I PUSHED PAST MATT AND Cage to advance another few steps. Eden made a slashing motion at me and pointed into the darkness.
We angled our lights, and we saw them.
A horde of aliens. Not one, or ten, or twenty, but dozens of them, all hunters. They were amassed around the perimeter of the room, not moving, not doing anything. Just standing. Waiting.
All the air seemed to vanish in a heartbeat. “Why’s she still standing there?” Mia hissed, staring into the pit below at Eden and her soldiers. “What is she doing?”
“Maybe she thinks if she moves, they’ll attack,” Matt replied dubiously. “The more important question is, how the hell do we get out of here?”
Something echoed in the halls above us, and I craned my neck. “Rune said not to go back up,” I whispered. “I think they’re not attacking because they’re waiting for reinforcements.”
“They don’t need reinforcements,” Mia returned. “They’re waiting for us.”
“What do we do?” Matt demanded, scanning the area. “If we go up, the creatures get us. If we go down, they attack. If we stay here, we’re sandwiched between them.”
“The only choice that doesn’t result in certain death is down,” Cage said. I gawked at him. How did he sound so calm, so self-assured, even as the tendons in his neck stood out with fear and his hands trembled on his gun? “Somehow, we have to get ourselves and Eden’s people through that door.”
Alexei leaned over the railing thoughtfully. “Matt,” he said, “do you have infrared in those fancy cybernetics of yours?”
“Sort of. I can’t see through walls, but I have heat sensors. Did you spot something?”
Alexei beckoned him over. “What’s that?”
“It looks like a fuel source,” said Matt dubiously.
Alexei nodded. “That’s what I thought too. Perhaps something vulnerable to fire.”
“What about the ship?” I half pleaded.
Alexei spread his arms. “Do you see a ship here? I suspect Eden lied to us about that. But even if she didn’t, we have to consider our immediate survival. And if that means destroying the entire base—and the creatures with it—well …”
“No,” said Mia sharply. “Even I can see you’d have to be standing right beside whatever that is to create enough heat to get through its shielding. Don’t you dare.”
“I could improvise a fuse, given time,” said Alexei, still reflective.
Something screeched in the darkness above us, and we froze, then lurched into motion, ignoring Eden’s warning as we crept down the stairs. We kept a watchful eye on the perimeter of hunters, but they didn’t move a muscle, like animatronics in stasis mode at a theme park.
“What are they doing?” I whispered. I knew I should keep silent, but the statue-like creatures held me so on edge I could barely breathe. I only knew they were breathing by the occasional flex in their muscles. “They have to know we’re here.” We’d been talking. Breathing. Shuffling around. They knew about us, had to, so why weren’t they acting?
The others shook their heads. We hit the bottom of the stairs and started toward Eden and her soldiers, who remained motionless near a pile of boxes.
We’d taken about five steps when, from somewhere above us, another alien screamed. I spun just in time to see a hunter fly over the edge of the railing, landing maybe ten feet behind us, its jaws split wide to reveal its long, glistening fangs.
As if on cue, the other aliens seemed to wake. They didn’t lunge, didn’t attack. Instead they uncoiled. That was the only word to describe it. It was like their limbs loosened, like something switched them on, their focus shifting to us, their muscles tightening for action.
“That’s not good,” Cage muttered, nestling his gun tightly against his shoulder. I mimicked his actions, pressing my back to his, and the others fanned out in a loose circle. We were surrounded.
But the alien focus on us gave Eden the space she needed. As I watched, she moved ever so slowly, shifting a step toward the stack of boxes. The aliens didn’t seem to notice. I remembered how Mia and I tipped the boxes in the hangar on Sanctuary, what felt like a hundred years ago, providing the distraction that allowed us to escape. God, I hoped Eden had a similar plan.
But I didn’t have more than a few seconds to spare for Eden, because the aliens drew in, forming a tightening circle, hissing and spitting. The sight of so many of them awake together at once almost sent me cringing to the ground. The damage just a few of them had caused on Obsidian, on the Omnistellar ship we abandoned … what hope did we have against so many? None at all. Not unless Eden helped us, unless Alexei somehow sparked a flame that took them out all at once. And preferably didn’t take us with it.
I clenched my fingers on my gun but didn’t fire.
“Why aren’t they attacking?” Matt whispered.
“They aren’t sure where we are yet,” Cage replied, his voice low, almost imperceptible. “They’re not in a rush. They’re closing in.”
At the same moment, three more hunters dropped from above. They landed outside the ring, and I shifted my gaze to make sure Eden was okay …
And froze.
She was carefully, slowly, handing boxes to her soldiers. They’d formed a sort of bucket brigade, passing the boxes down a line to the final soldier, who would shoulder their burden and ease out of the door. There were already only five soldiers left.
“That lying, cheating dirtbag,” seethed Mia, who’d obviously followed my gaze.
I ground my teeth so hard pain ricocheted through my skull, and I willed Eden to meet my eyes. Was this why she’d led us here? For whatever the hell was in those boxes? Were we her sacrificial lamb, here to distract the aliens? Was this what Rune meant when she told us to get out?
Eden didn’t look my way, not then, not when she shouldered the final box, but she hesitated in the doorway. Turn around, I willed her. Turn around and face us and for God’s sake, help us.
But she didn’t.
She slipped through the exit and was gone.
Mia was whispering what I was sure would have been a screaming storm of curses if she’d had the freedom to shout, and everyone else seemed at a total loss. We were on our own. No help was coming. I wasn’t naive enough to think that Eden would return for us, not anymore. We’d served our purpose.
The aliens were almost close enough to attack now. “Do we shoot?” I whispered.
“Not sure we have much choice,” Cage replied softly.
Matt jerked his head toward the exit. “Clear a path,” he said. “All we need to do is get through that door.”
“And if they follow us?” Mia snarled.
Matt shrugged. “Then we shoot them down as they emerge. Or we run. Eden said they didn’t like the heat. Either way, it’s better than staying here.” He didn’t mention it, but it would also mean leading the aliens straight to Eden and her people—and I had to admit, a vengeful part of me welcomed that idea.
“All right.” Cage pressed against my back, and his arm tensed as he slid his finger over the trigger. “On my count. One … two …”
One of the aliens let loose a horrific howl and leaped six feet straight into the air, flying at Mia. A burst of gunfire jolted through the room, so loud it made me cringe, and the creature screamed, collapsing on the ground.
As if that was a signal, the aliens exploded into motion, snarling, lunging, attacking. Within seconds I couldn’t see the exit. I lowered my gun, some form of automatic laser rifle similar to ones I’d seen in Omnistellar, and opened fire.
My first burst tore through the aliens like butter, shredding their insides. They screeched as they collapsed, but almost immediately another wave took their place. My second shot seemed to hurt them too, but not as badly; they fell to the ground and writhed for a while before they died.
“They’re already shielding!” Mia shouted. The need for stealth was gone. “If we’re going to move, we’d better do it now!”
“I’ll cover you!” Cage bellowed in return. “Let’s go! Run for the door!”
I didn’t much like the idea of Cage lingering to cover us, but I also didn’t have time to argue. Alexei’s huge form charged into the crowd, firing his gun, seemingly at random. We’d all deliberately chosen different types of weapons in an effort to slow the speed at which the creatures adapted, and that strategy seemed to be working. We’d already killed at least a dozen and we were moving—slowly, but moving.
Suddenly agony laced along my right arm. I collapsed with a scream as white-hot pain stabbed through me. Cage spun and caught me, hauling me to my feet and firing in the same motion. His bullets missed me by inches, leaving a ringing in my ears as he shot down the creature who’d slipped past our fire and attacked me.
I took in our hopeless situation and groaned as the truth dawned on me. This was going to hurt. “We have to run!” I shouted at Cage.
He shook his head frantically, squeezing off another shot. This one barely seemed to faze the monster he was targeting. “We can’t carry the others, and we can’t leave them!”
“We can clear a path!” I insisted.
He gaped at me. “Are you crazy?”
“What other choice do we have?” I reached for Cage’s power, a shimmery mess of gold and green. I wrapped myself in its familiarity and warmth. “Let’s go!”
“What the hell are you doing?” Mia screamed as I pushed past her. She’d tossed her gun aside, clearly deeming it useless, and drawn a long, wicked-looking blade, her face set in the grim expression of someone planning to do as much damage as possible before she died.
“Follow us!” I ordered in response. “As fast as you can.” I turned to Cage and took his hand. “Ready?”
“No!”
“Good. Let’s go!”