Beckett
The ship hits ground hard.
Not a landing. A controlled crash through trees and underbrush that rattles my teeth and sends everything not bolted down sliding across the deck.
Locke is losing his fucking mind.
But I don’t say anything.
Kree’s already moving before we stop. Declan right behind him. Both heading for the hatch.
I’m up. Rane’s up. Kyron shifts mid-stride and launches through the open window. Trey and Vaelor are moving toward the exit.
Locke’s still gripping both straps but he lets go and stands. His face is pale but his jaw is set.
We’re here.
The hatch opens.
Cool air rushes in. Trees everywhere. We’re low. Lower than I thought we’d be. The canopy is so close I can see individual branches.
Liam’s already on the ground outside. “We’ve got maybe an hour before patrol circuits loop back. Maybe less.”
I move toward the hatch. Rane’s right beside me.
“Wait.” Kree’s voice. Sharp. He’s at one of the panels pulling covers off. “Something’s still destabilizing the grid. If we don’t isolate it the ship won’t lift again.”
“How long?” Liam asks.
“Ten minutes. Maybe twenty.”
“We don’t have twenty,” I say.
Declan’s already pulling tools from a storage compartment. “Then we work fast.”
Liam looks at me. “Go. We’ll catch up.”
I don’t wait for him to say it twice.
Down the ramp. Boots hitting the ground. The facility is half a mile north according to the coordinates Linda gave us. Through the trees. Through whatever’s between here and there.
Rane’s beside me. Trey and Vaelor flanking.
Kyron flying overhead. Scouting. Obvious but then again, so was the ship.
Locke brings up the rear. Still pale. Still moving.
We make it maybe two hundred yards before I hear it.
Growling.
Low. Guttural and wrong.
I stop. Everyone stops.
Then they come through the trees.
Two of them. Then three. Hard to tell because they’re not fully shifted. Not fully human either. Limbs too long. Faces distorted. Eyes that don’t track right.
Failed experiments.
The kind Zoe warned us about.
One of them lunges.
Kyron drops from the sky and hits it mid-leap. Talons out. The thing screams and goes down.
The second one circles. Faster than it should be. It moves toward Locke.
Vaelor steps between them.
The third one comes at me.
I don’t think.
I just move.
My fist connects. Something crunches. It staggers back but doesn’t fall.
It comes again.
And something inside me snaps.
No.
Not this thing.
Not today.
Not when she’s right there.
Nova is in there and I am getting to her.
Heat slams through my chest. Down my arms. Into my hands.
I look down.
Smoke.
Dark and thick, pouring off my skin.
Rane says my name.
I don’t answer.
The thing lunges.
And I let go.