CAGE AND I STUMBLED OVER each other in our rush to reach her side. My heart jackhammered into my throat as images assaulted my mind: Rune bleeding, everyone torn to shreds on the floor, bounty hunters holding them at gunpoint . . .
But she was alone, on her knees, clutching her head. Cage dropped and caught her face in his hands, turning it, apparently searching for damage. “Are you hurt?” he demanded in Mandarin, the words stumbling over themselves. “What happened?”
Rune shook her head, although tears streaked her face. “I found . . .” She choked on the words, her entire body trembling. I exchanged mystified glances with Imani. I’d seen Rune panic before, but not like this. What had she found?
“She was looking for the source of the hull breach,” Reed pointed out quietly. “Rune? Did you find it?”
She nodded. “I . . .” She dragged a hand across her face, then pushed Cage away. “You . . . well, you better see for yourself.” Shrugging free of her brother, she returned to the control panel. “Go back to the other room.” An eerie flatness settled into her tone, as if she was afraid to let even a hint of emotion break through. “Please. It’s too crowded in here, too . . .” Her voice almost broke on the last word, and we scrambled to retreat. I knew exactly what she meant, though. Too claustrophobic. Too reminiscent of the alien ship, of a cell, of hiding from aliens on Sanctuary.
Back in the main room, a dark foreboding settled over us. “Where’s Mia?” I asked Alexei, my voice hushed, as if frightened to disturb the tension.
“Here.” Her response floated from nearby, disembodied and ridiculously creepy.
For some reason, it made every muscle in my body tense. “Do you have to do that?”
She shimmered into view, her face a furious scowl. “Oh, I’m sorry. Do you find it unnerving? Does it make you uncomfortable when you can’t see me, Kenzie? Maybe I’m a harder target to shoot?”
A wave of cold rushed over my body. I knew she hadn’t forgotten. “Mia, it was an accident.”
“Maybe it was,” she returned, her entire body taut, ready for action. “But you’re still holding that gun. How long before you accidentally shoot one of us, too?”
Cage’s arms constricted around me. “Mia, enough. For one thing, it’s a stun gun. For another—”
“You shut up.” Mia stabbed a finger in his direction. “You lied to me, Cage. To all of us. I trusted you, I actually trusted you, and look where it got me.”
“Off Sanctuary,” he replied coldly.
I drew the stun gun and raised it, careful not to point it in anyone’s direction. “You all feel that way?” I looked at the others in turn. Imani met my gaze, her eyes warm and steady. Reed stared at me in confusion, as if he still wasn’t sure what was going on. Jasper and Alexei seemed to hover on the edge of forgiveness, but I still got nothing but icy hostility from Mia. Her words echoed in my mind: I actually trusted you, and look where it got me. Was she angry, or hurt? I didn’t think she really thought I’d target her. She was scapegoating me, using that as an excuse for dealing with her own emotional conflict. Well, I was no stranger to that myself, and I knew how to play along. “Okay,” I said. “Imani.”
Her head shot up, confusion in her face. “But . . .”
“You’re a good shot, and you’re just as defenseless as me without a weapon. And I trust you,” I said, glaring at Mia. What stung the most? She was right. I had lied. I’d shot Matt. Sure, Cage had swept me into his plan, but I was an independent functioning human being, and I could have told the truth at any time. I’d lied because I hadn’t trusted them. What right did I have to get angry when they didn’t trust me in return?
And yet . . . somehow . . . I was angry. It stung. After everything, I still wasn’t one of them.
Slowly, Imani took the stun gun. She’d fired it on Mars; I knew she knew how to use it. Sure enough, after examining it a moment, she tucked it into her waistband. “Thanks, Kenzie,” she said quietly.
Cage gave me an encouraging smile, and so did Reed. Mia didn’t soften any, but at least I’d gained some ground with the others.
“Stop arguing.” Rune appeared in the doorway. Her voice was so soft we barely heard it, but it cut through us all the same, drawing every eye in her direction. She’d stopped crying but stared at us, her gaze dull and listless until it settled on her brother. “I loaded the feed.”
“Meimei, what’s on it?”
“I told you, you should see for yourself.” She tilted her head and a hologram shimmered to life in our midst. Had she activated this holo without even touching the computers?
I jumped as a dozen heavily armored men stampeded straight through me. Those weren’t stun guns in their hands, either. I’d seen huge rifles like that. Omnistellar manufactured some, in fact, but my parents never let me fire one. I didn’t even want to consider how Obsidian got their hands on that sort of weaponry.
The security feed showed the view from someone’s helmet cam, giving the whole thing a surreal look, as if we were inside a VR game. The guards took up positions outside a sealed door. “Everything looks clear,” someone announced from ahead. “But we can’t get in.”
Over comms came a voice laden with frustration. “I know. I’m not having any luck unlocking the system.”
The woman who spoke first had even less patience than Mia. “Blow it, then. Or I will.”
After a moment’s hesitation, the reply: “Copy that, Alpha Two. Stand clear.”
The suited figure, who I now realized was the commander, gestured everyone back. The view lurched as the owner of the camera slid around the corner. A muffled explosion reached my ears, and the commander barked, “Let’s move!”
The guards charged through the smoking remains of the door into a prison sector similar to the one we were in, but much cleaner and nicer, better maintained. Some sort of foam block surrounded most of the cells. I recognized it as a cheap soundproofing material. My dad used it to cover the basement walls on Earth when he and Mom set up a weekend shooting gallery. Here, it provided privacy for apartments.
I barely had time to register this, though, as the guards charged through. They kicked open doors. My camera view illuminated a nicely appointed apartment. It was tiny, being a cell, but it contained decent furniture, some framed pictures, and a plush carpet.
“Alpha One!” a voice barked. I jumped. It sounded like it was in the room with us—because, I realized, it was the voice of our camera’s owner. “You’d better see this.”
The camera angled to reveal a long bloody streak marring the cream-colored carpet.
The commander drew near, and I made out her worried expression behind her faceplate. “Similar situation in the other apartments,” she said shortly. “Let’s keep moving. We haven’t found any bodies yet. Whatever happened here, there has to be evidence.”
My knees grew weak. No. No, there didn’t. Not if the bodies were taken. The aliens had taken everyone on Sanctuary, even my mom, even Rita, even though they weren’t anomalies. They might do the same thing here.
A sudden scream sent me shooting to my feet, my heart pounding. For a moment I thought it came from directly behind me, but after a second, I realized it was part of the recording. I wasn’t the only one, either: everyone was either on their feet or sitting as tense as a steel bar.
The hologram vid jerked shakily, as if the camera owner had experienced the same reaction as me. “Did you see that?” he barked. “Alpha One! Respond, please!”
The commander’s voice echoed through the comms: “All units! All units! Report to—” Her voice cut off in a strangled scream.
“Go!” someone shouted. The camera lurched forward, black-suited security guards in front of it, the feed a jumble of feet and arms and guns until it made me sick to watch, but I didn’t dare look away.
Someone else screamed, a high, shrill wail that went on and on. My nails dug into the flesh of my palms. It was a human sound, not the aliens’ cry. We hadn’t heard the aliens yet. This might be anything. A rebellion. A gang war. Anything.
A jumble of shouting filled the room, gaining in volume, in panic, in desperation. The camera swiveled left, then right, pitching like the nose of a shuttle on reentry. A blur of motion passed in front of us, and Imani shrieked, jumping and pressing her hand to her chest.
“What was that?” screamed the man. “What the bloody hell was that?”
“Retreat!” someone shouted. “Everyone! Get out of here!”
“What was it? What was it? Did you see it? What was it?”
A black-visored face filled our vision a second before its arm blocked the camera. “Get a grip!” its owner shouted. “And go! Move! Go, goddamn it!”
The hologram shimmered into place and tottered as the guards flew down the hall at a dead run, back the way they’d come. Suddenly a claw shot into our realm of vision.
This time, no one screamed.
The reality of the situation settled with the weight of a death sentence.
I sank to the floor, my knees giving way even as Cage fumbled to catch me, missing because his eyes remained glued to the hologram.
We’d seen those claws before. Cutting into our own flesh. We’d pulled one from Mia’s side.
“You see?” Rune said, her voice nearly a sob. “They’re here.”
Now Cage reached for her, but Alexei arrived first, laying steadying hands on her arms. Mia appeared beside him, for once stunned into silence, her face as pale and drawn as mine.
The angle of the hologram changed as the guard stared at the claw protruding at least six inches from his chest. I reeled. “That’s too long,” I whispered. “Their claws weren’t so long.” I remembered every second on Sanctuary, every vivid, gory detail. I’d held one of their claws in my hand after it snapped off inside Mia’s abdomen.
“Maybe they’re mutating too,” said Reed grimly.
“Maybe.” Cage raked his hands through his hair. “Or maybe they’re different. A different species, or even . . . I don’t know. I need to think about it.”
“You’re saying these things might be even worse than the ones on Sanctuary?” Jasper’s voice held an edge of hysteria. Something cracked, making us all jump. Jasper stared blankly at the arm of his chair, which he’d just snapped off in his hand.
The feed fizzled and went blank.
That left us staring at one another in the recesses of a new prison, surrounded by more alarm lights, and under the apparent threat of a new alien attack.
One with the potential to be even worse than before.