occasionally wanted to kick Petrov’s ass. He was just driven and would do anything to win. Who could blame him for that?

Like a dog in a muzzle, he still barked all the time, talking smack every chance he got, but he didn’t bite anymore. Shane guessed it was because the big Russian was scared of his team’s iron-fisted boss, Anfisa. Regardless, when they were in the simulations, Petrov was amazing. And out of all the flag-capturing games they’d played, he’d won four times.

The Israelis took turns waving their little red trophy as they led the way along the backside of the buildings toward the cafeteria and lunch. The rule was that the team who got the flag was first in line at the next meal. This was quite the reward, because Jones pushed them so hard that they were always hungry. The highest team on the leaderboard got to eat next, thus the Americans fell in behind the cheerful winners, who normally found themselves further back in the pack.

Lily stepped out of the egress between the buildings ahead. One of Jones’ clones was with her, and they wore black suits and worried expressions. She raised her hand in front of the Israeli team, stopping the procession.

Jones and Dr. Blain went forward and talked to them in hushed voices. Then the scarred alien straightened and looked at the teenagers, his brow furrowing.

“Listen up, people,” he shouted, climbing onto the side of the hill high enough for everyone to see him and helping Lily afterwards.

His somber tone capturing their undivided attention, the kids fell silent. Shane worried it was dread stealing the color from Lily’s tan complexion, but was also suspicious that this might be just another twist in their training. They’d been kept awake for seventy-two hours last week, so it couldn’t be much worse than that.

“There has been a new development,” she said firmly, scanning their faces. “We just intercepted a transmission from an Anunnaki ship. They are going to arrive a lot sooner than we expected. We must cut your training short and transport you to your respective landing sites.”

“What?” Kelly gasped.

“We’re not ready,” Liam exclaimed.

Infectious panic swept through the group. Although he did his best to hide it, Shane was not immune. His heart thumped in his ears, and the hairs stood on the back of his neck. He knew this day was coming, had even wished for it at times. Now that it was here, he felt wholly unprepared for it.

“Do not let fear inhibit your ability to carry out your mission,” Lily continued. “You were all capable of defeating the Anunnaki without any training. What we’ve done here will only increase your odds of success.” Her voice had a slight tremor in it, and he wondered if she really believed what she said.

“Go to the barracks and clean up,” Jones ordered, no measure of sympathy in his voice. “Then muster at the training building where we will do a final mission briefing.”

Giving each other stupefied glances, no one moved.

“This is not the time for hesitation. I said go!” Jones shouted. “Do it now!”

Accustomed to obeying his orders, the kids jogged back to the barracks. Although he was worried about what was to come, a surge of adrenaline reenergized Shane. Little was said as they showered and changed. Everyone wore a wide-eyed look on their faces—a mixture of excitement, nervousness, and fear seemed to permeate the barracks.

“We need more time,” Kelly whispered to Shane, stepping behind him as he pulled on a clean, black T-shirt.

“I’m not so certain we do,” he said, turning to face her. He took her shoulders in his hands and looked her in the eyes. “We didn’t have any preparation before taking on that gang in Atlanta and shutting down the weapon. We didn’t really have a clue as to what we were doing, but our instincts carried us through. The time here has taught us more than we need. We will win.”

Kelly bit the side of her lip and nodded. Shane didn’t know if they had a chance, but he did recognize it was time once again for him to be the quarterback. He’d seen the look of defeat on his friends’ faces before, and he’d wanted to quit then too. But they’d pushed on, and they succeeded. Regardless of what he believed their chances were, he had to convince his team they could win, or it wasn’t even worth trying.